‘War Photographer’ by Carole Satyamurti

This is a lesson on a poem which explores the point of view of a War Photographer - not to be confused with Carol Ann Duffy's poem of the same name (AQA). It features in the Edexcel anthology of Literature exam poems. The poem, if you don't know it, contrasts the photographer's memories of taking photos of conflict in a war zone and the Ascot races. It explores the themes of violence and isolation in war which can be linked to other poems taught within a unit. It's particularly useful to compare to 'Remains' by Simon Armitage and of course Duffy's poem (see my shop for a lesson on that one).

The lesson begins by asking students to consider what it would be like to be a war photographer and why they would be an effective focus for a poem. There is then a slide which introduces them to Carole Satyamurti as a poet. Students are then introduced to the 'WPSLOMP' method of analysing poetry which they can then apply in pairs before colour coding quotes which are examples of metaphors, simile and contrasts, as well as some more challenging devices. The ideas they pull together for this can then be explored as a class and the slides can be annotated by the teacher on the board and there are also some quotes colour coded as the answers. Students are then asked to think about structure and there is a slide which refers to sibilance, alliteration and how the poem develops through each stanza.

The lesson ends with a chance for students to write independent essay paragraphs with Edexcel's exam success criteria but this can be adapted for your course. There are 3 options on how to approach essay writing: 'layers of meaning', PEA, or the 'reading ladder' which follow the same idea. There is then an opportunity to self or peer assess according to the key skills.

As with all my lessons, there are 'Talk for Writing' activities and Challenge tasks for more able students.

Attached is;

- A powerpoint with the lesson clearly outlined
- A copy of the poem with a word bank
- A handout of glossary style word banks which students can stick into their anthologies
- A PEA style writing frame for weaker students
- Links to online videos/readings (see 'Notes' under slides).