- The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler by Gene Kemp
I began teacher training college in 1972. Yikes! Believe it or not, English wasn’t my main subject, it was Environmental Studies. However, because I was training as a primary school teacher, we all had to do in-depth courses in English and maths. I remember very early on in the first term one of the lecturers reading us an extract from The Midnight Fox by Betsy Byars to demonstrate how giving a reading should be done. Our task the following week was to choose an extract from any children’s work of fiction and read it out loud to the group because reading out loud to a class, and reading out loud well, was seen as the most valuable thing a teacher could do in the classroom. I still believe that’s true.
I wish I could remember the extract I chose back then but I can’t. I do remember standing up in front of my peers and reading, full of confidence, enjoying every moment. I was told to slow down my delivery but other than that I was OK. OK? Excuse me, let’s have a bit more respect for my Eureka moment please, chaps. OK? I was brilliant!
Reading books to my classes became the thing I loved above all else. I once found an interview by Micheal Morpurgo, another ex-teacher, and he said the same thing. Maybe its showmanship. Maybe its that magical moment when you read something from something so well crafted and fast paced and you know that your whole class is gripped. And I mean the whole class, not just the bookworms but the ones who are usually the pains in the neck with the attention span of a gnat. Nothing, nothing beats that connection between a good book, a good reader and a keen audience.
The first class reader that worked for me (I began teaching Y7s) was one I found in the store cupboard called Run for Your Life by David Line. It was about a young boy called Soldier who witnesses a murder. Only Woolcott, a reluctant ally, believes him. It’s a nail biting thriller full of narrow escapes and dashes across the bleak Norfolk countryside. The fact that the enemies were Hungarian allowed me to put on a dreadful Eastern European accent.
This was followed by a little light relief with Helen Cresswell’s Bagthorpe Saga then back to war time with The Machine Gunners by Robert Westall. My class was so engrossed with The Machine Gunners, I used it, appropriately enough, as a weapon. Wind me up, you guys, and no story. It never failed.
In my second teaching post, a middle school for 8-12 year olds near Oxford, I discovered Bernard Ashley’s books. His novel, The Trouble With Donavon Croft, about a 10 year old black boy who was so traumatised in his foster home he became an elective mute, was groundbreaking. Equally as profound was The Turbulent Term of Tyke Tyler (pictured). The kids loved the fact that every chapter began with a joke. In fact, the entire book was that perfect combination of humour and pathos. Not only that, it had a perfect twist at the end. Classic. By the way, while teaching in Oxford I met this guy – a fellow head of English at a nearby school – who was putting a poetry anthology together. What was his name now? Philip… Philip… Philip Pullman. That’s it. What a spooky little world we live in.
Another Oxford memory is of reading Judy Blume’s Superfudge and Beverley Cleary’s Ramona Quimby stories in the launderette on Friday evenings. I used to laugh out loud – not recommended in such serious establishments.
In 1981 I moved to Sheffield and, despite my primary school training, ended up in a secondary school. The book I remember from my time there was Sue Townsend’s refreshing and original The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾. Loaned to me by a Y10 girl, I used to read it on the bus going into work, tears streaming down my face. Happy days. Plays always went down well in Sheffield. Willy Russell’s Our Day Out was brilliant for reading round the class and Barry Hines’ The Price of Coal was popular too.
After that, my career became a little bitty. I had children and stopped teaching full time. I did several maternity covers and part-time posts instead. I used The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross a few times because the pupils enjoyed working out the puzzles and Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce always went down well. Towards the end of my teaching career I was even brave enough to try supply teaching. Having a good poetry collection to hand or a short story in my bag helped me get through many rough days in tough schools. A good book is an instant ice breaker. Anne Fine’s Diary of a Killer Cat was like the horse whisperer for cover lessons. It calmed and soothed and made kids chuckle. Similarly anything by Michael Rosen. Bellowing Your dad’s fatter than my dad at a class of Y4s is a great attention grabber.