Struggling Readers

Why you should teach Call Me Drog as a class reader

By Joanna Fliski A good class reader is a very special thing indeed. My absolute favourite time as a teacher is when a class is collectively absorbed in a piece of literature. The quiet calm and sense of peace, the feeling that whatever else goes… Read More

Writing Rooney

By Alan Gibbons Writing the Read On biography of Wayne Rooney, Being Rooney, was a labour of love. I started supporting Manchester United in the 1967–8 season when City tipped us to the title by one point, but we became the first English… Read More

A Skulduggery Success Story

Bridget Young, English and Humanities teacher at The Holmewood School in London, tells us about her class’s rewarding experience using the Collins Readers schools edition of Skulduggery Pleasant in the classroom. Skulduggery posters had been plastered around the school and in my classroom. Read More

The Horror Genre: Creating Atmosphere

by Naomi Hursthouse What is it about the horror genre that continues to grip teenage readers? Two hundred years ago the young Mary Shelley was so enthralled by the ghost stories she heard that her imagination gave birth to Frankenstein. And now, my students still flock to the horror section of… Read More

Writing and editing with Darren Shan

The idea for Cirque Du Freak popped into my head one day when I was sitting in a car, babysitting a young cousin who was asleep on the back seat. The question a writer gets asked the most is “Where do your… Read More

Fun with Foreshadowing

By Cathy MacPhail You know the kind of stories I love? The kind of stories that begin like this: We all arrived at the lakeside cottage, my friends and I, for a weekend of fun. The lake sparkled in the sun; we could hear the birds singing… Read More

Ask a female footballer – part 2

More answers to your questions from our fab female footballing gurus! Take a look at our other free resources for Here Come the Girls here. [Rachel] I always think it helps to have a female role model. Being able to physically see the… Read More

Ask a female footballer – part 1

We had some fabulous questions for our lady footballers from our lovely Tweeps. And the Glasgow City ladies have come back with equally fabulous and thoughtful answers!Let us introduce you to your pro responders: Your questions, answered: [Rachel] Sadly some people still have a… Read More

Tips for effective reading lessons

Ah, the Reading Lesson! As an English teacher, I fight to have them protected, but then dread each week as I face another hour of bored-looking year 7s, dragging their heels around the library bookshelves and not-so-discreetly whispering behind their tomes. In a bid to make this time more constructive,… Read More

Writing creatively

We all know that the burden of marking and assessment is particularly heavy if you’re an English teacher. And yet one of the things that keeps us going can be those little moments of frisson when we read something that one of our students has written that is just fantastic. Read More