Write 4 Rights- Year 9

Teenagers are awesome! After the feminism conference a few weeks ago, I've been thinking about ways to encourage my students to take a more active role in their world. For a lot of my students, who live in a relatively orthodox community, their lack of knowledge about social justice issues in the world might seem …

Oxonmoot- reflections on teaching fantasy and world-building.

Last week I attended Oxonmoot at Oxford University, which is the world’s largest celebration of all things Tolkien. With four days of lectures, panels, group discussions, and other activities (such as a hungry hobbit bake-off), it was an opportunity to completely indulge in one of my biggest fandoms. I got to make lots of LOTR …

The Last Jedi & Shakespeare: some teaching ideas!

While sojourning in Paris over the summer holiday, I dipped into the ol’ Shakespeare & Co for a meander. I found this awesome parody in the Shakespeare section- apparently the author Ian Doescher has written parodies for all the Star Wars episodes and it’s actually been around for a while, so as usual, I’m just …

Teaching representation in film: Black Panther and taking on White Hollywood

"I have seen gods fly. I have seen men build weapons that I couldn't even imagine. I have seen aliens drop from the sky. But I have never seen anything like this." As a white person, I have my endless pick of superheros who look like me represented in the media (male of course, which …