humour - pearson schools

Sam Custance

2

Brave New Words resources

© Pearson Education Ltd 2008 2

The short stories in this collection are grouped into four genres: Humour, History, Diaries and Sport. An eight-lesson scheme of work accompanies each genre section, with two lesson plans provided for each story. Each of these schemes is organised so that the first two stories could be used for Year 7 students and the second two for Year 8 students. However, all of the stories have been mapped for both Year 7 and Year 8 Framework Objectives, so that the stories can be taught in genres rather than year groups if desired. Stories have been selected and lesson plans written primarily to target students who are working at Level 4 towards Level 5. However there are differentiated resources to suit less able students working at Level 3, as well as extension tasks for students working towards Level 6. Possible homework tasks are provided for each lesson, although these do not have to be used in order for the lesson to be successful. Resource sheets are provided to support each lesson and can be photocopied, used as OHTs or displayed using an interactive whiteboard or data projector. The Assessment Foci (AFs) are referenced throughout each scheme to aid preparation for the Year 9 National Tests. Each scheme contains one formal Assessment Task, modelled on the QCA Assessing Pupil Progress (APP) reading tasks. The QCA mark sheets can be used to mark each assessment. I hope that in these schemes of work you will find a good range of valuable teaching and learning resources to support delivery of texts by a wonderful range of contemporary children’s writers.

Introduction


3 © Pearson Education Ltd 2008

Med

ium

-ter

m p

lan

: H

um

ou

r

T

itle

and

aut

hor

Les

son

outc

ome

and

obj

ecti

ves

Ren

ewed

Fra

mew

ork

Obj

ecti

ves

Yea

r 7

Ren

ewed

Fra

mew

ork

Obj

ecti

ves

Yea

r 8

AF

R

esou

rces

1

‘The

G

nom

ecom

ing

Par

ty’

by A

nne

Fin

e

Les

son

1

1.

Fam

ilia

risa

tion

wit

h ca

mer

a an

gles

an

d th

e im

port

ance

of

vari

ety.

2.

Vis

uali

satio

n w

hile

rea

ding

the

stor

y.

3.

Usi

ng q

uota

tion

s to

sto

rybo

ard

the

imag

es.

4.

Pee

r-as

sess

men

t of

stor

yboa

rd u

sing

‘T

wo

star

s an

d a

wis

h’.

5.

Sto

rybo

ard

a ch

apte

r or

res

earc

h 20

no

vels

that

are

als

o fi

lms.

5.1a

use

ski

mm

ing

and

scan

ning

to lo

cate

the

mai

n po

ints

and

rel

evan

t in

form

atio

n fr

om a

tex

t

5.1a

use

a r

ange

of

read

ing

stra

tegi

es to

ret

riev

e re

leva

nt in

form

atio

n an

d m

ain

poin

ts f

rom

text

s

AF

2

AF

3

1.1,

1.2

, 1.3

Sho

rt m

ovin

g-im

age

sequ

ence

, e.g

. adv

ert

ww

w.te

llya

ds.c

om

2 ‘T

he

Gno

mec

omin

g P

arty

’ by

Ann

e F

ine

Les

son

2

1.

Ana

gram

s m

ade

from

key

lear

ning

ob

ject

ives

.

2.

Ana

lysi

s of

hum

our.

3.

Und

erst

and

the

stru

ctur

e of

the

stor

y.

4.

Thi

nkin

g sk

ills

usi

ng ‘

But

wha

t if…

?’

ques

tion

s.

5.

Stu

dent

s cr

eate

thei

r ow

n ‘B

ut w

hat

if…

? qu

estio

ns.

5.1b

use

infe

renc

e an

d de

duct

ion

to r

ecog

nise

im

plic

it m

eani

ngs

at

sent

ence

and

text

leve

l

6.3

expl

ore

how

a w

rite

r’s

orga

nisa

tiona

l, st

ruct

ural

an

d pr

esen

tati

onal

cho

ices

su

ppor

t for

m

5.1b

use

infe

renc

e an

d de

duct

ion

to e

xplo

re la

yers

of

mea

ning

with

in a

text

6.3

Exp

lain

how

spe

cifi

c ch

oice

s of

for

m c

reat

e pa

rtic

ular

eff

ects

AF

3

AF

4

1.4,

1.5

, 1.6

, 1.7

, 1.8

.

3 ‘M

ore

Bit

s of

an

Aut

obio

grap

hy I

M

ay N

ot W

rite

’ by

Mor

ris

Gle

itzm

an

Les

son

1

1.

Fro

m th

e fi

rst s

ente

nce,

dis

cuss

text

ty

pe a

nd p

ossi

ble

mem

orie

s.

2.

Bra

inst

orm

hum

orou

s fa

mil

y re

lati

onsh

ips

and

why

they

are

fun

ny.

3.

Rea

d ex

trac

t, an

nota

te w

ith

ques

tion

s th

at f

ocus

on

impl

ied

mea

ning

s.

4.

Rea

d th

e re

st o

f th

e sh

ort s

tory

. Sel

f-ev

alua

tion

of

unde

rsta

ndin

g.

5.

Stu

dent

s cr

eate

thei

r ow

n hu

mor

ous

fam

ily.

5.2a

iden

tify

and

unde

rsta

nd th

e m

ain

idea

s,

view

poin

ts, t

hem

es a

nd

purp

oses

in te

xts

5.2a

trac

e th

e de

velo

pmen

t of

wri

ter’

s id

eas,

vi

ewpo

ints

and

them

es in

di

ffer

ent t

exts

AF

2

AF

3

AF

6

2.1,

2.2

, 2.2

, 2.3

, 2.4

, 2.

5, 2

.6.



T

itle

and

aut

hor

Les

son

outc

ome

and

obj

ecti

ves

Ren

ewed

Fra

mew

ork

Obj

ecti

ves

Yea

r 7

Ren

ewed

Fra

mew

ork

Obj

ecti

ves

Yea

r 8

AF

R

esou

rces

4 ‘M

ore

Bit

s of

an

Aut

obio

grap

hy I

M

ay N

ot W

rite

’ by

Mor

ris

Gle

itzm

an

Les

son

2

1.

Rem

ind

stud

ents

of

the

AP

P m

arki

ng

crit

eria

. Stu

dent

s sk

im-r

ead

the

extr

act.

2.

Intr

oduc

e A

PP

-sty

le r

eadi

ng

asse

ssm

ent.

3.

Ans

wer

AP

P-s

tyle

rea

ding

as

sess

men

t que

stio

ns.

4.

Self

-ass

essm

ent u

sing

the

QC

A A

PP

m

arki

ng s

heet

.

5.

Stu

dent

s cr

eate

thei

r ow

n hu

mor

ous

fam

ily.

5.1a

use

ski

mm

ing

and

scan

ning

to lo

cate

the

mai

n po

ints

5.1b

use

infe

renc

e an

d de

duct

ion

to r

ecog

nise

im

plic

it m

eani

ngs

5.2b

mak

e a

pers

onal

re

spon

se to

a te

xt a

nd

prov

ide

som

e te

xtua

l re

fere

nce

in s

uppo

rt

5.1a

use

a r

ange

of

read

ing

stra

tegi

es to

ret

riev

e re

leva

nt in

form

atio

n

5.1b

use

infe

renc

e an

d de

duct

ion

to e

xplo

re

mea

ning

with

in a

text

5.2b

res

pond

to a

text

by

mak

ing

prec

ise

poin

ts a

nd

prov

idin

g re

leva

nt e

vide

nce

in s

uppo

rt o

f th

ose

poin

ts

All

AF

s 2.

7

QC

A R

eadi

ng A

F

Mar

k sh

eets

5 ‘S

choo

lday

s’ b

y B

ill B

ryso

n

Les

son

1

1.

Rec

ount

mem

orab

le e

vent

s.

2.

Lis

ten

to a

n ex

trac

t bei

ng r

ead

with

ex

pres

sion

.

3.

Ann

otat

e la

ngua

ge d

evic

es.

4.

Eva

luat

e ef

fect

ive

hum

orou

s se

nten

ces.

5.

Wri

ting

in f

ull s

ente

nces

, exp

lain

ing

how

the

auth

or e

nter

tain

s hi

s re

ader

.

5.1a

use

ski

mm

ing

and

scan

ning

to lo

cate

in

form

atio

n fr

om a

tex

t or

sour

ce

5.1b

use

infe

renc

e an

d de

duct

ion

to r

ecog

nise

im

plic

it m

eani

ngs

5.1c

mak

e re

leva

nt n

otes

w

hen

gath

erin

g id

eas

from

te

xts

5.1a

use

a r

ange

of

read

ing

stra

tegi

es to

ret

riev

e re

leva

nt in

form

atio

n

5.1b

use

infe

renc

e an

d de

duct

ion

to e

xplo

re

mea

ning

with

in a

text

5.1c

mak

e no

tes

whe

n re

sear

chin

g di

ffer

ent

sour

ces

AF

5 3.

1, 3

.2

6 ‘S

choo

lday

s’ b

y B

ill B

ryso

n

Les

son

2

1.

Pra

ctis

e, th

en r

ead

alou

d a

sect

ion

of

‘Sch

oold

ays’

with

exp

ress

ion.

2.

Rea

d al

oud

the

rest

of

the

extr

act,

inse

rtin

g su

bhea

ding

s at

app

ropr

iate

po

ints

in th

e te

xt.

3.

Stu

dent

s se

lect

the

ten

funn

iest

m

omen

ts a

nd c

hart

them

on

a hu

mou

r gr

aph.

4.

Just

ify

and

expl

ain

the

two

funn

iest

m

omen

ts.

5.

Pra

ctis

e re

adin

g al

oud,

with

ex

pres

sion

.

2.1b

usi

ng s

ome

verb

al a

nd

non-

verb

al te

chni

ques

to

mak

e ta

lk in

tere

stin

g fo

r lis

tene

rs

5.3

mak

e in

form

ed p

erso

nal

choi

ces

of t

ext a

nd e

xpre

ss

thei

r pr

efer

ence

s

2.1b

eng

age

list

ener

s’

atte

ntio

n an

d in

tere

st b

y us

ing

a ra

nge

of d

iffe

rent

ve

rbal

and

non

-ver

bal

tech

niqu

es

5.3

broa

den

thei

r ex

peri

ence

of

read

ing

and

expr

ess

pref

eren

ces

and

opin

ions

abo

ut te

xts

AF

4

AF

6

3.3,

3.4

, 3.5

, S

quar

ed p

aper

1–10

on

A4

pape

r



T

itle

and

aut

hor

Les

son

outc

ome

and

obj

ecti

ves

Ren

ewed

Fra

mew

ork

Obj

ecti

ves

Yea

r 7

Ren

ewed

Fra

mew

ork

Obj

ecti

ves

Yea

r 8

AF

R

esou

rces

7 ‘M

rs B

ixby

and

th

e C

olon

el’s

C

oat’

by

Roa

ld

Dah

l

Les

son

1

1.

A G

uide

d R

eadi

ng c

ard

is a

ssig

ned

to

each

gro

up.

2.

Stu

dent

s re

ad a

nd u

nder

stan

d th

e ac

tivit

ies

that

they

wil

l car

ry o

ut.

3.

Rea

d th

e st

ory,

con

side

ring

thei

r gi

ven

task

s.

4.

Eva

luat

e pr

ogre

ss a

nd p

repa

re f

or

next

less

on.

5.

Sup

port

a g

roup

that

is s

trug

glin

g.

5.1,

5.2

, 5.

3 re

adin

g fo

r m

eani

ng; u

nder

stan

ding

and

re

spon

ding

to p

rint

6.1,

6.3

, 6.3

und

erst

andi

ng th

e au

thor

’s c

raft

All

AF

s 4.

1, 4

.2, 4

.3, 4

.4, 4

.5,

4.6,

4.7

,

8 ‘M

rs B

ixby

and

th

e C

olon

el’s

C

oat’

by

Roa

ld

Dah

l.

Les

son

2

1.

Rec

ap n

otes

.

2.

Pre

pare

for

pre

sent

atio

n.

3.

Pro

gres

s th

roug

h ac

tivi

ties

on

Gui

ded

Rea

ding

car

d.

4.

As

a gr

oup,

dec

ide

indi

vidu

al

cont

ribu

tions

for

pre

sent

atio

n.

Pre

sent

.

5.

Nar

rati

ve s

truc

ture

and

nar

rativ

e de

vice

s to

be

anal

ysed

.

5.1,

5.2

, 5.3

rea

ding

for

mea

ning

; und

erst

andi

ng a

nd

resp

ondi

ng to

pri

nt

6.1,

6.3

, 6.3

und

erst

andi

ng th

e au

thor

’s c

raft

All

AF

s 4.

1, 4

.2, 4

.3, 4

.4, 4

.5,

4.6,

4.7

, 4.8

, 4.9

.

6



‘The Gnomecoming Party’ by Anne Fine Lesson 1

Class: 7 Date: Period:

As a result of this lesson:

• all students will be able to: read ‘The Gnomecoming Party’ and select six quotations from the support sheet to aid visualisation of the story and draw a storyboard using more than one camera angle.

• most students will be able to: read ‘The Gnomecoming Party’ and select three quotations from the support sheet and three from the rest of the story; draw a storyboard using at least four camera angles.

• some students will be able to: read ‘The Gnomecoming Party’ and independently find six quotations and explain why they chose each one.

Assessment foci (Reading):

AF2 understand, describe, select or retrieve information, events or ideas from texts and use quotation and reference to text

AF3 deduce, infer or interpret information, events or ideas from texts

Renewed Framework Objectives:

Yr 7 5.1a use skimming and scanning to locate information from a text or source

Yr 8 5.1a use a range of reading strategies to retrieve relevant information and main points from texts

Resources:

Short moving-image sequence, e.g. advert from www.tellyads.com

1.1: Eight camera angles

1.2: Quotations for ‘The Gnomecoming’ storyboard

1.3: Storyboard template (A3 paper)

Personal teaching notes





Starter:

15 minutes

Show students Resource 1.1: Eight Camera Angles. Ask students why they think varied camera angles are important in a visual presentation of a story. Show students a short moving image, for example an advertisement with the sound muted. TV adverts can be found at www.tellyads.com. Ask students to try to identify the number of different camera angles used in one advertisement.

Introduction:

20 minutes

Explain to students that while you read the story to them, they should visualise the story, like a short film. They should then write down quotations that they think create a strong visual picture. Resource 1.2: Quotations for the storyboard can be used to support less able students. Students could number the quotations, making sure they stay in the correct narrative order, to help plan their storyboard. Encourage more confident students to use not more than three of the quotations listed and to find three of their own.

Development:

20 minutes

Using the quotations that they have selected, students storyboard these events. Display Resource 1.3: Storyboard template and model the first one with the class. Ask students to use a range of camera angles for their pictures. Students should write their selected quotations under their pictures and try to explain why they have used each one.

Plenary:

5 minutes

Students show their storyboard to a partner and ask them to comment on two things they like and one thing that could be improved. Comments could be based on:

• varied camera angles

• well selected visual quotations

• remembering to use speech marks around quotations

• the choice of camera angle to suit moments from the story.

Homework / Extension Students could storyboard a chapter from a book they are reading at home. Alternatively, they could research and name 20 novels that have been turned into films.

Additional teaching guidance

8



Eight camera angles

High-angled shot Low-angled shot

Long shot Mid-shot

Close-up shot Extreme close-up shot

Two-person shot Over-the-shoulder shot

Resource 1.1



Quotations for ‘The Gnomecoming Party’ storyboard

1. ‘It was like boot camp. Fresh commands kept hurtling over… Anything

you’ve grown out of in this pile, please.’

2. ‘And that is when I found him. I saw his pointy little cap first.’

3. ‘I’d left him in the driveway with a little black home-made pit stop flag in

his hand to greet my dad when he drove home from work.’

4. ‘And it was me, not him, who was going to have to face Miss Hooper’s

killer stare…’

5. ‘I shoved Geoffrey safely away in my big box of building bits.’

6. ‘They were a bit baffled when the card nattered on about sunbathing

when he was in Reykjavik.’

7. ‘GOBLIN REUNION!!! CLASS OF 1997!’

8. ‘He looked a little guilty, (He’d scoffed more than most.)’

9. ‘But most of all, worth standing there at the window at eight o’clock

knotting my school tie…’

10. ‘Looked at the tiny little pottery revellers flat out on their lawn.’

Resource 1.2

10



Storyboard template

Resource 1.3






• all students will be able to: work out at least one anagram, find examples of humour and say why they are amusing; explore the structure of the story; consider at least one ‘But what if…’ question.

• most students will be able to: work out several anagrams; use the Point, Evidence, Explanation table to explore amusing moments in the story; explore the structure of the story and select quotations; consider a variety of ‘But what if…’ questions.

• some students will be able to: work out most of the anagrams; using the modelled example, find and select their own examples of humour and explain why they are amusing; explore the structure of the story, select quotations to support their thoughts; consider a variety of ‘But what if …’ questions and use their learning to plan and then write a story of their own.


AF 4 identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level



Yr 7 5.1b use inference and deduction to recognise implicit meanings at sentence and text level

Yr 7 6.3 explore how a writer’s organisational structural and presentational choices support form

Yr 8 5.1b use inference and deduction to explore layers of meaning within a text

Yr 8 6.3 explain how specific choices of form create particular effects

Resources:

1.4: Anagrams

1.5: Which moments are amusing and why?

1.6: Which moments are amusing and why? Support

1.7: Structure of a story

1.8: ‘But what if …?’


12





Starter:

10 minutes

Identify the key learning points for ‘The Gnomecoming Party’ using the anagrams on Resource 1.4: Anagrams. Allow one minute per anagram, revealing each one in turn. (Answers: 1. visualisation, 2. author, 3. imagery, 4. structure, 5. humour, 6. quotations, 7. reading, 8. strategies, 9. organisation, 10. language.)

Introduction:

20 minutes

Using Resource 1.5: Which moments are amusing and why?, or to support less able students Resource 1.6 Which moments are amusing and why? Support, students explore humorous moments in the story. This activity could be carried out in small groups or as a whole class.

Development:

20 minutes

As a class, recap the structure of a story. Ask students what the following stages of ‘The Gnomecoming Party’ are in relation to the structure: Opening, Development, Complication, Crisis, Resolution. Students could fill in Resource 1.7: Structure of a story, with relevant quotations to explain how events progress.

Plenary:

10 minutes

Ask students the questions on Resource 1.8: ‘But what if…?’. to develop thinking skills and as a way into the extension task.

1. But what if James was caught?

2. But what if Geoffrey really came to life?

3. But what if inanimate objects can come to life when no one is there?

Homework / Extension

Extension: try to create your own ‘But what if…?’ questions about ‘The Gnomecoming Party’. Students could use these questions for stimuli to write their own humorous story. Alternatively, a short story based on playing a joke on a neighbour.


Website for creating anagrams: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/



Anagrams

The words below have all had their letters have rearranged. See if you can

unscramble them and discover what the original words were.

Clue: The answers all relate to learning objectives and short stories.

1. Salivation I Us

2. Ah Tour

3. Rage I My

4. Truce Rust

5. Hour Um

6. Toast Quoin

7. Grained

8. Estates Rig

9. Again Riot Son

10. Algae Gun

Resource 1.4

14



Which moments are amusing and why? (AF3)

Point – moment in the

story

Evidence – quotation Explanation – why is it

amusing?

Mum telling James to

tidy up

‘Fresh commands kept

hurtling over’

Sounds like he is in

danger, with his mum’s

commands being

personified as objects,

which when thrown,

could hurt

Resource 1.5



Which moments are amusing and why?

Point – moment in the

story

Evidence – quotation Explanation – why is it

amusing?

Mum telling James to tidy up

‘Fresh commands kept

hurtling over’

Sounds like he is in danger,

with his mum’s commands

being personified as objects,

which when thrown, could

hurt

‘I know it’s wrong to steal –

bleh, blehdibleh bleh, etc.’

James expected his father to

notice a gnome waving a

flag, as he drove into his

driveway

Talking to the gnome like it is

a real person, makes me

think that some people really

do talk to inanimate objects

‘Having a simply lovely time

here in Vieux Crudville.’

Resource 1.6

16



Structure of a story (AF4)

Chart the different stages of ‘The Gnomecoming Party’.

Stage of the story Moment when the

structure changes

Quotation from the

story

Opening

Development

Complication

Crisis

Resolution

Resource 1.7



‘But what if…?’ Do you ever ask yourself questions that start with, ‘But what if…?’ Questions

like this encourage lateral thought.

Try to answer the following questions in different ways:

1. But what if James was caught?

2. But what if Geoffrey really came to life?

3. But what if inanimate objects can come to life when no one is there?

Extension: Try to create your own ‘But what if…?’ questions about ‘The

Gnomecoming Party’. Then swap your questions with a partner for them to

think about and answer.

Resource 1.8

18



‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’ by Morris Gleitzman

Lesson 1



• all students will be able to: listen to the discussion about memories and the ‘families’ brainstorm; start to annotate the extract and have some understanding about how humour is created.

• most students will be able to: take part in the discussion about memories; contribute to the ‘families’ brainstorm; annotate the extract and have a good understanding about how the humour has been created.

• some students will be able to: take part in the discussion about memories; contribute to the ‘families’ brainstorm; annotate the extract; have a strong understanding of how the humour has been created; create a humorous family.




AF6 identify and comment on writers’ purposes and viewpoints, and the overall effect of the text on the reader


Yr 7 5.2a identify and understand the main ideas, viewpoints, themes and purposes in texts

Yr 8 5.2a trace the development of writer’s ideas, viewpoints and themes in different texts

Resources:

2.1: First sentence

2.2: Humorous family

2.3: Extract from ‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’

2.4: Plenary questions

2.5: Own humorous family

2.6: Humorous character





Lesson 1

Class: Date: Period:

Starter:

10 minutes

Show Resource 2.1: First sentence, which has the first part of the first sentence:

‘I’ll never forget when…’ Ask students, what type of text this is? Students are to think of possible memories that this text could be about, if this was their autobiography. Take brief feedback from students, which could be listed on Resource 2.1.

Introduction:

10 minutes

As a class, using Resource 2.2: Humorous family, discuss humorous family relationships between parents and their children from sitcoms and films. Discuss why these relationships make us laugh. Example: ‘The Simpsons’.

Development:

30 minutes

Read the extract on Resource 2.3: Extract from ‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’. Share the reading of the first text starting from ‘I’ll never forget when…’ to ‘…but I needed an extra six weeks.’ Check that students understand the word ‘indignant’. Check that students understand the basic set-up, e.g. father tries to do something, children point him in the right direction, father realises something (mostly for comic effect).

Using the extract (displayed) draw out and annotate, with the class, the answers to:

1. How has the text been written?

2. What kind of text is this?

3. Describe the characterisation, especially between the relationship between the writer and his children.

4. What is the tone used? How do you know this? Look for vocabulary choices and sentence structure?

5. Pick out examples of humour. How they have been created?

Read the rest of the short story.

Plenary:

10 minutes

Students should answer a minimum of two plenary questions from Resource 2.4: Plenary questions. Explain to students that in the next lesson they will be answering nine questions about the story, with questions assessing each of the AF criteria.


In groups, or as individuals, students create their own humorous family, using the ideas generated in the introduction as a model. Resources 2.5: Own humorous family and 2.6: Humorous character can be used to support students.


20



First sentence

‘I’ll never forget

when…’

Resource 2.1



Humorous family List as many sitcoms as you can that are made up around families, such as

The Simpsons and My Family.

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………

What do these families have in common?

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………

Resource 2.2

22



‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’

I’ll never forget when we got our first dog. The excitement! The noise!

The joyful howls (the dog). The puddles on the carpet (me).

I’d read all the books and knew exactly what to do. First, give her a

feed.

‘Better let us do that, Dad,’ said the kids, taking the bowl, ‘Better

safe than sorry.’

I was indignant. The dog was indignant.

‘Why?’ I demanded.

‘Because,’ whispered the kids so the dog wouldn’t hear, ‘you’re

hopeless with pets.’

I was deeply hurt. ‘That goldfish,’ I retorted, ‘died of a bad cold.’

The kids looked at me sternly. ‘It died,’ they said, ‘because of what you

fed it.’

I was even more indignant. ‘The box had pictures of fish on it,’ I said.

‘How was I to know it was cat food?’

The kids looked sad. The dog looked nervous. I took her for a walk

round the block.

‘We’ll do that,’ called the kids, running to catch up. ‘Better safe than

sorry.’

I boiled with indignation. The dog tried to hand them the lead.

‘You’re not being fair,’ I said. ‘I’ve never had a single accident

taking a dog for a walk round the block. Or a fruit-bat. Or a blue-tongue

lizard.’

Resource 2.3



‘That’s right,’ said the kids sadly. ‘Just a mouse. What on earth

possessed you to throw that stick and tell our mouse to fetch it? With a

hungry cat on the loose whose dinner you’d just fed to the goldfish?’

Before I could answer, I realised I was holding an empty lead. The

dog had disappeared.

We found her halfway up a lamppost, trembling with fear. The kids

managed to coax her down, but only after I’d come to an agreement with

them. If anything happened to the dog, they’d have me arrested.

So I enrolled us both in training and obedience classes. The dog

graduated after a month, but I needed an extra six weeks.

Now answer the following questions, annotating the extract to illustrate your

responses.

1. How has the text been written?

2. What kind of text is this?

3. Describe the characters, especially the relationship between the writer

and his children.

4. What tone has been used? How do you know this?

5. Look for examples of interesting vocabulary choices and sentence

structure. Explain why you chose them.

6. Pick out examples of humour. How they have been created?

24



Plenary questions

1. What new things have you learnt today?

2. What did you think about this short story?

3. How well did you complete the tasks?

4. What could you have done better?

Resource 2.4



Extension task: Create your own humorous family

In a group, make up your own sitcom with different family members.

Create a family tree to show how the members are related. Include their

names and ages (remember that their ages always stay the same.)

Resource 2.5

26



Humorous character

1 Each member of the group should choose a different family member

and draw a picture of them.

2 Now create a spider diagram for your character, giving as much

information about them as you can.

Other information

What do they like or

dislike?

Relation-ship with

the rest of the family

What are their

hobbies / interests?

What could their

catchphrase be?

What or who will

they admire?

How will they

behave?

How will they talk?

What do they look

like?

Humorous character

Resource 2.6




Lesson 2



• all students will be able to: attempt the APP questions and show some understanding of ‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’.

• most students will be able to: complete the APP questions and show a clear understanding of ‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’.

• some students will be able to: complete the APP questions and show a thorough appreciation of ‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’.




AF4 identify and comment on the structure and organisation of texts, including grammatical and presentational features at text level

AF5 explain and comment on writers’ use of language, including grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level



Yr 7 5.1a use skimming and scanning to locate the main points

Yr 7 5.1b use inference and deduction to recognise implicit meanings

Yr 7 5.2b make a personal response to a text and provide some textual reference in support.

Yr 8 5.1a use a range of reading strategies to retrieve relevant information

Yr 8 5.1b use inference and deduction to explore meaning within a text

Yr8 5.2b respond to a text by making precise points and providing relevant evidence in support of those points

Resources:

2.7a–d: APP questions ‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’

QCA Reading AF Mark sheets


28




Lesson 2


Starter:

10 minutes

Remind students of the APP mark criteria, using the mark scheme. Ask students to skim-read ‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’.

Introduction:

10 minutes

Introduce the students to the assessment and explain that they are to work individually, as it is an assessment. Students should work through the nine questions, referring to and quoting from the text when requested.

Development:

30 minutes

Ask students to turn back to their activity sheets. Instruct them to work independently through activities 1–9.

You could circulate around the class, offering guidance and support where necessary.

If there is a teaching assistant, they can assist a small group, but take this into account when marking their responses.

Plenary:

10 minutes

Students are to be reminded of the APP-style marking grid. In pencil, students are to self-assess their work, by ticking the boxes that show their attainment for each AF.

If students are unfamiliar with the AF language or self-assessment process, this will take more than 10 minutes.

Homework / Extension Students continue with the creation of their humorous family. They could then progress to writing story, or even a script for a sitcom based on their families.




APP questions ‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’

1. In the first part of the story, what is the father looking forward to? (AF2)

______________________________________________________

2. List four phrases that show that the father behaves more like a child than

his children. (AF2)

a) ____________________________________________________

b) ____________________________________________________

c) ____________________________________________________

d) ____________________________________________________

3. Explain why the writer might have repeated the word ‘essential’ in the

section called ‘Bushfire!’ (AF4)

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

4. How do we know that exaggeration is being used throughout the ‘Boeing

767’ section? (AF3)

a) ____________________________________________________

b) ____________________________________________________

c) ____________________________________________________

Resource 2.7a

30



APP questions ‘More Bits of an Autobiography I May Not Write’ (continued)

5. The writer chooses words and phrases to show how his children feel

about their father watching The Bill. Complete the table to show how his

children behave. One example has been done to help you. (AF5)

Words and

phrases used

by the writer

What they show about the children’s feelings about

him watching The Bill

‘you promised

you’d take us to

the park.’

‘promised’ shows that he had already made a

commitment and as he is breaking it, his children are

reminding him of what he said

‘“But Dad,” they

wailed,’

‘“Suit yourself,”

said the kids,

“but if you don’t

get any exercise

you will die.”’

6. Using Point, Evidence, Explanation, explain what has led up to the dog

smiling. (AF2 and AF3)

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

Resource 2.7b




7. Each text is organised in a similar way, for example:

• the writer does something wrong

• the children try to help

• the problem is sorted out.

Complete the grid below to show how this structure has been used. (AF4)

Text 1

Dog-walking

Text 2

Bushfire

Text 3

The dog versus

The Bill

The writer does

something wrong

His children try to

help

The problem is

sorted out

Resource 2.7c

32




8. Throughout this piece, how do the children try to help their father? (AF2)

Why do you think this is humorous? (AF3)

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

9. What is the writer trying to do in this story? Tick the answer you agree

with most below, and explain why you chose it. (AF6).

a) He is trying to show how difficult it is to be a writer.

b) He is trying to make fun of himself and amuse the reader

c) He is trying to show that his children are really clever.

I chose this statement because

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Resource 2.7d



‘Schooldays’ by Bill Bryson Lesson 1



• all students will be able to: identify at least two different ways of starting a sentence and at least one example of each device; select their favourite sentence.

• most students will be able to: identify a range of different ways to start a sentence and more than one of each device used; select their favourite sentence and explain why they like it.

• some students will be able to: identify a range of different ways to start a sentence and annotate the extract in preparation for writing three paragraphs, explaining how Bill Bryson entertains his readers.

Assessment focus (Reading):

AF 5 explain and comment on writers’ use of language, including grammatical and literary features at word and sentence level


Yr 7 5.1a use skimming and scanning to locate information from a text or source

Yr 7 5.1b use inference and deduction to recognise implicit meanings

Yr 7 5.1c make relevant notes when gathering ideas from texts

Yr 8 5.1a use a range of reading strategies to retrieve relevant information

Yr 8 5.1b use inference and deduction to explore meaning within a text

Yr 8 5.1c make notes when researching different sources

Resources:

3.1: ‘Schooldays’ extract

3.2: Tasks for the first extract from ‘Schooldays’


34





Starter:

10 minutes

As a class, students recount memorable events of their primary school years. A student scribe could list reasons why these events are memorable.

Introduction:

15 minutes

Model to the class reading with expression and read the extract on Resource 3.1: ‘Schooldays’ extract. (Explain to students that in the next lesson they are going to practise reading aloud other parts of the story.)

Development:

30 minutes

Model to the class how to scan and highlight or underline the first word in each paragraph. Students then highlight and scan the rest of the extract, looking for and selecting examples of: a connective, an adverb, a proper noun, a present participle, a question word. Prompts of what these terms are can be found on Resource 3.2: Tasks for the first extract from ‘Schooldays’. After 10 minutes, collect examples and discuss why it is important that writers start their sentences in a variety of ways.

Students then annotate the extract from Resource 3.1: ‘Schooldays’ extract, using the letter key. Colour has also been used, so that if a projector is available, examples could be modelled using the highlighter tool.

S = Similes: ‘using ‘as’ or ‘like’ to make a comparison

M = Metaphors: making a comparison where something is compared to something else

NP = Noun phrases: adjectives are used to expand a description of a noun e.g. wonderful old building

Est = Superlatives: words ending in -est, e.g. scariest

C = Connectives to link ideas and paragraphs together

H = Use of humour

E = Exaggeration

Plenary:

5 minutes

Ask students to select and label their favourite (most effective) humorous sentence. Below the extract, they should give at least two reasons why they chose it.


Based on the extract and the annotations that they have made, students should write three paragraphs in answer to the following question:

‘How does Bill Bryson entertain his reader?’

Students are given the following bullet points to prompt them:

• use of language

• use of devices

• tone of voice.


Students will need photocopies of Resource 3.1: ‘Schooldays’ extract, in order to make the annotations.



‘Schooldays’ extract

Greenwood, my elementary school, was a wonderful old building, enormous to a small child, like a castle made of brick. Built in 1901, it stood off Grand Avenue at the far end of a street of outstandingly vast and elegant homes. The whole neighbourhood smelled lushly of old money.

Stepping into Greenwood for the first time was both the scariest and most exciting event of the first five years of my life. The front doors appeared to be about 20 times taller than normal doors and everything inside was built to a similar imposing scale, including the teachers. Everything about it was intimidating and thrilling at once.

It was, I believe, the handsomest elementary school I have ever seen. Nearly everything in it – the cool ceramic water fountains, the polished corridors, the cloakrooms with their ancient, neatly spaced coat hooks, the giant clinking radiators with their intricate embossed patterns like iron veins, the glass fronted cupboards, everything had an agreeable creak of solid, classy, utilitarian venerability. This was a building made by craftsmen at a time when quality counted, and generations of devoted childhood suffused the air. If I hadn’t had to spend so much of my time vaporizing teachers I would have adored the place.

Still, I was very fond of the building. One of the glories of life in that ancient lost world of the mid-twentieth century was that facilities designed for kids often were much smaller versions of things in the adult world. You can’t imagine how much more splendid this made them. Our Little League baseball field, for instance, was a proper ballpark, with a grandstand and a concession stand and press box, and real dugouts that were, as the name demands, partly subterranean (and never mind that they filled with puddles every time it rained and that the shorter players couldn’t see over the edge and so tended to cheer at the wrong moments). When you ran up those three sagging steps and out onto the field you could seriously image that you were in the Yankee Stadium. Superior infrastructure makes for richer fantasies, believe me. Greenwood contained all that in spades.

It had, for one thing, an auditorium that was just like a real theatre, with a stage with curtains and spotlights and dressing rooms behind. So however bad your school productions were – and ours were always extremely bad, partly because we had no talent and partly because Mrs De Voto, the music teacher, was a bit ancient and often

Resource 3.1

36



nodded off at the piano – it felt like you were part of a well-ordered professional undertaking (even when you were standing there holding a long note, waiting for Mrs De Voto’s chin to touch the keyboard, an event that always jerked her back into action with rousing gusto at exactly the spot where she had left off a minute or two before).

Greenwood also had the world’s finest gymnasium. It was upstairs at the back of the school, which gave it a nicely unexpected air. When you opened the door, you expected to find an ordinary classroom and instead you had – hey! whoa! – a gigantic cubic vault of polished wood. It was a space to savour; it had cathedral-sized windows, a ceiling that no ball could ever reach, acres of varnished wood that had been mellowed into a honeyed glow by decades of squeaky sneakers and gentle drops of childish perspiration, and smartly echoing acoustics that made every bouncing ball sound deftly handled and seriously athletic. When the weather was good and we were sent outdoors to play, the route to the playground took us out onto a rickety metal fire escape that was unnervingly but grandly lofty. The view from the summit took in miles of rooftops and sunny countryside reaching practically to Missouri, or so it seemed.

Mostly we played indoors because it was nearly always winter outside. Of course winters in those days, as with all winters of childhood, were much longer, snowier and more frigid than now. We used to get up to eleven feet of snow at a time – we seldom got less, in fact – and weeks of arctic weather so bitter you could pee icicles.

In consequence, they used to keep the school heated to roughly the temperature of the inside of a pottery kiln, so pupils and teachers alike existed in a state of permanent, helpless drowsiness. But at the same time the close warmth made everything deliciously cheery and cosy. Even Lumpy Kowalski’s daily plop in his pants smelled oven-baked and kind of strangely lovely. (For six months of the year, his pants actually steamed.) On the other hand, the radiators were so hot that if you carelessly leaned an elbow on them you could leave flesh behind. The most infamous radiator-based activity was of course to pee on a radiator in one of the boys’ bathrooms. This created an enormous sour stink that permeated whole wings of the school for days on end and could not be got rid of through any amount of scrubbing or airing. For this reason, anyone caught peeing on a radiator was summarily executed.

…



Greenwood had no cafeteria, so everybody had to go home for lunch, which meant that we had to dress and undress four times in every school day – six if the teacher was foolish enough to include an outdoor recess at some point. My dear, dim friend Buddy Doberman spent so much of his life changing that he often lost track and would have to ask me whether we were putting hats on or off now. He was always most grateful for guidance.

Among the many thousands of things moms never quite understand – the manliness implicit in grass stains, the satisfaction of a really good burp or other gaseous eructation, the need from time to time to blow into straws as well as suck out of them – winter dressing has always been perhaps the most tragically conspicuous. All moms in the 50s lived in dread of cold fronts slipping in from Canada and therefore insisted that their children wear enormous quantities of insulating clothes for at least seven months of the year.

What they failed to take into account was that you were so mummified by extra clothing that you had no limb flexion whatever, and if you fell over you would never get up again unless someone helped you, which was not a thing you could count on. Layered underwear also made going to the bathroom an unnerving challenge. The manufacturers did put an angled vent in every item, but these never quite matched up, and anyway if your penis is only the size of a newly budded acorn it’s asking a lot to thread it through seven or eight layers of underwear and still maintain a competent handhold. In any visit to the restroom, you would hear at least one cry of anguish from someone who had lost purchase in mid-flow and was now delving frantically for the missing appendage.

Mothers also failed to realize that certain clothes at certain periods of your life would get you beaten up. If, for instance, you wore snowpants beyond the age of six, you got beaten up for it. If you wore a hat with ear flaps or, worse, a chin strap, you could be sure of a beating, or at the very least a couple of scoops of snow down your back. The wimpiest, most foolish thing of all was to wear galoshes. Galoshes were unstylish and ineffective, and even the name just sounded stupid and inescapably humiliating. If your mom made you wear galoshes at any point in the year, it was a death sentence. I knew kids who couldn’t get prom dates in high school because every girl they asked remembered that they had worn galoshes in third grade.

38



Tasks for the first extract from ‘Schooldays’

1. Highlight or underline the first word of each sentence on Resource sheet 3.1.

Now select examples of:

• a connective ……………………………………………………………..

• an adverb (-ly) ……………………………………………………………

• a proper noun (specific person, place or thing).………………………

• a present participle verb (-ing) ………………………………………….

• a question word, e.g. ‘Wh...?’ ………………………………………….

2. Look for the following and annotate the extract using the key below.

S = Similes: using ‘as’ or ‘like’ to make a comparison

M = Metaphors: making a comparison where something is compared to something

else

NP = Noun phrases: adjectives used to expand a description of a noun, e.g.

wonderful old building

Est = Superlatives: words ending in -est, e.g. scariest

C = Connectives to link ideas and paragraphs together

H = Use of humour

E = Exaggeration

3. Label your favourite sentence in the extract, and write two reasons why you like it.

4. Based on the extract and your annotations, write a three-paragraph answer to the

question below. Try to construct your answer using Point, Evidence, Explanation.

How does Bill Bryson entertain his reader?

You should say something about:

• his use of language • his use of devices • his tone of voice.

Resource 3.2



‘Schooldays’ by Bill Bryson Lesson: 2



• all students will be able to: read at least a sentence (if not more) of the story; take part in summarising each section and evaluate which moments they consider to be funny; select ten moments and plot them on a humour graph.

• most students will be able to: read aloud with intonation and emphasis; summarise each section with an appropriate subheading; evaluate which moments are funny; select ten moments and plot these on a humour graph, giving reasons for their choices and attempting to explain why they are funny.

• some students will be able to: read aloud with intonation and emphasis; summarise each section with a humorous subheading; select their own funny moments; evaluate these moments and plot them on a humour graph, giving reasons for their choice and explaining why they are funny.





Yr 7 2.1b use some verbal and non-verbal techniques to make talk interesting for listeners

Yr 7 5.3 make informed personal choices of text and express their preferences

Yr 8 2.1b engage listeners’ attention and interest by using a range of different verbal and non-verbal techniques

Yr 8 5.3 broaden their experience of reading and express preferences and opinions about texts

Resources:

3.3: Subheadings for ‘Schooldays’

3.4: Humorous moments in ‘Schooldays’

3.5: Humour graph

Squared paper to plot the humour graph; numbers 1–10, one number per page.


40





Starter:

5 minutes

Assign students different sections to read and ask them to practise reading their sections in pairs, focusing on using punctuation to aid reading, using the narrator’s tone of voice to create the correct intonation to show emphasis humour and exaggeration where appropriate.

Introduction:

30 minutes

Students are to read aloud the rest of the short story. As they read, pause at the end of each short anecdote and ask other members of the class to volunteer an idea for an appropriate subheading, e.g. ‘The wonderful old building’, ‘The weather and its consequences’, ‘Not being popular with the teachers’, ‘Disorganisation’, ‘The joy of Dick and Jane’, ‘26 absences’, ‘Civil defence’. Students could use words from the extract to help them; noting them down on Resource 3.3: Subheadings for ‘Schooldays’.

Development:

20 minutes

Ask students to list what they think are the ten funniest phrases or events in the story. These could be selected from the list on Resource 3.4: Humorous moments in ‘Schooldays’. More confident students could create the list themselves. Students should use these ten moments or phrases to create a humour graph using Resource 3.5: Humour graph, marking events on the horizontal axis and degree of humour on the vertical axis. Ask students to come to the front of the class and plot their lines on the board.

Discuss how some of the moments in the story reflect when and where the autobiography was written. Ask students to find examples of events that would not happen today.

As an alternative to the humour graph, display the numbers 1–10 around the room (with plenty of space between them). Describe a moment in the story and ask students to move to the number that shows how funny they think that moment is. They could then use the plenary to write down the two funniest and two least funny moments and the score they gave them, with a brief explanation.

Plenary:

5 minutes

Ask students to show their humour graphs and to explain the reasons behind their two highest and two lowest scores.


To practise reading aloud a story at home, to an audience if possible.




Subheadings for ‘Schooldays’

Imagine that the publishers intended to give each section of the

autobiography a subheading, but they forgot.

Write a subheading for each part of the story. You could make up one of your

own, or use a short phrase from the extract, which you think sums up that

part of the autobiography.

1. ‘The wonderful old building’

2. .........................................................................................................................

3. .........................................................................................................................

4. .........................................................................................................................

5. .........................................................................................................................

6. .........................................................................................................................

Resource 3.3

42



Humorous moments in ‘Schooldays’ Moments of humour /10

A ‘Shorter players couldn’t see over the edge and so tended to cheer at the wrong moments’

B ‘… waiting for Mrs De Voto’s chin to touch the keyboard…’

C ‘…weather so bitter you could pee icicles.’

D ‘Even Lumpy Kowalski’s daily plop in his pants smelled oven-baked and strangely kind of

lovely.’

E ‘…was of course to pee on a radiator in one of the boys’ bathrooms…anyone caught peeing

on a radiator was summarily executed.’

F ‘Changing time was always like a scene at a refugee camp…’

G ‘… all children had running noses from October to April, which most treated as a kind of drip

feeder.’

H ‘Buddy Doberman spent so much of his life changing…grateful for guidance.’

I ‘…moms never quite understand … the satisfaction of a really good burp or other gaseous

eructation…’

J ‘…so mummified by extra clothing that you had no limb flexion’

K ‘…if your penis is only the size of a newly budded acorn, it’s asking a lot to thread it

through…and still maintain a competent handhold.’

L ‘cry of anguish from someone…delving frantically for the missing appendage.’

M ‘If you wore snow pants beyond the age of six, you got beaten up for it.’

N ‘Some of these women had been powdering for years, and believe me it didn’t work.’

O ‘They insisted on knowing strange things, which I found bewildering…Number 1 or Number

2…didn’t strike me as entirely healthy.’

P ‘In our house, you either went toity or had a BM (for bowel movement)…“I need to do a big

BM. It could be as much as a three or four.”’

Q ‘…fresh mimeograph…I draped them over my face and drifted off into a private place…soft

trill of pan pipes floated on the air.’

R ‘I remember once in kindergarten, in a kind of desperation, I just showed my fingers.’

S ‘I stared and stared…no circumstances, including at gunpoint, in which you could get all the

members of my family to try to do that together.’

T ‘Every character talked exactly like people whose brains had been taken away.’

U ‘How can he have 26 absences in one semester…Do you just send part of him to school

sometimes? Do you keep his legs at home?’

V ‘“What is this?” I asked Buddy Doberman’s butt, for that was the only part of him still visible.’

W ‘But evidently, they all took the matter seriously…Miss Squat Little Fat thing, was inserted

under her desk, too, or at least as…40 per cent.’

X ‘“You’d be dead before bedtime,” he added brightly. “We all would.”’

Y ‘Mrs Unnaturally Enormous Bosom, the principal…’

Z ‘To be cavalier about nuclear preparedness was only half a step away from treason.’

Resource 3.4



Humour graph – charting the funniest moments in ‘Schooldays’ by Bill Bryson

Plot your ten funniest moments on the graph below.

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Letter

Resource 3.5

44



Give reasons for your two highest and two lowest scores.

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................

........................................................................................................................



‘Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat’ by Roald Dahl Lesson: 1



• all students will be able to: read the story and select quotations that are necessary for their guided reading card activities, which may include ‘Characters’ and ‘Setting’, to prepare a presentation to the group.

• most students will be able to: read the story and work independently through the guided reading cards, which may include ‘Atmosphere’ and ‘Genre’, to prepare a presentation to the group.

• some students will be able to: read the story and work independently through the guided reading cards, which may include ‘Structure, ‘Language’ and ‘Message’.


Depending upon the Guided Reading card issued:







Yr 7 and Yr 8 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 reading for meaning, understanding and responding to print

Yr 7 and Yr 8 6.1, 6.3, 6.3 understanding the author’s craft

Resources:

4.1: Guided Reading cards: Genre

4.2: Guided Reading cards: Structure

4.3: Guided Reading cards: Setting

4.4: Guided Reading cards: Characters

4.5: Guided Reading cards: Atmosphere

4.6: Guided Reading cards: Language

4.7: Guided Reading cards: Moral, philosophical and social significance of a text: Message

Materials for students to create visual aids for their presentations, e.g. blank OHTs, OHT pens, or large pieces of sugar paper and marker pens, or A3 paper and colouring pens.

46



‘Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat’ by Roald Dahl Lesson 1


Starter:

5 minutes

Divide the class into groups of four (or groups of five if you have more than 28 students). Assign each group one of the seven Guided Reading cards, and explain that they will read the short story in groups and then work independently through the tasks. Tell students that they will be giving a Speaking and Listening presentation to the rest of the class, to report their findings. To help them with their presentation and to make the necessary notes, supply them with OHT, OHT pens, large pieces of sugar paper and marker pens, as well as blank pieces of A4 paper for making notes.

Introduction:

10 minutes

Students read their cards while you circulate among the groups, checking that they have understood the tasks. The story can either be read individually and silently, or aloud as a group. Try to give the students a choice here, depending on which they prefer.

Development:

40 minutes

When students have finished reading the story, they can start the activities on their card. Groups should decide whether to allocate the activities to individuals or pairs, or to carry them out as a group. Once each group has understood their tasks, you can decide which group(s) to work with. If students are struggling with all of the tasks, encourage them to work in pairs.

Plenary:

5 minutes

Students evaluate their progress and ensure that they know what is expected of them in the next lesson.


You could make additional copies of Resources 4.1–4.7: Guided Reading cards, so that if groups do finish, they could prepare an additional card, or support a group that is struggling.


Some students might find the Characters card easier, so this could be given to less able students.

Photocopying the Guided Reading cards onto different pieces of coloured card helps groups to identify their work and to see that each group is working on a different set of tasks.



Guided reading card: Genre

Resource 4.1

Genre (type of story, e.g. diary, humour, historical, sporting)

1. What clues can you find that might indicate the genre of this story?

2. Are the characters stereotypical (what you would expect from this type of story)?

3. How does the vocabulary indicate the genre? List three phrases that tell you the genre.

4. Do the characters change location during the story? If so, how do their new locations fit in with the genre of the story?

5. Does the plot (story) appear to follow a pattern similar to other stories and/or films? What is the pattern? Try to name some similar stories or films.

48



Guided reading card: Structure

Structure (how a piece of writing is put together)

1. How are the characters introduced? For example through speech, actions, by other characters.

2. What is mentioned that indicates how the plot will develop? For example, someone may have to do something, therefore you know that the story will take place around that.

3. How is tension built? Is it gradually, sporadically, slowly? Pick out key moments in the story and chart them on a tension graph.

Look at the line of your graph to see how tension is built.

4. Analyse how the story develops. Think about the action that takes place and how the plot unravels. What devices have been used to hook the reader?

Devices may include imagery, hearing a voice through the text, hooks for the reader to predict what might happen, questions that the author wants the reader to think about.

5. Is there a twist at the end? If so, what is it?

Resource 4.2

10

6

1

A B C D E F

Events in the story

A =

B =

C =

D =

E =

F =



Guided reading card: Setting

Resource 4.3

Setting (where the story is set)

1. Where is the story set? If there is more than one location, list all of them.

2. Draw a sketch to illustrate each setting from the story, using a separate sheet of paper for each setting.

3. Now annotate each of your drawings as follows:

a) Underneath or around each picture, write quotations from the story to support your interpretation.

b) On each piece of paper, include notes about the importance of the setting. Consider what the author was trying to create when they wrote the story.

c) Does the setting represent anything? A symbol is anything that stands for or represents something else, usually an idea associated with it, for example the colour red can be used to symbolise danger.

d) How does the setting contribute towards the atmosphere of the story?

50



Guided reading card: Characters

Resource 4.4

Characters (the people in the story)

You could create a mind map or spider diagram and add to it as you go through the questions below.

1. Who are the characters in the story? (If they do not have a name, give them one that describes their appearance or behaviour, e.g. ‘the bald man’.) Draw a picture showing how you imagine they look, based either on the text or on your own interpretation. Use one sheet of paper for each character, as you will be cutting it out and adding it to your mind map later.

2. Around each picture, write five adjectives to describe that person.

3. For each of the main characters, choose at least one quotation from the story. This might be to describe their physical appearance or something that they do in the story. Write your quotation(s) next to your picture.

4. Explain the purpose of each of the characters in the story. Consider what their role is and how they are linked to the other characters.

5. Does any of the characters create tension or suspense? If so, how?

If there is more than one main character, you can split up the timeline,

where one character has the marks above the line and a second character has the marks below the line.



Guided reading card: Atmosphere

Atmosphere (a feeling or mood created by the surroundings)

1. Draw a timeline (the scale does not have to be accurate, but the order of events does.)

2. What is the atmosphere at the start of the story?

3. Pick out moments in the story when the atmosphere changes. Chart them and explain what the change in atmosphere is (hint: it could be an increase in fear).

4. Underneath each moment, explain how the atmosphere has changed.

5. Underneath each moment, explain why the author changed the atmosphere at this point.

6. What does the atmosphere contribute towards the story?

Resource 4.5

52



Guided reading card: Language

Resource 4.6

Language (how the writer has used certain words and sentences)

1. How does the story open? What effect does this have on the creation of humour?

2. Select five interesting sentences and write them down. For each one, try to give reasons why you chose it.

3. Try to find an example of either a simile or a metaphor in the story. Why might the author have made this comparison?

4. Find five effective (good) short sentences. Write them down and say why the author might have used them.

5. Find examples of complex sentences (look for sentences that use commas). Write them down and say why the author might have used them.



Guided reading card: Moral, philosophical and social significance of a text: Message

Resource 4.7

Message

1. Why might this story have been written?

2. Does the opening give a strong opinion? What might that opinion be?

3. Why might the author have ended the story in this way?

4. What questions or issues might this story raise and why?

5. Consider the question opening: ‘But what if…?’ Create at least three questions of this kind and attempt to answer them.

54



Narrative structure and plot

Decide how the following moments are created in the story. You can make

your notes as a flow chart, table, bullet points etc.

Coda

Literally

‘the tail’:

how the

story

actually ends.

Exposition

How is the scene

set?

How are the

characters

introduced?

Complication

What happens to

complicate the lives of the characters?

Crisis

What is

the

decisive

moment?

How has it

been

reached?

Resource 4.8

Intensification

How are things

complicated for the

characters?

Towards

resolution

The story

moves

towards a

fitting

resolution.

What is it?

Resolution

The

‘problem’

of the story

is brought

to a

conclusion.



Narrative devices

Complete the table below.

Narrative devices Quotations and explanations from the story

Perspective: first, third

person? Give an

example

Background:

What information is

given? How is it

relevant?

Clues:

What information is the

reader given for the

creation of the plot?

Build-up of tension:

How is tension created?

Climax:

What is the main

moment of the story?

Twists:

Describe any

unexpected events

Resource 4.9

56






• all students will be able to: read the story and select quotations that are necessary for their guided reading card activities, which may include ‘Characters’ and ‘Setting’, to prepare a presentation to the group.

• most students will be able to: read the story and work independently through the guided reading cards, which may include ‘Atmosphere’ and ‘Genre’, to prepare a presentation to the group.

• some students will be able to: read the story and work independently through the guided reading cards, which may include: ‘Structure, ‘Language’ and ‘Message’.


Depending upon the Guided Reading card used:







Yr 7 and Yr 8 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 reading for meaning; understanding and responding to print

Yr 7 and Yr8 6.1, 6.3, 6.3 understanding the author’s craft

Resources:

4.1: Guided Reading cards: Genre

4.2: Guided Reading cards: Structure

4.3: Guided Reading cards: Setting

4.4: Guided Reading cards: Characters

4.5: Guided Reading cards: Atmosphere

4.6: Guided Reading cards: Language

4.7: Guided Reading cards: Message

4.8: Narrative structure and plot

4.9: Narrative devices

Materials for students to create visual aids for their presentations, e.g. blank OHTs, OHT pens, or large pieces of sugar paper and marker pens, or A3 paper and colouring pens.






Starter:

10 minutes

Remind students of the importance of using their notes to present their findings back to the class.

Work with a different group for each different activity. If students are struggling with all of the tasks, encourage them to work in pairs.

Students should work on activity 3 from their Guided Reading cards.

Introduction:

20 minutes


Development:

20 minutes


Plenary:

10 minutes

Students should ensure that each member of their group knows how they will be contributing to the presentations. These could start to take place during this lesson, if students are ready.

Homework / Extension As well as practising for their Speaking and Listening presentation, groups that are ready could work on Resource 4.8: Narrative structure and plot and Resource 4.9: Narrative devices while they are waiting for the other groups to finish.

Additional teaching guidance Students should have finished making notes in preparation for sharing their information with the class. However, this feedback session may need to take place in a third lesson.

humour - pearson schools

Documents