https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6234-4093
Sit up, listen, answer when I ask,
nothing in your hands, track the speaker – never glance
out of the window when we’re working
in these glass-walled classrooms;
There’s CCTV everywhere except the bathrooms
and silent corridors, so never speak unless you’re asked to.
Your opinion is a doodle in the margin, and I must ask you
to rip that page out of your book.
Now, here’s your mark: you
underperformed. Your target is a seven, but you hardly scored.
You didn’t guess a single one of the answers I hoard
in my middle class, corduroy, home county thoughts.
Didn’t you use the online platform we bought?
Come on! It teaches you with memes – you ought
to enjoy that, right?
Right, shall we go on to the next assessment?
Yes, it says create, but your best investment
is to regurgitate
the answer I distributed to you last lesson.
Wait – before you start – just one second:
The paper says create a story: that I grant.
But please don’t try to give it any personal slant.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Sam Holdstock
Sam Holdstock was a secondary school English teacher. He is now a senior lecturer in ITE at Canterbury Christ Church University. Alongside this, he is a writer and a PhD candidate at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research explores the possibilities for Interactive Fiction in the secondary school English classroom.