Help for English Departments
Too many tasks for teachers
When I started teaching in 1995, the job mainly consisted of planning lessons, marking work and teaching. I remember spending hours preparing resources for lessons and even more hours poring over the work students produced after these lessons and I was happy to do that. This is far from the case now. Most teachers have such long ‘to do’ lists now that the fundamentally important bits of teaching, and the parts most teachers went into teaching for, cannot be given the time and energy teachers want to give them, or that students deserve.
Schemes of Learning and resources
Writing new schemes of learning, whether your school does this frequently or not, is a rewarding activity but a very time consuming one. It can be more convenient for busy teachers to teach what they have taught time and time again, but this can get stale and even teachers can get bored. There are so many exciting new books out there which are more likely to engage young people now than the dusty old copies of novels and plays we have been teaching since their parents were at school.
When I had the time, preparing and resourcing schemes of learning was a task I really enjoyed. I like taking a topic or a new book and being able to use my imagination to create a series of tasks and lessons to engage students and make lessons lively and relevant. Of course, there are assessment and learning objectives that must be adhered to, and departments will have other stipulations that have to be met, but this does not mean schemes of work have to be repetitive and corporate. I enjoy finding modern texts and media to bring new life to old, familiar texts and topics to make lessons enjoyable as well as educational.
There are hundreds of resources online that you can buy fairly cheaply but these won’t always fit the requirements of your particular department or prepare students for the assessments your school wants to set. Having resources designed especially for your department means you can ask for exactly what you want.
How I can help
I can help busy departments by preparing resources for them. This may be a new text or a new way of teaching on old text; it may be a topic that helps students build the skills they will need in the GCSE Language paper; it may be preparation for a particular exam; it may be a whole new A Level specification that your school is beginning – whatever the requirement, I can help.
All departments will have their own way of presenting Schemes of Work and may have routines and structures within lessons that are individual to them. Whatever your department’s way is, I can help. All you need to do is tell me your department’s requirements and I will do the rest. I will produce a scheme of learning in whatever format you prefer and all of the resources that are needed to go with it. (Click here if you need a Scheme of Learning)
Pressure of marking assessments
Gone are the days where we examined students once a year; now, with the pressure of results being closely scrutinised and predictions being constantly sought, we assess and examine students far more frequently. This means that teachers have to undertake a lot more assessment marking. Assessment and exam marking is far more time consuming than simply taking a set of exercise books in; all the marking has to be of the same standard which means frequently comparing what you’re marking to standardisation packs and checking against assessment criteria – this is particularly onerous for English teachers as English is such a subjective subject. At mock exam time, English teachers can be marking four exam papers per student and many teachers have more than one group – this is a huge amount of marking!
Intervention Sessions
Many schools have a budget to offer interventions to support students with different needs but not all schools have staff available to offer these sessions. I have taught students of all abilities for 29 years so can offer intervention session tailored to the requirements of your target groups.
In the last year, I worked with a small group of Year 11 students whose attendance had caused them to fall behind; we covered key parts of the curriculum that they had missed at a pace they could engage with. I also had one-to-one and small group sessions with students in danger of just missing GCSE Grade 4 as well as those who were capable of reaching the top grades but were not yet working at that level.
I enjoy working with small groups where you can immediately see how much they have understood and can make a difference very quickly.
Pressure of marking assessments
Gone are the days where we examined students once a year; now, with the pressure of results being closely scrutinised and predictions being constantly sought, we assess and examine students far more frequently. This means that teachers have to undertake a lot more assessment marking. Assessment and exam marking is far more time consuming than simply taking a set of exercise books in; all the marking has to be of the same standard which means frequently comparing what you’re marking to standardisation packs and checking against assessment criteria – this is particularly onerous for English teachers as English is such a subjective subject. At mock exam time, English teachers can be marking four exam papers per student and many teachers have more than one group – this is a huge amount of marking!
Costs
Schemes of work and resources/Intervention Sessions
Daily and hourly teacher rates of pay apply but costs for writing Schemes of Learning and resources will vary depending on the task and the amount of time this will take. Please call to discuss your requirements.
Examination and assessment marking
| Type of marking | Price per script |
| Final mark/grade only | £3.50 |
| Final mark/grade with comment/target | £3.75 |
Make an Appointment or Enquiry
Provide as much detail as possible about your requirement and I’ll be in touch to explore how I can help.