Lovingly crafted whole lessons. We ask great teachers to collaborate with us to create great lessons for secondary school/middle and high school.
We love literature. We believe teaching the text is as important as teaching the skills.
We believe that your school should be purchasing these resources for you, as they used to support your practice with textbooks. Join us in pressuring TES to introduce a school license!
Enjoy!
Lovingly crafted whole lessons. We ask great teachers to collaborate with us to create great lessons for secondary school/middle and high school.
We love literature. We believe teaching the text is as important as teaching the skills.
We believe that your school should be purchasing these resources for you, as they used to support your practice with textbooks. Join us in pressuring TES to introduce a school license!
Enjoy!
Bring this classic poem to life.
In Lesson 1, pupils work in groups to infer about the mysterious persona from different perspectives (police officer, schoolfriend etc) to encourage deep reading and to build a complex picture of the ambiguous speaker.
In Lesson 2, Duffy's own words about how the context inspired her and carefully selected images provide a deeper understanding of the author's intentions and the political nature of the poem.
In Lesson 3, the language is deconstructed in detail, including great examples of the effect of some poetic devices.
Each lesson has a PPT with an accompanying Word worksheet, and all the commonly required elements including L/Os and differentiation are included. It is easily editable if you wish to make it your own.
These lessons are designed to generate lots of thinking and discussions.
If you enjoy these lessons, take a look at our shop.
Bring poetry to life.
A complete unit of work to introduce KS3 students to a wide range of great poetry, from dub poetry performance to Shakespeare's sonnets.
See the plan here to get an overview of the unit: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks3-poetry-whole-complete-scheme-unit-of-work-11173132
Each lesson has a Powerpoint presentation and an accompanying worksheet. Included are lesson objectives, pre-starters, starters, learning activities, application of learning, and plenaries. Differentiation and extension are included where appropriate.
Lessons are designed to generate lots of thinking and discussion. Some have carefully structured group work, some ask students to perform, some are based on images from art - each lesson is different and engaging. Students learn as much from writing their own poems as from analysing poems in detail.
Also featured are materials to help students achieve their best in an extended essay, which would form a natural assessment activity.
Most importantly, everything is easily editable, so you can make it your own. It is complete as it is, but each teacher is different, so it can be used as a foundation for your own planning.
Introduce your students to a wide range of great poetry. Encourage a love and understanding of poetry from dub performances to Shakespeare's sonnets.
This plan has a whole set of resources that go with it, including Powerpoints and worksheets for every lesson. Find them here:
If you like the look of this resource, please visit our shop.
Cultivate a love of this mysterious poem in your class with these four carefully constructed, challenging, complete lessons.
Lesson 1, as an introduction, asks students to compare the Tyger with tigers in art, to develop a nuanced picture of the nature of the Tyger and encourage deep reading.
Lesson 2 continues the visual theme, requiring students to locate images in the presentation in the text, to prepare them to analyse the wonderful imagery of the poem.
Lesson 3 compares the poem with The Lamb, and raises awkward questions about how Blake viewed the Creator!
Lesson 4 locates the poem in Blake's context, and asks students to work in groups to make a studied choice between different theories about what the poem is really about.
Each lesson is complete, with all the elements that might be required, including challenges for the quick thinkers. Each lesson comes with a worksheet that links to the presentation. Common Core aligned.
All materials are easily editable if you wish to make them your own.
If you like this lesson, please visit our shop.
An introduction to modern poetry. Even skeptical poetry readers should be intrigued by these short, simple, strange, poems.
Students are encouraged to come to their own conclusions about constitutes modern poetry, by comparing three Imagist poems (by Pound, Williams, and H.D.).
In the second lesson, students are shown at a sentence level how the poems work, and are provided with structured guidance, including images for inspiration, to help them write their own versions.
Everything you need for the lessons is here, including a differentiated worksheet.
It should be accessible and challenging for most students from Grade 6 up.
If you like this lesson, please visit our shop.
Fun, head-scratching lessons. Students read and try to solve a selection of classic riddle poems that feature personification, then use them as a model to plan and write their own.
In Lesson One, students are shown how to go about deciphering riddle poems that feature personification, and then have a go at solving a carefully chosen selection of classic riddles including ones by Christina Rosetti and Jonathan Swift. There is an extra 'challenge' worksheet for those who find the riddles too easy, and a printable guide to help them write their own riddle sentences as a plenary.
In Lesson Two, two of Tolkein's riddles from The Hobbit are deconstructed. Students then reverse the process to create their own riddle poems.
These lesson should be accessible and challenging for most pupils from Grade 5 up. Some of the riddles are quite difficult though!
These lessons are complete and do not require any further preparation, but you can easily adapt it to make it your own.
If you like these lessons, please visit our shop.
Visit our shop for lesson 2 and many other high quality whole lessons by clicking on the username.
Group performance: a great way to encourage deeper reading of a poem.
Students discover the circumstance that inspired the poem - imprisonment on Robben Island (with Nelson Mandela), and use an interview with the poet to give their performance direction.
This is a whole, complete lesson, and includes everything you might need, including a worksheet.
Lesson 2 gives students modelled feedback to allow them to do their best.
Visit our shop for more resources like this one.
A group performance: surely the best way to experience this classic poem.
Even the most reluctant students of poetry should be moved. High-achieving students will find extra challenges and open ended questions.
Students discover the circumstances that gave the poet his inspiration - imprisonment on Robben Island (with Nelson Mandela) - and use an interview with the poet to give extra depth to their performance.
In lesson 2, feedback is modelled to encourage groups to improve further, then self-reflection is structured
Included are a very detailed presentation and a worksheet - everything you need to deliver a great lesson. It is easily editable if you wish to make it your own.
If you like this lesson, please visit our shop.
These three interesting, rigorous lessons provide a great 'way in' to Shakespeare.
Lesson 1 scaffolds how to go about understanding the poem, using images to help. Students are then ready to interpret the poem creatively.
Lesson 2 asks students to determine for themselves what makes a sonnet. It will be a valuable resource for teachers looking to teach or recap rhyme, meter, and structure.
Lesson 3 uses a TED talk by a British rapper about the similarities between rap and Shakespeare's poetry as a starting point for students to write their own humorous version of the sonnet.
Everything you need for a successful lesson is present, including pre-starters to capture attention, starters to kick-start inquiry, teaching points, independent or group work, and reflective plenaries. The worksheets link to the presentations.
All resources are easily editable if you wish to make them your own.
Take a look at this lesson to get an idea of what our resources are like: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/poetry-performing-poetry-touch-by-lewin-1st-lesson-free-11141811
If you like this resource, please visit our shop to see more like this.
Bring poetry to life.
A complete unit of work to introduce KS3 students to a wide range of great poetry, from dub poetry performance to Shakespeare's sonnets.
See the plan here to get an overview of the unit: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/ks3-poetry-whole-complete-scheme-unit-of-work-11173132
Each lesson has a Powerpoint presentation and an accompanying worksheet. Included are lesson objectives, pre-starters, starters, learning activities, application of learning, and plenaries. Differentiation and extension are included where appropriate.
Lessons are designed to generate lots of thinking and discussion. Some have carefully structured group work, some ask students to perform, some are based on images from art - each lesson is different and engaging. Students learn as much from writing their own poems as from analysing poems in detail.
Also featured are materials to help students achieve their best in an extended essay, which would form a natural assessment activity.
Most importantly, everything is easily editable, so you can make it your own. It is complete as it is, but each teacher is different, so it can be used as a foundation for your own planning.
Ignite an interest in poetry by teaching about spoken word poetry performance.
Four carefully selected Youtube videos of great poetry performances from Agard, McNish, Heron, and Zephaniah will appeal to even the most stony-hearted students. Add your own favourites!
Students then form their own concept of the poetic by comparing these poems to other forms of performance.
In Lesson Two, students rework a classic Def Jam Poetry performance by Linton Kwesi Johnson.
This is the first of two lessons on Spoken Word Poetry. To see the Writing lesson, click on my user name.
This lesson should be accessible and challenging for most students from Grade 5 up.
It is designed so you don't have to do any extra preparation. There is a pre-starter, starter, main activity, and plenary, and each step is open-ended enough to provide a challenge for the inquisitive. You can easily adapt it to make it your own.
Make poetry interesting! Five lessons that should interest and inspire even the most reluctant students of poetry, while still providing a challenge to the most enthusiastic.
Spoken word performances on Youtube, solving Tolkein's riddles, guided writing, and group performances bring poetry to life.
These lessons were created in a school with students from a wide range of backgrounds, and are designed to appeal to them all.
Each lesson is planned and presented in a detail that we just couldn't achieve when teaching full-time. All resources are easily editable, so you can make them your own.
Each set of lessons are also available to purchase individually - visit our shop to see the whole range.
