One of the most influential books I have read over the last few months is Open: how we'll work, live and learn in the future by musician, educator and fellow Leeds resident, David Price. If you haven’t come across it before, I can thoroughly recommend it.  In his book, David Price explores new trends in working and learning made possible by the internet and the rise of social media. There are several ideas from Open that have powerful implications for education and I will explore several of these on this blog in the next few months. One of the most important parts of being ‘open’ is about reciprocal sharing.  Over the last few years, I have been turning my ideas into buyable teaching resources available from my shop on the TES platform. I put together short and long planning prompts and Medium Term Planning documents for creative writing, literacy, and cross-curricular units of work.   Selling resources is a vital source of income to support my independent wo...

Buy this book! Image copyright by the owners. ARTiculate Bulletin wc.14.3.16 Bambert's Book of Missing Stories This story is not just a book of writing. It is a book about writing. Bambert lives a lonely, detached life with only Mr Bloom the greengrocer and the characters in his stories – The Book of Wishes - for company. Not convinced he knows enough of the world to make his writing believable, he sets his stories free on paper lanterns to find the characters and settings they deserve. In brief: Have you tried?  Ideas for talking and thinking : How do writers write? That is the question and this book gives you the starting point for a discussion about where ideas come from. Ideas for writing : Collaborate as a class or with another school on creative story writing. Ideas for art : Give your stories wings by building paper lanterns.       If you try any of the ideas I'd love to see the work your children produce! ...

This week's bulletin features creative ideas for In The Attic by Hiawyn Oram and Satoshi Kitamura. It is a real gem and the perfect basis for a whole class literacy and art project. If you try any of the ideas I'd love to see the work your children produce. To request this in pdf format, please join the mailing list by clicking here and sending me your details. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In The Attic by Hiawyn Oram & Satoshi Kitamura -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The boy has a million toys and is bored. So, he takes himself off up the ladder to the attic and finds a hidden universe that is full of unexpected creatures, doors to new worlds and a wealth of imaginative possibility. Funnily enough, his house does not have an attic. But maybe you just haven't found the ladder yet. ---------------------------------------------------------...