KS3, Charles Dickens, "Great Expectations", Characterisation, Appearance, Symbolism, Close reading

Planned as part of a SOW for year 8 - a unit on Charles Dickens with a focus on characterisation - this lesson looks at Pip’s first visit to Satis House (chapter 8 of ‘Great Expectations’) and the first description of Miss Havisham. The aim of the lesson is to infer and deduce from description. Pupils are asked to explore the symbolism of colour, looking at the connotations of the colour used in the description of Miss Havisham. Their attention is drawn to the noun ‘lustre’ - this is used later to model a paragraph of analysis. Teaching strategies used are questioning, paired discussion and modelling.