Content: This interactive lesson is most suitable for a double period of two 50 minute lessons. The students will partake in a range of analytical tasks, including close reading, challenging ideas of stereotypes and evaluative assessments of pair work. The starter task will introduce the students to the play ‘DNA’ by Dennis Kelly; key words are highlighted to guide less able students to the main ideas in the text. The students will then have a guided discussion on the definition of gangs, reviewing images of young people in groups and review a video with a short commentary on gangs. They will then decide how the images represent gangs (or not.) Teacher led discussions will enable the students to contemplate where their interpretations are derived from i.e. media, own experiences etc. Students will then practise a dramatic reading of the beginning of the play; teacher should monitor the students and select 4 to perform at the end of the lesson. Students will then peer assess each performance using an evaluative sheet.

Assessment Focus: WAF5 An outstanding, well paced, interactive lesson which covers the conventions of writing to persuade. Students will study tone, review and test their knowledge of language techniques, and use punctuation to add expression to their writing. Students are also given opportunities to take part in ‘mini tasks’ lasting 60 seconds each, throughout the lesson, offer peer reviews and practice their spelling, punctuation and grammar skills for WAF5. Main independent task includes success criteria and prompt questions. Suitable for a double lesson: mid to top set ability groups, however lower sets would benefit, simply split the tasks over 2-3 lessons and allow an in-depth revision lesson on the list of language techniques provided-or simply exclude the more complex techniques from the list. KS3/4.

Content: An accessible, but thoughtful lesson on structure in Carol Ann Duffy’s ‘Valentine.’ Students will execute independent and paired tasks in order to annotate and comment on the use of poetry devices that inform the language, structure and form in a poem. Differentiation: Extension and super extension tasks provided, as well as sentence starters and writing frames. Suitability: Most suitable for ability KS3/4, sets 2-6. Approximately a 50 minute lesson.