by Carolyn | Sep 19, 2017 | English, Film, Literature, Teaching
I don’t know about you but I get really peeved when people use the word ‘classic’ as a synonym for ‘old’ or ‘dull.’ People arguing against the inclusion of classic literature in English courses invariably infer that if a text is a classic then it is old and...
by Carolyn | Sep 16, 2017 | English, Film, Literature, Reading, Teaching
Teaching visual literacy and film can be a lot of fun. If there is anything our students are familiar with it is film. However, just like novels, plays, poetry and other forms of literature, film has its own conventions and terminology. I have to make a confession...
by Carolyn | Aug 8, 2017 | English, Literature, Reading, Teaching
Imagine all the students in your English class arrived each day having read the novels, plays, poetry or short stories that they were working on. Imagine not being frustrated because the lesson you so carefully prepared didn’t work because the students hadn’t done the...
by Carolyn | Oct 12, 2016 | English, Teaching
Bright Shiny Objects (BSO): Any new, interesting, intriguing, colourful idea, strategy or possibility. Designed to excite, stimulate, side-track, deviate and beguile. Guaranteed to deflect focus. Confession Long before it was diagnosed many of my students labelled me...
by Carolyn | Sep 23, 2016 | Teaching
Reasons People choose to Teach. There are a stack of different reasons why people go into teaching, especially teaching English. Between 1950 and 1978 in Australia, Secondary Teaching was one of the few things you could get government funding for to go to University....
