Really good books about cancer are rare. Really great books about cancer, the ones that offer new perspectives and…
Ways With Words: Teachers’ Metalinguistic Understanding of Poetry
This is the powerpoint of the paper I am giving with Debra Myhill at the Writing Across Borders II conference…
Why initial teacher education needs to stay in universities
Artwork: Kate Vaughan What Michael Gove says about trainee teachers having the opportunity to observe and learn from teachers in school…
On Cliff Yates’ Poetry Workshop
‘Whenever I work with people – no matter what their age – I try to run a checklist through my mind: are…
Guardian Weekend readers’ letters on cancer as ‘the new normal’
Photo: Jon Soper Letters from the Guardian weekend page on last week’s Siddhartha Mukherjee’s article on cancer as ‘the new…
My recent research: Teachers’ metaphors of poetry writing pedagogy
Download now or preview on posterous Teachers’_Metaphors_presentation_Poetry_Matters_Jan_2011.ppt (93 KB) I was pleased to present the attached paper at the ESRC-funded…
Smile! You’ve got cancer by Barbara Ehrenreich from The Guardian
via guardian.co.uk A marvellous piece from the Guardian weekend pages a couple of years ago. Reading today’s piece on…
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…
New Research on Teachers’ Conceptualisations of Poetry Writing
via edlinked.soe.waikato.ac.nz My latest research paper is now published in English Teaching: Practice and Critique Volume 9, Number 3, December…
My poetry books of the year
I hate end-of-year roundups. But I was so impressed by five books of poetry this year that I felt I…
Writing and Silence
I love the silence that descends on a classroom full of people who are all engaged in the act of…
My favourite review of my favourite book of poems
Over the last few days I have been thinking about the so-called New York school of poets, in posts about…
Two Poems for Advent
For the last two years I have been commissioned to write poems on the nativity story for the Exeter Network Church carol…
The Bluet by James Schuyler
Re-reading Steven Waling’s review of Frank O’Hara in The North the other day reminded me of James Schuyler today. Not as famous…
Lifesaving Poems 