In this episode I’m talking to Donal Hale. Donal is an English Head of Department at a secondary school in York and respected voice in English teaching on Twitter and beyond.

We discuss:

• The best book he’s ever read, taught or learnt whilst at school

• Where Donal and his department stand on planning the curriculum according to concepts, texts or skills

• How formative feedback, summatives and marking works in Donal’s department and if there is anything they’re looking to change

• The one area of the job he’d like to improve

• What reading and/or writing initiatives Donal has within the department to ensure that students are getting rigorous practice in these areas

• Whether Donal has allowed for any provision in the curriculum for teaching how to speak publicly

• And lastly, (aside from Twitter) what’s the best resource he’s come across for English teaching that might help others

Thanks again to Donal for crossing the timezone divide and offering a frank and fantastic lowdown on how he sees English instruction in its many forms. 

If you want to be kept up to date on when educational chat like this happens, then be sure to subscribe to the podcast and/or follow me on Twitter @chrisjordanhk 

Links:

Donal on Twitter - @HaleDonal

I Know this Much is True by Wally Lamb

Beowulf translated by Michael Morpurgo

The Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson

The Writing Revolution

Reading Reconsidered

Crafting Brilliant Sentences by Lindsay Skinner

Jennifer Webb books

How to Teach English by Chris Curtis