All articles on this site

  • The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: key points and imagery

    Task: Read through the Ancient Mariner, and using Powerpoint devise a Powerpoint summary of the poem, using suitable images from the internet and KEY LINES AND QUOTES from the poem. To do this: Read through the poem in pairs, lifting key lines from the poem, and summarising it. Then find images to match your quotes. […]

  • Travel brochure based on the Ancient Mariner’s experience

    Using Microsoft Word or Publisher, devise a travel brochure based on the Ancient Mariner’s experiences. Look up some travel brochures on Google and learn about how these brochures use language, then using this type of language, write your own brochure. You MUST use statistics in your brochure. Detail exactly how much time will be spent […]

  • Appearance on BBC Breakfast

    Appeared this Tuesday on BBC Breakfast giving my views about homework. A recent survey shows that not many parents understand their children’s homework and don’t have much of a clue about how to help. I spoke about the two types of parent: the nagger, who is always hovering over their child, checking to see if […]

  • Casual violence that children learn to live with

    A disturbing analysis of the current state of gangs in Britain: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3950162.ece‘

  • Girl gangs

    A fascinating piece on the evolution of girl gangs which ties in with some of the stuff I point out in Yob Nationhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/05/14/do1403.xml‘

  • Appearing on the Wright Stuff

  • BBC Interviews

    Spoke at length on two radio interviews today: BBC Radio Ulster and BBC Radio Scotland. The Ulster interview asked for my comments on the Tories’ new proposals to stop the parents of excluded children appealing against a headteacher’s decision to exclude them. I said it was all a bit of a sound bite and that […]

  • Parent Power

    The one-stop book for any parent who wants their child to get the most of the British education system.

  • Tender is the night

    Finished reading Scott Fitzgerald’s ‘Tender is the Night’ and was struck by the author’s deep psychological insight, his ability to scrutinise the tiniest reactions of people when they are confronted or challenged, his uncanny, enlightened cynicism that sees multiple causes behind every gesture, every flick of the eye, every glance. The scene where Dick Diver […]

  • Violence in the classroom

    A depressing survey that shows violence in the classroom is on the increase: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article3564297.ece http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/onethird-of-teachers-threatened-796778.html‘

  • Interesting article on the brain controlling accent

    Great article for English Language A Level students on how the brain controls accents here.’

  • BBC Radio 5 Live Debate On Universities

    Appeared on Richard Bacon’s show, arguing that too many students were going to university, studying non-courses’. Too many courses are not serious: Outdoor Adventure With Philosophy, Ghost-Hunting, Surfing Studies. The guest arguing the other point of view, said that students should be able to study whatever they want. I argued there was limited money in […]

  • Rose-tinted government recruitment campaign on BBC Breakfast

    Appeared yesterday on BBC Breakfast talking about the new government advertising campaign to recruit teachers. I complained on the Beeb’s very red sofa that the government didn’t tell the truth, that it gave false hopes and that it sold the lie that teachers are paid like people in the corporate world. The campaign highlights all […]

  • Good analysis of the crime statistics

    The Sunday Times ran a good analysis of the crime stats in this interesting comment piece. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/minette_marrin/article3382270.ece?openComment=true‘

  • Good analysis of the crime statistics

    The Sunday Times ran a good analysis of the crime statistics in this interesting comment piece. The same edition ran an illuminating interview with a former gang member.

  • The Asbo Round The Corner

    Our local corner shop has finally had an Asbo slapped on the local youths in our area to stop them intimidating and harrassing them, after years of abuse and violence. The local residents rose up and named and shamed the miscreants in court. All seems peaceful now at the shop: there are no youths smoking […]

  • Newsnight — Yob Culture

    Appeared on Newsnight talking about yob culture with Ken Jones, a top policeman, Rob Williams from the Children’s Commission, and a leading magistrate.

  • Two In A Tower and The Trumpet Major

    Going through a major Thomas Hardy phase, as if teaching ‘Far From The Madding Crowd’ wasn’t enough. I felt his novella, ‘Two In A Tower’ is a marvellous achievement. It’s about a poor, young, pretty astronomer who falls in love with an unhappily married lady of the manor. The pair secretly marry, only to have […]

  • Pere Goriot — Balzac in Paris

    Loved reading Balzac’s most famous novel in Paris, walking the streets, observing the lemony sunlight on polished stone, and living the life of Raustignac, the poor student, who seeks the high life in the ballrooms and salons of 19th Century Paris. The novel is a real pot-boiler, full of melodrama, wronged fathers, conniving daughters and […]

  • The Road Home by Rose Tremain

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