Diary of an NQT
SHAKESPEARE RESOURCES SHAKESPEARE RESOURCES
The whole world is a playhouse
INSPIRED BY my own recent excursion to peers in a Capulet-Montague resembling fisticuff.
Southwark’s famous stage, I approached this week’s Luckily they never entered the school, probably put
Shakespeare-tinged lessons with gusto. off by the masses that had gathered to meet
My year 9 boys, after valiant cut-and-paste them. I shall never call our students disloyal
efforts, indeed managed to construct their at least!
own models of the Globe Theatre this It fell to myself and a group of other
Shakespeare unleashed
week. Although initially phased by an naïvely brave souls to then shepherd the
A3 sheet of cut-outs, my Blue Peter- students back into the school. Exciting if
style “one I made earlier” inspired near-riotous scenarios are your thing.
them into trying to replicate the I try and dwell on the positive
most famous of playhouses. And experiences rather than those which
with great success! could dismay, and so I will be adding
Some of them were very a fun year 7 lesson to the memory
proud of the models and had bank this week. Wilfred Owen’s
learnt about the history and Anthem for Doomed Youth could
structure of the theatre. It’s a have become an hour of melancholic
shame my effort to inject warbling that put those poor boys off
enjoyment into a Shakespeare unit poetry for life. So I decided to lift the
wasn’t as enthusiastically met by my mood slightly by lining up the boys (as
GCSE class. cattle) and sending them, one by one, to
Last week saw me staying late at their futile deaths. Do not fear, no children
school nearly every night, thinking up were harmed in the making of this article, I
ways to engage an often reluctant class only marched them out the door (although
in Shakespeare. Spurred by recent I was shouting “dead!” as every passing
successes with drama-related tasks, boy left).
I tried every trick in the book to Last week drained me and it seemed
whet their appetites, but my efforts my efforts were to little avail. I’ve decided
were not rewarded. Surely the most my conscientious approach must wane
frustrating annoyance of this term for a short time, as other areas of my life
so far has been the apathy this class require some urgent attention; the birthday
has shown, despite my endeavours to of my very own Juliet springs immediately
delight. Little was I to know that a real-life to mind.
Shakespearean enactment was brewing As I drove home Friday night, I sang joyfully
just outside our classroom window... along and vowed to “throw my homework onto
I would have loved to have seen my the fire, go out and see the one that you love and
own face when I glanced outside to see who loves you”.
nearly half the school converging on the playground. After all there’s a lifetime until Monday.
With what seemed to be an alarming exodus of our
students, this NQT ran outside to see what was • Matt Connett is a newly qualified teacher of English
occurring. It emerged that a group of students from at Shenfield High, a training school in Brentwood in
a local school had come down to meet their rival Essex. He returns next week.
Teach it like Torno!
Yes (Mrs) Prime Minister
“I REMEMBER our Harrow teacher, Mr Mayo, circa extra or different materials for differing students, but
1888. He said: ‘I don’t know what to do with you because it often takes time I do not always have. I
boys!’ I replied: ‘teach us, sir’!” Winston Churchill, am continually conscious of this and it is a regular
1954. issue on my mind. I also know this is one of the big
Life is getting more and more surreal. At the concerns for other colleagues as well.
beginning of this month, I found myself in 10 However, My Way is more about focusing on your
Downing Street with Esther Rantzen to the left of me actual teaching methods and creating opportunities
and Ed Balls to the right. In the middle of the room for all to have access. Ensuring that lessons are
was the prime minister’s wife, Sarah Brown, about not always the same is a central theme of the
to make a speech which was followed campaign. Engaging students in role-play
up by one from The Fonz, aka Henry from time-to-time alongside expressing
Winkler (he seems to be everywhere themselves in either poetry or art. All of
I go these days). It was like a weird this gives learners the chance to excel
dream, but instead it was reality. in their own way.
With key stage 3 testing gone, Shakespeare is
The event was organised by The great thing about
First News, a newspaper which First News and Mr Winkler once again becoming a joy to behold for English
takes children seriously and is that they are champions
considers the world from their point of the teaching profession
teachers across the country. Former teacher
of view. Along with some of their and acknowledge that
partners, including the Teaching education is the key to
Awards, the Department for Children, the life chances of
Susan Elkin looks at the latest productions,
Schools and Families, and Henry every individual. In Mr
Winkler himself, First News launched Winkler’s case, he feels
education programmes and resources out there to help you
a campaign called “My Way”. that because dyslexia was
It is aimed at raising awareness not effectively recognised
among teachers and other when he was a schoolboy, O ARE you relieved that Shakespeare joked with an audience of sponsors recently. And a brand
educationalists about the 20 per his own opportunities were spanking new education centre is shooting up behind
cent of the world’s population that limited. He was even prevented the main South Bank building in London to support
suffer from one form of learning from being in the school play that work. Mr Spottiswoode heads a department of 25
disability or another. because he had to catch up with full-time staff – a clear indication of how seriously the
That means that potentially 20 some of the work he missed. Despite Globe takes education.
per cent of our children struggle his experiences, he visits many schools S
has disappeared from the key stage
3 curriculum along with those hated,
miserably reductive SATs?
Or do you agree with Jacqui
O’Hanlon, head of education at the
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), The team runs workshops and outreach projects
with learning and, to some and celebrates the work that teachers do. that “Shakespeare can be used as a lens to deliver at all levels to draw young people into the work of
degree, never gain full access to Credit must also be given to Sarah Brown the rest of the curriculum” and that “complex and Shakespeare and to help pupils (and teachers) to use
the curriculum. And this means who, in her role at Downing Street, has ambitious texts should be taken into all classrooms, this learning in many different ways.
we are missing out on 20 per cent promoted a variety of causes aimed at helping especially low-ability ones, because they can be made In March, for instance, Shakespeare’s Globe has a
of the population being able to offer vulnerable groups. She spoke poignantly accessible to all”? production of Macbeth created especially for young
solutions to the world’s problems. about receiving a letter from a dyslexic man Actually, to be pragmatic, it would be a short-sighted people. It is due to play to 16,000 key stage 3 students
My Way is primarily about who wrote to Downing Street in support of teacher who ignored Shakespeare altogether at key and their teachers with an in-depth teacher training and
recognising that we all learn in different Gordon Brown when his own spelling mistakes stage 3, irrespective of the dictates of the curriculum, student workshop programme to go with it. Around
ways and my way may not be your way. were highlighted in a national newspaper. given that every GCSE pupil has to study some and if 12,500 free tickets are available.
As Mr Winkler noted, “intelligence is She noted how hard it must have been for you drop them in it cold at year 10 or 11 they are hardly Whether or not you and your pupils see this Macbeth,
not an indication of how smart you are”. someone who found writing so difficult. It was likely to do very well. there is an interactive resource online that you can
And this is so true. There are numerous genuinely impressive to meet an individual who Fortunately there are a plenty of seasoned experts access. It includes a “social network” with contributions
examples of individuals who found school difficult, felt so passionately about the educational needs of our – professional Shakespeare performance companies from the play’s characters and online activities relating
yet went on to become successful in one avenue or youngsters. I was compelled to agree with her. – out there producing excellent resources of all sorts to to key features such as simile and irony in the text.
another. As you know, Mr Winkler himself is dyslexic So as long as Sarah remains in Downing Street, help with classroom work. Whether you are a highly There is another Macbeth “re-imagined for children”
and found school almost impossible. He was always she can say “I did it my way!” Have a great week and experienced drama teacher, an English specialist in life- coming up at Open Air Theatre in Regents Park,
the class clown and while other children were good at look out for the My Way campaign or you can request long love with Shakespeare’s language, an NQT daunted London, in July too. Since Timothy Sheader took over
spelling or maths, he held the record for eating a tuna more information at www.firstnews.co.uk by the challenge and a bit frightened of the complexity the artistic directorship of the theatre in 2008, abridged
sandwich in the fastest possible time. In spite of the of the plays, or anything in between – plenty of help is versions of Shakespeare for young audiences have
schooling he received, he became a very successful • David Torn is professional tutor and an advanced at hand. become an annual feature.
actor and found success in his own way. skills teacher at St Edward’s Comprehensive School Take Shakespeare’s Globe. It has a fairly short main If this Macbeth is as good as last year’s The Tempest
As I have said in this column before, I still in Essex. He is the London Secondary School Teacher performance season in summer because it is an outdoor or 2008’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, then it will
find differentiation one of the hardest aspects of of the Year 2007 and is passionate that the purpose of venue, but its education work goes on all year round. be well worth taking a group to. The theatre is also
teaching. This is not because I am reluctant to prepare education is to change lives. He returns in a fortnight. “We call October to May the ‘education season’,” working in partnership with the Young Shakespeare
the Globe’s director of education, Patrick Spottiswoode, Company (which performs to 100,000 students a year)
8 SecEd • January 28 2010
08-09 Confis.indd 8 25/1/10 10:13:39
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