Autobiography: Dame Ellen Macarthur

In this lesson students are asked to explore how a writer can write in vivid detail and create tension. It would ideal to use as part of a KS3 unit on autobiography.

The lesson starts by asking students to read the information on the first slide about who Dame Ellen is and what she achieved. They are to list feelings words associated with her feat. There is a slide with illustrates her route and there’s a link to an online video about her journey.

After students read the extract from her autobiography (which is attached), they are to consider in pairs how she starts in an interesting way. This first paragraph is on a slide which you can annotate with the class. After this stage they can consider two chosen quotes on the next slide where Ellen uses imagery in order to create an effect. This task is linked to the GCSE reading skills AO1, 2, 3 where they have to think about language, structure and the readers’ reactions.

The whole extract has been pasted onto these slides and there is some space around the text if you want to annotate it when going over it with the class.

The plenary asks students to consider what questions they would ask Ellen after reading this. There is a suggestion of a written activity where they can exercise some of skills discussed today.

This lesson, as my other lessons do, includes:

Starter tasks which introduce the main idea of the lesson
Handouts of extracts/text
Differentiated tasks
Opportunities for pair and group talk within activities (‘Talk for Writing’)