Literature of the Hart

  How can you make sense of a poem you haven’t read before? Students studying GCSE have to write about an “unseen poem” – a poem they have never read before in their lives – and many find this a real challenge. My  first post  in this series explained how students should approach reading poetry as if it’s like an unfamiliar song.  You need to give it time and repeated listenings to start to appreciate it. Over my thirty years of teaching I have developed The Three-Reading Strategy  to help students at GCSE and A Level write excellent poetry answers. Getting to know a poem is like getting to know a new friend. When we read a poem for the first time, our first impressions may not be totally right – just like we only see the surface of someone’s character the first time we meet them  As we read a poem for the second time, we can start to react to it more deeply, just like we might sta...

Lots of students find poetry difficult and confusing and just don’t know where to start. But the secret to writing good poetry answers is simple: you can’t write well about poetry until you have been taught how to read it.. Most people just don’t read poetry in life.  It’s an unfamiliar form to them.  So I always teach my students that reading poetry is just like listening to music. Like listening to music, it’s about how it makes us feel Like a new song, it will grow on us the more we listen to it And like our favourite tracks, poetry can go deep into our memory and our hearts Over my thirty years of teaching I have developed  The Three-Reading Strategy   to help students at GCSE and A Level write excellent poetry answers. See my next post for more… I offer a  FREE INTRODUCTORY MEETING  online if you are considering tutoring. Hartland Educational Services also offers tuition in all subjects and Academi...

Summer is a time when many families want to improve their children's writing and reading.  Scholarship English Tuition is available for students determined to exceed their current level of ability in English.   Who is Scholarship English Tuition for? 11+ preparation School application Key Stage 3 GCSE students  A Level students University applications to Oxford, Cambridge and other top UK universities ***Discounts of up to 50% are available for group tuition***   Who teaches Scholarship English? Our Scholarship English is taught by Michael Hartland, who is a former Headteacher,  Cambridge English graduate and Associate of NACE (National Association of Able Children in Education).  He has been an examiner at both GCSE and A Level and was Head of English in three different schools.     Find Michael's ebooks on English on Amazon: But I'm No Good at Creative Writing! The...

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All families want their children to achieve the best grades they can at school. In his role as an Associate of NACE (National Association of Able Children in Education), Michael Hartland coaches schools in the UK and abroad on how best to do this. In the last few weeks, he has been delighted to present to the IAPS (Independent Association of Preparatory Schools) and to a selective girls’ school . Hartland Educational Services offers Academic Mentoring in addition to tuition in all subjects, whether this is for: -Primary support -11+ preparation -School application -Secondary support -GCSE and A Level -University application for degrees and Masters -University support -Learning English as an additional language Through our extensive network of engaging and well-qualified tutors, we are able to help you find the tutor offering the right level of expertise and experience for your requirements. Subjects range from English and EAL to Maths and Science, and include the broad range of subjec...

What are we trying to do when we teach creative writing? Some of the more pragmatic answers might include to improve students’ writing skills and to prepare them for exams.  But creative writing also opens a window on the human experience of life, and I am grateful that I came across Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces a few years ago.  I now think that it should be recommended reading for anyone involved in teaching writing. Campbell explores myths from around the world and identifies archetypal narrative situations such as ‘the departure’, ‘the call to adventure’, ‘crossing the threshold’ and ‘the belly of the whale’.  Each one of these is enough for a whole module for a course on creative writing as well as offering opportunities to explore the cross-cultural themes of growing up, discovering vocations and coping with challenge. In my own work with students, I find there is an endless fascination with the wonderful opening of Dickens’ Great Expectati...