Last Sunday I ran the London marathon (unknowingly with throat/chest infection). It was one of the best days of my life, as you can tell by these pics š¤£ Iāve raised over Ā£2200 (!!!) for ovarian cancer, but if youāve got Ā£1, Iām still fundraising! āØāØ
(Weird tweet but does anyone else who grew up like *really* poor find it weird they can afford branded stuff now? Like woah. I can buy crunchy nut and fairy liquid??)
Canāt believe I wonāt go to Reading Festival because Iām stressed about ending up on a Y11 Snapchat story whilst Iām trying to live my best face-paint-and-warm-beer life and never working again as a result, yet a teacher is going on Love Island.
Today I tried to summarise how many skills it takes to write a āsimpleā paragraph. I got to 15, but could only fit 10 teeny boxes on the slide. Something to think about when planning for writing...
Forgot to buy A3 so did an activity writing on tables and had a flashback to about 5 years ago where I got REALLY told off for writing on tables in a lesson. WELL NOW MY TABLES ARE MINE AND I CAN WRITE LOADS ON THEM SO HAH
Itās actually bananas how much of a better teacher Twitter has made me. Modelled writing, structure strips and low stake quiz ready to go for Y7 today. Wouldnāt have done this a year ago. Thanks
@Team_English1
Got an exciting morning with a house full of Y11s up ahead, and weāre going to be cracking into one of my fave ever resources - tracking characters in AIC through stage directions!
PPT here if you want it š
āļøArticle Writingāļø - a mini š§µ
Like many of you, a lot of my energy the last couple of months has been spent on pinning down how to approach the article for P2Q5 (AQA).
My Ss prefer the P1Q5, and struggle to format an article in a clear way that isnāt a rambly venty messā¦
āļøCHRISTMAS MOVIE THREAD āļø
This year has been a huge disappointment, and Iām relying on Christmas to bring some much needed sparkle and joy back into life.
I have decided to set myself the āchallengeā of watching/ranking every Netflix-produced Christmas film. Stay tuned!šš»šš»
Not being funny but teachers would make AMAZING refs - rolling over on the ground? āGet up the pair of you. I donāt care whoās fault it was. One more peep out of either of you and youāre offā (just found my calling)
@Team_English1
free 23 week homework booklet for Year 11 (Sept - Easter) with qs for Macbeth/J&H/AIC/P&C poetry/Unseen/Lang 1 and 2. Hopefully it helps you savour some more sunshine time now/save time later :) (you may need to edit term dates - sorry!)
I have done no work for 3 weeks and I literally donāt regret a minute of it. I work super hard in term time and the only way to maintain that is by resting when the chance comes. Ultimately Iāll be a better teacher because of it!
I donāt want to sound like Ross from Friends here but this week the guy I work with has both eaten my pasta in the fridge, and my chocolate cookie I was specifically saving for my inevitable 2pm energy drop. I am genuinely raging.
I really love this resource. 20 extracts from throughout time paired with individual language paper questions. Itās here free - save yourself some time, make an account, download & deploy later on! (Also enjoy Arcade Fire/my fireplace)
@Team_English1
Grandparents visiting today. Looking forward to topics including Brexit, immigration, why teaching is easy, why ripped jeans are pointless, the colour scheme of my flat and everyoneās favourite: why arenāt I married/pregnant yet?
I've got an absolutely crammed Drive full of resources that I'm tidying - here's some booklets!
- Tess ot Durbs allusion booklet
- Lit thru Time AQA GCSE booklet
- Love through the Ages unseen booklet
- Y11 homework Qs
Help yourself!
@Team_English1
In development, Iāve turned this into a self assessment sheet. Done it with a few students today and itās been quite revealing watching them realise what it is they *donāt* know... if youād like to use it, let me know?
Today I tried to summarise how many skills it takes to write a āsimpleā paragraph. I got to 15, but could only fit 10 teeny boxes on the slide. Something to think about when planning for writing...
Itās been a few years since I read Making Every Eng Lesson Counts but Iām still so obsessed with poetry crunching. We break poems into 8 key words and seeing how they thematically might link/compare with another. Itās easy to build into comparison too š
#highlighterhappy
@Team_English1
I won't see my Y11 until their next exam now, so I've made this simple reminder guide for Lang P1/2. It's really clear and great for Ss who need a helping hand. It might also save some work for you :) Download for free here:
Iāve never seen a film done more of a disservice by its trailer than Wonka. It is 2 hours of utter magnificence filled with so much loyalty to the original film/book, and totally deserves all the 5āļø reviews itās getting. Genuinely might go again tomorrow.
If youāre debating leaving teaching, have a look at jobs in Learning and Development (L&D). It involves making packs of resources, checking youāve got enough pens, and pre-bed worksheet packingā¦ you know, all the stuff you already do but with better pay and flexible holidaysš
Ladies with no spouses and no babies, I hope youāve started practising your polite grins ready for when people will tell you youāll change your mind/youāre āgetting on a bit nowā. Only 3 days to go!
Have any of you seen Drunk History? Because my new business plan is to get drunk with English teachers and do a Drunk Literature podcast. Some may say I just want to get drunk and talk about books but this is you know, A BUSINESS PLAN. Any takers, hit me up.
With just a few days to go until we can crack into our advent calendars, I've started collating my favourite festive resources - more to come, but here's a revision advent calendar (sorry not sorry, Y11) and a booklet of Xmas extracts. All editable!
āļøš CREATIVE WRITING THREADšāļø
Hello, my name is Lauran and I am a pretty rubbish creative writer.
I love it, obviously, but compared to analysis and non-fiction writing, itās definitely a weak spot for me.
Iāve been working really hard on this, and thought Iād share how:
P.S.
@Team_English1
this list has saved SO MANY CLASSES from saying āI know this becauseā, āthis showsā, āthe audience feel sadā etc - cannot recommend some new verbs enough
I was supposed to only be taking a gap year where Iād āsee how it goesā.
But man am I happy to say my wee business is growing.
This is me, holding the keys to my dream office rooms (2 of them!) and thinking about alllll the furniture ima buy š
Got a compliment from my Y10s today. It went something a bit like āwe donāt totally hate youā. Suspect Iām just weeks away from a āworldās greatest teacherā mug from them.
Just went to see Jurassic World. Thereās a scene where they try to load all these dinos who are kicking off onto a boat and honestly itās every school trip EVER.
I know it's the holiday BUT
@Team_English1
if you're teaching or revising Jekyll and Hyde this year, here's a new free resource that explores some interesting context (including furniture!). It has linked quotations and is either PPT/PDF
āļøA little thread on retakesāļø
Over the last few years, I've spent a lot of time between Sept & Nov with retake students.
If it's your first time working with retakes, it can seem a little daunting, so I thought I would share some of my top tips for nailing the 4+!
31: A Castle for Christmas
Brooke Shields is a cancelled author who escapes to Scotland to find her heritage... and love! Literal castle buying, lines straight out of a Y8 drama piece, and a slow montage to Robbieās āSheās the Oneā that left me cry-laughing. Brilliant. 7/10āļøšš š»
Iām 29 a month today. My twenties has been MENTAL and not 1 bit of it has gone the way I expected. For the last few months Iāve been keeping a list of 29 things Iāve learnt (some are things other people have helped me find) and this morning I finished it š
I love my new job. I work great hours for better money. I work out more, eat better, and have stopped teeth grinding/crying.
I *LOVED* teaching but trusted my instinct saying no more. If you want to leave, DO IT. The answer isnāt always a new schoolā¦ maybe itās a new lifestyle
Ever wondered what a LauranTeaches office-meets-classroom might look like...? Well here it is!
@debbiedraws1
produced some beautiful prints and our good friends IKEA, Next and spray paint helped out a lot...
šāļøNEW RESOURCEāļøšFree sample Literature Through Time AQA GCSE Language booklet. Extracts are linked to a Language exam q (covers both papers) and has prompts to help them start. Make a free account, download and save it for later!
@Team_English1
I didnāt expect to end the year in a hospital, but Iām also ending it surrounded by love (including from the man that made me this killer cup of tea AND gave me biscuits and this is why the NHS need saving, because theyāre ALWAYS THERE). and really, thatās all that matters. š
Spaced testing/recall has been so good for Y11s. Theyāve been tested every lesson for 14 months and their recall of key texts is brilliant. Really enjoying it with Y10 too - low stakes nature is invaluable for confidence. An EduTwitter idea that has made my teaching better! ā¤ļø
7 is a lucky number, and with that, Iām taking year 7 as my cue to do something mad.
So in a mere 12 weeks, Iām leaving the edu-world behind, and going off to become a writing coach in the big olā corporate world! š„āØto a fresh set of challenges (and no more set texts!)
So I started practising, and turns out this way into a narrative works pretty well, especially when you consider poor classroom objects (coveted glue sticks that slowly watch themselves die, or sad and abused bic biros, or the underside of tables coated in gum).
I made this...
Practising structuring creative writing. Gave Ss an image and they did a setting paragraph. Got them to cut 3 bits out they liked and they shift focus each paragraph to a new bit of the image. Worked really well š
#pedagogy
#englishteacher
If youāve followed me for any time longer than 15 minutes youāll know I am brunch OBSESSED and have been lamenting itās loss. Well. Today. Brunch got DELIVEEEERED!
Final NQT obs today. In just a few hours itāll be all done. 3 years of having a code next to my name (UNQ/SCITT/NQT) will come to an end. So. Freakin. Ready.
You know when women give birth their body forgets the pain after a bit so that we keep making babies? Well I feel a bit like this about marking and the email that just came through...
I live and die by this resource. My Y9/10/11 classes & tutees outside of school have it, I have it laminated, spares printed AND I have it on my desktop. Itās fantastic, thank you Heather š
@Team_English1
I can't begin to tell you how much time this saved me last year: Macbeth/J&H/AIC/P&C/LP1/2 q booklet. Perf for HW/cover lessons/intervention classes/assessments... PDF/word doc free on
Year 7 colour coded writing and peer assessing has worked SO well this week! Introducing them to analytical writing can be tough. All inspired by the amazing
@MissDanielsEng
(who has a fab blog on this). I'd really recommend it as a way in
@Team_English1
Tomorrow I'm running a free Zoom creative writing class for 50ish local children. We're going to be making word bird! I know you're all fantastic teachers, but if you're home with a small one who would like to do some creative writing, let me know and I'll whizz materials over :)
Today would have been Sylvia Plathās 87th birthday. So much of her poetry prickles at me to the point Iāve cried in shops when reading it, but nothing is so deeply etched on my heart as this from The Bell Jar. Even at 29, I still feel this.
This article is so important. Itās not okay to:
> ask when Iām having kids
> assume I want them
> assume that if I donāt, Iām ācold heartedā
> remind me my clock is running out
> tell me what Iāll regret
Every woman I know has had this.
We are not public property.
The treatment of women in teaching who do not have children of their own is often unfair, upsetting and insensitive. Those who do not want to conceive and those who are unable to tell their story to
@heymrshallahan
š Double Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell will stand to be a Tory MP at the next election after being selected as the partyās candidate for Colchester
Iāve been told quite a few times in the last couple of days I am ācontrollingā (here are some examples why) BUT when the folders and the flash cards turn out perfect I FEEL I HAVE A POINT
My deliveroo driver who delivered smoked salmon and ice lollies to me earlier just delivered my curry and Iāve never felt worse about myself
#theshame
The thing I really love about teaching poetry is when 16 year old boys find the word āpinnaceā combined with the phrase āblack and hugeā hilarious. Thanks Wordsworth. Nice one. š¤¦š¼āāļø