I have been thinking about how much teachers know, and in particular, how much teachers who write know. Teachers know more about who and what they teach than most commentators and critics could possibly imagine. And yet commentators and critics feel free to deride teachers and to complain about their many shortfalls. Some governments have … Continue reading Becoming Our Own Experts
Tag: language
Word Hunt
Here’s another way to make a word collection -and perhaps even to make a found poem. When you are out and about -or even just inside – look out for letters and words that are not in books or magazines. Look for street signs, hand written messages, names pressed into metal manhole covers, messages sprayed … Continue reading Word Hunt
Non-fiction
Non-fiction has a terrible reputation in schools. I have to say it has earned it -all that endless, pointless, writing of instructions, the torture of an explanation and the dreariness of a recount or a balanced argument, painstakingly written within the spiky scaffolding of a writing frame; the convoluted excuses - or the, more honest, … Continue reading Non-fiction
Fiction
Through fiction we develop a body of knowledge about language unlike any other. Developing language through the reading and hearing of fiction gives us a deep understanding of writing through sitting in the opposite seat - that of the reader. A much broader range of language is employed in literature than in spoken language so … Continue reading Fiction
Poetry
Everybody needs poetry in their lives. And no one more than those of us learning to write. The great thing about poetry is that it is high octane -small but powerful. We can find many ways of filling our classrooms and our days with poems of every variety. We can choose poems that are sturdy … Continue reading Poetry
Children’s Language
However broad or narrow it may seem to us as adults, children are rich in their own language. Not just in terms of vocabulary, but also the ways in which they construct language too, for example, saying certain phrases or words in a certain order because that's how a parent or grand-parent says them. It … Continue reading Children’s Language
Translations
Last week we heard the Loch Ness monster’s song. This week I thought we could try our hand at translation. I came across these lines in a book of poems by one of my favourite poets, Naomi Shihab Nye: ‘I used to translate what a hen said. Little kids believed me. I looked deep into … Continue reading Translations
Writing Box 