Monday's poem: 'Give' by Simon Armitage

Hello Y11,

I'm blogging from our English lesson as you are beavering away at your controlled assessment - and I'm bored.

Monday sees the start of the phenomenon that is 'speed poetry'. This process is visually represented here by a screen-shot from the sci-fi classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. This year, I intend to be super-strict with it as I would like to ensure that we still have time to practise and revise prior to the exams. In order to do this, I will be making plenty of use of a) this blog, and b) 'independent learning'. That's homework.

How it will work is this:

1) Before the lesson, I get you to read the poem and possibly read around the poem (eg. BBC Bitesize, study guides etc)
2) You come to the lesson already armed with thoughts and ideas about the poem.
3) We nail down the basics (who, what, where when etc.) and share/discuss interpretations.
4) We explore the writer's use of language and structure (and their effects), making notes as we go.
5) You go off and reinforce, re-read, revise the poem until you're happy.

And that's it: a poem per lesson. As you can see, this is going to involve plenty of independent work in steps 1 and 5 - but it will be little and often. This way, we should find that we're alright for time and are not too rushed at the end.

I will also be offering after-school revision sessions if there's anything you feel you need to cover in more depth.

To kick off, I'd like you to read Simon Armitage's 'Give' (page 12 of Moon on the Tides). This is short and fairly straightforward as an introduction to 'Speed Poetry'. 

Also, have a look at this video - created by one of my Y11s from last year.



Brace yourselves for the final sprint (bit of a mixed metaphor there!)


Mr M

PS. I've marked your half-term homework (Qs 1-3 of the Jan 2013 exam paper) and will be giving these back shortly. If you have not yet done this, you have until Monday to get it to me. After that, I'll be inviting (ie. forcing) you to do it during a lunchtime or two next week. This couldn't be more vital. The exam now accounts for 60% of your marks for English Language!