For generations, the deeds of characters like plucky Jim Hawkins and dastardly Long John Silver have captivated young readers of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Not, however, Judith Kneen’s Year 7 English class at Dene Magna School in Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire. They were all at sea with the book. “Old-fashioned, dense and wordy. They hated it,” says Judith, a former head of English who now combines teaching with writing about ITC.
But that was before she discovered a Treasure Island website (www.ukoln.ac.ukservicestreasure) that invited students’ thoughts. Lessons were transformed once she gave her students the chance to have their work published online. That was four years ago...
Laurence Alster
