Weekly Reading I
Weekly Reading I
Weekly Reading I
These were articles that caught my eye each week and which I used with GCSE students to build familiarity with non-fiction texts, especially in teaching writing to persuade.
The rationale is at the foot of the page.
2015-16:
31 August, 2015
‘If you aren’t angry about migrants, you should be’
Stefano Hatfield, Independent
31 August, 2015
Our pig has become the Justin Bieber of pigs
Dom Joly, Independent
14 September, 2015
We need to get rid of mobile phones in the classroom
Yasmin Alibhai Brown, Independent
24 September, 2015
David Robson, BBC Future
26 September, 2015
An open letter to Katie Hopkins
i100
1 October, 2015
My life as a gay Syrian refugee
Subhi Nahas, Independent
3 October, 2015
(On banning plastic bags)
The Economist
11 October, 2015
I try to limit my son’s screen time, but ...
Dom Joly, Independent on Sunday
12 October, 2015
Computer games harm students’ GCSE grades
Michael McHugh, Telegraph
17 October, 2015
Millie Brierley, Independent
21 October, 2015
Should school photographs be touched up?
Grace Dent, Independent
6 November, 2015
Marcus Rand, Independent
24 November, 2015
Why gender-neutral toys matter
Chris Hemmings, Independent
1 December, 2015
Alison Phillips, The Mirror
5 December, 2015
My son’s 21st birthday party will be like his fifth
Tim Dowling, Guardian
13 December, 2015:
As athletes, we are role-models
John Amaechi, Guardian
... to compare with ...
13 December, 2015
DJ Taylor, Independent
27 December, 2015
Working for Coca-Cola horrified me
Chris Hemmings, Independent
28 December, 2015
A Polaroid camera transformed my relationship with my mother
Shazia Mirza, Guardian
12 January, 2016
The one David Bowie song that changed my life
Kiran Moodley, Independent
13 January, 2016
President Obama’s speech is great for studying / revising persuasive writing
16 January, 2016
Technology and the Death of Civilisation
José Picardo, blog
High-level language, but I think you’ll enjoy this polemic (argument piece) about how we judge young people too quickly.
and
16 January, 2016
Modernising is the last thing our schools need
Neville Gwynne, Telegraph
Great debating piece.
23 January, 2016
I couldn’t save my child from an online predator
Lorin LaFave, Guardian
Terrifying account of internet grooming - in this case of a boy
6 February, 2016
A letter to the woman who stared at our disabled son
Beautiful, simple, powerful writing
11 February, 2016
A moment that changed me: being made head girl
Lemara Lindsay-Prince, Guardian
Good example of personal writing
and
12 February, 2016
Top Gear - how much do I loathe thee?
Nell Frizzell, Guardian
Good example of persuasive writing
21 February, 2016
Smartphone zombies are taking over the pavements
Douglas Robertson, Independent
2 March 2016
Tackling in school rugby should be banned, say experts
Jonathan Owen, Independent
5 March, 2016
My mother, the internet refusenik
Grace Dent, Independent
8 March, 2016
Don’t post about me on social media, children say
KJ Dell’Antonia, International New York Times
13 March, 2016
How can LIDL sell jeans for £5.99?
Gethin Chamberlain, Observer
14 March, 2016
Chris Evans should not have apologised for Cenotaph stunt
Jonathan Jones, Guardian
5 April, 2016
Schools should stop relying on parents
Becky Barker, Independent
9 April, 2016
Social media is making us depressed: let’s learn to turn it off
Janet Street-Porter, Independent
14 April, 2016
US cinema chain to allow texting in some screens
Jacob Stolworthy, Independent
6 April, 2016
Claudio Ranieri, The Players Tribune
2 April 2016
Anonymous, Guardian
3 May, 2016
My 10-year-old’s letter to the Prime Minister
Andrew Bell, Independent
10 May, 2016
Sob stories like Watership Down ruined my childhood
Jeremy Clarkson, The Sun (30/4/16)
14 May, 2016
I believe beauty pageants are feminist
Lauri Knowler, Independent
23 May, 2016
What’s the point of the police if they’re afraid of the dark?
Peter Hitchens, Daily Mail
31 May, 2016
What was worse than Harambe the gorilla’s death? His life
Mimi Bekhechi, Independent
1 June, 2016
What Facebook does to teenagers’ brains
Matt Peyton, Independent
17 July, 2016
Will Allsopp, Bury Free Press
28 July, 2016
Harry Potter & the Cursed Child - a slog, but still our Harry
Sian Cain, Guardian
20 August, 2016
Are the Olympics anything more than TV entertainment?
Janet Street-Porter, Independent
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ARCHIVE 2014-15:
2 September, 2014:
‘The ice-bucket challenge is all about vanity’
Bryony Gordon, Telegraph
7 September, 2014:
‘Give up meat, save the planet’
Alex Rodin, Independent
13 September, 2014:
‘Stop making excuses for obesity’
Janet Street-Porter, Independent
28 September, 2014
The fox-hunting ban was a ‘mistake’
Adam Gretton, East Anglian Daily Times
12 October, 2014
Surely Jeremy Clarkson’s number is up?
Katy Guest, Independent
15 October, 2014
Ban smoking in parks? Ban guitars instead
Fleet Street Fox, The Mirror
2 November, 2014
Why Apple’s Tim Cook coming out matters
Leigh Dowd, Independent
9 November, 2014
Bonfire Night? It drives me crackers
Dom Joly, Independent
16 November, 2014
Mike Stuchbery, blog
22 November, 2014
To anyone struggling with addiction, just hang on
Pete Doherty, Independent
30 November, 2014
Is Black Friday destroying Christmas?
Bernard Ginns, Yorkshire Post
13 December, 2014:
Sam Piper, Guardian
29 August, 2014 (noticed in Jan 2015!):
Why I have to turn social media off
Rebecca Solnit, London Review of Books
6 January, 2015:
I love books so why do I hate GCSE English Literature so much?
Orli Vogt-Vincent, Guardian
18 January, 2015
Talking point:
Welcome to the Coca-Cola London Eye
Nadia Khomami, Observer
18 January, 2015
Modern technology is changing the way our brains work
Susan Greenfield, Mail on Sunday
29 January, 2015
Does competitive sport in school do more harm than good?
Matthew Jenkin, Guardian
16 February, 2015
Daily Mirror
22 February, 2015
The young just don’t care about politics
Independent on Sunday
2 March, 2015
Everything smells like sewage to me
Guardian
7 March, 2015
An open letter to all the lost girls
Telegraph
9 March, 2015
Grace Dent, Independent
25 March, 2015
Guardian
4 April, 2015
Social media has made us shouty bullies
Janet Street-Porter, Independent
19 April, 2015
Pippa Middleton’s whale-meat dinner was a mistake
Chris Vicks, Observer
20 April, 2015
I was a Lampedusa refugee - here’s my story
Hakim Bello, Guardian
25 April, 2015
Obesity should not be a badge of pride
Janet Street-Porter, Independent
27 April, 2015
Ceridwen Dovey, New Yorker
6 May, 2015
Two articles on American space travel
via Kerry Gallagher
11 May 2015
Jon Will Chambers, Guardian
17 May, 2015
Finally I can tell the truth about myself
Ursula Halligan, Irish Times
29 May, 2015
Welfare cuts, or parental stupidity?
FleetStreet Fox, Mirror
30 May 2015
Remove smartphones from under-18-year-olds
Janet Street-Porter, Independent
13 June 2015
Glenn Murtha, Guardian
5 July 2015
Rihanna’s self-indulgent video is not clever
Barbara Ellen, Observer
11 July 2015
I found my identical twin on YouTube
Anais Bordier, Guardian
25 July 2015
A letter to the daughter who hates me so very much
Guardian
4 August 2015
In Zimbabwe, we don’t cry for lions
Goodwell Nzou, New York Times
16 August 2015
I am 16 and education is ruining my health
Orli Vogt-Vincert, Observer
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ARCHIVE 2013-14
12 October, 2013:
20 October, 2013:
(Bonus piece): 21 October, 2013:
3 November, 2013:
9 November, 2013:
This year, I wear a poppy for the last time
23 November, 2013:
30 November, 2013:
‘No, Robbie Williams, you're not 49% gay. But you are 100% stupid’
14 December, 2013:
‘The Mystery of the Missing Wing-Mirror’ (contains expletive)
and (bonus article for Christmas):
I was trapped in my car hanging off a motorway bridge
13 January, 2014:
How I lost my mother to dementia
(searing account of watching the effects on a parent)
14 January, 2014:
Suicide Vest 9-year-old tells her story
26 January, 2014
‘The Jump’ is already going off-piste
(Entertaining example of TV reviewing)
3 February, 2014
People always say the same thing about tattoos
Interesting use of news sources from different periods
24 February, 2014
Dear Rebecca Adlington, they’re the ugly ones
Feisty persuasive writing
25 February, 2014
I wish all butchers’ windows looked like this
An opinionated ‘Daily Mail’ rant
23 March, 2014
Eva Wiseman on our social attitudes in the Observer
2 April, 2014
Will mums now be jailed for banning Playstation?
Sarah Vine in the Daily Mail on the proposed ‘Cinderella Law’
19 April, 2014
David Cameron stung by jellyfish
This is just funny - an example of how tabloid journalism (in this case the Daily Mirror) takes a story and imbues it with huge entertainment
21 April, 2014
A blog from ‘Squidetsmum’: the passion and feistiness are extraordinary
24 April, 2014
Feisty writing from Sophia Herbst
25 April, 2014
Sparkling writing by Alice Jones
29 April, 2014
Of course children care about competition
Lively polemical writing by Stefano Hatfield
30 April, 2014
A woman who stood for all that’s best about our schools
Sarah Vine’s Daily Mail column in the aftermath of the murder of Leeds teacher Anne Maguire. (Daily Mail)
3 May, 2014
Jeremy Clarkson is the Robin Reliant of intellectual life
‘Top Gear’ presenter Clarkson was in trouble this week for apparently muttering the N-word. Matthew Norman gloriously puts the boot in. (Daily Telegraph)
3 May, 2014
A good example of writing to persuade by Matt Ridley.
17 May, 2014
Teenagers’ diets are appalling
Fiona Phillips, Daily Mirror: note the short paragraphs, the strong opinionated voice, the use of examples and dialogue to personalise the argument.
30 May, 2014
When did we become the fat man of Europe?
Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail
3 June, 2014
When will we do something about kids in poverty?
Paul O’Grady in the Daily Mirror: heartfelt polemical writing
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Rationale for this page:
This year I’m teaching four English groups - two Year 13 English Language classes, a smallish group of Year 10 students whose target grades are mostly around D/E at GCSE, and a Year 11 group whose target grades are A-C.
It’s the Year 10 group that is teaching me most about the barriers to progress in English. The students collectively feel they aren’t much good at the subject. Most dislike the look of their handwriting. When asked to write something, despite lots of stimulus talk, the frequent refrain is ‘I don’t know what to say’.
I used to specialise in teaching groups like this and it’s good to be back on that territory - trying to nudge students who’ve kind of given up on themselves to see why English matters, why they matter, and that - with discipline, resilience, concentration, practice, occasional triumphs mixed with frustration - we might make them, after 11 years of compulsory schooling, into young people who can speak, read and write with accuracy, clarity and precision. And we’ll give them something to say.
This is the tradition of what English teachers do and have always tried to do: we are the ‘Preachers of Culture’.
And it’s a mission that gains new urgency this week with the publication of the OECD’s damning report on literacy skills.
I reviewed my class’s first three weeks of lessons with me yesterday, and two of their comments in the evaluations especially caught my attention: ‘make us read more’.
Here are students who some might have assumed had given up on reading and yet here they are asking to be given more direction in their reading.
This in the week that I reacquainted myself with the work of American educator Kelly Gallagher who through his website, Building Deeper Readers & Writers, sets a weekly article for students to read.
I’m about to do the same.
For classroom use, I may well add glossaries and questions for comprehension and discussion, but on this site I’ll simply post the link to this week’s article.
Some weeks I may forget to do so, but in general I’m guessing that other English teachers out there may feel, as I do, that we need to take a more prescriptive approach to ‘teaching’ reading rather than just ‘doing‘ reading.
I hope some of these articles may save you time and provide some interesting resources you and your students may not otherwise have noticed.
Geoff Barton
(Originally posted on 12 October 2013)
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Other sites with similar resources:
See the excellent weekly article page of St Columba’s College, Dublin.
Monday, 1 May 2017