#NaBloPoMo 12 – The Alan Booth method

I have been thinking a lot recently about Alan Booth, my English teacher from the ages of 11 to 13. … More

What we talk about when we talk about writing

The more I talk about writing with students, teachers, colleagues and other writers, the less I am sure that we … More

Stealing

  One of the joys of working on the Teachers as Writers project is that I get to steal. As … More

Why poetry matters

The value of poetry is that it should matter … first to the writer and then to the reader.  Michael … More

Making Poetry Happen

  Announcing the publication of Making Poetry Happen: Transforming the Poetry Classroom (Bloomsbury, 2015). Making Poetry Happen provides a valuable resource … More

The man kept piling things on

  I am driving to a thing. Not a famous thing, an out of the way thing. A classroom, perhaps. … More

How to be a writing tutor

Thanks to the vision and generosity of Jean Sprackland, between 1999-2001 I had the privilege of working with the great … More

The burnt horizon

I am at a thing. It is my thing, contributing to the thing of others, who I do not know. … More

Now the silences are right

   I am completely torn apart -Rupert Loydell When I first read Raymond Carver’s Fires I loved and understood all of it, … More

The real test of a poem

I was very saddened to learn recently of the death of Michael Baldwin, the novelist, poet, writing tutor and former … More

The Write Team: Creative Writers in Schools

  The Bath Festivals‘ Write Team was a creative writing project designed to develop pupil confidence and engagement in their learning. The … More

Lifesaving Poems: Tom Raworth’s ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’

As I say in my previous blog post, I owe my knowledge of ‘8.06 p.m. June 10th 1970’ to the … More

Creativity, Confidence and Challenge: The Write Team Research Report

  ‘I’ve learnt to be more confident with my ideas, because sometimes you have an idea that you just sort of … More

Can Poets Teach?: On Writers Teaching Writing -by Joan Houlihan at Poets.org

Like a Jules Verne novel, Dana Gioia’s famous essay “Can Poetry Matter” got the future’s big picture right, but the … More

The Write Team: Engaging Invisible Pupils Through Creative Writing

Download now or preview on posterous ESRC_The_Write_Team.pdf (423 KB) Emma Metcalfe from The Bath Festivals’ Write Team has created this poster … More

Writing and Silence

I love the silence that descends on a classroom full of people who are all engaged in the act of … More