Pie Corbett
 |
Pie Corbett | |
|---|---|
| Born | Peter-John Stewart Corbett April 3, 1954 Sedlescombe, East Sussex, England |
| Education | East Sussex College of Higher Education, Open University |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Children | Poppy Corbett Teddy Corbett Daisy Corbett |
| Writing career | |
| Subjects | Primary Teaching English Literacy Grammar |
| Notable works | Talk for Writing Across the Curriculum Talk for Writing in the Early Years. |
| Website | www |
Pie Corbett (born April 1954) is an English educationist[1], author and poet who has written or edited more than 250 books.
Corbett is best known for developing Talk For Writing[2], an approach to teaching writing that is widely used in UK primary schools. His work[3] promotes creative approaches to classroom teaching[4], particularly through storytelling.
Corbett previously worked as a primary school teacher, headteacher, lecturer and Ofsted inspector. He has also been an educational adviser to the UK government[5].
Early life and education
[edit]Pie Corbett was born and raised on a farm in Sedlescombe, East Sussex, where he was one of five brothers. After leaving school, he studied Education at East Sussex College of Higher Education[6].
Career
[edit]Writing
[edit]Corbett has written and edited more than 250 books, including poetry collections, anthologies and educational resources for teachers [7].
His educational works include Creating Storytellers and Writers[8], Talk for Writing Across the Curriculum [9] and Talk for Writing in the Early Years[10], all co-authored with Julia Strong.
He co-authored Inspiring Creative Writers[11] and Creating Curious Readers[12] with Jamie Thomas.[11][12] He also co-authored The Book of Dragons[13] with Melanie Corbett.
His poetry collections include Evidence of Dragons, Catalysts: Poems for Writing[14] and Dragon Cat[15]. He has also compiled anthologies including A First Poetry Book and The Works series. He has contributed regularly to the Times Educational Supplement.
Corbett has cited Ted Hughes’ Poetry in the Making, as an important influence on his approach to encouraging children’s writing[16].
In 2003, Poems for Year 4, an anthology selected by Corbett and published by Macmillan, was shortlisted for the inaugural Centre for Literacy in Primary Education Poetry Award for children's poetry.[17]
In 2005, Corbett's Story Maker's Chest, a creative-writing resource produced by Philip & Tacey, won the Education Resources Awards for Best Primary Resource.[18] The resource was designed to support children's storytelling and creative writing through character, setting and plot prompts and other classroom activities. It was later updated as Pie Corbett's Story Writing Box.[19]
In 2007, Corbett wrote the teachers' book accompanying the BBC educational poetry resource Let's Write Poetry, published by BBC Active.[20] The associated BBC Two series, Let's Write Poetry: The Big Slam, used performances and workshops by children's poets to support poetry writing in primary schools.
Teaching
[edit]He was a primary school teacher with Brian Moses, where he taught maths and wrote poetry. He became a headmaster.[21]
He was heavily involved in the creation of the i-read[22] software at the Hitachi laboratory at Cambridge University. The purpose of the software is to help children learn how to read via "visual and auditory props".[23]
Corbett, while working at the University of Gloucestershire, created the Articled Teacher Scheme.[24] He also created a unique "storytelling approach" for children to remember stories with and results with improved literacy. This method was then taken up by the National Strategies 'Talk for writing' programme,[25] after he presented it to The National Strategies organization in 2008.[26][27] Corbett was also the creator of the Storymaking Schools Programme for the Story Museum, along with making the "poetry objectives for the National Literacy Strategy."[28]
In 2008, Corbett was asked by the English Ministers of Education to make a "classroom DVD on how to encourage pupils to write".[29]
Talk for Writing
[edit]Pie Corbett is now best known in schools as the creator of the Talk for Writing approach.[30]
Bibliography
[edit]- "Dragon Cat" (2025)[31]
- "Talk for Writing across the Curriculum with DVD: How to teach non-fiction writing 5-12 years (2011) [32]
- Talk for Writing in the Early Years: How to teach story and rhyme, involving families 2-5 years[33]
- Jumpstart! Literacy: Games and Activities for Ages 7–14 (2004) [34]
- All in the Start Writing Poetry[35]
- Jumpstart! Storymaking: Games and Activities for Ages 7–12 (2009)[36]
- Jumpstart! Poetry: Games and Activities for Ages 7–12 (2008)[37]
- The works: poems for key stage 2 – every kind of poem you will ever need for the Literacy Hour (2006)[38]
- Cats, hats, and hippos (2004)[39]
- Chatting Cheetahs And Jumping Jellyfish (2004)[29]
- Literacy: What Works? (2003)[40]
- Writing (1997)[41]
References
[edit]- ↑ Ward, Helen. "Pie Corbett: 'I'm a believer in grammar, but this has gone too far'". Times Educational Supplement.
- ↑ "Talk for Writing". talk4writing.com.
- ↑ "Pie Corbett profile". National Association for the Teaching of English.
- ↑ "Pie Corbett OUP profile". Oxford University Press.
- ↑ Williams, Rachel, "Many parents failing to read to children, survey shows", The Guardian, 30 April 2010
- ↑ "Poet Feature. Pie Corbett". Dirigible Balloon.
- ↑ Ward, Helen. "Pie Corbett: 'I'm a believer in grammar, but this has gone too far'". Times Educational Supplement.
- ↑ "Creating Storytellers and Writers". Talk For Writing.
- ↑ "Talk for Writing Across the Curriculum". Talk For Writing.
- ↑ "Talk for Writing the Early Years". Talk For Writing.
- ↑ "Inspiring Creative Writers". Talk For Writing.
- ↑ "Creating Curious Readers". Talk For Writing.
- ↑ "The Book of Dragons". Talk For Writing.
- ↑ "Catalysts: Poems for Writing". Talk For Writing.
- ↑ "Dragon Cat". Book Trust. Book Trust.
- ↑ "Ted Hughes and Education 4: Pie Corbett". The Ted Hughes Society Podcast.
- ↑ "CLPE Poetry Award: Announcement of shortlist". National Association of Writers in Education. 21 May 2003. Retrieved 23 September 2026.
- ↑ Levy, Mike (3 March 2006). "Bright ideas and costume dramas". TES Magazine. Retrieved 23 September 2026.
- ↑ "Pie Corbett Story Writing Box - EYFS/KS1". GLS Educational Supplies. Retrieved 23 September 2026.
- ↑ Corbett, Pie (2007). Let's Write Poetry DVD Plus Pack Teachers Book. BBC Active. ISBN 9781406614077.
- ↑ Paul Cookson (2004), "Pie Corbett", The Works, vol. 3, Macmillan Children's, ISBN 9780330415781
- ↑ "i-read", Cambridge-Hitachi
- ↑ Davitt, John, "Now for something completely different", The Guardian, 10 January 2006
- ↑ Building bridges in teacher education: proceedings of the 12th Annual International Seminar for Teacher Education, the University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia 24 to 30 April 1992 by William Patrick Driscoll, Warren Halloway and the International Society for Teacher Education, University of New England, 1994, Pg. 173
- ↑ "Pie Corbett’s storytelling approach", National Literacy Trust
- ↑ "Talk for Writing: Continuing professional development", The National Strategies
- ↑ "Demise in storytelling at home damaging children’s writing ability", Education Today, 22 June 2010
- ↑ "Storytellers" Archived 20 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Story Museum
- 1 2 Garner, Richard and Cassidy, Sarah, "Poor SATs results in writing prompt teaching reforms", The Independent, 6 August 2008
- ↑ "Talk for Writing Website". Talk for Writing.
- ↑ Corbett, Pie (2025). Dragon Cat. Otter-Barry Books. ISBN 9781915659675. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
- ↑ Corbett, Pie; Strong, Julia (2011). Talk for writing across the curriculum : how to teach non-fiction writing to 5-12 year olds (1st ed.). Maidenhead: Open University Press. ISBN 978-0335240883.
- ↑ Corbett, Pie; Strong, Julia (16 February 2016). Talk for Writing in the Early Years: How to teach story and rhyme, involving families 2-5 years. McGraw-Hill Education. ISBN 9780335263400.
- ↑ Corbett, Pie (2004). Jumpstart literacy : games and activities for ages 7-14. London: David Fulton. ISBN 978-1843121022.
- ↑ Agnew, Kate, "Critics' choice", The Guardian, 18 October 2005
- ↑ "Jumpstart! Storymaking: Games and Activities for Ages 7–12" by Pie Corbett, Taylor & Francis US, 2009
- ↑ "Jumpstart! Poetry: Games and Activities for Ages 7–12" by Pie Corbett, Taylor & Francis US, 2008
- ↑ "The works: poems for key stage 2 – every kind of poem you will ever need for the Literacy Hour" by Pie Corbett, Macmillan Children's Books, 2006
- ↑ "Cats, hats, and hippos" by Pie Corbett, Black Rabbit Books, 2004
- ↑ Hofkins, Diane, "It's what you say and the way that you say it", Times Educational Supplement, 24 October 2003
- ↑ "Writing" by Pie Corbett, Nelson Thornes, 1997
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