One Little Gem...
Thursday 23 August 2012
Thursday 26 April 2012
One little musical interlude...
‘If music be the food of learning, play on...’
- Calming a class. My calming music of choice is Debussy’s Claire de Lune. Students are not permitted to talk over the music, and many students claim they learn better with background music. Many demands have been made for popular songs, but I am adamant that when students need to be calmed or concentrate, anything with lyrics is a big no no.
- As a reward. Some students will work much more quickly when they have an incentive to work towards. Twenty minutes detailed work = twenty minutes of work with the radio. Make sure there are ground rules, and make sure having the radio on doesn’t raise the volume of conversation, rather than limit it.
- Theme music. An interesting starter, that encourages students to guess the theme of the lesson based on the music they hear as they enter. I saw this used expertly in one school, where the teacher would always play a music clip before the lesson, even if there was a highly tenuous link between the song and the lesson.
- As a creative writing prompt. It can be an exciting change for students to focus their creativity through their ears in an English lesson. Many creative writing prompts are visual so having an auditory prompt instead challenges and stretches students’ imagination, leading to diverse results.
- Music as poetry. My wonderful top set literature class were getting disillusioned studying poetry they didn’t relate to. I set them a homework task to analyse the lyrics of their favourite song. They were enthusiastic, detailed and fantastic responses, although I did find out most of them have TERRIBLE taste in music (No Beatles? No Boyzone? No Joni Mitchell?)
Wednesday 25 April 2012
One little interview with Benjamin Zephaniah...
“You just hear something. Sometimes I hear a phrase and I just think, ‘I like that phrase and I’m gonna build on it’”.
Tuesday 24 April 2012
One little shopping spree...
Monday 23 April 2012
Dear Mr Lee
Dear Mr Lee
I listened to a fantastic radio 4 programme about this poem yesterday. My students have been studying a UA Fanthorpe poem, ‘Case History: Alison (Head Injury)’ which is a wonderful depiction of brain damaged Alison reflecting on her past life and achievements. ‘Dear Mr. Lee’ really appealed to me, as many lines resonate with my role as a teacher, both in humorous and tragic ways. I recognise how tight exam constraints don’t allow me to study poetry in the way I wish with my students, and how the creative whole is compartmentalised and highlighted and annotated until all original meaning is lost. Begrudgingly, I’ll also admit I am fully familiar with awkwardly explaining Shakespeare’s highly sexualised puns to hormonally charged, and often bemused, fifteen year olds (happy 448th birthday Will S). I love the idea of students being inspired by set texts, but more realistically feel that an enforced reading habit won’t result in a burning passion for the bard, or a new found appreciation for Steinbeck’s use of language to portray Lennie. I have been lucky enough, in my first year of teaching, to break away from Mr Smart and occasionally find a way to foster pure, rich, discussion that doesn’t stick to assessment objectives, but such glimpses and opportunities are rare and precious! Consequently, I want to challenge my own teaching methods so that I can allow literature to ‘live with students’ and to see things ‘bright and strange’.
My strategies:
- Set up a monthly sixth form (and Y11) reading group, aside from A-Level study that is driven by student interests and enthusiastic discussion (tea and cake will always help). There should be no homework, no set question and no preparation. Let the students choose the material!
- Indulge in my own love of literature. Continue to expand my horizons and get stuck in a book, and remember why I am passionate about my subject. Joining a reading group set up with a group of friends has helped me to challenge my own reading interests and is incredibly valuable in allowing me to choose new books and authors that I would previously have dismissed.
- Let the students recommend their favourites. Similarly to point two, I have read some books specifically recommended by students. I have loved the books they’ve picked, and they have loved discussing them with me, in equal parts smug and delighted that I have taken their advice.
Although Mr Smart inevitably exists, especially considering we are careering at a gazillion miles an hour towards the upcoming exams, I hope I can always remember what really counts and banish Mr Smart back in his box, to be replaced by the truly dazzling Little Miss Loveoflit as often as possible.