MUSIC FOCUS: Proper, Machine Gun Kelly, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, The Cure, Kittie, Ava Max, LOLO, Maggie Lindemann.ACTIVITY FOCUS: Develop your understand... Read More...
So many A-Level Literature texts deal with what it means to lose out in love. If you look closely at Taylor Swift's 'Exile', you'll realise our favourite pop ... Read More...
Lil Peep knew how it felt to get his heart broken. And because it's definitely way easier to relate to the rapper's romantic issues than it is to those of Ernest Dowson, we thought this lesson would be especially useful. Because Ernest's yearning fo... Read More...
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...
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 your understanding of 'A Streetcar Named Desire', light imagery and gender inequality!
As ... 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 SWIFT. And so it was impossible not to start feeling just a little bit dizzy when, in 2020... 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...
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 essay skills while we listen - well, we're just too excited for words x
Here's a video int... 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...
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 purposeful if you're studying for GCSE assessments. I'm not saying you ALWAYS have to dig into EVER... 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...
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 something to do with the intent of it - the way it feels as if it says something about what it'... 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...
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 BEAUTIFUL painting! Inspired in part by the Taylor Swift lessons, but mostly fuelled by t... 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...
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...
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 will help you to feel confident with the concept. She'll also show you what it means to fight... 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...
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 studying John Donne's 'The Flea'. How do Lucas Woodland's thoughts help to develop your ideas... 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 nature? Which quotes really highlight that duality?
Send us your ideas and we will inc... 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...
We love that Lucas so clearly wants his music to take us on a journey. And maybe you won't even realise how significant Holding Absence's starting point is unt... Read More...
Some of our course writers have also employed the dark/light structure that Lucas makes such powerful use of.
Oscar Wilde knew the darkness well. Victorian 'morality' made sure of it.
Can you think of moments - in the texts you're studying - d... Read More...
So we've heard a bit about why the rock song structure fitted Holding Absence’s needs PERFECTLY. Now, it's time to think about how Lucas Woodland's ideas serve... Read More...