Bulletin Board
news and snippets, recent and forthcoming publications
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Published summer 2024 - Understanding the World Through Narrative.
While many educational books focus on creative and critical thinking skills, this ground-breaking work is the first to deal specifically with the ability to understand, question and evaluate information presented, broadly speaking, in story form.
Story or narrative is central to our understanding of and interaction with the world around us. We only have to think of the ‘mini stories’ encapsulated in many advertisements; the way that topics in science – the story of human evolution for example, in history and other subjects present themselves; the power of myths and legends to act as guides to moral behaviour; and the pervasive way that gossip, rumour and superstition can spread – to recognise the benefits of heightening such awareness in young learners.
Understanding the World Through Narrative explores the narrative structure of fiction, but uses this as a template to show how the story form appears in mythology and modern urban folklore, science, history, the media – including advertising; in our internal dialogues (stories we tell ourselves about ourselves and others), and how narrative structure can be used in curriculum planning to enhance children’s learning. The book contains over 160 thinking/discussing/researching activities for use in the classroom and as project work. Chapters can be used independently, although they are arranged with increasing degrees of sophistication and challenge. This fascinating work is an essential resource for any teacher of upper primary and lower secondary students, covering not only children’s evolving intellectual ability and promoting curiosity and critical engagement but also enhancing their mental and emotional wellbeing.
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Story Steps: developing thinking skills through creative writing: techniques and activities for 9-12 year-olds.
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Jumpstart! Creativity 2nd edition, revised and updated.
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Out now -
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Out now -
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Recently Published - 100 Ideas for Primary Teachers: Thinking Skills
Published by Bloomsbury
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New INSET
package - Boosting Self-Confidence in Young Writers -
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Also out now - A Creative Approach to Teaching Writing and Jumpstart Thinking Skills and Problem Solving
http://www.thinkingchild.org.uk/
See them being used in the classroom -
YouTube link -
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Double Darers. This is a privately published book that gathers together stories from my previously published Double Dare Gang titles. Email for details.
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E-books on Amazon
The following books of mine are now available as Kindle editions and as iBooks.
Click to visit Kindle store
Some of my educational books also available in Kindle format
'Kapow' uses the structure of comic book panels and pages as a visual analogue to help children organise their thoughts as a precursor to writing. Published by David Fulton Books.
INSET available
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Teach Primary Articles
I have been contributing regularly to this excellent magazine. My articles are based on the books mentioned above plus other published material. My colleague Simon Percival and I have also written a sequence of PeopleWyse creative coaching articles.
If you have missed any of these I'll be pleased to email you copies - my email address is on the Home page.
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