Poems from different cultures - annotation challenge!

This lesson was added onto a series of lessons I did around the poems Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan by Moniza Alvi & Search for My Tongue by Sujata Bhatt.

In an effort to get pupils to develop their ideas in writing, I put together an annotation challenge which focuses on tentative writing skills at word level. The activity encourages them to layer their thinking and to consider alternate meanings when interpreting poetry.

The activity was designed for a middle-top set year 9 group, but can be adapted to suit all abilities. And because it was a group challenge, whereby the best annotations were selected to go up on a massive wall display, pupils were positively challenged and were motivated to cheer on each other when good writing was shared. An all round success!

Note: The paragraphs on the slide show were modelled during the delivery of the lesson to highlight the different stages of writing and the level of sophistication required when developing explanation.

The various stages can be given out as a help sheet or left displayed on the board for pupils to refer to.