War Photographer - Carol Ann Duffy

This engaging, comprehensive lesson aims to improve students’ understanding of Carol Ann Duffy’s contemporary war poem ‘War Photographer’ with particular focus upon the language and structure used within the poem to depict the photographer’s experiences. By the end of the lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of the text analytically, through assured, appropriate, and sustained interpretations.

The lesson follows a step-by-step learning journey, in which children learn through:
- Defining the role of the war photographer, and understanding difficulties in their job;
- Securing contextual understanding of Carol Ann Duffy - the poet;
- Reading and interpreting the poem, using a provided line-by-line analysis, and interactive group activities;
- Developing their understanding through inferring and analysing key language and structural choices;
- Understanding how the war photographer's life varies between war-torn locations and 'Rural England;'
- Analysing how language and structure are used to portray the photographer' experiences;
- 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;
- Deeper thinking worksheet (including a scaffolded version, and a teacher answer sheet);
- 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.