English

Y9 English

Key Stage 3

Year 9

Fiction: Reading and descriptive writing

In this lesson, we will be looking at strategies for reading unseen fiction texts.  We will be using Freytag's Narrative Pyramid and the idea of 'Four conflicts in Literature' as ways of reading unseen fiction extracts.  You will then have an opportunity to try out these ideas by applying this learning to an unseen fiction extract from Katherine Mansfield's 'The Tiredness of Rosabel'.

Approaches to reading unseen fiction texts

In this lesson, we will learn about different character types; what they are called, their key characteristics and their function in a text. We will re-examine our text of the week,  'The Tiredness of Rosabel,' by Katherine Mansfield from this perspective. Our lesson will look at a pivotal moment in the extract and examine what roles the three characters perform within the passage and how Mansfield both conforms to and subverts our expectations as readers.

Character types and function

In this lesson, we will apply our language analysis skills to 'The Tiredness of Rosabel' . We will start by building our confidence with subject terminology, understanding what good analysis needs to contain and then really working on the most crucial skill: selecting the best evidence. You will have opportunity to really slow down the process and we'll work through a step by step guide to being successful in this skill area.

Analysing language: Selecting evidence

In this lesson, we will focus on developing a clear strategy to transform our selected evidence from 'The Tiredness of Rosabel' into an effective piece of analytical writing. We will do this together: working through the steps using a slow writing model. This will give you chance to secure these steps in your mind for your own independent work in the future. At the end of the lesson we'll look at a sample response for you to use as a benchmark to assess your own work.

Analysing language: Analytical writing

In this lesson, we will be examining Katherine Mansfield's text 'The Tiredness of Rosabel'  from a structural perspective. We will look at the types of choices writers make when organising texts in order to create an impact on their readers. After ensuring we have the right subject terminology to tackle structural analysis, you will have the opportunity to try this for yourself and then also work through a model answer.

Examining structural choices

In this lesson, we will start by finding out a little bit about the background of our next text which is an extract from Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'. We will look at the key themes as well as generic contexts before beginning to read the extract. When reading the extract, we will draw on our learning from previous lessons and revisit our reading process. You will be provided with prompt questions to help you track your way through the text systematically, thinking about what happens - first / next / then and finally. Feedback will be given at each stage.

Unseen Fiction Texts: Pre-1900

In this lesson, we will be looking at traditional representations of women in Literature by exploring the Mary / Eve dichotomy. You'll then have the opportunity to apply this new theory to selected evidence from 'Dracula' before revisiting our cloud analysis techniques to make sure we are choosing the best evidence and linking our ideas together.

Mary/Eve Dichotomy

In this lesson, we will build on our understanding of the Mary/Eve dichotomy and look at a generic context idea with the 'Lady on the Pedestal' and an historical context idea with 'The Angel in the House.' Both these ideas will lead us to think about the space women occupy in society and how they are positioned and presented for us to read in texts. We'll go back to a passage from our 'Dracula' extract and continue to strengthen our interpretation.

Thinking about space: Where do women belong?

In this lesson, we will be practising the skill of evaluation. Firstly, we will break down our question: 'This part of the story, where Lucy is forced back into her coffin by Van Helsing and his men, shows how men are always victorious. None of our sympathy is with Lucy.' After breaking down the statement, we will explore 'what' our response to the statement is and 'how' we came to that conclusion. We're going to use a planning strategy today to help in generating those ideas and selecting effective evidence.

Responding to evaluation questions

In this lesson, we will return to our planning in response to the question: 'This part of the story, where Lucy is forced back into her coffin by Van Helsing and his men, shows how men are always victorious. None of our sympathy is with Lucy.' Today, we will look at how to sequence our thoughts and build an effective evaluation in a systematic way.

Evaluation: Writing it up

In this lesson, we will learn about the background of our next text, which is an extract from 'Cold Mountain', written by Charles Frazier. We will look at the historical contexts as well as finding out about our main characters before examining the exposition of the novel. Whilst reading the extract, we will continue to consolidate our reading strategies. You will be provided with prompt questions to help you track your way through the text systematically, thinking about what happens - first / next / then and finally.

Reading skills: Unseen fiction - Cold Mountain

In this lesson, we will be looking at quest narratives and how 'Cold Mountain' fits into this literary genre, particularly in relation to 'The Odyssey'. We will have reflection points throughout the lesson to help you think through our new learning and make links to ideas we have already explored. You'll be reading a new extract from 'Cold Mountain' today, one which focuses on our second protagonist, Ada, and her journey. At the close of the lesson, there will be a learning recap quiz to consolidate today's learning content.

Journeys in literature: Cold Mountain

In this lesson, we will start with a quick quiz. We'll then be looking at a further extract from our text of the week, Cold Mountain. Today, we are going to examine how Frazier builds descriptive detail by analysing a new passage and also making use of our prior learning. In particular, we will remind ourselves of how to select 'rich' evidence and build an analytical response.

Descriptive detail: Close analysis

In this lesson, we will be looking at what the key characteristics of descriptive writing are and what we need to consider when planning for this style of response: organisation, vocabulary selection and technical accuracy. We will work our way through a range of planning techniques before reflecting on the design choices of our studied writers to help us build a successful plan.

Descriptive writing: Planning techniques

In this lesson, we will complete a 'slow write' exercise where we'll work through an image together, thinking about how to start our response, zoom in on detail and then develop a 'Big Picture' perspective in our writing.

Descriptive writing: Slow write

In this lesson, we will examine a short story by Patrick O'Brian called 'Samphire'. We'll be reading the whole narrative over the next few lessons, but just starting with the first half today. Whilst reading the extract, we will be following our reading strategy routines. You will be provided with prompt questions to help you track your way through the text systematically, thinking about what happens - first / next / then and finally.

Reading skills: Samphire

In this lesson, we will finish reading Samphire, and tracking the events against the components of the Narrative Pyramid. Whilst reading the extract, we will continue to consolidate our reading strategies. You will be provided with prompt questions to help you track your way through the text systematically. Feedback will be given at each stage. At the close of the lesson, we will return to our focus of considering how Patrick O'Brian's narrative follows the Narrative Pyramid in our reflection task.

Reading skills: Samphire (Part 2)

In this lesson, we will define exactly what the ingredients of a narrative piece are before moving on to examine how to write an effective opening. In order to do this, we'll look at the example of George Orwell's '1984' as well as reviewing the opening from our set text Samphire. You'll then have an opportunity to plan a narrative and write your own opening paragraph to try out your learning from the session.

Narrative writing: What makes a good opening?

In this lesson, we will continue with our narrative writing response, looking in particular at how to make design choices that will give texture to our writing and create a sense of movement in our work. We'll be using an extract from Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' as a model as well as returning to our set text, 'Samphire' by Patrick O'Brian.

Narrative writing: Creating movement in our writing

In this lesson, we will focus on how to write effective endings and consider some of the choices we can make as writers. We will do this by reviewing the ending of our set text, 'Samphire' by Patrick O'Brian, and experimenting with how we can alter meaning. We will then have the opportunity to review our writing across the unit as a whole before designing our own conclusion.

Narrative writing: Effective endings

In this lesson, we will examine an adapted extract from the novel 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad. We'll start by locating the text within its context of writing and then thinking about how the issues it raises around colonialism can be considered today. Whilst reading the extract, we will be following our reading strategy routines. You will be provided with prompt questions to help you track your way through the text systematically, thinking about what happens - first / next / then and finally. It is also an opportunity for you to start making your own observations.

Reading skills: Pre-1900 unseen fiction - Heart of Darkness

In this lesson, we will revisit the techniques we have explored for both descriptive and narrative writing by looking at a setting-based stimulus of images linked to our story of the week, 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad. We'll work together to first of all mimic Conrad's extract and produce a descriptive opening. Then, we'll try and write three different narrative openings and reflect on which one achieves the strongest impact on a reader.

Writing skills: Responding to a setting stimulus image

In this lesson, we will use a stimulus image will start our thinking process and gather some initial ideas. We'll then be looking at developing our understanding of characterisation by examining Kurtz from our text, 'Heart of Darkness', and linking him to various literary models. We'll read a passage from 'Heart of Darkness' as stimulus and then have the opportunity to plan out a response using a photo montage technique.

Writing skills: Responding to a person stimulus image

In this lesson, we will explore how symbolism can be used in our writing. We will start by looking at some potential symbols to help generate our initial ideas. Then, we will look at how one of these symbols has been used by a student in a piece of writing, before returning to our own work and developing our ideas further.

Writing skills: Using symbolism

In this lesson, we will review all of our learning on developing our creative writing responses by looking at a new text, 'The Time Machine' by H.G. Wells, and a stimulus image. We'll be breaking this down into a 'process' for approaching our written work - think, plan, draft, critique, write - which will hopefully be a routine you can apply to your work in the future.

Key Stage 3, English, Fiction: Reading and descriptive writing