That's really awful to think that those kids are going to miss out on the whole experience of Dark Towers.

Hopefully another teacher might be able to offer some advice on how to justify using L&R in the classroom today, beacuse it surely can be properly educationally 'defended', in fact isn't TV part of the ICT specification from KS1 onwards, that alone should be able to justify its use in general, I'd have thought.

And I do have it on good authority that OFSTED centrally are eager to see increased use of TV programmes in schools, carefully used and rigorously followed-up, of course.

If no one here can step in to help, have you considered contacting the BBC directly for a spot of advice? Admittedly the front-line BBC Information staff probably won't have a clue, and I don't think they employ any proper Education Officers anymore, but if you can get through to staff in the schools department itself, they are really friendly, incredibly eager to help, and very very knowledgeable about what they're showing. I'm sure somebody there can help you justify the use of the stories.

In fact if anybody has any advice on how to use the stories in schools today, please pass it along here as I'm sure it would be really useful.

Oh well, buggered the quotes up on that :)

(Edit: fixed for ya. This forum ain't like normal fora!)

Well I have always shown L&R to my Y3 or 4 classes, at different schools as well. As you know, in the past it didn't have to be justified. It was good enough that it was an educational programme. Common sense tells us that getting children interested in stories and seeing them as exciting, nail-biting events will naturally lead on to them enjoying story-telling - and story writing - in general. I have yet to meet a Year 2, 3 or 4 child, however turned off to 'Literacy' or reading, who did not love L&R. There is very little of this kind of story-telling nowadays and if films or television programmes children watch at home do have any element of drama or suspense in them, it is through the 'wow' factor e.g. explosions/violence etc. Soap operas are a poor substitute for proper story-telling; even though they do have a cliffhanger element each episode, most children cannot recall it accurately until they see the next episode. I have found even the least able children can accurately recall characters and events from the previous L&R episode, as well as predict what they think will happen, with little difficulty.

If nothing else, L&R is a superb tool to encourage group reading and speaking and listening skills across your whole class. My usual routine is to watch the episode, then each pair of readers have a book between them. We then proceed to read through an entire chapter aloud; a small amount altogether, a large part being either individual and paired children reading aloud and finally I read any bits that need specific vocabulary or when I need to force the pace/maintain alertness. 

Depending on your class, (and I have a particularly poor Y4 at the moment, mostly below L2 readers) this may be hard-going at first. However, as you near the end of the series you will find that children who previously couldn't follow the text will be damn good at it because they look like idiots in front of their friends when I pick on them to read and they don't know where they are up to. You can differentiate very easily by scanning the up-coming passages for tricky/easy bits and allocate readers accordingly. Obviously you can use the text as a vehicle to investigate all sorts; rhyming words, letter patterns, punctuation; the potential is endless.

All children in your class can gain confidence with their reading aloud because you are picking on them to read parts that you know they are just about capable of tackling, and usually their parner will whisper the words to them and point to the words if they are that poor that they are still having trouble with identifying letter sounds and blends etc.

My advice to you is tell these 'Managers' (what the hell are managers doing in schools anyway? Shouldn't they be working in call centres and DIY stores?) to stuff it up their collective arses. There are countless ways L&R can be justified, some of which I hope you use from the list above, but fundamentally it should be viewed as an ongoing (say once a week) class reading and grammar activity.

Bear in mind also that under the new 'Excellence and Enjoyment' document from the DfES, schools and teachers have finally been given licence to teach their children in whatever way they believe to be the most beneficial and enjoyable. No longer are you hide-bound by the Literacy Hour etc although this document may have been hidden or brushed under the carpet at your school. Nevertheless, this document is current DfES policy and if you can find a copy you should take note of its contents. L&R would be heartily approved of - I can think of no other way in which I could get my children desperate to hear the next part of a story, AND enjoy actually reading about it as well as watching it on TV!

Teacher,
have you got the real series of dark towers
or the taped one of cbbc.

if you have the real one , anychance i could buy it of you if your not going to show ur class it

OK firstly your Literacy coordinator is a fan so that clears the way. If I were you, I'd ask them for their opionion on this. Secondly, maybe you should ask your HT why exactly they can't leave you alone to get on with things...there seems to be a major problem here!

Another thing you could mention is what exactly will the rest of the class APART from these two L3 children are supposed to do while you devote all your attention to 'stretching' them. Seems your 'management' have got their priorities wrong and think that the needs of 2 children are more important than everyone else's. Anyway, I show the stories to L3 Year 4's and they love it. OK the songs might be a bit silly but they appreciate it for the fun element. Sounds like your HT is a real killjoy; heaven forbid the children actually do anything enjoyable in school! What a pain in the arse your HT must be. Why should you be doing anything during the video? You need to watch it too so you can be picking up points to talk about during and after the episode.

It's hard to tell, because I don't know your school or you, but from what you say it sounds like a real hassle where you are. I remember being an NQT (7 years ago!) and even then I wasn't spied on like it sounds you are. In my book what's going on is harrassment while you're trying to get on with your job, and certainly the 'management' team don't appear to be very supportive, especially as it's your NQT year. I suggest you ring up your union if this sort of thing is bothering you - cos it damn well would irritate me. Tell them what's been happening and ask if this is normal to have someone over your shoulder the whole time like this. I think you'll find it's unusual and talking to someone who knows the ropes will give you the gumption you might need to confront your HT about their behaviour. Sorry for the lecture, but what starts off as little things like this, ends up with new teachers deciding that after a couple of years enough is enough, and going on to something less demanding.

Thanks for the fantastically useful replies here, it's tremendous to have it confirmed that imaginative fiction, serial drama, and good old Look & Read can still find a place in schools. Please let us know how you get on, Teacher, if you decide to go ahead with Dark Towers.

If anybody that hasn't already got them would find a scan of the original Teacher's Notes useful, by the way, drop me a line. The best bit is a room-by-room description of the contents & history of the house itself with lots of discussion suggestions, though carefully without giving away too much about which exact old house it is! Did you know that the two coaches in the old coach house are a brougham and a britschka, for instance!

quote:

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Originally posted by: teacher
"Will boy from space be on again in autumn on CBBC?????"

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Keep asking that question for about four more weeks, and we should have the answer!

Thanks very much indeed, Samuel. I know it's insanely trivial, but could you find out what year the notes that you've got are from?! I've managed to get a copy of the 1983 notes, but I would be very interested to see the introductory bits from any of the 1981, 85 or 87 versions - the stuff about how the story relates to other stories, the radio programmes and stuff like that that changed from year to year.
Also, I think I owe you an email about something else from a while back, my inbox is, as usual, in a horrific state, but I will get to it.

I'm interested in this Dark Towers box set though, does it have any treasures besides the teacher's notes and story books?

Dark Towers Teacher's Notes, 1983 - Word document, 546kb

A massive scan of the Dark Towers ground plan - GIF image, 437kb

It's only a scanned version of the printed notes - the document isn't at all structured, there's errant line breaks and paragraph breaks all over the place, and it'll probably collapse completely if the page margins are altered! Internal page references will mostly be wrong, because pages 11-14 were the pull-out Dark Towers ground plan / cutaway view, which have been left out.
I've proof-read it as much as possible. Yes, 'continuous' really was misspelled on page 3 (isn't it great having automatic spell-checking!) and the lyrics of the Clue Song are slightly wrong (with a word / you don't know / the main thing is / to have a go). But since it's a Word document, anybody who wants to can edit it how they want!
The ground plan is only black-and-white, so the Old Library, the Red Bedroom and the Old Tower, plus the 'upstairs rooms' key all require colouring in.

Hope of use.

you dont know how much the teaching notes mean to me

i found out today that it's not possible to get photocopies of the book , sorry

ben i know that it's yours and that you would never give it away , but is there anychance that you could sell it to me id pay anything (within reason)

you dont know how much i wont that

Please??

realy pleased to hear that your class are likeing it

i loved dark towers when i was in primary school (not long ago) and it was brill

that's why i am so abosessed with it

BEN PLEASE WRITE BACK AND WRITE YOUR ANWSER

CAN I BUY IT OF YOU OR NOT , IM BEGGING TO KNOW!