Mametz Wood - Owen Sheers - War/Conflict Poetry

This lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of Owen Sheers' key messages about war in the poem ‘Mametz Wood.’ By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the text analytically, through assured, appropriate, and sustained interpretations of the content, language, and structure.

Students learn through a logical and step-by-step learning journey, including:
-Understanding the context of the poem and the horrific events that took place in the battle;
-Understanding key information about Owen Sheers' life;
-Reading and interpreting the poem;
-Interpreting the poem, with a particular emphasis upon the language and structural features;
-Finding and analysing the language features used throughout the poem, and considering how these link to the poet's message;
-Writing an extended analysis piece based upon how Sheers gets across his message about war;
-Peer assessing each other's learning attempts.

Included is:
- Whole lesson PowerPoint - colourful and substantial; (including hyperlinks to informative and engaging videos)
- Copy of poem;
- Language devices worksheet
- Analysis template with success criteria for creating well-structured responses;
- Comprehensive lesson plan.

There are also opportunities for group learning, peer assessment, and whole class discussion. This was originally taught to middle-ability year 9/10 groups, but can easily be differentiated for groups of different ages and abilities.

All images are licensed for commercial use, and image rights are listed on the last page of the presentation.