In this programme John Bayley meets a teacher in a crisis. At Islington Green School, deputy head of English Nick Smith is teaching his Year 11 work-related students Romeo and Juliet. But studying Shakespeare, with pupils who have to take the class as a condition of their vocational GCSEs, is stretching every sinew of his five years' teaching experience. Even worse, he's been timetabled in an IT suite. John and Nick develop a range of strategies to engage the students, based around a more patient and explicit explanation of the lesson objectives. On John's advice Nick also plays to the students' particular learning styles, asking the class to represent the plot of the play either in words, music, as a rap song, or in pictures. All but one favour the last of these, and as a consequence, the class is much more focused.

Video Series: Teaching With Bayley
Release Date 2006