Being a teenager is hard! But one thing we know for sure - listening to Taylor Swift makes us feel way less alone!
Here's 'Fifteen'...
https://youtu.be/... Read More...
CLASS FOCUS:
Understanding how context impacts on the significance of key vocabularyIdentifying key themes/messages within course textsCollecting quotes tha... Read More...
Let's be clear: you want your analysis of a writer's alliteration to SPARKLE! Okay, so it's fair to say that a writer often uses the technique to draw our att... Read More...
CLASS FOCUS:
Making clear pointsEstablishing three points per essay Collecting quotes that evidence the family theme
When Avicii died in 2018, we lost an... Read More...
CLASS FOCUS:
Identifying key themes within course textsIdentifying vocabulary used for effectExploring use of language techniques in relation to theme
Sl... Read More...
We want to support AND recognise your dedication and development. Thus the Sound of Pen achievement awards! There are three different categories and you will b... Read More...
The 3 purple links below serve as wormholes. They'll take you straight into the pages of the texts you're studying at school. Use YONAKA's ideas to develop you... Read More...
And so we reach the end of another school year. Where did the time go?!
It's been an amazing first twelve months for Sound of Pen. It started with a collect... Read More...
As you read through the below, you'll find our model ideas in orange and green. There are tasks for you to complete in purple.
We always love the summer te... Read More...
The purple links in this article serve as wormholes. Click on them and you'll find yourself walking through the pages of Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture Of Dorian G... Read More...
We've heard so much amaaaaazing music in 2021 already! Here are the songs we've enjoyed most. Each mini-review includes a word that you can try to use in your ... Read More...
So, you KNOW we love it when our favourite artists offer us a way into the texts we’re studying in class. We especially love it when that artist is TAYLOR ... Read More...
Finding the words to describe that feeling our favourite music gives us is never easy. And so we repeat ourselves in the hope that someone will get what we're ... Read More...
A story isn't just a story. It's a message. From the writer to US. But what exactly is the message? Well, let's find out...
Watch: Video
Watc... Read More...
Iago gets to Othello because the eponymous 'hero' has got a head full of voices. The men in charge of Gilead are absolutely ruled by the chattering that only t... Read More...
It's time for us to YELL about our favourite songs of recent times. Have a read of the four reviews below, and remember: it's not always about using BIG words ... Read More...
There are a lot of activities already available at Sound of Pen. And, yes, they'll help you develop the skills you'll want to sharpen in advance of any GCSE an... Read More...
Your voice is EVERYTHING. But how to say all the things you need to? Well, it's so funny that you should ask! Enter Shikari's impassioned frontman Rou Reynolds... Read More...
Because work and play can be exactly the same thing, here are 3 more reviews that will introduce you to the best music of recent times AND improve your confide... Read More...
The music we listen to keeps us afloat and fills us with good and lovely feelings. It helps us to remember that WE ARE NOT ALONE. Here are our reviews of some ... Read More...
Listening to the music of the world's greatest pop star, Kim Petras, might be our absolutely favourite thing to do. And now that we know we can improve our ess... Read More...
You know how easily you remember the lyrics to your favourite songs? Let's make sure you can recall all the 'Romeo & Juliet' quotes with the same amount of... Read More...
Watch: Video
Secret Love Story Part 2 by Little Mix:
We keep behind closed doorsEvery time I see you, I die a little moreStolen moments that we s... Read More...
This is the second part of a lesson which started here. Last time, we looked at approaching unseen poetry questions and we concentrated on that idea of taking ... Read More...
womenrcool. YOU do not need telling. If only there'd been someone with your good sense running Gilead.
Thankfully, the future IS in your hands - and the wor... Read More...
Okay, it's unlikely you'll be asked to analyse the awesome Against The Current's lyrics in your exam! The skills you'll use to investigate 'Gravity', though, a... Read More...
When I started designing this lesson, I was thinking it would be most useful to my A-Level students. But actually these activities will prove just as purposefu... Read More...
In our first live lesson with real students in an actual classroom, we talked in more detail about redemption and Against The Current! It was SO much fun. If y... Read More...
I asked my Sound of Pen students to let me know which songs they were loving right at this moment. I then started to create a series of classes in which we tre... Read More...
After looking at Kate Nash's blog, Ella realised she had something equally crucial to say. This is Ella's own beautiful and brilliant blog entry. Read it and b... Read More...
Alice is an amaaaaaazing digital artist. Her A-Level study of 'The Handmaid's Tale' inspired these incredible pictures - we are IN AWE. The pictures are inters... Read More...
It's impossible to pile all the music we LOVE at Sound of Pen into one genre. And yet there IS a thread that joins all our favourite music together. It's somet... Read More...
We LOVED so much of the music released in 2020. Here are our top 50 songs. Each mini-review includes a word that you should be using when writing your A-Level ... Read More...
It's impossible to pile all the music we LOVE at Sound of Pen into one genre. And yet there IS a thread that joins all our favourite music together. It's somet... Read More...
In our last class, we reviewed Sound of Pen's best songs of 2020. Who made it to number 1? YUNGBLUD maybe? Or Against The Current? Taylor Swift perhaps? Have a... Read More...
The first piece of student work has arrived!
Adela was tasked with summarising her A-Level 'Love' learning. No one could have expected what came next - this... Read More...
MUSIC FOCUS: Against The Current.ACTIVITY FOCUS: Explore ATC's ideas about redemption, then apply those same ideas to 'The Handmaid's Tale'. Read our analysis ... Read More...
Listen to YUNGBLUD's god save me, but don't drown me out, Bring Me The Horizon's One Day The Only Butterflies Left Will Be In Your Chest... or Against The Curr... Read More...
Some people think listening to the unstoppable Kim Petras isn't the answer to EVERYTHING. Which is obviously ridiculous.
All you need to do to improve your ... Read More...
If you say you LOVE Kim Petras as much as you LOVE Enter Shikari, some people look at you like you're craaaaaaaaazy. When, of course, what they should be doing... Read More...
MUSIC FOCUS: Bring Me The Horizon.ACTIVITY FOCUS: Link BMTH lyrics to quote from 'The Handmaid's Tale' - then create a bookmark to help you remember Atwood's k... Read More...
MUSIC FOCUS: Maggie Lindemann!ACTIVITY FOCUS: Examine techniques used in Maggie Lindemann's 'Pretty Girl' and then see how Shakespeare uses those very same tec... Read More...
Sharpen your ability to deal with unseen poetry, develop your understanding of 'Sonnet 116' and learn to write about love!
MUSIC FOCUS: YUNGBLUD.ACTIVITY FO... Read More...
Punk dramatists, Creeper, explore themes of loss, struggle, friendship, class, hopelessness, anxiety and free will. Explore how they do it in order to deepen y... Read More...
It's helpful to look at so many of the texts you're studying through a feminist lens. To do that, you need to really understand what feminism is. Kate Nash wil... Read More...
Whenever we record one of our Wormholes podcasts, we use the artist in question's ideas as fuel for a series of related classes. Theresa Jarvis of YONAKA spear... Read More...
YONAKA's delivery is key. Theresa and the gang use different tones to convey a whole range of emotional states and ideas.
https://youtu.be/HnkY2oTwnm8
... Read More...
How is it even possible to sum up the experience of living through 2020? Here are the songs that have helped us through the first 6 months!
Listen to all 50... Read More...
We LOVE this simile.
Choose the task that feels more relevant to you:
TASK 1: Does the bug imagery feel relevant to any of your texts? Perhaps you're stu... Read More...
The Holding Absence singer's attitudes to religion feel more typical of 2021 than, maybe, 1821.
Consider the texts you're studying. What were the typical at... Read More...
It's pretty hard to find a text which doesn't explore ideas about love in some way or other!
Where - in the texts you're studying - can you recognise the ch... Read More...
You might have discussed duality once or twice (or a thousand times) in class!!
In which texts, can you spot both the quieter and louder sides of a person's... Read More...
Sooooo interesting to hear Lucas talk about flowers in this way. A real 'lightbulb' moment for us!
Where do you spot flowers - either in the foreground or t... Read More...
