'The Kids' by Hannah Lowe
Hannah Lowe’s Costa award-winning sequence of sonnets The Kids is a triumph.
Read MoreLeaving Certificate English resources
During these uncertain and anxious times for pupils, here is a summary of some resources for Leaving Certificate English candidates that may be helpful when working at home. Regular updates coming.
Read MoreSeamus Heaney's 'Mossbawn: (1) Sunlight
This podcast examines Seamus Heaney's poem 'Sunlight', one of the dedicatory poems called 'Mossbawn', which open his 1975 collection North.
Read MoreDiversity in Schools
Bennie Kara’s new book Diversity in Schools: a little guide for teachers is small in format, big in ambition. It is just what schools and individual teachers need right now to navigate these issues.
Read MoreINOTE, November 28th 2020
Here are the slides from my two presentations at the (virtual) conference of the Irish National Teachers of English on November 28th.
Read MoreHow to Think Like Shakespeare
The tagline for this site is Thinking, Writing, Reading, Teaching, and you may have spotted that Shakespeare features regularly. So it’s exciting to come across a book which combines all five elements.
Read MoreINOTE 2020
Details of the first virtual conference for teachers of English in Ireland, on November 28th.
Read MoreEmma Smith on 'Othello'
Emma Smith’s This is Shakespeare is one of the best books of recent times to examine the plays (20 of them). This post looks at her chapter on Othello.
Read More'King Lear' Quizlet 5
Act 5: Quizlet flashcards for recalling and thinking about quotations.
Read MorePatrick Page on Iago
Patrick Page goes deep into Iago’s character in this fascinating talk for Red Bull Theatre’s Chicago 2020 project.
Read MoreUsing a Visualiser in the English Classroom
Visualisers have been around a while. They’re making a comeback in the ‘pandemic classroom’. Here are some ideas for English teachers.
Read More'King Lear' Quizlet 4
Act 4: Quizlet flashcards for recalling and thinking about quotations.
Read More'King Lear' Quizlet 3
A Quizlet of quotation flashcards for Act 3: for prompting thinking, and retrieval practice.
Read More'King Lear': the end
The famously bleak ending of King Lear could so easily have been different. In fact, so different it could have been a comedy, a knife-edge that makes it all the more cheerless, dark and deadly.
Read MoreRunning the Room
Tom Bennett’s new book Running the Room: the teacher’s guide to behaviour is a rich source of advice on the most fundamental thing for all learning. If behaviour is poor in a classroom, all pupils’ learning suffers.
Read More'King Lear': blindness and seeing
The central metaphor of King Lear is blindness and seeing: this essay explores that idea.
Read MoreJames Shapiro on 'King Lear'
James Shapiro’s outstanding 1606: Shakespeare and the year of Lear, is a great resource for teachers of the play, as well as of the other two plays Shakespeare wrote in that extraordinary period, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra. Here are some notes that refer to Lear, especially from the chapter ‘Leir to Lear’, in which Shapiro examines how Shakespeare reshaped the main source text, King Leir.
Read MoreTeaching Walkthrus
Teaching Walkthrus is a stimulating resource: practical ideas are laid down with great precision. It will help a lot of teachers to clarify their practice.
Read MoreThe Ministry of Truth
Dorian Lynskey’s The Ministry of Truth: a biography of George Orwell’s 1984 is a superb introduction to the novel, and a vital read for English teachers.
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