How to teach: English - Chris Curtis 2019
Knowledge of poems and styles
How to teach poetry
Knowledge is power and knowledge of poetry is key. For years, we have neglected the explicit teaching of knowledge, seeing English purely as a skills-based subject. The rise of the use of knowledge organisers has made teachers reassess this. A knowledge organiser, for the uninitiated, is a sheet of A4 paper on which the key information about the text or topic is stored so that a student can revise and test themselves. In English, they usually contain a summary of the text, a list of characters with biographies, key quotes, key factual information and the key terms or concepts needed to understand the text. Simply, they are a study guide boiled down to one sheet of paper which students can revisit again and again. They retain the knowledge needed to access the text so students can attune to more meaningful levels of understanding. After all, how many times have we had to remind students which character did what in a text? Many students simply retell the plot in essays because they feel the need to show that they know the text. The knowledge organiser helps to address that problem and provides a bedrock of understanding so we can build knowledge on top of knowledge.
The important part is that students can recall the ’tip of the iceberg’. Remember one thing and that leads to more meaningful content. What follows is an example of the questioning format I regularly use with poems — in this case, ’Ozymandias’ — to test students’ recall. The first three questions relate to content. The next three to quotations and the final questions link effect with particular literary devices.
1 What remains intact from the original statue of Ozymandias?
2 What does the pedestal say people should do when they look at the statue?
3 Where is the traveller from?
4 What ’s’ and ’v’ are used to describe the statue’s face?
5 What ’a’ describes the land where the statue is found?
6 What ’n’ remains of his legacy?
7 What typical form of love poetry is used here?
8 What exaggerated and pompous language does the writer use to show Ozymandias’ arrogance and self-importance?
9 What piece of alliteration is used to suggest how empty and neglected the statue is now?
I use the same format repeatedly in lessons. As a starter. As a plenary. As a recap. The questions are regularly revisited months after the poem has been studied. The transformation in learning is incredible. Boys love to get all the answers right and less able students feel empowered because it is a low-stakes test that is easy to answer. The great thing is that this format builds up the vocabulary associated with analysis. Plus, it provides phrases and syntactical structures for them to use in their own writing. It is so easy to do and reduces the amount of planning and preparation needed for a lesson. I have tons of these sets of questions; I even have them for each scene in Shakespeare’s plays. The key is to revisit the knowledge again and again.
Year 7 knowledge organiser: exploring heroes and villains in literary texts
Synonyms for hero Challenger, conqueror, defender, guardian, patron, protector, supporter, sympathiser, upholder, vanquisher, victor, vindicator, warrior, winner, idol, pioneer, daredevil, explorer |
Synonyms for villain Anti-hero, criminal, devil, scoundrel, sinner, brute, creep, evildoer, lowlife, malefactor, mischief-maker, miscreant, offender, rapscallion, rascal |
Different types of hero The Perfect Hero — a hero who represents the best of humanity. The Misfit — an unlikely hero because they are unpopular or unlike others. The Everyman Hero — a hero like everybody else — normal and makes mistakes. The Anti-Hero — a hero who doesn’t behave like a hero and does good but only for their own gain. The Prodigy — a hero born to be a hero, but must grow up first. The Tragic Hero — a hero destined for tragedy. The Trickster — a hero who defeats evil by outwitting it. The Warrior — a hero who defeats evil through strength. |
Different types of villain The Anti-Villain — a villain who has some characteristics that the reader might like. The Authority Figure — a villain who is evil because they have power. The Bully — a villain who takes pleasure in making the hero look bad. The Beast — an inhuman villain: animal, creature, alien, machine. The Corrupted — a villain who was once good. The Criminal — a villain who does bad things for money or power. The Disturbed — a villain with psychological problems. Femme Fatale — an attractive female villain who causes men disaster. Henchman — a villain who works for a mastermind. Mastermind — a villain who tends to get others to do their work; they are incredibly powerful and controlling. |
Qualities of a hero Wisdom, responsibility, fortitude, conviction, intrepidity, loyalty, courage, honesty, dedication, perseverance, compassion, focus, determination, sacrifice |
Qualities of a villain Powerful, intelligent, immoral, wounded, determined, merciless |
Colours and their meanings Red — blood, danger, passion Black — evil, hatred, soulless, determined Grey — lifeless, boring, lacking spirit, cold White — innocent, good |
Words to explore meaning Suggests, implies, hints, infers, connotes, denotes, symbolises |
Techniques Exaggeration — describe things in more detail. Ambiguity — notice different possible interpretations. Metaphor — compare something to something else by using the word ’is’. Simile — compare to something else by using the words ’like’ or ’as’. Pathetic fallacy — use the weather to reflect a character’s feelings. Repetition — repeat a detail about the character. |
Aspects of the character to describe Clothes Behaviour, actions Voice, speech Face, facial expressions Body Reaction to others People’s opinions of them Entrance, exit Belongings |
Sentence structures/ phrases to learn A sense of A feeling of By using the word ’____’ the writer makes us … The use of [techniques] suggests |
Effect words Apprehensive, intimidation, superior, inferior, cautious, unease, curiosity |
Source: provided by Chloe Pearce
List of poems
Here’s a list of poems I’ve collected over the years. Some have also been recommended by friends on Twitter. I worry that, because of exam focus, students only study a narrow pool of poetry. Key Stage 3 shouldn’t just be about the content of the old GCSE anthologies. There is so much more out there. Sadly, the nature of the job often prevents us from searching. All the poems listed here can catch fire in a classroom.
’As Kingfishers Catch Fire’ — Gerard Manley Hopkins
’Carrion Comfort’ — Gerard Manley Hopkins
’Child on Top of a Greenhouse’ — Theodore Roethke
’Funeral Blues’ — W. H. Auden
’Home-Thoughts, from Abroad’ — Robert Browning
’If’ — Rudyard Kipling
’Jaguar’ — Ted Hughes
’Kubla Khan’ — Samuel Taylor Coleridge
’Lady Lazarus’ — Sylvia Plath
’Meeting Point’ — Louis MacNeice
’Metaphors’ — Sylvia Plath
’Mushrooms’ — Sylvia Plath
’Not Waving but Drowning’ — Stevie Smith
’Pigtail’ — Tadeusz Rozewicz
’Scaffolding’ — Seamus Heaney
’Stanley’ — Lorraine Mariner
’Still I Rise’ — Maya Angelou
’Still Life’ — Thom Gunn
’Tell Me, Tell Me, Smiling Child’ — Emily Brontë
’Text’ — Carol Ann Duffy
’The Dead’ — Sylvia Plath
’The Flea’ — John Donne
’The Jogger’s Song’ — Roger McGough
’The Kaleidoscope’ — Douglas Dunn
’The Man with Night Sweats’ — Thom Gunn
’The Orange’ — Wendy Cope
’The Schoolboy’ — William Blake
’The Sun Rising’ — John Donne
’To the Evening Star’ — William Blake
’Warming Her Pearls’ — Carol Ann Duffy
’Who’s for the Game?’ — Jessie Pope
Also check out the Poetry Foundation website for more.21
1 The Guardian, The shot that nearly killed me: war photographers — a special report (18 June 2011). Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jun/18/war-photographers-special-report.
2 This is one example of the point made at the end of the introduction: here the source text uses the spelling ’Tiger’, but it is also common to see this spelt ’Tyger’.
3 W. Blake, ’The Tiger’, in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 2008 [London: R. Brimley Johnson, 1901]), pp. 51—52. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1934/1934-h/1934-h.htm#page51.
4 Lord A. Tennyson, ’The Eagle’, in J. C. Collins (ed.), The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 2012 [1851]). Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8601/8601-h/8601-h.htm#section96.
5 W. Blake, ’London’, in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 2008 [London: R. Brimley Johnson, 1901]), p. 58. Available at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1934/1934-h/1934-h.htm#page58.
6 W. Owen, ’Futility’, in Poems (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 2008 [1918]). Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1034/1034-h/1034-h.htm#link2H_4_0022.
7 See https://www.bl.uk/.
8 W. Whitman, ’After the Sea-Ship’, in Leaves of Grass (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 2008 [1855]). Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1322/1322-h/1322-h.htm#link2H_4_0113.
9 R. Kipling, ’Tommy’, in The Works of Rudyard Kipling: One Volume Edition (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 2000 [1914]). Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2334/2334-h/2334-h.htm#link2H_4_0058.
10 An American publisher who produced condensed versions of books.
11 R. Kipling, ’Tommy’.
12 Editor’s note — thrombosis?
13 Original spelling from the source.
14 Lord A. Tennyson, ’The Kraken’, in J. C. Collins (ed.), The Early Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 2012 [1851]). Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/8601/8601-h/8601-h.htm#section125.
15 R. Browning, ’Porphyria’s Lover’, in H. E. Scudder (ed.), The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 2016 [Cambridge, MA: The Riverside Press, 1895]), p. 286. Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50954/50954-h/50954-h.htm.
16 A chapter is devoted to each of these in M. Theune (ed.), Structure and Surprise: Engaging Poetic Turns (New York: Teachers and Writers Collaborative, 2007).
17 C. Rossetti, ’Song’, in Goblin Market, The Prince’s Progress, and Other Poems (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 2008 [London: Macmillan and Co., 1862]). Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16950/pg16950-images.html.
18 W. Shakespeare, Macbeth (Project Gutenberg ebook edition, 1998 [1606]). Available at: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1533/pg1533-images.html.
19 A trochee is the pattern of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
20 An iambus is the pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
21 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets.