Poppies - Jane Weir

This engaging, comprehensive lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of Jane Weir’s contemporary war poem ‘Poppies’ with particular focus upon the symbolism, language, and structure used within the poem. By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the text analytically, through assured, appropriate, and sustained interpretations.

The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through:
- Defining what symbols are, and considering some popular examples (including poppies);
- Securing contextual understanding of both the use of poppies, and Jane Weir the poet;
- Reading and interpreting the poem, using a provided line-by-line analysis, and interactive group activities;
- Developing their understanding through inferring and analysing key language and structural choices;
- Analysing how the themes of loss and remembrance are conveyed through Weir's use of symbolism;
- Peer assessing each other's learning attempts.

Included is:
- Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including hyperlinks to informative and engaging videos)
- Copy of poem;
- Deeper thinking worksheet (and teacher answer sheet);
- Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses;
- Comprehensive lesson plan.

There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 9/10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities.

All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.