No matter how you’re feeling about studying Shakespeare, there’s a good chance that some sessions with The Writers’ Schoolhouse will help you to do better than you expect. If you’re confident, well let’s make sure you nail it. If you’re seriously worried, we can get to a better place. I have years of experience successfully supporting and working with students studying Shakespeare, and I am confident that I can help you.

Whatever grade level you’re studying, I can work with you to make sure you understand the text and the assessment requirements. Believe me, there is no such thing as a “silly” question. I can help you prioritise which quotes to learn, and to quickly sketch out essay plans. I can guide you in focusing your efforts to get the maximum impact from what you have learned, and at times we will laugh.

All support and learning options are tailored and delivered to meet the needs of specific students and focus on their agreed priorities. Maybe we will work together one-on-one, or maybe you will prefer to work with a group of friends. Keeping the group size small means that you get personalised help and support, insights, and feedback from your peers. Some of the options I offer to meet your needs are detailed below. If you’re imagining something different, please send me an email and let’s discuss ways I can help. All sessions can be held on zoom if that works well for you.

• Course 1 – Help!
• Practice Exam Feedback
• Course 2 – Excelling
• Course 3 – Plan without mercy

All prices are available after discussing your needs. Please email [email protected] to discuss your specific requirements and receive a quote.

Course 1 – Help! I just want to murder Shakespeare

This four-session course is for students who are worried that their final English exam on Shakespeare is heading for bloody, murderous, heinous tragedy. Participating in this course will build your confidence as you check off the “must haves” that the rubric identifies are vital to success. In a small group (maximum of four students) or one-on-one, you’ll get the help you need. The focus of each session will be adjusted to meet specific student needs, but by the end we will have checked off: historical context and cultural representations, analysing key scenes and quotes, checking claim clarity, and essay structure. We will also probably cover the most common grammatical errors – but don’t be scared, grammar is much less frightening than Lady Macbeth or Iago or Hamlet in a wild rant.

Practice Exam Feedback

Perhaps you thought you did well in your practice exam but the markers at your school didn’t agree. Or maybe the feedback might as well be in Shakespearean verse for all the sense you can make of it. Let’s spend 90 minutes going over your paper. We’ll identify the things you did well so that you can build on your strengths. We’ll (try and) interpret the feedback you received. We’ll make sure you are confident that you’re addressing all the “must haves” for a good essay. And then we’ll make a list of the things you can realistically improve before the exam.

Writing is revising and in the pressure of an exam you might forget to revise – so we’ll also talk about how to revise under exam conditions.

Be like Macduff – mourn and “feel it like a man (sic.,)” then go forward and defeat the fiend of Scotland.

You will want to think through the suggestions I offer, so be sure to schedule this early enough to allow time afterwards to refine your thinking.

Course 2 – The Divine Right of Kings to Excel

This course is for students who plan to excel in their final English exam on Shakespeare. Be like King James I and claim your divine right with confidence.

Joining this course will give you the opportunity to hone your thinking and craft your essay writing so that you can confidently showcase your skills in the external exam. You want to be sure you score the “discerning” level grades.

One-on-one or with a maximum of four students studying the same text, this course will allow you to probe the prompts you want to prepare and to receive the targeted feedback you need. The focus will be tailored to highlight your strengths and address or scaffold your weaknesses. I expect we will cover topics including writing a compelling and clear claim, crafting an introduction that signals essay quality from the opening sentence, and showcasing your insights and novel ideas about the masterful ways Shakespeare questions the fundamentals of loyalty and betrayal, good and evil, fate and free will.

Shakespeare was a master craftsman, and with this course, you can showcase your mastery too.

Course 3 – Kill Plan without mercy

This 50 minute session will help you make sure that in the exam you can plan as ruthlessly as Lady Macbeth – although hopefully you don’t end up going quite so mad. You don’t want to go ahead without a plan and end up like Hamlet, or with the wrong plan like King Lear, so lets work together to be sure you have the skills to plan for success.

BYO a previous prompt of your choice, and in under an hour we’ll outline your essay and paragraph points, identify relevant quotes that you will analyse to support your claim, and outline your introduction.

In the exam you’ll need to do this in under thirty minutes, so come and practice planning under pressure. I’ll show you a planning process that works fast, that you can repeat every time, and that will make sure your essay ticks all the right boxes. With the right plan, your essay can almost write itself.

I have far too much fun in these sessions – see the madness in my eyes as we unravel the essay question that intrigues or frustrates or inspires you. You never know where the dagger might lead us.