News

MAY 2013

Welcome. I'm trying to keep the site up-to-date with resources. Remember that I also post articles on English and occasional audio on my 'Pick 'n' Mix' blog.

THE BARTON BLOG

What began as a lighthearted dumping ground for thoughts and ideas about English and literacy has developed into the main way of articulating the disgraceful unfairness of the 2012 GCSE fiasco. You can find it here: 'Pick 'n' Mix' Blog.

The blog I maintain for our brilliant debating team is here Debating Squad

RECENT PUBLISHING

  • Just published: Don't Call it Literacy! published by Routledge
  • Available again: Literacy activities for tutor time: Read, Write, Speak! published by SSAT and available here

    RECENT ARTICLES

    2013

  • 'Testing Times for Grammar': My latest column for the Bury Free Press (TES) (17 May 2013)
  • 'Knowing Stuff': My latest column for the EADT (TES) (15 May 2013)
  • 'Withitness' is all you need: My latest column (TES) (3 May 2013)
  • TES Leadership: 'Take charge in your first few weeks': My column (TES) (3 May 2013)
  • 'Saluting Edmund Coote': My latest column (East Anglian Daily Times) (20 March 2013)
  • 'On Character': My latest column (Bury Free Press) (15 March 2013)
  • 'Ofsted - who do you think you are?': My latest column (TES) (22 February 2013)
  • 'Role-Models': My latest column (East Anglian Daily Times) (20 February 2013)
  • 'Reading is for everyone': My article for World Book Day (TES) (15 February 2013)
  • 'In Praise of Roy Samson': My latest column (Bury Free Press) (18 January 2013)
  • 'A Monster is Hatched': My latest column (East Anglian Daily Times) (16 January 2013)
  • 'This Too Shall Pass': New year blog (National Education Trust) (January 2013)

    2012

  • 'The Z Word': my monthly EADT column "I am, I fear, in the bad books..." (East Anglian Daily Times) (21 November 2012)
  • BFP column 3: "I wanted to be Noel Edmonds ..." (Bury Free Press) (16 November 2012)
  • '10 things I've learned about headship': 'Layered Cake' (ASCL 'Leader' Magazine) (November 2012)
  • TES article: Just Say No (Times Educational Supplement) (October 2012)
  • BFP column 1: A Question of Choice (Bury Free Press) (October 2012)
  • EADT column 9: Lessons from abroad (East Anglian Daily Times) (October 2012)
  • BFP education supplement: Education basics (Bury Free Press) (September 2012)
  • TES article: 'Flippancy makes exam system look even less credible' (TES) (September 2012)
  • TES article: 'Aim for a PB in optimism' (Times Educational Supplement) (September 2012)
  • TES article: 'Avast Y! Here be the booty!' (KS3 English) (Times Educational Supplement) (September 2012)
  • East Anglian Daily Times column (7): On boredom (East Anglian Daily Times) (August 2012)
  • TES article: 'Our pupils have been sacrificed to an ideology' (Times Educational Supplement) (August 2012)
  • East Anglian Daily Times column (6): On boredom (East Anglian Daily Times) (July 2012)
  • TES column: End-of-term optimism (Times Educational Supplement) (July 2012)
  • East Anglian Daily Times column (5): Panto season (East Anglian Daily Times) (June 2012)
  • TES column: Proud of state school achievements (Times Educational Supplement) (June 2012)
  • East Anglian Daily Times (4): The lure of 'freedom' (East Anglian Daily Times) (May 2012)
  • TES column: Credibility Matters (Times Educational Supplement) (April 2012)
  • National Education Trust pamphlet: 'Shouldn't Ofsted be helping to improve our schools? (NET, extract only) (January 2012)
  • TES column: Practical jokers are the arch villains (Times Educational Supplement) (February 2012)
  • East Anglian Daily Times column 3: Thinking globally (EADT) (March 2012)
  • TES column: Carrots fail to motivate (Times Educational Supplement) (March 2012)
  • The Schools Network blog: On the future – learning in 2037 (The Schools Network) (March 2012)
  • The Use of English article: Reclaiming English (Spring 2012)
  • East Anglian Daily Times column (2): Birmingham
  • East Anglian Daily Times monthly column (1): Suffolkation (April 2012)
  • TES column: Credibility Matters (April 2012)

    2011

  • TES column: More shoved than nudged (Times Educational Supplement) (January 2011)
  • TES column: Perhaps we should scream (Times Educational Supplement) (March 2011)
  • TES column: Writing's on the wall if children don't read (Times Educational Supplement) (April 2011)
  • TES column: Reforms give me that Domesday feeling (Times Educational Supplement) (June 2011)
  • TES column: David Brooks The Social Animal (Times Educational Supplement) (July 2011)
  • TES column: What goes on behind Ofsted's back is brilliant (Times Educational Supplement) (July 2011)
  • TES column: There's not much wrong with our moral compass (Times Educational Supplement) (August 2011)
  • NET article: 'The Whitehall Signal Box' (National Education Trust) (September 2011)
  • TES English article: 'Why talk matters' (Times Educational Supplement) (September 2011)
  • TES English article: 'The 'C' Word' (C = Comprehensive) (Times Educational Supplement) (November 2011)
  • TES English article: 'Vocabulary' (Times Educational Supplement) (November 2011)
  • TES column: 'Elitism for All' (Times Educational Supplement) (December 2011)

    2010

  • TES article on "Cutting the frontline" (February 2010)
  • TES article: "Whatever your subject, you're a teacher of English" (Times Educational Supplement) (March 2010)
  • TeachIt article on "film" (April 2010)
  • Quoted in an Independent article by Richard Garner on election pledges (April 2010)
  • TES article: The myth of parental choice (Times Educational Supplement) (April 2010)
  • Teachit article: Literary Heritage (May 2010)
  • TES book review: Doug Lemov: Teach Like a Champion(Times Educational Supplement) (May 2010)
  • TES article: When the government gets put into special measures (Times Educational Supplement) (May 2010)
  • SecEd article on whole-school literacy (June 2010)
  • TES article: Mr Gove, think twice before you trifle with Ofsted (Times Educational Supplement) (June 2010)
  • TES article: A Monopoly game in which poor people lose (Times Educational Supplement) (August 2010)
  • TES article: Withitness outdoes genius (Times Educational Supplement) (October 2010)
  • TES article: Check the small print (Times Educational Supplement) (December 2010)

    RECENTLY PUBLISHED

  • GCSE English Core for the superb Edexcel GCSE course and published by from Pearson
  • Re-Booting English, a toolkit for English Departments written for the SSAT's Leading Edge programme
  • One of my grammar books is about to be reprinted: Grammar Essentials (March 2010)
  • Now re-issued: a completely revised and updated edition of Grammar Survival: A Teacher's Toolkit published by Routledge
  • English Progress is now published: the new KS3 English resource from Pearson
  • Succeeding (& Surviving) Your First Year in Teaching published by SSAT

    ENGLISH TEACHERS & SCHOOL LEADERS

    You'll find lots of materials. The most popular pages are the teacher resources, and these are regularly updated so that all conference presentations are uploaded for your own use. These cover English, literacy and learning, plus more recent presentations on leadership, raising attainment in English and "Putting the fun into functional skills".

    And, for departmental self-evaluation, here's a copy of Re-Booting English .

    TRAINING MATERIALS

    All in-service training materials are in this section, for Network Training, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk conference presentations, and PowerPoints for the SSAT, Leading Edge, Gaining Ground, the National Association for the Teaching of English, NAAE, Lighthouse Training and others.

    You can download any file by clicking on its name. The only part of any PowerPoint that may not run is the music tracks (my bemused colleagues will know of my love of cheesy muzak). Sorry - you'll need to add your own.

    WRITING

    There are links to my monthly TES articles, and others. To see the weekly "Writer's Toolkit" articles on grammar written a few years ago with Dick Hudson, look at: Writers' Toolkit. I have now updated many of the writing sections, so that reviews and articles are (almost) up-to-date, including articles for Managing Schools Today .

    You can also see articles written for the National Education Trust: Training Teachers

    A recent article on whole-school literacy, reminding us of George Sampson's 1922 dictum that "every teacher in English is a teacher of English," is on the TES website here

    STUDENT RESOURCES

    I've added a couple of straightforward guides on how to get a C or A* in English. I wrote them for Year 11 students I've been coaching over the past year.

    The latest "C in English - guaranteed" handout is a simple and straightforward guide to how to write well. You won't become a C grade writer just by downloading and reading it: you need to practise the advice a bit, to get the approach into your bloodstream. But if you do that, it will work, and you'll find yourself a more confident and effective writer. In fact, you'll probably end up getting higher than a grade C. Let me know if you do!

    Here's the companion handout: "How to get an A* at GCSE". Good luck.

    OTHER RECENT PUBLISHING

    I've published several new books in the past few years:

  • English Progress the new KS3 English resource from Pearson.
  • a revised and updated edition of Grammar Survival: A Teacher's Toolkit published by Routledge
  • Interactive Non-Fiction Media (Harcourt) - a textbook with video and audio resources on an accompanying CD
  • Who We Are (Cambridge University Press) - an anthology of resources for teaching Citizenship themes

    • The new "Books" page gives details and links to Amazon where you can find out more about buying them.

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    JINGLES

    Many vistors to the site are here because they share my obscure interest in radio jingles. I no longer have time to add montages to this site, but I am host to the Bob Dinan Jingle Podcast which Bob updates with an eclectic mix of jingle samples two or three times a week. Bob also uses Twitter - search for "BobDinan" and enjoy or endure his regular rants about radio imaging.

    So whatever the reason for your visit, I hope you find the site useful. I'm flattered that it now receives so much attention. Thanks for your interest. Comments and feedback are always welcome!

    Geoff Barton