Luke Parkinson

Language Nerd, English Teacher, Literacy Lead in a Bradford Secondary

[Dr Haili Hughes FRSA @HughesHaili]

RT welcome please:
Calling English teachers...looking for some very short case studies on how you use:
- Modelling
- Explanations
- Scaffolding
- Analogies, metaphors and misconceptions
- Questioning
- Group work
- Pupil talk

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@FunkyPedagogy

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@Nikki__Sullivan Lemme guess: ‘Orac-y? Because we gotta!’

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

Higher attaining students:
1) Wrote within a genre they clearly already felt comfortable in - eschewing genre conventions was not easy
2) Some felt the rug had been pulled from under them…
3)…but others felt liberated
4) Follow up discussion was not noticeably better than usual

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

Some reflections on day one of trialling genre free writing with classes of different abilities.

Lower attaining students:
1) Most wrote more than usual
2) Those writing least were relying most on the (very minimal) guidance given
3) Discussion (done after) was more thoughtful

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

Inspired by @FunkyPedagogy’s excellent visit to @BeckfootTrust’s conference last week, I’m going to attempt a little genre free writing this morning. The problem: class fear writing and I wonder if I’ve been feeding that fear with guidance that overcomplicates.

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@Nikki__Sullivan @FunkyPedagogy @BeckfootEnglish @kathrynredmon10 Yeah we’ll have loads of stuff. I’ll look tomorrow.

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@FunkyPedagogy We will have a load of stuff. Let me have a look tomorrow and I’ll message you.

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@elucymay As a literacy lead about to deliver training to staff on writing, this couldn’t have popped up at a better time!

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@PepsMccrea I like absurdism in contextualising writing tasks e.g. ‘you are a lowly cabbage farmer and you’re having a bad day. You awoke with a headache and now the cabbages are being very unruly. Write a persuasive speech to get your cabbages under control’.

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

Signs of Y7 learning to think like little linguists:

Discussing the word ‘advertise’ and a student asked what ‘dition’ means. Seemed a total curveball until I realised he’d isolated the ad- prefix, located it on another word, then logically sought a meaning for what was left.

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@Nikki__Sullivan @SoundSyllable @LauEvz That’s a pictorial representation of my wildest dreams. Not an exaggeration.

[Beckfoot English @BeckfootEnglish]

Watch out kids, we have a dinosaur on the loose!

[Beckfoot School @BeckfootSchool]

@BeckfootLRC are looking ship shape this morning. It all started so well...but turned into a mutiny! 😲🏴‍☠️#WorldBookDay

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@BeckfootEnglish Suddenly, there was a BANG!!!!!!11

[Kelly Heaton @socwarrior]

🧵A sneak preview of an addition to our @BeckfootSchool ILBs, adapted from a @dnleslie post back in October. It was originally aimed at adults but we're using it to help students build positive #independentlearning habits AND look after their well-being too. Thanks, Darren! /1

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@socwarrior I do like this. It’s really got me thinking this morning! We find many Y7s arrive able to spot subordinate clauses, but I have a hunch (and right now it is just a hunch) they wouldn’t be able to tell us what a non-subordinate clause is, or how to construct one.

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@primarypercival This is very interesting. I find that a lot of grammar work I do with Y7 (particularly those with low/middle prior attainment) is based on meaning. Students can usually spot a subordinate clause, for example, but they rarely understand why it was necessary for meaning.

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

@BeckfootEnglish @Team_English1 @FunkyPedagogy @Nikki__Sullivan Check your email.

[Luke Parkinson @BecLParkinson]

Pretty sure my students are now wise to the fact that, if they want to slack off for 10 minutes, all they have to do is ask me the meaning of a word.