Today is National Thesaurus Day. Personally, we find these made-up holidays contemptible, abhorrent, nauseating, repugnant, and unpalatable.

“Jane Miller… discusses, inevitably, Jane Austen, the Brontës and George Eliot. But none of these writers refers to men as ‘that inferior branch of the human family’ or simply as ‘They’, or ‘Them’. The writer who does do that is Margaret Oliphant…” #BookWormSat #C19 💙📚 www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

What is everyone reading during these short January days? #EnglishScotland

That's fantastic. 😀 Pupils need to see more than just their English teachers reading. #EnglishScotland

Worth a look for child language development? www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

‘We can look at a rising graph line and reassure ourselves that learning must have occurred and we are doing a "good" job’: Mark Zacharias warns of the dangers of schools becoming obsessed with data

Teaching writing? Enjoy writing yourself? Why not submit a piece? See website for details. ⬇️ #EnglishScotland theberlinliteraryreview.com

#EnglishScotland #2026

New day, new poetry window to open on the #PoetryByHeart advent calendar! Today's poem is the gentle 'Snowflake Song' by James Carter, which sees a snowflake tumble in 'downward spirals' as night falls ❄️ Head to our website to explore the poem ❤️ poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/snowfl...

He has gone down into darkness at the wrecked end of the year And is lying, gaberlunzie, in the needled nest of frost… —Gerry Cambridge, “Processional at the Winter Solstice” from Notes for Lighting a Fire (HappenStance Press 2012) #poem #poetry #midwinter happenstancepress.com/index.php/sh...

I don’t think as much attention has been paid to implementing the curriculum as it has to the pedagogy to teach it. It’s a bit like going into a restaurant where all the effort has gone in to making it look amazing... open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...

Why Most Education Apps Fail carlhendrick.substack.com/p/why-most-e...

Here are almost 40 of my favourite #MiddleGrade reads for 2025. A fantastic range from wild fantasy, to gritty realism, historical adventures and more than a few scares. What a brilliant year its been for children’s books

What do we really mean by “I got my best writing…”? writing4pleasure.com/2025/07/16/w...

How to make timetabled reading time in schools exciting - resources, ideas and strategies. schoolreadinglist.co.uk/resources/cl... #teachersofx #teamenglish

Reading aloud in lessons marymyatt.substack.com/p/the-impact...

New post Reading aloud as intellectual inclusion open.substack.com/pub/marymyat...

Any suggestions? #EnglishScotland

Inspiring Quotes from Children's Classics: For Growing Up by Hannah Barnaby & Ruth Burrows. With quotes from The Velveteen Rabbit, The Wizard of Oz, Ramona & more - Daily new children's book #kidlit #BookOfTheDay #ad - Daily new children's book #kidlit #ad ⬇️ uk.bookshop.org/a/735/978146...

“Most poets can’t drive a car and the ones who do drive shouldn’t” I’m sure this is fine though www.theguardian.com/books/2023/j...

The very best wishes to all pupils and staff this prelim season. #EnglishScotland

How do you build strong readers who know how to analyze what they’re reading? Good modeling while reading higher-level texts will do the trick. 📖 #literacy #EduSky

The Secret History of Christmas by Catherine Saunders. Discover amazing events, discoveries and traditions that happened on 25 December - Daily new children's book #kidlit #BookOfTheDay #ad - Daily new children's book #kidlit #ad ⬇️ uk.bookshop.org/a/735/978152...

Where is the EduSky chat?#EnglishScotland

The Herald's Christmas appeal, in association with @scottishbooktrust.bsky.social, asks you to give a child the gift of reading 📗 GET INVOLVED: www.heraldscotland.com/opin...

Happy Friday from all of us at #EnglishScotland

We ❤️ Scotland's bookshops! If you love them too, take a moment to explore The Bookseller Association's report, The Cultural and Community Role of Scotland’s Bookshops. 🔗 booksellers.org.uk/getattachmen...

"The poem is a seagull resting on a pier at the end of the ocean." Jack Spicer

The future of education? #EnglishScotland chatgpt.com/use-cases/hi...

📣We're recruiting markers for the 2026 exams! Foster, a Technical Education and STEM teacher, says marking has benefitted him in many ways.🙌 The chance to share advice with colleagues has seen him return to marking year after year. Learn about current opportunities: info.sqa.org.uk/4nTXN7s

80 children's and teen books about World War 2, including nonfiction, fiction, playscript & poetry titles by Michael Rosen, Bali Rai, Tom Palmer, Emma Carroll, Sufiya Ahmed, Liz Kessler, Mal Peet, Anne Frank, Ruta Sepetys & more. schoolreadinglist.co.uk/genres/world... #teachersofx #kidlit

Attempting to motivate students with warnings like ‘you won’t get a decent job without good GCSEs’ can backfire, says @mrenglishteach.bsky.social – here, he shares some alternative approaches

In case you haven't heard. . . It's Book Week Scotland! ❤️📚💛 Browse the many exciting events happening in your area throughout the week (many of which are free to attend) on our website:  www.scottishbooktrust.com/book-week-sc...

Andrew O’Hagan & @moonjets.bsky.social on Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, & Bournemouth in this @lrb.co.uk podcast. When James first came to Skerryvore – RLS’s home, named for a Hebridean lighthouse – the maid mistook him for a carpet-fitter… #RLSDay #C19 💙📚 www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and...

Help us share the magic of books this Christmas with @scottishbooktrust.bsky.social www.heraldscotland.com/opin... @salmondsalmond.bsky.social

This is a great idea for keeping book displays current. #EnglishScotland

Have a good week everyone. #EnglishScotland

The Oxfam bookshop on Glasgow’s Byres Road moved, recently, to a new location further down the hill – but I’m very pleased that they managed to take Alasdair Gray’s mural with them! I think he did this when on a break from painting the ceiling in Òran Mór … @agrayarchive.bsky.social

Happy 423 years of us! 🎉 📚 The Bodleian Libraries opened for the first time on 8 November 1602... This means, we're older than the refracting telescope (1608), the publication of Shakespeare's Hamlet (1623) and Sir Isaac Newton's apple (1666)! 😅

Get cosy with a book this week. #EnglishScotland

Just over a week to go until my talk at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow as part of the brilliant Aye Write festival - if you fancy hearing about my adventures in search of Scotland's ancient past, come along! Tickets available here: www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/the-... #RomanSiteSaturday #AyeWrite

I think if you ask parents and carers what they want from an education, a lot of them would prioritise their children being happy. Not to have fun all the time but just to feel good about going into the setting. We mustn't lose sight of that. ♥️

Really interesting thread on reading for enjoyment. ⬇️ #EnglishScotland

In front of me a girl with bare feet, in a beribboned dress, picks white flowers in a field somewhere near Pompeii… —Stewart Conn, “Springtime” from IN THE KIBBLE PALACE, @bloodaxebooks.bsky.social 1987 #Pompeii was destroyed possibly #OTD, 24 Oct, 79CE #Roman #archaeology #poem #poetry

“It was one of the last autumn days when the leaves were falling in little gusts. They fell on the children who were thankful for this excuse to wriggle and for the allowable movements in brushing the leaves from their hair and laps.” —Muriel Spark, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE #BookWormSat 💙📚

📖 'Many students who could write with flair fail to do so because they cannot memorise or recall textual references…' A major exam provider is making all its English exams open-book – could others follow suit?

Its day therteen o #Scotstober 2025! The day's wird is: plooter