Bob Cox is an independent educational consultant, writer and teacher coach who works nationally and internationally to support outstanding learning. Bob has been working with clusters of schools and local authorities to apply opening doors strategies to raise standards in English and to make links between quality texts and quality writing. Before that Bob taught English for 23 years. Leah Crawford has 15 years experience as a local authority English inspector/adviser, working across both the primary and secondary phases, and now leads the Thinktalk education consultancy. She is an associate tutor for Kings College Londons Lets Think in English cognitive acceleration programme and also works in support of a European Erasmus project on the assessment of thinking skills. Angela Jenkins has extensive experience in English education and school improvement having worked as an adviser in three different local authorities and two multi-academy trusts in the last 20 years. As well as providing link adviser support for individual schools she also took strategic responsibility for English and assessment. Recently, Angela has worked as an independent consultant, providing specialist advice and support for the development of exceptional curriculum, pedagogy and assessment both in primary and secondary settings. She is currently co-chair of the National Association of Advisers in English (NAAE). ulie Sargent has over 10 years experience of working across the whole of the primary sector as an English Consultant. This includes developing bespoke CPD for individual schools, multi-academy trusts and local authorities. She has a particular interest in Early Years/KS1 and using high-quality texts to promote and develop all aspects of English.
Together with Leah Crawford, Angela Jenkins and Julie Sargent, Bob Cox has compiled this rich resource, complete with vivid illustrations by Victoria Cox, to help teachers enhance their learners engagement with challenging texts and develop their writing skills as budding wordsmiths.The authors, working in association with the Opening Doors network of schools, are addressing the vital concept of how schools can pitch high but include all pupils.The authors innovative ideas on theory, best practice and how to cultivate a pioneering classroom spirit will empower teachers to explore with their learners the scope and depth of literature; literature capable of inspiring high standards and instilling a love of language in its many forms. Furthermore, they help teachers to lay down intricate curricular pathways that will prompt their pupils to better enjoy literature, read and analyse texts with a greater sense of curiosity, and write with more originality. The book is supported by the Opening Doors series of books which contain units of work based around selected texts. The authors hope this book will act as a starting block from which to develop an Opening Doors approach to English, and have suggested key concepts around which the curriculum can be built, with the units providing examples to work from. Suitable for teachers and curriculum leads in primary settings.