Author In Focus: Anselm McLeod
ZigZagEducation.co.uk | PublishMeNow.co.uk
| Subjects: | History |
| Subject: | History |
| Top Resource: | Resource Bank: GCSE Edexcel: Paper 3: Weimar and Nazi Germany, 1918–1939 |
"I value the importance of high-quality teaching and learning"
Anselm grew up in Hastings, East Sussex, where he attended local state schools. He subsequently worked in various jobs, including in the British Army, as a nursing auxiliary in the care sector, and various roles in a local cinema chain, including management.
His passion for history developed while travelling and working in Asia, Australia, America and Mexico in the 1990s. In 1998 he graduated from the University of Brighton with honours in Cultural and Historical Studies, and in 2002 achieved his PGCE from the University of London's Institute of Education. Anselm also has a first-class master's degree in History.
Anselm values the importance of high-quality teaching and learning, planning and reflection in reaching out and affecting the lives of all children. His passion in both formative and summative assessment is to create appropriate and differentiated resources that both challenge and inspire students.
More recently, he has adapted his educational practices and resources while lecturing and assessing undergraduate students during additional postgraduate research at the University of London's Birkbeck College.
"sharing good practice is a vital element of delivering successful lessons"
Especially during his early years of teaching, Anselm spent many weekends and evenings ‘burning the midnight oil’ creating interesting and relevant differentiated resources for his classes. Seeing this practice repeated by successive trainee teachers and other practitioners instilled in Anselm the belief that sharing good practice is a vital element of delivering successful lessons.
In 2005, one of Anselm's colleagues introduced him to ZigZag, and together they co-authored a GCSE History Revision Pack, which was subsequently expanded into a Course Companion.
Since then, Anselm has written over two dozen publications for ZigZag, ranging from Course Companions and Activity Packs to Resource Banks and Topic Tests. Covering histories related to Weimar and Nazi Germany, crime and punishment, medicine and the American West, these publications have been designed for use across – and adapted to accommodate changes to – Edexcel, AQA and OCR GCSE History specifications.
"ZigZag's process of peer-reviewing proposed publications is an essential aspect of producing relevant and meaningful resources."
Anselm was impressed from the outset with the excellent quality of feedback and attention to detail provided by the ZigZag team when guiding him from commission stage right through to publication.
His subject coordinators have always been available, enthusiastic about ideas for projects, and realistic about outcomes. Attention to detail ensures that the finished products are well presented and of consistently high quality.
Anselm tells us that because teachers are best placed for understanding what works and what doesn’t work in the classroom, ZigZag's process of peer-reviewing proposed publications is an essential aspect of producing relevant and meaningful resources.
"I have enjoyed the creative process involved in developing each of the various resources, which has been challenging and stimulating in equal measure."
Anselm enjoys the creative process involved in developing each of the various resources, which he finds challenging and stimulating in equal measure.
He has found writing his current GCSE History Topic Tests, GCSE Edexcel: Paper 1: Crime and Punishment in Britain, c1000-present (developed to assist teaching and learning of Edexcel's specification), particularly rewarding as they encompass approximately 200 questions and a range of associated answers.