Blog
Who will tackle the crisis in Education?
Teaching as a profession is facing a crisis. How are we going to fix it?
In Defence of Speaking
Just as literacy is fluency in reading and writing oracy is fluency in speaking and listening. The ability to convey thoughts and ideas orally in a way that others understand and to understand what others say.
Understanding Film Soundtracks
There are at least three standard tracks in any film soundtrack. Dialogue Music Effects Dialogue The dialogue is the backbone of the story. If the writing is not good or the dialogue is not delivered well it really doesn’t matter what else is good. There has...
The Value of Storyboards in the English classroom
It Began with Disney. In the early 1930s, when Disney was at the height of its creativity in cartoon animation, it was common practice for the artists working at the studio to pin their rough sketches onto bulletin boards. They would do this in order to visually...
Why are Archetypes Important in Film?
An archetype is an original model of something, what we may call a prototype. According to television producer Aaron Spelling there are only 5 stories and they have all been told. The job of the modern producer or filmmaker is to find new ways of telling them. These 5...
How Much of What We See Is Real?
This post is a little shorter than the last ones have been, but the subject matter is critical to teaching film in our classrooms. It is important to remember that our students have never lived in a world without television and film. For them the visual mediums are...
What Makes a Film a Classic
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...
Reading Film in the English Classroom.
Just as literacy is the ability to read, understand and make meaning from written texts, visual literacy is the ability to do that with visual texts.
Proven ways to get students reading.
How do I get my students to read? That is one of the enduring issues that teachers of English and literature everywhere constantly struggle with. Decades of teaching have shown us that there are things we can do to help engage our students with the wonderful world of literature.
A Confession, an Apology and Bright Shiny Objects
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...