Howdy Reader,​

It's been about two weeks since my last newsletter, but they've been a busy two weeks! So let's get going!

Finally! The Blog Post: remember the guy who commissioned the post?

No, me neither, practically! Despite chasers, he never got back to me, so I published the post on my own terms.

I know it's definitely useful for English Lit students (so it's absolutely his loss): you can read it here. All feedback, as usual, gratefully received.

​

Library Drop-In: well. Let's cut to the chase. We had no takers for our first surgery. I know!

But to paraphrase the Feminist slogan, Nevertheless, we persist. For the adults who attended, I reckon it was a constructive couple of hours in a nice space, and we shared a lot of ideas. Pat (my new Maths tutor buddy) and I share the same moral dilemma - we've chosen to to … rely on tuition to pay our bills, but at the same time (and it’s a trait we share with most teachers, I’m sure), we’re highly motivated to help students, and it feels a little uncomfortable that some of our help is dependent on affordability.

A win-win solution potentially exists. If we can get a decent attendance at future surgeries (to prove a demand), it’s highly likely the library committee can get government funding which means the tutors can be paid for their time, and students can get ten-fifteen minutes’ worth of quick-fixes, signposting, etc.

But … we need bums on seats.

Can you help? Sure - if you live locally, please spread the word. Share this newsletter, or let your classmates know that the surgery is open for one more runout, but won’t be offered again if no-one attends. Thank you in advance!

I'm still working on the 'Field of Dreams' basis - if you build it, they will come. Let's see what happens.

How many social media platforms are enough?

Once you start running your own business, you suddenly become aware of how much time you spend ‘marketing’ as opposed to actually doing the job, or creating useful content. I certainly feel at the moment that my main problem is that no-one’s heard of me.
Which means I’ve added LinkedIn to BlueSky, Instagram, and Facebook (and of course email). It’s not a platform I thought I would use - too often, the posts I receive are boastful, posturing, almost the kind of thing you could imagine President Trump writing.

At the time of writing, after a week, my humongous network numbers a mighty …

Two people.

If you’re on there, come and say hello.THIS is my profile. And THIS is a post from earlier today which attempts to answer why we still study Shakespeare over 400 years after his death. See if you can find the ‘passion’ in the piece …

My first ‘Masterclass’ has gone online!

Don't @ me (lol). I picked GCSE Macbeth (AQA/OCR) exam boards deliberately because I didn’t want to conflict with what I am doing with my current tutees. So it’s a text which - for my money - isn't taken at all seriously in Wales, and during half-term in England, too.

You can find the link on my socials (all 378 of them, lol). if you know anyone who is studying this in England. But what I thought I would share with you is my further adventures in using AI. These images, obviously, are what I cooked up to help me publicise the course. If you’re interested, I’m using artistly.ai (not getting any commission from letting you know that).

Anything else? How about ‘Unseen Poetry’?

Funny you should say that.

About two years ago, I signed up to https://discoverpoetry.com/. It’s an excellent resource for you students. You’re emailed a single poem daily, and if you do sign up, spend five minutes on each poem thinking about:

• Theme and message
• Structure
• Technique and Language

That feels like quite enough from me. Next week’s will be shorter, and probably on Sunday.

Please share in the meantime! And I’m always open to suggestions. What would you like to see me doing more/less of, or just differently?

Abel