PETAA Annual Conference The theme for PETAA’s 50TH year is Looking back- moving forward and this conference will focus on supporting students to develop strong communication and literacy foundations – from first speech, learning language through play and experimentation, to the skills needed in learning to read, then what is required when students read to…
I have had time to explore two major resources to explore or consult when you need them. No, I’m not going to comment on either the dire situation for staff in our schools, COVID or the weather. Viewing 2022 Literature Symposium: The excellent online 2022 Literature Symposium advocating for the power and pleasure of literature…
Classrooms are gradually developing a new ‘normal’, where time is still short and too many so-called ‘assessments’ – read tests’ – are requiring completion. In between, we carry on. One of the most rewarding, interesting, challenging and useful strategies for teaching history/geography/maths/etc, and the potential for addressing the vast majority of the outcomes in the…
It’s WORLD POETRY DAY, Monday 21 March 2022 – Hooray! This is the best excuse (if you ever need one) for spending the day with words and meaning. For yourself, revisit the poems you remember from your own childhood – the ones that moved you, the lines you keep in your head somewhere, the vague…
While we can’t actually ‘kick back’ and relax, it is time to ease the strain on our work with students, and on ourselves. Poetry and all that Poetry is one of those aspects of English that can really be delved into in the closing weeks of the year, as things start to wind down. Poetry…
A recent conversation with a teacher-in-training colleague has prompted this blog. My friend was given the task of preparing and delivering a 45-minute lesson on the question mark. This is pretty typical of the type of lesson we work with in normal circumstances. Now I can’t think of anything more tedious. As a topic for…
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all. Many members of our school community have been exposed to trauma, and will need care and support during the transition to whatever the new ‘normal’ is. We need to make sure we don’t overload our students (and ourselves) as we return to what has been familiar. In this…
Break? What break? So much ongoing discussion, so many opportunities on offer. It’s more necessary than ever to use our time wisely so that we make sound choices, providing the best support for our practice in own classrooms. Reading – Blog For clarity and a rigorous research base, Noella Mackenzie’s latest blog EXPLAINER: What is…
Bookshops are the best place to take a break. All you need is a couple of hours with nothing else that needs to be done. Usually best on your own. Sometimes you have to just do it. Even only 15 minutes or so, in that calm, internalised pleasure palace, can be enough. Children introduced early…
And, thank goodness, books continue to be published, read, and loved. Reading has been described as the perfect lockdown-in-COVID-19-activity. In these difficult times, it is worth reminding ourselves, and our students, that: “Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the…