Sample Non - Fiction Work

A Quiet Walk To Clapham

There are times when I hate my dog! 

Now don’t get me wrong she is a fantastic family pet.  As she’s a Border Collie she often displays more intelligence than my teenage children.  She loves everyone in the family, and is utterly obedient for 99% of the time. 

But, as soon as she sees another dog, all hell breaks loose.  She can’t stand them.  She will bark and growl as if to say “come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough” and try to initiate the canine equivalent of a scene from the movie Green Street.  She has a particular hatred of Jack Russell terriers, which means any encounter involves me dragging her one way and a shell-shocked owner dragging their yapping dog in the other with cries of “sorry” sending them on their way.

Start Earlier to Avoid Bad Light?

Following the extensive disruption to the second test against Pakistan, the news that the ECB

had agreed to start play at 10:30am instead of the traditional 11am was widely welcomed. 

However back in 2005, due to the demands of Sky Television, England’s first test of the

summer, in the last week of May, against Bangladesh at Lords started at this time.  So how

successful was the experiment?

So, does 10:30 work?  Bangladesh would have been beaten soundly by an England team that

would regain the ashes three months later at the Oval, no matter the playing conditions. 

However, in an era where white ball cricket is played under lights in October in England,

surely a test match in high summer could start half an hour earlier?  Indeed, some play 

if conditions are fit, is better than no play at all.

My Golden Summer

On the face of it the International Cricket summer of 1986 was a total disaster for England.  

The team changed captains, continued a revolving door selection policy, and were beaten by 

the visiting international teams, India and New Zealand in both the ODI Texaco Trophy and 

the Test series.  So why should I remember this summer with such fondness?  Why not the 

Ashes triumph of the previous summer where England led by an avalanche of runs by 

Captain David Gower routed the old enemy 3-1 to regain the urn?  The answer is simple, 

1986 was my first serious brush with test cricket in person, when I attended both the first test 

at Lords and the final test at The Oval of the New Zealand series.  More importantly it was the 

only time that I saw my cricketing hero Sir Ian Botham play in person.  

Getting Students To Revise

Exams may be cancelled again for students this year, but the perennial problem of getting 

some students to engage in revision endures.  What strategies can be employed by 

classroom teachers to improve students’ attitudes to revision and have a positive effect on 

their outcomes.

We’ve all been there. 

“Right Year 11, end of module test next week, revision for homework.  It’s really important as 

this will be the grade that goes home on your interim report.”

Once marking the test you get that sinking feeling. Something that you have taught in detail 

and appeared to be well understood by the class ends up causing carnage in the exam.  What

do you do about it? Extra classes? Detentions? Phone calls home?

Whichever you choose inevitably you will spend time going over it again, the class appear to 

“get it” as they did last time.  You might give extra practice exercises which are done well, but 

when it comes to assessment the wheels fall off.  So what’s going wrong?  The answer is 

likely to be revision.