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This review is from Glenn Mascord an English Adviser for Blackpool Local Authority.
The first thing I’d note about these books is their relationship to the existing materials which are already very popular in our schools. The original books target levels 4-6 and the Booster Packs complement them, allowing for more effective differentiation within classes and a core of texts/extracts which could assist schools who use mixed ability sets, have movement between sets or who don’t want to patronise the lower ability pupils.
The texts themselves seem to be very well chosen and it is great to see a diverse range of non-fiction, most of which has a wide appeal and will engage boys, who may be the majority in the target groups.
There are some excellent text choices such as Darren Shan, Ben Zephaniah and the pieces on Zorbing and Parkour, as well as the Guinness Record Breakers. The inclusion of Hamlet and other pre-twentieth century texts was also a bonus, demonstrating that books for pupils currently attaining below national expectations don’t have to dumb down too much.
Although the fiction materials are largely extracts and relatively short, in the hands of a sound teacher there would be plenty of opportunity for pupils to follow up with some private reading of texts like Bumface, the Outsiders and Face which would engage them. The advice given in the lesson plans on possible wider reading or research would help in this regard.
The grouping of related texts is also extremely useful offering lots of opportunity for comparison. The books are extremely well illustrated and attractive, with the look of magazine articles, lively layouts, good size fonts, plenty of space and effective use of colour.
The Teacher Books are well laid out and very clear. The focus on skills is welcome and is entirely in keeping with what we’d consider best practice – emphasising what is to be learned rather than what is to be done or read. The link to the National Curriculum was clear with the identification of key concepts, range and processes being very helpful. Equally, the links to assessment focuses and to APP are extremely useful and apposite. With AfL and APP being high on schools’ agendas this will be warmly welcomed in schools.
The lesson structure is clear and fits with the Secondary Strategy approach. The worksheets are also very clear and focus pupils on the requisite skills. I thought there were some great ideas which are examples of best practice. The worksheets are varied and get well away from the limited sets of comprehension questions often put in front of pupils. The CD-ROMs were a strong asset, and easy to use with the PDF format being very handy. Possible developments might be having these available to complete on computer for those pupils working with laptops, but this can be organised at school level.
I think this is a very high quality resource with a great choice of texts, well-informed and helpful lesson plans which nudge teachers in absolutely the right direction, and varied and lively worksheets which address the skills necessary for pupils to improve. The books do not form an entire curriculum and neither should they, but they do provide an exciting and accessible element of it which will strongly support new and experienced teachers.
Rating:  [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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