Hoops of Steel

Joanna Erskine talks with Mel about why we must bother with the Bard and lifts the curtain on the emerging Bell Shakespeare method — a joyful, practical, deeply human way to engage students with English’s most revered playwright’s oeuvre. If you’re ready to ditch the 40‑slide PowerPoint and teach Shakespeare with purpose and power, this one’s for you.Joanna Erskine (she/her) is an award-winning playwright, producer, speaker, teacher and arts education specialist. Joanna is the Head of Education at Bell Shakespeare, working with the company for 18+ years overseeing artistic direction and delivery of its renowned national education program.Show notes:Plays mentioned: The Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello For all things Bell Shakespeare including the National Teacher Mentorship and the Bell Shakespeare method, head to the education section of the Bell Shakespeare website.Connect with us:Join our community at:🔗 ETAQ WebsiteEnter the conversation at:🔗 ETAQ Facebook🔗ETAQ InstagramSend us Fan Mail

Why do big feelings matter in English, and what happens when teachers make space for them?In this episode of Hoops of Steel, Mel is joined by educator and researcher Alice Elwell to explore the transformative potential of emotional inquiry in the English classroom. Alice frames affect not as something to manage or minimise, but as a vital force. Students’ (and teachers’!) emotions can be an energy that fuels student agency, deepens interaction, and opens up new pathways for learning about human experience.This episode invites English teachers to step boldly into affective work, to refuse dispassionate analysis, and to recognise that in English, thinking and feeling are never separate.Bio:Alice Elwell is a full-time school leader who teaches Language and Literature, Global Politics, and Theory of Knowledge at The Queensland Academies Creative Industries — known locally as QACI. She is a PhD candidate whose work explores emotional inquiry through literature in the classroom.Show notes:Elwell, A. (2023). "Student Voice, Choice, and Agency: The Benefits of Co-designing English Curriculum." English in Australia 58(2): 47.Elwell, A. (2021). Critical affective literacy, feminist pedagogies, and democracy: exploring possibilities for the high school English classroom. In New perspectives on Education for Democracy (pp. 138-152). Routledge.Macmillan, D. (2025). Every brilliant thing. Bloomsbury Publishing.Connect with us:Join our community at:🔗 ETAQ WebsiteEnter the conversation at:🔗 ETAQ Facebook🔗ETAQ InstagramSend us Fan Mail

Why do gothic and speculative stories grip young people, and what do they offer students in uncertain times?In this episode of Hoops of Steel, Melanie Ralph is joined by Brisbane writer and academic Kim Wilkins, also known as Kimberley Freeman. Kim has published more than 30 books in over 20 languages and is a Professor of Writing and Associate Dean of Humanities Research at the University of Queensland.Together, they explore gothic literature and speculative fiction as ways of pushing back against narrow ideas of learning, success, and creativity. Drawing on haunted houses, headstrong girls, monsters, and the Australian landscape, Kim reflects on why gothic stories endure, not as escapism, but as transportation: a way of stepping beyond the mundane and opening up space for uncertainty, imagination, and possibility.This emphasis on possibility runs through Kim’s thinking about teaching and writing, especially at a time when creativity is often measured by outputs rather than process. As she explains:“Writing isn’t just about outputs, it’s about process. And it’s in the process that we learn things.”This episode invites English teachers to reclaim gothic and speculative fiction as powerful tools for imagination, defiance, and hope, and to help students imagine lives that are more than merely probable.Shownotes:Connect with Kim Wilkins (also published as Kimberley Freeman):  https://kimberleyfreeman.com/Books and texts mentioned in this episodeParadise Lost by John Milton (Books I & II)Flyaway by Kathleen JenningsHoneyeater by Kathleen JenningsThe Dressmaker by Rosalie HamPicnic at Hanging Rock by Joan LindsayThe Well by Elizabeth JolleyQueersland (anthology)Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It by Cory DoctorowBreakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan WangJoin our community at:🔗 ETAQ WebsiteEnter the conversation at:🔗 ETAQ Facebook🔗ETAQ InstagramSend us Fan Mail

Turn closed questions into open doors: Marcus Luther shows how to fuel thinking, talking, and learning.In this episode, Julie Arnold speaks with Oregon-based English teacher and podcaster Marcus Luther about building classrooms where curiosity crackles and every student’s voice matters. From quick wins that draw even the quietest students into conversation, to feedback moments that shift self‑belief, Marcus shares practical strategies wrapped in warmth and optimism. Along the way, Marcus champions the purpose of public education, celebrates the communities we build in our rooms, and offers a hopeful vision for what students can do when we trust them.Marcus Luther has taught high school English in Oregon for 14 years and co‑hosts The Broken Copier, a podcast and resource hub that centres teacher voices and shares practical tools for the classroom. His work is grounded in reflective practice, inclusive culture, and keeping collaboration at the heart of English teaching.Shownotes:More strategies and resources from Marcus on The Broken Copier.Kagan, S. (2013). Kagan Cooperative Learning. Kagan Publishing.Thompson, M. Annotation processes and questioning frameworksGallagher, K. (2006). Teaching Adolescent Writers. Stenhouse Publishers.Join our community at: 🔗 ETAQ WebsiteEnter the conversation at: 🔗 ETAQ Facebook 🔗 ETAQ InstagramSend us Fan Mail

What stories shape us — and how do we learn to tell our own?In this episode, Julie Arnold speaks with playwright, director and creative leader Wesley Enoch about the power of storytelling in education, the importance of honouring lived experience, and the joy of building spaces where students feel seen and heard. This episode is a warm, wise, and energising conversation for teachers who want to help students express identity with clarity and confidence.Wesley Enoch AM is a playwright and director of Indigenous theatre. He hails from Stradbroke Island (Minjerribah), and is a Nunukul Nuugi man of the Quandamooka Nation. Wesley has been the Artistic Director of six major festivals across Australia including the Sydney and Brisbane Festivals, and was the Artistic Director of Queensland Theatre Company from 2010 to 2015. His play The 7 Stages of Grieving, co-written with Deborah Mailman, is a widely studied and performed landmark of contemporary Australian theatre. Wesley is currently Professor of Practice (Drama) at QUT and the inaugural Indigenous Chair in the Creative Industries.Shownotes:📚 Recommended Reading: • Boas, E. & Kerin, R. (2021). Novel Ideas: Teaching fiction in the middle years. AATE. • Shipp, C. (2023). Listening from the Heart. AATE. • Worrell, T. (2022). Profiles of practice: Influences when selecting texts to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in English. English in Australia, 57(1), 5–14.📦 Where to buy books: • Black Inc. • Magabala Books🛠️ Classroom Resource: • You Can Teach: Teaching First Nations Perspectives Find out more about Wesley Enoch at: 🔗 Wesley Enoch’s page at QUTJoin our community at: 🔗 ETAQ WebsiteEnter the conversation at: 🔗 ETAQ Facebook 🔗 ETAQ InstagramSend us Fan Mail

How does a English teacher transform professional learning into great classroom practice? How do you take a set text, pick the bits that are going to engage your students and prepare them for what comes next? From medieval Icelandic sagas to Hannah Kent’s Burial Rites, Dan joins Julie to talk about how deep reading, writing, and meaningful classroom encounters help students grow and keep teachers loving what they do. Dan has taught English in public schools for most of this century and long enough to know the essentials don’t change – fads, policies and strategies notwithstanding. He is trepidatious about each new syllabus and prescribed book lists (especially if they prevent him teaching Hamlet), but he’ll work with them because he loves good books and thinks we have a duty to share them with children. He also loves the way languages work, Shakespeare, and all things Icelandic.Show notes:Dan learnt a lot from The Secret of Literacy: Making the Implicit, Explicit by David Didau and Reading to LearnDan spoke extensively about teaching Hannah Kent's Burial RitesDan’s next read is The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (with Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko still waiting patiently on the shelf)Join our community at:🔗ETAQ Website: https://www.etaq.org.au/Enter the conversation at:🔗ETAQ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ETAQLD🔗ETAQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/etaqld/ Send us Fan Mail

How can literature help students see history as something alive and full of meaning for our present?In this episode, recorded at the ETAQ State Conference, Julie Arnold speaks with acclaimed author Anna Funder about the joy and challenges of writing stories that bring the past into sharp, human focus. In a conversation ranging through her best known work, they explore how literature can uncover hidden lives, question power, and spark fierce curiosity in the classroom.Anna Funder is one of Australia's most acclaimed and awarded writers. Her books Stasiland and All That I Am are prize-winning international bestsellers, translated into many languages. Wifedom, hailed as a 'masterpiece', has been chosen as a Notable Book of 2023 by the New York Times and a Book of the Year by The Times, The Economist, the Financial Times, the Daily Telegraph and The Telegraph. Anna's novella The Girl With The Dogs reimagines love in the age of the tracking device.Find out more about Anna Funder at:🔗Anna Funder's website: https://www.annafunder.com/Join our community at:🔗ETAQ Website:  https://www.etaq.org.au/Enter the conversation at:🔗ETAQ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/ETAQLD🔗ETAQ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/etaqld/ Send us Fan Mail

Teaching poetry is a balancing act—can we nurture intellect and emotion while tackling curriculum and student pushback? Sarah Holland-Batt and Kelli McGraw explore the challenges of teaching poetry—how it tests us, yet sparks creativity, deep thinking, and meaningful connections.Sarah Holland-Batt is an award-winning poet, editor and critic. Her books have received a number of Australia’s leading literary awards, including the Stella Prize for her most recent book, The Jaguar, and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Poetry for her second volume, The Hazards. She is also the author of a book of essays on contemporary Australian poetry, Fishing for Lightning, collecting her poetry columns written for The Australian. She is presently Professor of Creative Writing at QUT, and also serves as Chair of Australian Book Review, and a member of the Council of the National Library of Australia.Kelli McGraw is an English teacher and academic, working as a senior lecturer at QUT and part-time teacher at Kelvin Grove State College. Currently teaching secondary English education and poetry at the university, her prior experience includes growing up and teaching in Southwest Sydney, NSW. Kelli researches the fields of English curriculum studies, teacher identity, digital literacy, and poetry education. She is the Editor of AATE’s scholarly journal Australian Journal of English Education.Show notes: Sarah’s next read is Tintinnabulum by Judith Beveridge.Her website is https://www.sarahhollandbatt.com/Kelli’s next read is Emily Wilde's Map of the Overlands or the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett.Her website is https://kellimcgraw.net/Join our community at https://www.etaq.org.au/ Enter the conversation at ETAQ Facebook and ETAQ Instagram Send us Fan Mail

It feels risky to invite students to experiment and make choices when there's so much pressure on student performance. Jeffrey Lewis talks about how to make space in the curriculum for students to find their own ways to get inspired.Jeffrey Lewis is currently Assistant Head of English at Brisbane Grammar School. He has previously held positions on the ETAQ Management Committee, including Director of Professional Learning and Secretary. He is an avid reader, amateur playwright, and committed Pokémon fanatic.Show notes:Jeffrey's next read is Running with Pirates by Kári GíslasonFriend of the pod Professor Jennifer Alford has suggested some clever reads for English teachers on the topic. These two are open access: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/etpc-08-2024-0127/full/pdf?title=the-last-bastion-of-democracy-teachers-perceptions-of-the-democratic-potential-of-english-curriculum Curriculum guidelines for the development of student agency in secondary education: A systematic review https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/curj.318?af=R And if you're super, keen, contact Julie at [email protected] for access to one or mor of these great titles:McCarthy, M., Riddle, S., & Hickey, A. (2025). The teacher as double agent: performative compliance, allegiance and survival in the contemporary classroom. Teachers and Teaching, 1–15.Chisholm, J. S., Alford, J., Halliday, L. M., & Cox, F. M. (2019). Teacher agency in English language arts teaching: A scoping review of the literature. English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 18(2), 124-152.Brown, M., McKnight, L., Yager, K., & O'Sullivan, K. A. (2021). Empowering english teachers: teacher agency in Australia. English in Australia, 56(1), 26-33.Join our community at https://www.etaq.org.au/Enter the conversation at ETAQ Facebook and ETAQ InstagramSend us Fan Mail

"Booklets... stay with me". Melanie Ralph believes that keeping things simple is the key to creating a joyful classroom. Her innovative teaching resources help lighten the load for her colleagues. Mel's values-driven, pragmatic approach is great for students; and it can help teachers hold onto the joy and the point of learning in English.Show notes:Mel's WebsiteBare Bones Teaching on YouTube--->Join our community at https://www.etaq.org.au/Enter the conversation at ETAQ Facebook and ETAQ InstagramSend us Fan Mail