Hard to Teach – Secondary English using ICT
Producer’s notes for ‘Using ICT for Hard to Teach English’
The three case studies and schools we feature in this programme are chosen from several that took part in a joint NATE/BECTA project exploring how the creative use of ICT in the classroom can support traditionally ‘hard to teach’ English topics. Teachers from a wide variety of schools across England and Wales took part in the project and produced eighteen case studies which show in fascinating detail how ICT can transform teaching and learning, but without hiding the pitfalls and problems many encountered on the way.
More information and write-ups of all the case studies in the NATE/BECTA ‘Hard to Teach’ project can be found on the NATE website at and on the BECTA site at
How to use ICT to support English is maybe not as obvious as it is for Maths or Science, for which there is plenty of dedicated mathematical and scientific software and equipment. Having said that, the case studies show English teachers using great ingenuity, many using readily available applications, such as the internet, videos, blogs, pods, and the rest.
The case studies featured in the programme are:
1. Using a visualiser to shine a light on poetry
by Phil Grosset, Easingwold School, North Yorkshire
We chose this case study because the ICT featured is such a simple piece of kit. It’s basically a camera on a stick with the facility to zoom, save bits of video or still frames, and it can be linked to a computer and data projector. In this case, the teacher simply connected the device directly to the overhead projector so he could share pupils’ work with the rest of the class and annotate it in a flexible and improvisatory way, something much ICT does not allow. The ‘hard to teach’ element is to show the thinking and drafting processes involved in creating a piece of poetry, something many pupils find difficult.
There’s more about using visualiser cameras in schools at with links to case studies, teacher comments and manufacturers.
2. Wikiteers, wiki-wars and the AQA Anthology
by Carol Weale, Dane Court Grammar School, Broadstairs, Kent
We liked this case study because it shows a teacher using an ICT application that pupils are familiar with - an online discussion thread - to focus their enthusiasm for sharing ideas and opinions onto the difficult set poetry anthology. The thread also encourages pupils to write freely and eventually create a valuable work of reference and revision containing the combined wisdom of them all.
The ‘wikispace’ the school used is safely self contained within the school system. There’s more about using these private wikispaces in education at and selecting ‘K12’
3. Teaching the literary heritage
by Angus Weir, Ninestiles School, Birmingham
The ICT used here - shooting green screen video - seems quite advanced, but we were impressed by how the activity is underpinned and informed by pupils’ solid understanding of the text. For the pupils to plan what to shoot, what scenery to add, what characters to feature and what action to capture, they need a good grasp of character, setting and plot in the extract they are working on.
It would be possible to do this kind of activity without the green screen element, shooting either on video or taking stills, and the need for pupils to plan carefully and base what they’re doing on the original text would remain.
On the Ninestiles School website there’s a ‘Guide to green screen shooting’ at with links to their Jekyll and Hyde activity and some sample finished videos.
Peter M Evans
Producer/director
Glasshead TV
May 2009
Note to teachers
This document was not created by Teachers TV but the author has allowed us to publish it here to be used for educational purposes