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xris32.bsky.social
Chris Curtis
@xris32.bsky.social
2.2K followers 1.4K following 570 posts
English teacher, head of department, geek, avid reader of books, blogger

Blog: https://learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/
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xris32.bsky.social
Chris Curtis @xris32.bsky.social · 14d
NEW BLOG: A question of homework in English

learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-qu...

@carousel-learning.bsky.social @adamboxereducation.bsky.social
A question of homework in English
Homework is one of those tricky things in school. The only people that seem to like it are pushy parents, who think every child should be do...
learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com
Reposted by Chris Curtis
stephenjdilley.bsky.social
This was terrific - every English teacher and everyone involved in education policy should listen!
natefeed.bsky.social National Association for the Teaching of English @natefeed.bsky.social · 1d
Wednesday's fabulous Harold Rosen Lecture by Carol Atherton reminded us of the transformative power of authentic, dialogic teaching, says NATE chair Mick Connell. The lecture can be viewed after reading Mick's article: t.co/bP8n58Jntp
https://www.nate.org.uk/2025/11/20/carol-athertons-harold-rosen-lecture-advocates-for-the-transformative-power-of-authentic-dialogic-teaching/
t.co
November 22, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
ianeagletonauthor.bsky.social
I’m wondering if any children’s publishers need a freelance writer to write reading scheme books for them or branded picture books etc? I’ve written reading scheme books for Star Wars and Disney before! Any shares would be amazing!

#BookSky #KidLit
November 16, 2025 at 6:12 PM
xris32.bsky.social
Today’s reading. A third of the way in and I am not feeling it.
Book cover - Katabasis
November 15, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
sccenglish.bsky.social
The Occasional 10: excellent newsletters.

open.substack.com/pub/juliangi...
The Occasional 10
Carl Hendrick, Barbara Oakley, George Saunders, Audrey Watters, Marc Watkins, Andrew Campbell, Daisy Christodoulou, Bennie Kara, Alan Jacobs, Jonathan Gibbs, Peps Mccrea and more.
open.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
didau.bsky.social
NEW: Good schools make good trachers

If teachers don’t always improve with experience, the problem isn’t them. It’s the environment. Schools that get better do so because they make feedback clearer, practice more deliberate, and culture more trustworthy.

open.substack.com/pub/daviddid...
Good schools make good teachers
What kind domains, wicked traps and school culture mean for improvement
open.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:24 AM
xris32.bsky.social
It is that time of year. Not Christmas. The book token competition.

hiddenbooks.nationalbooktokens.com?utm_medium=p...
Play the Hidden Books Game from National Book Tokens!
Guess all 20 book titles hidden in the picture.
hiddenbooks.nationalbooktokens.com
November 13, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
joshuaperry.bsky.social
Cracking blog on English homework
November 11, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
mscaitlinmoran.bsky.social
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
Clear out toys now!
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
xris32.bsky.social
NEW BLOG: A question of homework in English

learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-qu...

@carousel-learning.bsky.social @adamboxereducation.bsky.social
A question of homework in English
Homework is one of those tricky things in school. The only people that seem to like it are pushy parents, who think every child should be do...
learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
dowise.bsky.social
Women writers of WW1: three poets and four poems ⤵️

www.douglaswise.co.uk/.../women-wr....

Many Sisters to Many Brothers, by Rose Macaulay
Munition Wages, by Ida Bedford
The Shadow, by Rose Macaulay
The Sisters Buried at Lemnos, by Vera Brittain
November 9, 2025 at 10:18 AM
xris32.bsky.social
NEW BLOG: A question of homework in English

learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-qu...

@carousel-learning.bsky.social @adamboxereducation.bsky.social
A question of homework in English
Homework is one of those tricky things in school. The only people that seem to like it are pushy parents, who think every child should be do...
learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
ottoenglish.bsky.social
Richard Aldington's Epilogue to Death of a Hero.

Always worth revisiting on Remembrance Sunday.
Eleven years after the fall of Troy, We, the old men - some of us nearly forty Met and talked on the sunny rampart Over our wine, while the lizards scuttled In dusty grass, and the crickets chirred. Some bared their wounds; Some spoke of the thirst, dry in the throat, And the heart-beat, in the din of battle; Some spoke of intolerable sufferings. The brightness gone from their eyes And the grey already thick in their hair. And I sat a little apart from the garrulous talk and old memories, And I heard a boy of twenty Say petulantly to a girl, seizing her arm: "Oh, come away, why do you stand there Listening open-mouthed to the talk of old men? Haven't you heard enough of Troy and Achilles? Why should they bore us for ever With an old quarrel and the names of dead men We never knew, and dull forgotten battles?" And he drew her away, And she looked back and laughed As he spoke more contempt of us, Being now out of hearing, And I thought of the graves by desolate Troy And the beauty of many young men now dust, And the long agony, and how useless it all was. And the talk still clashed about me Like the meeting of blade and blade. And as they two moved further away He put an arm about her, and kissed her; And afterwards I heard their gay distant laughter. And I looked at the hollow cheeks And the weary eyes and the grey- streaked heads of the old men -nearly forty- about me; And I too walked away In an agony of helpless grief and pity. (Richard Aldington, 1929)
November 9, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
openingdoors.bsky.social
In WW2 a 19 year old sent his mother a poem. He sadly died; but the poem endured. It’s a long term favourite with our schools via ‘OD to Quality Writing 10-13’ .I’ve just heard it read out at the British Legion Festival on bbc.
John Magee lives on! www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/157986...
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds,—and done a hundred things You have...
www.poetryfoundation.org
November 8, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
clairestoneman.bsky.social
NEW POST

This time on school leadership

substack.com/inbox/post/1...
On blessings
This week our local vicar visited school.
substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 8:11 PM
xris32.bsky.social
Today’s reading and listening.
Book cover Single cover
November 8, 2025 at 12:18 PM
xris32.bsky.social
A nice found today. Dead Poets Live website. Quite a few resources and modern actors reading out poems.

deadpoets.live
Dead Poets Website
November 6, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
bethgg.bsky.social
I just remembered I wrote an ongoing saga of trying it out last year! Didn't get as much out of them this year analysis wise, but only on week one! wp.me/p2RMjH-lv
Art Through Poetry – The Results (Part 3)
I’ve written previously here and here about my adventures with using poetry as a source for art with my year 10s. The reasoning for this was that our KS4 are no longer doing regular literatur…
wp.me
November 5, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
bethgg.bsky.social
This week I've used this poem with my Yr10s (most of which haven't done poetry analysis for a year +) as inspiration for their art project on 'Nature'. It's amazing how quickly they slip back into it and much more familiar place to see themes used to represent other meanings 😍 poets.org/poem/magalu
Magalu Helene Johnson 1906 – 1995 Summer comes. The ziczac hovers ’Round the greedy-mouthed crocodile. A vulture bears away a foolish jackal. The flamingo is a dash of pink Against dark green mangroves, Her slender legs rivalling her slim neck. The laughing lake gurgles delicious music in its throat And lulls to sleep the lazy lizard, A nebulous being on a sun-scorched rock. In such a place, In this pulsing, riotous gasp of color, I met Magalu, dark as a tree at night, Eager-lipped, listening to a man with a white collar And a small black book with a cross on it. Oh Magalu, come! Take my hand and I will read you poetry, Chromatic words, Seraphic symphonies, Fill up your throat with laughter and your heart with song. Do not let him lure you from your laughing waters, Lulling lakes, lissome winds. Would you sell the colors of your sunset and the fragrance Of your flowers, and the passionate wonder of your forest For a creed that will not let you dance?
November 5, 2025 at 9:18 PM
xris32.bsky.social
One of my favourite things to do as homework is get students to find a poem they think should be studied is lessons. Today, a student brought this poem and the class loved exploring it.

Things I Have Stolen
by Caleb Femi
Copy of poem Copy of poem
November 5, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
barbarableiman.bsky.social
My poem in this collection of Bonfire Night poems is from a dog's pov. If you have a dog and have to think about their well-being when all the bangs go off and the sparks fly, your children might enjoy my doggy viewpoint! (Lots of fab human views there too!)
brian-moses.blogspot.com/2024/10/nove...
Welcome to the Ssssssnake Hotel
NOVEMBER 5th - FIREWORKS & BONFIRES (Copyright to all poems remains with their creators. My thanks to everyone who contributed) My Recipe ...
brian-moses.blogspot.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
benniekara.bsky.social
Join me for a webinar on Race and Colonialism in Literature, focusing on texts taught in the UK.Perfect for English teachers.

Event taking place 25th November (online) at 7pm.
Tickets: £15
Link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/race-and-c...

Please repost and share with your networks.
Race and Colonialism in Literature
Let's dive into how race and colonialism are portrayed in literature during our online event - it's going to be eye-opening!
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
draperel.bsky.social
👀👀📚📘📕📖👀👀 ⬇️
englishassociation.bsky.social The English Association @englishassociation.bsky.social · 19d
What an inspiring, incredibly useful, richly informed talk we’ve just enjoyed on #Reading #Wellbeing research from The Literacy Lab @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social
& from in-the-classroom teaching! 🙌🏼 Great book resources shared ! 📚📖 Big thanks to @profsarahmcg.bsky.social & David Robinson. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Image of slide for Reading and Wellbeing talk - slide show available to all attendees. Image of slide for Reading and Wellbeing talk - slide show available to all attendees. Image of slide for Reading and Wellbeing talk - slide show available to all attendees. Image of slide for Reading and Wellbeing talk - slide show available to all attendees.
November 4, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
ensermark.bsky.social
If you are a fan of the eerie and the weird, you will want to make your way to Cotesbach in the East Midlands.

This is going to be brilliant.
November 1, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
jameshandscombe.bsky.social
Just over a week until publication of my new book on the joys and power of curiosity - the perfect gift for someone interested in maths or politics or archaeology or physics or art or poetry - also ideal for anyone not yet interested in those things who should be.
October 28, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Chris Curtis
xris32.bsky.social
READING RECOMMENDATIONS TERM 2: This term's version of reading recommendations. Follow the link and click to download.

learningfrommymistakesenglish.blogspot.com/2024/06/read...
#Engchat #Engchatuk
King of Nothing A Box Full of Murders / The Clockwork Conspiracy As Long As The Lemon Tree Grows
November 1, 2025 at 8:14 PM