Unseen Poetry - Lesson 2 (Understand and respond)

LO: How do I read, understand and respond to an unseen poem?

A complete lesson including starter, unseen poem, exam question, model responses, plenary that explores a Paper 2-style AQA English Literature unseen poetry question based on the following poem: William Blake:* A Poison Tree*.

These resources can be adapted for use with different poems and questions by other exam boards.

Powerpoint: 13 slides.

AQA English Lit Paper 2 Section C Unseen Poetry

Purpose of unit of work: To master questions 27.1 and 27.2

Form: Exam paper responses

Assessment Objectives:

• AO1 - Read, understand and respond to texts, maintaining a critical style and developing an informed personal response, using textual references including quotations to support and illustrate interpretations (12 marks).
• AO2 - Analyse the language, form and structure used by a writer to create meanings and effects, using relevant subject terminology where appropriate (12 marks).
• AO2 - Comparison of AO2 (8 marks)

STIMULATE AND GENERATE
Focus on engagement, discussion and building cultural capital

CAPTURE, SIFT AND SORT
Sifting the outcomes from the first phase to fit where we are heading. What skills do pupils need to learn in order to be successful in the next phase?
Focus on teaching, modelling and developing key skills and processes linked to success criteria

CREATE, REFINE AND EVALUATE
More independent application of skills learnt. This is the stage that needs most differentiation and allows/enables writers to work at different rates and pitches. Self, peer and teacher review happens throughout this phrase.
Write extended responses to exam questions, provide feedback and refine work

Starter: How many links can you make between these two images? (Anger/Tree)

Key question: What might happen if you dwell on a negative emotion rather than dealing with it?

Unseen poem: William Blake: A Poison Tree. Glossary

Exam question: In A Poison Tree, how does the poet present the speaker’s feelings about anger? – 7 steps to understanding an unseen poem AO1 and AO2.

How do I structure my unseen poetry essay?: Go through steps 1-5

The Introduction: 3 sentence model.

I DO: Model introduction

YOU DO: Use this model to help you write an introduction focusing on A Poison Tree.

SELF-ASSESSMENT: Use this model to help you improve your own introduction.

How do I write an analytical paragraph?: WHAT WHERE HOW WHY model. Model paragraph analysing language

YOU DO: Use this model to help you write your own paragraph analysing language.

Plenary: Peer Assessment - Read through your partner’s response. Highlight and annotate their response to show where they have demonstrated WHAT WHERE HOW WHY. Write a brief commentary below their work in which you explain the following: What went well (WWW). What do they need to do in order to improve? (EBI). Use your peer’s feedback to help you improve your response.