Text fatigue is an issue that can blight English departments; that weariness when you realise you’ve got to teach the same text you’ve taught for the previous eight years. 

You begrudgingly pull out the same tired PowerPoint and unearth your dog-eared and much-annotated copy. You’re bored of this book and your students may sense it.

Although there are clear benefits to returning to a text more than once, you’ve got to balance that with the other needs of teachers and students.

Regularly switching up the texts we teach is valuable because it provides fresh voices and perspectives, and a chance to check that texts are representative of, and appropriate for, the pupils in your classroom.

But, in a world of ever-decreasing budgets, regularly changing texts is a challenge. Not only that but change for the sake of change is time-consuming and expensive. So, how can new texts be introduced in a fiscally prudent way?

1. Forgotten gems

Brace yourself. It’s time to go digging in the stock cupboard. Among the battered copies of textbooks from three specifications ago, you never know what you might come up with that can be fresh and relevant to pupils now.

In my department, we have made use of old-specification short stories lower down the school. The bonus is that, for teachers who remember teaching them first time around, they’ll be old favourites revisited (and there are likely to be some teaching resources lurking, unloved, on a memory stick somewhere, too) while those newer to the profession will see them with fresh eyes.

2. The public domain

Texts that are out of copyright (70 years older than the date the writer died) are in the public domain. Handily, that includes 19th-century writers who have kindly provided some of the richest description and best characterisation you could wish for, even if your Year 9 class doesn’t agree. Yet.

If more modern texts are required, you could do worse than signing up for CommonLit, a free US site where you can browse and download high-quality short stories, poems, and non-fiction texts on a vast array of topics and at different reading levels. Each text  includes comprehension questions and discussion topics.

3. Swap shop

One head of department’s trash is another head of department’s treasure, and what better way to save money and make new links with colleagues in other schools than by reaching out to set up a swap shop?

This can also be an opportunity to make more lasting connections with a local school, perhaps by sharing resources or delivering continuing professional development, too.

Social media can be used for longer-distance swaps. For a relatively small price, texts that have reached their sell-by date in one school can be given a new lease of life. Sites such as Twitter, as well as Facebook message boards, can be a treasure trove of texts that are available to buy, sell or swap.

4. Teacher copy, pupil extract

With careful forward planning, a novel study can be conducted by a class with just one copy of a text. Either by placing the text under a visualiser or by simply reading aloud to the class, a text can be enjoyed and analysed at length through key extracts, which can be typed up or photocopied (within copyright).

A good knowledge organiser, character tracking grid and training in effective note-taking, such as Cornell Notes, mean that when pupils are given an extract to work from, they have good knowledge of the plot, characters and themes with which to develop their analyses.