My interactions with the teaching strategy known as Reciprocal Teaching (or Reciprocal Reading), which involves students learning to read collaboratively in small groups.
How I became ‘aesthetically literate’, and used other artistic work to educate and heal myself. ‘Aesthetic literacy’ may even be more important than other forms of literacy because of its therapeutic dimensions.
Is English a mindful subject? How can mindfulness help English teachers teach their subject? I argue that awareness of the present moment can help learners appreciate the qualities of literature.
A creative writing and reading project, carried out at Deptford Green school, which put the principles of Reciprocal Teaching into practice.
There are certain pedagogical strategies, such as encouraging freewriting, using prompts and fostering flow which can significantly help learners to write creatively.
The benefits of teachers using their own autobiographical writing in the classroom. The blurring of truth and fiction in autobiographical writing can provide students with the cloak of fiction when writing about their own lives
‘Aesthetic learning’ can be helpful for English teachers, because we are all ‘aesthetic learners’: we learn to appreciate the qualities of the worlds we inhabit, whether actual or virtual.
You can access the PowerPoint for this lecture here. Please do not publish it without first gaining my consent. References •Begum, N., & Saini, R. (2019). Decolonising the Curriculum. Political Studies Review, 17(2), 196-201. •Crinson, M. (2003) Modern Architecture and the End of Empire. (Aldershot: Ashgate 2003) •Evaristo, B. (2020) The Long Form Patriarchs, and […]
An anthology written by creative teachers with diverse experience. The focus is on how to teach creative writing in imaginative, practical and socially just ways, helping people of all ages and backgrounds to write.
Blue Door Press is delighted to announce that the audiobook version of Who Do You Love (BDP 2017) is now available for sale on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. It was quite a journey working with the voice artist and actor Christopher James on the novel during this lockdown period. He and I talked quite intensely […]
A thrilling historical adventure story set in war-torn Budapest. This story of one man’s quest to save his family, his friends — and, perhaps, his soul — is an unlikely comedy, a document of filial love and a compelling portrait of the horrors of war.
I am delighted that my new audiobook Analysis & Study Guide: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Complete text & integrated study guide (Creative Study Guide Editions) is now available here on Audible, Amazon and ITunes. The best audio version of the novel there is! I firmly believe that actor and voice artist Richard J. Bunn […]
As I’ve pointed out in previous blogs, the process of listening to the audiobook of Who Do You Love has been enriching for me, making me return to the text some years after writing it. Christopher James reads the book more slowly than me, taking his time, giving the narrator’s voice a melancholic, deadpan quality. […]
I’m writing this blog post on the summer solstice, 20th June 2020, which is an important date in my novel Who Do You Love. In fact, I like to think the events on the summer solstice June 1988 in a Sussex wood, devastated by the hurricane of October 1987, are pivotal in the novel. They […]
I’m very excited to announce that the marvellous actor and audiobook reader Richard Bunn will be reading my bestselling study guide ‘Analysis and Study Guide: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’. The book has proved to be one of my popular books over the years and has continued to sell well. I was impressed by all […]
I’m very excited to be working on an audio book version of Who Do You Love, my novel which I published with Blue Door Press in 2017. I have investigated ways of doing this over the years, having a go at reading myself. I found that although I can be an expressive reader — some […]
A fantastic time-travelling story in the format of a ‘teaching script’, which helps teenage readers improve their ability to skim, scan, summarise, and ask questions.
By turns comic, tragic and romantic, Who Do You Love is a stirring novel which explores the big issues of passion, death and grief; a fast-paced contemporary love story but also moving exploration of what it means to be alive today.
These suggestions are based on the points raised at the Reading Revolution Conference held at Goldsmiths, University of London on Saturday 23rd September 2017. ONE: Encourage Reading for Pleasure Read for the sake of reading. Read aloud, read in groups, read in pairs, read silently. Read poems, stories, articles, blogs, relevant social media and so […]
This unique guide aims to inject a genuine sense of joy into English teaching, using techniques that have been proven to work in a wide range of educational settings.