As well as helping to ensure that a largish educational publisher is selling quality resources, I think this is a useful CPD opportunity for teachers, and I have encouraged my staff to sign up to review material.
Below are two reviews (the questions are predefined) which I have written for ZigZag: I purchased the A-Level Language one for the department, and I confess I found some useful ideas in the GCSE Literature one which I duly borrowed, but careful budgeting meant I could not justify buying it to supplement the work staff had already put into our own lesson planning and resources.
The link in the review title will take you to the resource's page on ZigZag. I do not earn any commission from any sales, but I did receive a voucher and a box of chocolates for republishing my reviews here!
The link in the review title will take you to the resource's page on ZigZag. I do not earn any commission from any sales, but I did receive a voucher and a box of chocolates for republishing my reviews here!
Review for: A Level AQA Textual Analysis Pack: Spoken Texts
Note on the formatting: This review was based on a draft of the resource that had not yet been formatted. Before publication, it was professionally formatted by one of our designers.
1. On the whole what did you think about this resource?
This is a really good resource which provides a really useful teaching and revision tool. The content is varied and meets the requirements of the specification and provides scope for students to develop their thinking and research beyond the specification if they want.
2. What you particularly like/dislike about this resource?
The inclusion of annotated texts and suggested answers is always really helpful - both for teachers and students! - and the section on comparisons looks as if it would work really well to allow students to develop their responses.
3. How this resource enhances learning?
The resource provides unseen texts which can be used for both teaching and revision and supplements exisiting material well. The focus on spoken texts is nice as text books often contain just a single example. The inclusion of a glossary and the theories meets the demands of the specification well.
4. Comments on presentation and layout?
The transcripts could be presented in the centre of the page to maximise space around them for annotation. It would be nice not to have the panel on the right of every page (especially for the notes pages) as it's only relevant for the annotated transcripts.
5. Specification and level reviewer teaches (e.g. AQA A AS/A2)
AQA A-Level Language
6. How does the resource match and interpret this specification?
This meets the demands of both the AS and A-Level AQA specification well. The questions match the AO requirements and the advice and information is what AQA demand.
7. Suggestions for improving this resource?
Beyond the tidying up that will take place before publication, I don't think there is anything particular which would stop this being used today. It might be nice to include a couple of full responses to the question (not just the 'short' questions) to allow students to compare essays against their own work to allow them to self/peer assess and become more critical of their own work.
8. Would you purchase this resource?
Yes.
...and having used it, I can confirm the material I used did work well with a Year 12 group, and the remaining material will be revisted in Year 13 as revision.
Note on the formatting: this review was based on a draft of the resource that had not yet been formatted. Before publication, it was be professionally formatted by one of our designers.
1. On the whole what did you think about this resource?
Overall, I was very impressed with the content of this pack: there is a great deal of useful and useable material.
2. What you particularly like/dislike about this resource?
I particularly liked the depth of detail about each of the poems, the suggested answers, the inclusion of suggested pairings and the sample answers. There is nothing to dislike.
3. How this resource enhances learning?
The resource is initially useful to teachers who may be unfamiliar with some of the poems in the anthology. To students it would be allow self-directed study, but at GCSE is possibly more likely to be used as a revision tool or the fill in blanks from missed lessons.
4. Comments on presentation and layout?
It is very text heavy: even breaking up the opening analyses with the inclusion of poets' images would be welcome.
5. Specification and level reviewer teaches (e.g. AQA A AS/A2)
AQA English Language and English Literature at both GCSE and A-Level.
6. How does the resource match and interpret this specification?
The resource matches the new specification really well and is closely focused on the material that AQA has released so far. This is a great feature in its favour.
7. Suggestions for improving this resource?
Would it be possible to include copies of the poems in the pack? This would make it a little more useful as a whole to save having to have the anthology too. Another very small suggestion would be to include the questions on the suggested answers page for each poem to save refering back. Could blank(er) copies of the linking mindmaps be included to use as worksheets so students could work on creating the pairings - and reasons for pairings - themselves?
8. Would you purchase this resource?
Yes
9. Other comments?
Thank you for a really useful resource which will certainly support the first teaching of a new specification.
