I wrote this review wearing my school teacher hat. However, it struck me that optimism is something all writers need a great deal of!
Read MoreReview: The Bright Side: Why Optimists Have the Power to Change the World

Bookshelf
I wrote this review wearing my school teacher hat. However, it struck me that optimism is something all writers need a great deal of!
Read MoreI wrote the review wearing my school teacher hat. However, it struck me that the “small habits” approach to writing is something useful to consider.
Read MoreMy review of this for Teach Secondary magazine has just come out. Here is the published version, followed by the copy I submitted, which is slightly longer because it has a little more detail. I wrote the review wearing my school teacher hat. However, it struck me that the “productive failure” approach to teaching is something I’ve done, to some extent, in my creative writing classes.
Read MoreI’ve reviewed this book for Teach Secondary magazine. Although my review is written from the standpoint of the question, “how useful is AI in schools?”, I do thiink it has relevance here because many writers, and writers’ organisations, are also scrutinising AI.
Read Morebooks, by Terry Freedman
I love books, and I love reviewing them. However, I’ve decided that a one-size fits all approach to reviewing books (or anything else, come to that), just won’t do. So I’ve categorised my reviews into 6 types.
Read Morewas intrigued to discover that a popular news magazine of the sixties had been anticipated by Defoe.
Read MoreThe Music Programme of Study requires students to have an understanding of the music that they perform and to which they listen, and its history, and an appreciation of different musical styles.
Read MoreIn all, twenty three poets are considered, and they constitute a wide variety: alongside the usual ones like Milton and Chaucer, we find Sappho and Basho. Each chapter is a mixture of biography and quotations.
Read MoreOne of the things I think can add to one’s enjoyment and also improve one’s writing is to read stories from other cultures.
Read MoreThis pdf contains the reviews of mine that were published in Teach Secondary magazine in 2024.
Read MoreHere are two versions of the same review: the one I submitted to Teach Secondary magazine, and the edited one they published.
Read MoreHere are two versions of the same review: the one I submitted to Teach Secondary magazine, and the edited one they published.
Read MoreHere are two versions of the same review: the one I submitted to Teach Secondary magazine, and the edited one they published.
Read MoreHere are two versions of the same review: the one I submitted to Teach Secondary magazine, and the edited one they published.
Read MoreAs indicated by the title, the first thing to know about this anthology is that it comprises both poetry and prose, rather than one or the other. Many of the pieces are quite unusual...
Read MoreIt's rather disconcerting when one considers that buildings like The Shard are essentially held together by nuts, bolts and washers.
Read MoreLike, I suspect, many people, I have never knowingly come across an isosceles triangle in my life, and wouldn’t know what to do with it if I did. However...
Read MoreThis book may be thirty years old, but its advice is still pertinent. If you want to have a blitz or crackdown against, or shake-up of, bad writing (all examples of 'tabloidese'), then this is the book for you.
Read MoreIntroducing and applying Conway's Law, Gresham's Law and the sunken cost fallacy to the practice of writing.
Read MoreA fascinating glimpse into the mind and development of a true virtuoso.
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