Making Meaning in English

English teachers are hardworking, committed professionals too often given too little time to grapple with the important questions of what it is to be an English teacher and teach the best of English literature. In Making Meaning in English, Didau explores the past of English teaching, the problematic present, whilst offering an exploration of a better future. He digs in the rich traditions of the discipline, whilst offering teachers practical insights so that they can notice the artful craft of English and turn it into compelling action. Alex Quigley, Author of Closing the Reading Gap and Closing the Vocabulary Gap In this thoughtful and timely book, David Didau identifies all the challenges involved with English curriculum design, which many of us have wrestled with over the years. Through disciplinary practice and substantive knowledge, which he sees shaped by modes of thought such as metaphor, story and pattern, Didau offers a practical means for English teachers to structure their curricula and for students to learn and appreciate the joys of the subject. I only wish this book had been available when I was head of department! Phil Stock, Deputy Headteacher, Greenshaw High School, Sutton This is a book that invites hyperbole and for good reason. Its scope is spectacular, its details delightful and its provocations powerful. The principles it proposes go beyond English and make it an important read for anyone with curriculum responsibilities who is concerned with creating a proper curriculum. Written with considerable erudition and lightness of touch Making Meaning in English is truly impressive. Mary Myatt, Education Adviser and Writer, Author of The Curriculum: Gallimaufry to Coherence Making Meaning in English is a mature work, and this maturity can be detected in both its quietly meditative tone and the manner in which Didau, perhaps taking heed of Orwells ideas about writing, has absented himself from centre stage in order to allow the material to sing. The voice in this text does not feel the need to make any dogmatic assertions of its rightness. It is more grown up than that. What it seeks to do is to quietly inform you of things that you might want to consider about the teaching of English. It is not the looking-for-the-quick-buck of the series of implementable techniques but is more a compendium of interesting pieces of information about the subject that is more wistfully entertaining and informative than it is instrumental. It is punctuated with a host of literary quotations that, not only illustrate the points Didau is making but, of themselves, unlock a landscape of thought and image, and its replete with interesting things that you had no idea that you needed to know and which caused this English teacher to consider quite deeply his own lack of knowledge in certain areas. It would be very good company indeed on a mazy, yet melancholy, Sunday afternoon sat on a verandah accompanied by wine, and I do not know a single teacher of English, be they NQT or classroom veteran, who would not benefit from reading this. Phil Beadle, Author of The Facist Painting David Didau has written the essential book for every English teacher. It is urgent and important; I've never read anything like it. But it's not a guide on how to teach English. It's a book about making meaning in English and, as David says, it's about reimagining English as a subject concerned primarily with significance. Making Meaning in English will challenge you, surprise you, niggle at you, and make you think really hard. As English teachers we're part of an ongoing conversation with our subject; David prompts us to consider how we can guide our children to pull up a chair and join in with the conversation, too. Claire Stoneman, English Teacher and Writer An antidote for a generation of teachers inducted into teaching English through technique-spotting and PEE

David Didau is an English teacher, education consultant and author. As well as having written a range of successful books for teachers, his blog learningspy.co.uk is widely recognised as one of the most influential education blogs in the UK.

Introduction Chapter 1: What is English For? Chapter 2: Problems in English Chapter 3: An Epistemology of English Chapter 4: Noticing and Analogising Chapter 5: Metaphor Chapter 6: Story Chapter 7: Argument Chapter 8: Pattern Chapter 9: Grammar Chapter 10: Context Chapter 11: Connecting the curriculum Chapter 12: Into action