As an English teacher I don’t find the concept of teaching grammar particularly daunting. However, for those who do, I hope that they will visit my school’s TES page where we have uploaded tutor time literacy resources (bit.lyWZ2csP).
Colleagues who are feeling uneasy about Ofsted’s rigorous focus on literacy should also be encouraged by my friend Myk Hooper. Myk is a fine maths teacher whose lessons are invariably outstanding. Nevertheless, when the inspector popped in to have a look at his 20-minute tutor time literacy session he was a mite nervous. He shouldn’t have been. Myk used the fact that he is severely dyslexic to deliver an inspirational tutorial on homophones to his mixed-ability Year 7 class. By the end, every dyslexic child in the class knew the difference between their, there and they’re. The inspector loved it. If you’re nervous about teaching grammar, use your shortcomings to strengthen your delivery of it; don’t be a teacher so much as a highly advanced learner.
Mark Coates, Advanced skills teacher, The Connaught School, Aldershot.
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