ABSTRACT

Redefining English for the More Able is a practical guide offering English teachers a range of strategies to stretch and challenge their students. Written by Ian Warwick, founder of London Gifted and Talented, and Ray Speakman, this book provides a fresh perspective on the purpose of English teaching and the benefits it can offer all students.

Drawing on an array of ideas and examples from different genres of literature, the book discusses how ‘threshold concepts’ can be used to frame English teaching and push the boundaries of students’ learning. The chapters provide example lesson plans targeted at different age groups from Key Stages 2–5, and address different aspects of English, including short stories, poetry, film, drama and science fiction. Warwick and Speakman examine how the requirements for teaching more able students have received more recent focus under Ofsted, and offer specific examples of activities and reflective questions that can engage students more deeply in their appreciation of English.

This well researched and accessible guide will be an invaluable tool for English teachers, teaching assistants and school leaders wishing to reflect on new ways of motivating and teaching the more able in order to develop the intellectual curiosity of all their students.

part one|54 pages

The background

chapter 1|10 pages

Analysing the backstory

How did English lose its way? Is it solipsistic in here, or is it just me?

chapter 2|10 pages

Redefining the discipline

What’s the point of teaching English?

chapter 3|8 pages

Overcoming the hurdles

What barriers block the highest achievement?

chapter 4|9 pages

Driving engagement in English

Why are ‘manageable gaps’ so important?

chapter 5|9 pages

Investigating the theory

What can current research add to our teaching?

part two|95 pages

The classroom

chapter 6|16 pages

Moving into the linguistic universe (ages 8–11)

Taking learners into the ‘art and craft of writing’

chapter 7|16 pages

Discovering the long road to me through short stories (ages 11–14)

Moving learners into new territories

chapter 8|18 pages

Crafting perfected attention through poetry (ages 14–16)

Encouraging learners to ‘extend their maps of experience’ (O’Brien, 1998)

chapter 9|18 pages

Disturbing the peace through drama (ages 14–16)

Helping learners ‘to feel what wretches feel’ (King Lear)

chapter 10|19 pages

Exploring structure and meaning through film (ages 16+)

Offering learners different representations of reality