ECT mentors: join me on Wednesday to share best practice on how we are supporting our early career teachers. 👇👇

English subject mentors of ECTs and ITTs - what challenges do you face when working with your ECTs? Which areas do they need most support in? Is it subject knowledge? Support with adapting lesson resources? Subject specific pedagogy? I’d love to hear from you for some research. @litdrive.bsky.social

English Teachers! I have two copies of Diverse Words and Voices to give away! Follow and reply and I will put names into a hat, and announce winners next Friday. #EduSky

Fully funded PhD studentship at Aston University, starting October 2025: "Linguistic representations of medical weight loss treatments in the news" Application deadline: 24th April www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

We're recruiting! New fully funded PhD studentship in Forensic Linguistics, starting October 2025: 'Conceptual mapping in psychiatric evidence'. Would you like to work on a research project with @felicitydeamer.bsky.social and @timgrant123.bsky.social? Apply now 👇 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

NEW BLOG: Oracy - The Infamous 'I don't know'. #engchat #engchatuk learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2025/03/orac...

I keep coming back to this text for my studies and wish I had a copy when I was teaching. English teachers: this is a brilliant text for developing subject knowledge, approaches to studying fiction in the classroom and reflection questions. amzn.eu/d/bwJTK1q

The power of reading … my 7 year old writing like she is Enid Blyton. I’m in love with the opening line 😍 I’m sure we all know that feeling.

In association with @engmediacentre.bsky.social - come to Nottingham on April Fool’s Day (yes, really) for the UK’s first ever student conference for A-level Lang/Lit. Cheap as chips! And a great line up. Book here: www.englishandmedia.co.uk/conferences/...

Here are some revision lessons on language and literature I’ve made for the 2025 run up to exams. Use/chuck/change as you see fit! Help yourselves 👍🏻 www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/s9x6l...

This sounds really interesting for the sector. One l’ll be watching closely.

Went to the cinema (A Complete Unknown is v.good) and was served by ex-pupil who remembered our Much Ado lessons from y8 💛 never missed the classroom more …

It's competition time! We're inviting UK-based students in Years 10, 11 and 12 to create a “MASSOLIT-style” video lecture. Find out all the details here: massolit.io/competition

Thank you to @neilgilbride.bsky.social for sending me a copy of his new book. I am looking forward to reading and sharing with my ITTs and ECTs.

Enjoyed listening to @steplab.bsky.social webinar yesterday. Expert analysis of teaching clips and a generous free share from Steplab. Thank you to all involved. Side note: love how @pepsmccrea.bsky.social frames the emotional response to watching teaching in the webinar and in the docu.

🖊️ Member blog 🖊️ Do you have an idea that you would like to develop into a blog post? Get in touch with us today so we can help you share your thoughts and knowledge with our members. Contact us here: https://buff.ly/482iVAt #LitdriveCPD #TeamEnglish @Team_English1

This sounds brilliant #teamenglish

ECTs and trainee teachers: please can I ask for your help? I want to hear from you about your experience in teaching. What do you love about it? What do you wish you could change? If you’re a teacher who left teaching after their first few years, what pushed you to leave? Pls comment below👇

In my ECT seminars this week, I asked ECTs to share a thank you or a shoutout to their mentors. I’ve been reading them through and they are so lovely! I can’t wait to share with mentors and Induction Leads about the impact mentors are having. ☺️ @winacadtrust.bsky.social @natinstteaching.bsky.social

Been feeling a lot of self doubt and had a dose of imposter syndrome the last few months but I’ve done a ‘thing’ this morning and it felt good and I remembered I can do some stuff well (when I get out of my head). I need to talk more kindly to myself.

Still awful at speaking Spanish but you can’t blame a girl for trying. Pretty proud of this streak.

*New post* I haven’t blogged for a while. This is the first of 2025, and is on school improvement. Don’t make the thing, the Thing birminghamteacher.wordpress.com/2025/02/02/d...

We have a new series on the site, 'Shakespeare: The Essentials'. These courses provide clear and accessible introductions, designed for students who are looking to grasp the main events and relationships, without delving into complex analysis. Ideal for younger or lower ability students.

A great thread from Chris with insightful consideration of the evidence available. I have heard this discussion before in sessions/ PD but Chris explains it so well here.

Right then! 🙌🙌🙌 #rEDBrum

I’m so excited for this! FREE CPD for anyone who wants to hear about approaches to writing!

Looking forward to this session with @chrissuch.bsky.social & @fftedu.bsky.social. Free literacy #CPD on practical strategies for teaching #reading in #primary schools. 📚 Sign up to either date… 📅 Tue 28 Jan (15:45 - 16:45) bit.ly/3PLSjga 📅 Wed 29 Jan (09:00 - 10:00) bit.ly/3PNHCtz

Join our Steering Group! We invite colleagues in English Studies from all career stages to join us, especially those who can support our digital platforms and who have ideas for extending the work of the network. Deadline: 31/1/25 - more info here: www.decolonisingthediscipline.org/our-team

A date for your diaries! Linguistic (in-)justice in schools | Collaboration #ThinkingForwards Thu 20 Mar at 16:30 FREE online with @iancushing.bsky.social @clarefeeney.bsky.social "Widening cracks in the system": linguistic (in-)justice in schools. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/linguistic...

One for Language Diversity and Change BBC News - Owhamya? Is the Black Country Dialect disappearing? - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Day 11 of the new year and I still haven’t written in my diary. 🙈 I don’t know why I insist on keeping this habit year after year when it just adds to the to-do list every day. I can’t be the only one who loves the idea of it but never gets round to it?

Spending a chunk of the holiday researching and writing MA assignments. Topics of choice are: teaching poetry, the diversification of GCSE Lit texts and attitudes to oracy/SE in the classroom. Added to the Christmas madness my brain is 🤯

Lit in Colour: research, engagement & impact to date (21 Jan 2025, 16:45 – 17:30) Join this FREE online session for a deep dive into the Lit in Colour 2021 & 2024 research, look at other free resources, & discussion. #TeamEnglish #EduSky #Teaching #Resources englishassociation.ac.uk/lit-in-colou...

Big day 🎉 Pleased to finally share "Achieve and thrive: a research-based guide to pupil motivation and engagement". It explores how teachers & leaders might apply the latest research into pupil motivation and engagement in practice - let us know what you think! www.ambition.org.uk/pupil-engage...

If your students struggle with GCSE English Language because they don't have the wider reading experience and the mental library to draw on, you need to bring that wide reading INTO CLASS in KS3. Breadth over depth at KS3. Shared experience of texts that everyone can draw on. 1/

There's plenty of data to show that the type of varied, nourishing, self-challenging reading diet that we'd love every child to have IS UNLIKELY TO HAPPEN AT HOME. It's more of a priority than learning GCSE-style essay and analysis in KS3. 2/2

A great thread from @hugheshaili.bsky.social on mentoring

Four the last four years, I have been buying Christmas books for students whose families are struggling financially. It is all secret. Student is called aside and given a selection of new books. Staff donate money instead of sending cards. Pastoral team help pick students.

What a fabulous day with the @winacadtrust.bsky.social family - all teaching staff in the same room sharing and reflecting on their practice and led by the brilliant Denarius Frazier.

Tiny thing from my classroom in the last fortnight: ‘the rubbish version’… Writing is hard. It’s the most cognitively demanding thing we ask our students to do. When we teach creative writing, it’s difficult to get some students to start, or to write in a way that is relaxed and free. 1/ 👇

Can anyone help one of our PhD students who is looking for a GSCE class studying Pride and Prejudice?

@scottinghatt.bsky.social reveals 4 surprising ways that knowing how learning works can help you make better teaching decisions. 🤔 www.innerdrive.co.uk/blog/counter...

Revisiting Andy Atherton’s book for some research I’m doing and I’m reminded how great it is: well researched, practical and sensible with lots of takeaways for the English classroom.

One of the things that keeps me going back to Twitter is that I get fairly regular DMs on there asking me for advice about reading. Just to be clear: I am more than happy for people to DM on here for the same reason. Please repost this if you think this info might be useful to someone.

What's behind door number 3... 🤩 To spread some festive cheer we're giving one lucky follower the chance to win a MASSOLIT goody bag!

One of my pleasures is buying Christmas picture books for my daughters. For the last 5 years, we have had a Christmas book advent. We enjoy the same books most years with a couple of new ones or some passed on to friends/family. It brings us so much joy and we love our Christmas bedtimes reads.

*Adaptive expertise* is a woolly concept. But here’s three key quotes I’ve picked out that tell us something useful for teaching...

Prepping for an English ITT day tomorrow. Looking forward to talking all things English with the trainees with a particular focus on effective questioning in the English classroom.

1 week to go... ConnectED Live from Beckfoot Trust & TTCT. LOOK AT THIS LINE UP! 🤩 FREE tickets here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/79d75a... Going to share some bits from some of our speakers in the run-up to the event. Today's share - @msybibi.bsky.social's blog: www.yaminabibi.co.uk/blog

Fantastic ECT2 seminar with @bradleybusch.bsky.social and @natinstteaching.bsky.social this afternoon. We’re thinking all about criticality and applying research. Lots of great tips and considerations for ECTs to takeaway. @winacadtrust.bsky.social