June | 2019 | garyhollingsbee.com

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Today, are we all Young Werthers?

Before the rise of modern information technology, the shaping of a person would have likely happened through the local community – parents, elders, priest, officials – and I wonder if the culture was relatively static. Of course, there would have been fashions in culture but I get the impression these gradually spread and were longer-lasting. Picture it this way: La Roman de la Rose, most likely based on earlier oral stories is written by Guillaume de Lorris in the early 1200s. It spreads through France and abroad over the next 100 years. It’s translated into other languages, notably by Chaucer…

Education, English teaching

English in Education, Summer 2019

It’s a Literacy-focused issue. John Hodgson’s editorial explores briefly the definitions of literacy and suggests two paradigms exist: one as the functional, autonomous ability of a child to read; the other: …involves reading the world and reading the word… and connects personal response and social awareness. Hodgson cites the work of the New London Group and the concept of “multiliteracies” in the 1990s – and this becomes the touchstone for the various discussions on literacy presented in the issue. I found the following articles incredibly interesting: Literacy Constants in a Context of Contemporary Change by Margaret Mackey – using Professor…

Education, English teaching

English in Education, Spring 2019

Writing is the theme of this issue of English in Education. It’s an excellent collection of thoughtful pieces by English teachers and academics. The editorial sets the tone immediately: Trying to develop excellent writing pedagogy in a system dominated by standardised, politicised assessments makes the task even more challenging. The editorial, by Dr Jenifer Smith and Dr Mari Cruice, points out how the importance of the “primacy of meaning” in children’s Writing has been downgraded over the last 30 years. Towards the end of they make the point that teachers are looking back to the writing of educators from the…

Education

Teaching English, Summer 2019

The latest issue of Teaching English, N.A.T.E.’s magazine, dropped through our letterbox this morning and is a always a welcome insight into the best thinking of English teachers’ professional association. It’s a magazine I always look forward to reading. The theme of this issue is using self-research to develop classroom practice. Among the articles, I found these ones most interesting: ICT: Opportunity Missed by Trevor Millum – an article that examines what’s happening to the use of digital tech in English classrooms. Millum says the “over the last 10 years, ICT has been undergoing something of a crisis in English…

comics

The Supremacy of Doomsday Clock’s Metaverse

Supposedly, it’s a struggle between the dark despairing Watchmen universe and the bright hope of the DC superhero universe. Of course, the old cynic in me is skeptical of the fervour in which issue 10 of Doomsday Clock has been greeted. Despite still feeling that trying to write a sequel to Watchmen was folly, there have been some engaging moments in the series so far and Gary Frank’s artwork has been faultlessly amazing. There are two more issues to go and the impression I have (which hasn’t been helped by the publication delays) has been that the narrative is a…

Education

The Great Pedagogical War is over? Huh? Since When?

The other day I was sitting in a staffroom browsing through the April 2019 edition of Teach Secondary. My attention was drawn to an article by Ben Newmark, Whose Curriculum Is It, Anyway?, in which he argues that “the Great Pedagogical War is over” and that “‘what’ has beaten ‘how’“. A little like the recent series in the TES, Newmark seems to believe that those working in schools are now engaged in some sort of post-revolutionary process of redefining what it is they are actually teaching in schools. I’d agree with some of Newmark’s more general points, especially when he…

environmental

Say No to Plastic by Harriet Dyer

Dyer’s book is a short, straightforward presentation of 101 ideas for cutting down consumption of single-use plastics as well as what to do with some of the plastic waste you already have. At the start of the book the author gives some no-nonsense information about the damage that plastic does (for instance, the UK dumps 1 million tonnes of plastic in landfills every year, 8% of oil worldwide is used to manufacture plastic and that 8 million tonnes of plastic ends up in the sea each year). So How? From the book, I thought these were useful changes that we’re…

comics

Doomsday Clock 10

This stunning issue of the critically acclaimed hit maxiseries reveals the secrets behind Dr. Manhattan and his connection to the DC Universe.