Poetry

English

Secondary

David Blunkett attempts to teach poetry to A Level students

In this programme David Blunkett, former Secretary of State for Education, attempts to teach an A-level poetry class for the first time in his life. Mr Blunkett had an uneasy relationship with the teaching profession but now he's attempting to step into their shoes to pass on his passion for the romantic poetry of Christina Rossetti. However, it is a passion not shared by the pupils. As the class begins, the students and their new teacher have a frank and revealing conversation about blindness and poetic imagery. The class is monitored by the school's head of english, Elena Soto. Elena is anxious that he experiences what life in an overheated inner-city Victorian school building is really like for the teachers who have to work there every day. It proves to be a very engaging encounter, revealing a side of Mr Blunkett not previously seen.

David Blunkett

Teaching extended writing to KS4 English students

A Key Stage 4 English lesson on extended writing that uses pair and group work to build confidence in writing a film review. The lesson starts with paired work, where students develop their vocabulary in a competition on synonyms. In the main part of the lesson the class is split into groups, each with the responsibility of writing one part of the review. Finally one member of each group reads their paragraph back to the class. Head of English Natasha Nicol, at Peacehaven Community College, shows how this lesson can help students build their confidence in writing an extended piece of work. All resources required to run this lesson can be found in the support materials section, including a lesson plan, instructions for writing a film review, shared review writing forms and some film review snippets of the film, to get the students started.

GCSE English - Building Confidence in Extended Writing

Teaching My Last Duchess to GCSE English students

A KS4 English lesson which helps the students connect with Robert Browning's My Last Duchess is examined in this video, aimed at helping teachers with their planning. The language and structure of some 19th Century poetry can be difficult to understand and teacher Caroline Mortlock realises this could create a barrier to her students' understanding of My Last Duchess.She tackles this by creating a modern version of the poem and reading it to her students first. While reading her version to the students, she gets them to give a voice to the Duchess and not until they have a feel for what has been going on between the two characters in the poem, does she introduce them to the original version. All resources required to deliver this lesson can be found in the extra materials section, including a lesson plan, mind map, original and modern language version of the poem.

GCSE English - My Last Duchess

A KS4 English class learn different ways to analyse poetry

A lesson on poetry for KS3/4 English students, designed to boost confidence when analysing a poem's various interpretations. The poem "Storm in the Black Forest" by DH Lawrence is used in the lesson, because of its varied interpretations. After asking her class to analyse the poem, lead practitioner in English, Rosie Pannett, gets the students to draw what they feel as she reads it, in order to open them up to deeper interpretations. This KS4 English lesson at Peacehaven Community College, breaks the perception that there?s only one right answer. Rosie's lesson plan is available in the extra materials section.

GCSE English - Poetry Visualisation

Dissecting William Blake's poem, London, with Key Stage 4 pupils

Year 10 English pupils explore William Blake's poem, London, in an usual and innovative way. Suitable for Key Stage 4 exam preparation. Lead teacher in English and ICT, Carol Weale at Dane Court Grammar School, doesn't give her Year 10 class William Blake's complete London poem but places the words in alphabetical order. By isolating key words, the students begin to explore the themes. Carol then presents them with completed lines of London but in a jumbled order. They must rearrange them, using their knowledge of the poems rhyme structure and themes. Finally, students compete to memorise and write down as many words from the poem as possible, in a few minutes. This largely independent lesson is a great way to encourage and engage reluctant learners and help them to prepare them, for the unseen poetry paper.

Innovative Approaches to Poetry

Phil Beadle inspires Year 10 with poetry from different cultures

Watch former Teaching Awards teacher of the year Phil Beadle inspire a group of inner-city Year 10 English students with an active lesson about poetry from different cultures. In this KS4 lesson, Phil uses a variety of visual set pieces to inspire, challenge and excite. This example gives secondary teachers some concrete and accessible ways to approach the material. The poems featured are Grace Nichols' Island Man and Imtiaz Dhaker's Blessing.

Island Man and Blessing

Encouraging thinking skills to help raise pupil achievement

Stuart Hoskin introduces his Year 11 English class to poetry from different cultures using Developing Tray, encouraging pupils to develop their thinking skills while reading and analysing texts. With the incomplete text of a poem, the pupils are asked to fill in the blanks and words begin to emerge like a photograph emerges in a developing tray. Working in pairs, the pupils are encouraged to write the next few lines of the poem. By using this system, the pupils are able to work way above their usual academic level.

KS3/4 English and Media - Experiments with Poetry

The challenge of teaching poetry from different cultures

Teaching poetry from different cultures and traditions can be a challenge. This programme explores the enthusiasm and ideas of the English department of Westwood College, a secondary modern in Kent which has recently emerged from Special Measures. Kelly McGlinn and her colleagues reflect on the school's homogenous, suburban environment, the effect of 11-plus failure on their pupils and their departmental take on teaching and learning styles. There is much enthusiasm when it comes to the value of studying literature from different cultures and their own emotional involvement in the subject itself, as opposed to the demands of "teaching to the exam". Pupils give their own thoughts on the value they see in poetry and the effectiveness of different teaching styles.

KS4 English - Departmental Poetry Strategies

Getting Year 10 students engaging with multicultural poetry

Poetry from different cultures and traditions can be met with resistance from some pupils. Teacher Kelly McGlinn demonstrates strategies to encourage participation. Kelly engages her students with Tom Leonard's Glaswegian poem Unrelated Incidents (aka The Six O'Clock News) and Half-Caste by Guyanan poet John Agar. The poems are brought to life through video, to which the pupils respond well. Working in groups, the class provide feedback on the subject, purpose, emotion and craft of the poems. The pupils present the drawings, collages and poems that they have created as homework assignments in response to Half-Caste. Key points: Relate themes in poems to everyday situations as much small group-work encourages whole-class participation in generating responses to poems Use as many resource types as possible in presenting the poems to cater for different learning styles

KS4 English - Responding to Poetry

See how Phil Beadle inspires Year 10 English pupils with poetry

Former Teaching Awards teacher of the year Phil Beadle uses the work of two poets from India and Barbados to inspire a group of inner-city Year 10 English students. The KS4 students, from various secondary schools in the London Borough of Newham, are introduced to Limbo, a poem by Edward Kamau Braithwaite from Barbados, and Night of the Scorpio by Indian poet Nissim Ezekiel. The work, part of the Poetry from Different Cultures section of the AQA GCSE English syllabus, aims to challenge and excite the pupils. It also allows English teachers to see an outstanding teacher at work, and to take away some concrete and accessible approaches to the material.

Professional Development for Quality Teaching

Subjects

> Secondary English

> Poetry