Leaving Cert Higher Level English pack on Emily Dickinson’s I heard a Fly buzz - when I died: teacher PowerPoint, student workbook and revision notes.
I heard a Fly buzz is prescribed for both 2027 and 2028, at Higher and Ordinary Level. Every activity is designed to move students from first reading to confident, exam-ready analytical writing about one of Dickinson’s most unsettling poems.
What’s included
Teacher PowerPoint (29 slides): every activity with answer slides built in, plus a link to a recording of the poem. It’s ready to teach straight away, with no extra preparation.
Student workbook (18 pages, PDF and word): all activities laid out with space for students to write, and it matches the slides page by page.
Student revision notes (2 pages, PDF and word): a summary, the speaker, structure, tone and mood, key quotes with techniques and effects, themes, and personal response points.
Lesson sequence
Pre-reading: vocabulary matching and gap-fill (onset, assignable, interposed, keepsakes, heaves), a technique retrieval quiz, and first thoughts on the themes
Reading: comprehension questions, true or false statements and a personal response
Language: a guided annotation task covering paradox, simile, synecdoche, oxymoron, formal legal language, anticlimax, Dickinson’s dashes and her unusual capitalisation, with a fully colour-coded answer slide. There’s also a “Zoom In” quote analysis table and a paragraph builder with a modelled example.
Communicating: group discussion questions on death and the unknown, ritual and expectation, and the ordinary and the sacred
Themes and poet’s intent: purpose verbs and adverb banks, an opening sentence formula, a key moments table and a full model answer on how Dickinson presents the experience of death
Analytical writing: “Lego sentence” builders and an “improve these sentences” challenge
Exam practice: planning tasks based on three past Leaving Cert Higher Level questions on Dickinson, plus a full paragraph write-up
Created by Clare Madden, an English and History teacher with over 15 years’ experience and author of the Touchstones Junior Cycle English series.
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£5.00