The Complete Guide to Becoming an English Teacher

`I could not help but admire the breadth and scope of this text. This is a book I would recommend to all, no matter what route they take to train as a teacher of English. It is aimed at secondary teachers but would be equally useful for those preparing to teach in further education. Not only does it provide concise and balanced accounts of key pedagogic issues, it also includes a range of interesting and engaging lesson suggestions. This book does cover a lot of ground with excellent chapters on planning, assessment, teaching reading and teaching poetry.

This is a text that should accompany every student teacher of English and find its way on to the shelf of all practising teachers. This book excited me. It is written in a style that makes you want to try out activities and take up challenges. This book will encourage the student teacher to embrace the subject of English along with its associated values and debates′ - ESCalate

Read the full review as posted on the ESCalate website, the Education Subject Centre for the Higher Education Academy

`If I was training to teach English today, this is the book I would want - an extraordinarily professional handbook of good practice. Compiled by a team of university lecturers, it admirably demonstrates the way theory and practice can combine to illuminate the carried demands of being and English Teacher today′ - Geoff Barton, Times Educational Supplement, Teacher Magazine

`I was most impressed…. Anyone following the modules as they are would learn a huge amount and benefit so much from them′ - Donna Bryant, Deputy Head, Camborne School and Community College, Cornwall

′The activities were both challenging and rewarding.... These would be useful and would promote self-reflection and the notions of personal progression and goal setting for the student′ - Alan Jones Assistant Headteacher, Simon Langton Boys′ School, Canterbury

This is a complete guide to how to become a successful teacher of English in secondary school. The book enables readers to design a tailor-made programme to suit their individual needs as a student teacher. Either the learner or the tutor can select or combine units and activities, and there is no assumption of prior knowledge.

This book is based on innovative teaching material developed by four institutions of higher education, which has been used to develop student teachers.

Based on proven teaching success, and the authors′ own experiences of teaching English in secondary schools, the book′s key features include:

- full coverage of the Revised Standards for Qualified Teacher Status, including creative approaches to delivering the framework for teaching English: years 7, 8 and 9.

- the cultural, historical, social and political models which support the English teaching curriculum

- English teaching for the development of an on-going working pedagogy, recognizing the need for dialogue and interaction with both theory and practice.

- Inclusion, Equal Opportunities, Assessment and ICT included throughout with recognition of the importance of digital literacies.

This is an essential book for English student teachers on flexible, graduate registered training schemes and traditional PGCE programmes. It is an essential resource guide for their tutors, for practising English teachers who want to update their skills, and for those doing Continuing Professional Development Diplomas, Masters Level work or PhDs.

Stephen Clarke is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Leeds. He taught English in the sixties and seventies in grammar and comprehensive schools but has worked mainly on the PGCE course at Leeds University since 1976. His many publications include a chapter on English Language in Douglas and Dorothy Barnes′ Versions of English (1984) and work on arguments and the place of IT in English Teaching. He is currently in charge of the flexible QTS route within the School of Education at Leeds.

Paul Dickinson is a Senior Lecturer and Head of the English Centre at Sheffield Hallam University. He is also the Subject Leader for the secondary PGCE English programme. He has taught English in four different 11-18 comprehensive schools over a period of fifteen years. During the last five years he has had extensive INSET experience, delivering at national conferences, for LEA′S and individual schools. Key areas of interest include: literacy across the curriculum; the use of ICT in subject learning; and developing the roles of school based mentors. Recent publications focus on new literacies and support materials for the National Literacy Strategy (e.g. English File 2, Folens).

Jo Westbrook taught English and Media Studies for nine years in three different London comprehensives before going overseas as a teacher trainer with VSO in Uganda. She is currently a Senior Lecturer in Education at Canterbury Christ Church University College and is a Joint Programme Director of the PGCE (Modular) route, as well as working for the Teacher Training Agency as an Advisor for flexible postgraduate ITT. Jo has undertaken research for QCA pupils who underachieve in English at KS3, and has a particular interest in language and literacy between home, school and the wider community.