KS3, Charles Dickens, "Oliver Twist" detecting the writer's viewpoint, close reading, baby farming

Planned for a year 8 class but also suitable for year 9, this is a lesson as part of a SOW on Charles Dickens. It asks the pupils to focus on establishing the writer’s viewpoint and begins with some context on the deplorable practice of baby farming. There is an image to generate understanding and ideas, followed by a non-fiction text from Benjamin Waugh (the founder of the NSPCC) in which he exposes and denounces baby farms. This text is studied in two sections. Once the pupils have worked through these texts and got an understanding of context and of viewpoint (Waugh’s writing is highly emotive and very scathing) they are then given an excerpt from “Oliver Twist” describing the parish farm run by Mrs Mann. The lesson culminates with the pupils being asked to identify Dickens’s viewpoint and then explain how the methods that he uses help to communicate that viewpoint. There is paired work and questioning along the way to get the pupils to this point.