That being said, it says explicitly at the end of the chapter that the teachers 'did not need to read poetry out of school to love it as people and professionals'. However, I wonder if they could have facilitated & contributed to richer discussions if they did have more of a hinterland to draw on.

In a case study, a teacher laments that rigidity at their school means they teach poetry like 'puppets on a string'. Autonomy is transformative for teacher & pupil but requires deep pedagogical & subject knowledge that only comes from being a genuine reader & writer of poetry.

I hope you enjoy it and yes, of course, DM away 👍

👆 this is a prevalent pedagogical style to avoid according to the book.

The teacher is an expert & should model to pupils how one can respond authentically to poetry's form & meaning. However, our role is to empower & prompt children to think & feel, not do it for them!

'The teacher is at the centre of the arena & the students are meant to be learning by watching the master reader as they unravel the poem. The teacher might occasionally ask a question but what tends to happen is more like an oral comprehension tests than a genuine discussion.'

Even reading poetry is an act of generating meaning & defining interpretation. When working with pupils we must 'make sure they know that what they're hearing when we read is an interpretation not a definitive reading.' They should experiment & explore to find their own meanings.

Interesting distinction made between reading of poetry & other texts. For most text, once we are 'expert' readers, reading becomes silently internal but poetry cannot be separated from its performance - it must be 'lifted off the page', even if only heard by the 'inner ear'

So glad you enjoyed it, it's brilliant, isn't it? I do hope there is a third instalment too.

I really liked the first one quite a lot! It felt like a very cool collision between Farrant and Pullman.

As in this one or the first Impossible Creatures?

We do a GN in every KS2 year group:
Y3 - Mr Wolf's Class
Y4 - Cardboard Kingdon
Y5 - Lightfall
Y6 - When Stars Are Scattered
It's always a lot of fun 👏

These (+ Clockwork by Philip Pullman) are the books in our year five curriculum that I always particularly look forward to teaching #SundayMorningBookChat

Ditto!

I'm not sure exactly when it's released, but I think it's one of the strongest selections in years!