Tag: english
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In your own words
This is the fifth in a series of posts related to the six Strategies covered in my book Practical Reading Strategies. You can buy a copy of the book here. Check out the previous four posts on Making Connections, Visualising, Questioning, and Inferring. Summarising involves recalling the main events or ideas from a text. The…
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Reading between the lines
This is the fourth in a series of posts related to the six Strategies covered in my book Practical Reading Strategies. You can buy a copy of the book here. Check out the previous three posts on Making Connections, Visualising, and Questioning. Inferring means ‘reading between the lines’. In practice, however, it’s one of the…
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Breaking out of TEEL
How to teach essay writing without formulaic structures I’ve been getting feedback from English teachers across Australia about why we teach writing, and what gets in the way. I’m also busy collecting samples of writing for the second book in the ‘Practical’ series – Practical Writing Strategies. We’ll be including lots of advice on how…
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The power of getting students to ask the questions
Before you go on, I’m collecting feedback from teachers about teaching writing. If you’ve got something to say about what gets in the way of teaching writing, please click here to join the conversation! This is the third in a series of posts related to the six Strategies covered in my book Practical Reading Strategies.…
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Making Connections
This is the first in a series of posts related to the six Strategies covered in my book Practical Reading Strategies. You can buy a copy of the book here. The six Reading Strategies offer a way of teaching reading for meaning which goes beyond simple comprehension or teacher-led questioning. Making Connections, the first Strategy,…
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In defence of TEEL? (Sort of. Not really)
DISCLAIMER: Engaging in discussions about TEEL can be bad for your health. If there’s one thing that comes up time and time again when I’m talking to English teachers it’s TEEL. The acronym, which stands for Topic – Evidence – Explanation – Link, is so widespread that you can find it plastered across the walls…
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VCE Study Guide: Go, Went, Gone
My complete guide to Jenny Erpenbeck’s Go, Went, Gone can be purchased from Insight Publications here. Overview In Go, Went, Gone, translated by Susan Bernofsky, Jenny Erpenbeck explores the African refugee crisis and how European countries like Germany have responded to those seeking asylum in Europe. Erpenbeck blends real places, laws and situations with fictional…
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VCE Study Guide: Flames
This is an abbreviated version of my Neap Smartstudy guide to Robbie Arnott’s Flames, new to the VCE English text list. You can find a copy of the full study guide here or here (these are not affiliate links). Overview Flames is a darkly humorous novel that blends elements of mythology and the Gothic with…
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What’s your purpose? Developing a team vision
Talking about vision and purpose is the kind of thing that elicits almost audible eye-rolling, and with good reason. We’ve all been a part of staff meetings, reviews, and planning days where we’ve been told we’re going to “write the vision for the next five years” or “define our mission”. Here’s how that typically plays…
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Making the most of Head Start
As term 4 draws to a close, many schools will have some form of Head Start or acceleration program for senior students. For our school, that means our Y11s move up to their Y12 classes for the final fortnight of term. For new senior teachers, this might be the first time you have encountered a…