Introduction

How to teach: English - Chris Curtis 2019


Introduction

When my editor and I discussed this book, I told him that I wanted to write about a practical and honest approach to teaching English. I am not a guru nor Jedi master. Nor am I one of those overpaid CPD consultants, sporting a shiny suit and spouting inspirational quotes. I am a bog-standard teacher who finds suits horribly constricting, and, on any given Tuesday, probably have mayonnaise down my tie. In terms of building my educational camp, I am less bothered about the paint and soft furnishings than I am about the bricks and mortar.

I am writing this as a teacher who has thought about his practice, and about how it can be improved to help the students learn as well as they might. This book is therefore nothing more (and nothing less) than a collection of practical approaches you can use in your classroom. I have used them all in mine and, in this book, I discuss the thinking behind them and how they could be adapted. Plus, they are quick and easy and you don’t need to invest a whole weekend in preparation. You’ll not need to spend the school’s budget to fund them, and you’ll not have to wade through numerous pages of waffle to find just one idea.

I have explored many ideas and thoughts in this book. Some you might agree with. Some you might not. However, I am always happy to discuss what works, what doesn’t and why. Collectively, teachers should be asking these questions, and we should explore the impact of our decisions, considering whether commonly used practices are as effective as we think. That was my intention when I started writing a blog back in 2012. It was entitled Learning from My Mistakes, and my thinking was, why should an NQT have to make the same mistakes that I have?

For I have made mistakes in the classroom, and I hold my hands up to that. I don’t mean simple errors like getting a student’s name wrong or forgetting to use the ’correct’ colour pen for marking. I mean mistakes like teaching a novel without thinking about the assessment from the start. I’ve taught texts that were too easy and some that were possibly too hard. We don’t acknowledge the mistakes we make in teaching often enough. There’s a sense of pride in the profession: a male (or female) bravado that stops us fessing up to ourselves.

Why do NQTs make mistakes that more experienced teachers (forgetting that we too started from that point) might think are glaringly obvious? It’s because we don’t discuss them enough. Mistakes are seen as weaknesses, not as opportunities to learn something. If we don’t explore them, how can we expect students to learn from theirs? What do we want our students to learn? How to talk about the mistakes made and find possible solutions to the problem. That’s what I hope this book, and my blog, does. I am not writing this as a highly paid literacy consultant, from a gold chair perched on the lifeless bodies of former colleagues. I am writing this as a teacher who is going back into the classroom tomorrow. That is unless you are reading this during the holidays, then I will be back in at the start of term, probably with mayonnaise down my front.

So, what have I learned from my mistakes that I would pass on for others to avoid?

1. Don’t spend too much time on resources

When teaching The Merchant of Venice several years ago, I spent a good few hours making fifteen sets of three envelopes look just like the caskets that Portia’s suitors have to open. The effect was spoilt in the sixty seconds it took me to hand them out. One student opened theirs and revealed to the class what was in them.

Put simply, the time spent on a resource has got to be proportional to the use you will get out of it. I have resources that I use again and again, such as a sheet listing opening sentences from various novels. I use this with Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. If you want to spend time on resources — which can be fun in a strange way — make sure that you will get the due returns on them. A resource that can be used for all or most classes is better than a one-off for a poem you’ll never teach again.

The lesson on The Merchant of Venice didn’t amount to much as I had to hastily cobble together half a lesson to replace the discussion I was hoping the envelope activity would produce. It taught me that we can all too easily get caught up with making things engaging or fun when, in fact, the text itself is the puzzle. Shakespeare’s riddles are the key resource, not my pitiful attempts to create props. Now, several years down the line, I’d probably put all the riddles down on a sheet of paper or on the board and add these questions:

✵ Which chest is gold? Silver? Lead?

✵ Which chest contains Portia’s image and hand in marriage?

The riddles are engaging enough without half a tub of glitter and three hours’ worth of prep. Engage with the students intellectually and you have got them for the lesson. Dumb down intellectual ideas and you’ll have to work harder to maintain that level of thinking. And you’ll have to create more resources. Intellectual engagement is free, paperless and easy to conjure up.

2. Technology is a tool and just that

I once lost a year’s worth of resources due to a memory stick being put through a 40° cotton wash several times. I cannot describe the pain, anguish and suffering I experienced. I lost several units of work in the blink of a spin cycle. That’s why — now — I back everything up and send it to my mum via email just in case I lose it.

Technology helps teaching, but it doesn’t replace it. If your practice is too reliant on technology, then step away from it. Only the other week, I had someone use my room and change the settings on the computer so I couldn’t use my PowerPoint of ’Ozymandias’. Plan B didn’t work because the projector wouldn’t show the YouTube video. I was left with a paperclip and a pack of lined paper and, in true MacGyver fashion, created a fairly good lesson. Without the technological fripperies we were able to focus on the text.

A computer doesn’t make a lesson function. The teacher’s brain does. And that only rarely breaks down.

3. Parents are not the enemy

It’s easy to forget that parents want the best for their children when you’re constantly being bombarded with less than pleasant emails. Parents have fears, worries and anxieties for — and relationships with — their children. If a child is upset, they will naturally act to protect. Behind every parental complaint or issue is a reason. Understand the reason and you’ll understand the parent.

One of the key difficulties in teaching is that we deal with so many humans: the young people we teach and the adults who love them most. The happiness of one is reliant and dependent on the other. And, dear reader, children are not always the most vocal of individuals. I’d advise all teachers to talk to parents. Chat with them and discuss issues. The problems I have had were usually caused by not openly discussing an issue so that it became something bigger at a later stage. Parents are people.

4. Don’t reinvent the wheel

I’ve spent thousands of hours making resources, and it has taken me over a decade to learn to use the people around me to help me get through the job. Teaching is hard, but all too often we don’t utilise what’s around us. A textbook can be part of the lesson. A colleague can help you plan and resource a lesson. It is about give and take. Give to others and it is easier to take.

The problem with teaching is the constant pace. It is just too fast and too busy. In the rush of things, it is difficult to be friendly and considerate. Occasionally, you can be too busy even to pee. Seek out resources and collaborate with others to make your work—life balance better. The job can swallow us up, and it is our collective responsibility to make sure that doesn’t happen.

5. Don’t bottle things up

Teaching is an emotional job. The majority of the time, we are trapped in a classroom with thirty human-shaped sticks of emotional dynamite. They could explode at any point and, as adults, we have to maintain a certain dignified restraint. We can’t really burst into tears every time a student is either nice or unpleasant to us. Emotionally, we live on a knife edge. Here, it is good to talk, to discuss and to share thoughts and feelings. Do it over a drink. Do it after playing football. Just get it out of your system.

Oh, and one last bit of advice. Find a hobby and work hard to do it whenever and wherever you can. If you have no outside interests then you will become the job. That hobby might be reading, stamp collecting, painting, swimming, even naturism; but, whatever it is, keep at it and find the time for it. Don’t let school make the things you enjoy become expendable. I have witnessed numerous teachers working both Saturdays and Sundays to keep on top of the job, which, after all, is just that — a job. Something that pays the bills. Regardless of how good or how bad you are, the cogs of the education machine will keep turning without you. It happens to us all. We’d like to think being a teacher is a vocation and a calling, but I haven’t met that many teachers who’d be willing to teach for free.

How to use this book

Teachers are busy people and I’ve written this book with that in mind. It is a rarity for teachers to be able to sit down for a long time, and it is even rarer for a teacher to be able to sit down and read. Therefore, I’ve kept things quite concise. The time you spend trying to visualise an extended metaphor that is spread over several pages could be better spent on friends and family. So feel free to dip into chapters that are most relevant to something you are currently teaching or read from cover to cover.

Finally, just a quick note on the poems and literary extracts used throughout. These are mainly sourced from Project Gutenberg online editions as these are so easily accessible, and the precise wording quoted here matches these sources. However, please do check whether there are any slight textual variations between these and any other edition you might be using before exploring the text with a class.