PowerPoint Introductions
PowerPoint is a bit like Brussel sprouts; you either love it, or you hate it. Personally speaking, my preference is for sprouts. Listening to a turgid ‘death by PowerPoint’ presentation is, well, just...
Two "Creative" Course Outlines
I've updated the site and added two new Higher Level course outlines for first teaching in August of 2019 with first exams in May of 2021 (see course outline #3 and #4). You can find them here and you...
Two “Traditional” Course Outlines
How you design your course is so open and flexible that it becomes simultaneously freeing and constraining. The key is to find an approach that works for you and the people you collaborate with on a...
On Intertextuality
I first read George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier at the age of nineteen. I had read Orwell at school, but not Wigan Pier. Schools don’t teach Wigan Pier (be swift to get in touch if I’m wrong). Wigan...
Freedom! Unit Planning in the New Language and Literature Course
Before providing different two-year course outlines, I wanted to start with the sheer variety of what you can do in the new course in terms of unit planning. When I think of units, I am normally thinking...
Radical Change: The New Language and Literature Guide Has Been Released!
For those of you who began teaching the Language A: language and literature course in August of 2011, we’ve come a long way. We finally – or so we hope – have wrapped our heads around it all. We have...
Best Books of 2018
The last six months were pretty dismal for me in terms of reading adult fiction. I just didn’t get my hands on the books that I wanted to devour. Finding the right book at the right time is so important...
Should We Study Current Events in Language and Literature? A Partial Reaction to the 2018 Subject Report
The subject report for the May 2018 examinations was recently released. I read it every year because it gives us insight into the course and it gives us insight into the examinations themselves. I like...
Why Caring Matters
A recurring joke – my children might prefer to say a ‘tired joke’ – at my family’s dinner table goes something like this: One of my son’s says, “Dad, could you pass the (insert American pronunciation)...
Read This! Some Information About the Language and Literature Curriculum Changes
It’s our hope here at InThinking that you love teaching IB Language and Literature as much as we do. We think it’s a sexy course to teach! Students grapple with all types of texts, in all kinds of contexts,...