Hello everybody, and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Ms. Halliday and I will be teaching you today.

We're going to be looking today at how to transform your topic sentences into brilliant and creative ones that will really engage your reader and convey your message.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson is called Planning an Opinion Article.

And by the end of today's lesson, you will be able to write brilliant topic sentences that really convey your argument.

So let's have a look at how we do that.

Before we get started though, here are some key words that you will need in order to engage with today's lesson.

So first of all, we've got this word, escapism, which means when you seek distraction or relief from unpleasant or tiresome realities.

Now, somebody who might want to escape from somewhere is somebody who might live in a very conservative society, and a conservative society is one that is traditional or resistant to change.

Now these people who live in conservative society might turn to escapism so that they can live vicariously through other people.

And living vicariously means experiencing something through somebody else's lived experience.

So we're going to be talking a lot today about hyperbole, and that means to exaggerate something for effect and in order to make it more provocative.

Now, provocative means something that causes a strong reaction from people or incite some kind of debate.

Now these are all really important keywords as I mentioned.

So if you would like to take the time to pause the video and jot down some of those definitions, then please feel free to do just that now.

Here's today's lesson outline.

We're going to start by generating some ideas in response to a task, and then we're going to have a look at starting to create some really brilliant and engaging topic sentences, but let's start generating ideas first.

So I'd like you to discuss now, well, what is it that you like or enjoy about the Gothic genre? Now I'm going to invite you to pause the video, and you can either do this by discussing it with people around you or thinking about this independently if you prefer to work on your own.

So pause the video and have a think about that now.

Fantastic, and it is great to see that we're all on the same page with absolutely loving Gothic literature.

As I've said before, Gothic literature is my favourite kind of text to read, and therefore it's great to see so many of you loving Gothic genre as much as I do, which is brilliant.

So here are some suggestions of things that you might have said you enjoy, starting with Jun's suggestion of, he says that he really enjoys the anticipation he feels when he reads Gothic text.

"I love the thrill of not knowing what's going to happen next." And I have to agree with Jun there, because that's one of the reasons that I love Gothic text, and it's because of the sense of thrill and the adrenaline that I get when I read those texts.

Sofia adds, "well, I love the fact that Gothic literature explores the darker side to humanity.

I like seeing different writers' interpretations of what that means, so what the darker side of humanity is." And again, another reason that I also agree with Sofia is because I'm really interested in psychology and actually Gothic literature often looks or examines at the darker side of the human mind, which really links to psychology.

So I think Gothic literature is also really interesting because it kind of examines human behaviour and it raises questions about why human beings behave in dark or evil ways.

Is darkness something that resides within human beings? Is it something that's learned? So I find Gothic literature really interesting for that reason as well.

So thank you to Sofia.

So as Sam points out, they say, "I'm with you, Sofia.

I think we can learn really important messages about ourselves from Gothic literature." So there's Sam again, kind of touching on this idea of Gothic literature, exploring human behaviour and human experience, but more so the darker side of human behaviour and human experience there.

So thank you to our fantastic Oak pupils for their brilliant suggestions as to things that they really enjoy about the Gothic genre.

And I equally heard many of you say very similar things.

So well done a great start to the lesson.

So a student's parent made the following complaint to school, "I do not believe there is any place for Gothic literature in the classroom.

It is gruesome, gory, and students learn nothing valuable from it.

Take it out of lessons immediately.

Now, what I'd like you to do is discuss what your initial response to this statement is.

What are your opinions about this topic of Gothic literature and the fact that it is studied in classrooms? So again, I would love you to do this in small groups if you possibly can.

'cause I think it's really useful to share ideas and perspectives, and you know, bounce some suggestions off one another.

However, if you are not able to do that today, for whatever reason, do not worry, you can absolutely still participate in this kind of mini activity, you will just consider your ideas independently, and you can jot them down if you want to, or you can just think about them in your head.

So I'd like you to think about your initial responses to that statement and the parent's request, and I'd like you to just take a moment to pause the video while you gather your ideas and your response together.

So off you go, Fantastic discussions, and some very, very passionate people there who are saying, "You know what, I really don't agree with that statement.

'cause I think Gothic literature's really valuable," which is fantastic and really lovely to see, because as I've said, I am Gothic literature's number one fan, and as an English teacher, I think it's really, really valuable and useful for students to study Gothic literature, and equally, I really enjoy teaching it.

So I'm a little bit biassed there.

However, obviously everybody's opinion is completely valid, and for the purposes of today's lesson, we are going to argue that Gothic literature is really valuable and useful.

So thank you to those people that raised that opinion.

It's great to hear that you see the value in Gothic literature, and that you've enjoyed studying it.

So today you are going to be working towards writing an opinion piece where you argue that Gothic literature deserves to keep its place in the English classroom.

So as I said, yes, you know, some people may think that it doesn't deserve to be in the English classroom, and that it's not useful, that's absolutely fine because that is your opinion, and you are perfectly entitled to that.

But as I said, for the purposes of today's lesson, we are going to argue that actually Gothic literature is really valuable, and that it deserves to keep its place in the English classroom.

So you will need to justify your opinions with examples of why Gothic literature is valuable, and give examples of Gothic texts that you have read that have taught you something important that you maybe think all students need to learn.

So I'd like you to discuss that idea now in a little bit more detail.

And I'd like you to think, well, what important lessons do we actually learn from the following Gothic texts? So think about "Frankenstein" by Mary Shelley and what we learn from that text, thinking about "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte, and what we learned from that text.

And finally, "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allan Poe, and what we learned from that text about ourselves, about humanity, about human behaviour.

So again, I'm going to invite you to pause the video, it would be great if you could discuss this.

However, don't worry if you can't, you know, don't worry at all, you can just jot your ideas down or think about 'em in your head.

So pause the video while you have a good thinking about exactly what it is that we learn from these Gothic texts, and why they are so valuable and useful in the English classroom.

So pause the video and off you go.

I can't wait to hear what you come up with.

Fantastic, and again, oh, it just warms my heart to see how many of you enjoyed these texts and how many useful life lessons you took from them.

So thank you so much for sharing what you loved about these texts with each other.

It was great to hear your kind of opinions and your perceptions of these texts.

Brilliant, brilliant work.

So now we are going to turn to some of our brilliant Oak pupils and hear what their opinions about what we learn from these texts are.

Starting with Jun, who says, "Well, we learn the importance of treating others with kindness, respect, and empathy from 'Frankenstein.

' The novel illustrates the disastrous consequences of discrimination." Now, again, I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again, "Frankenstein" is probably my favourite book ever, just because I think it teaches such important life lessons about, you know, not being prejudiced, treating people equally, and just being kind, which in my eyes is the most important thing a person can be.

So I really see the value, particularly of the novel, "Frankenstein," and it's great to see that Jun appreciates that too.

Secondly, we are hearing from Sofia who likes "Jane Eyre," and she says, "Well, in 'Jane Eyre, we learn that there is always hope.

We make our own destinies through the decisions that we make, and we also learn that the past doesn't define us," and again, I think that's a really valuable lesson, because when there's always hope, there's always a future, because there's always something to aspire to, you know, anything negative, any challenge or adversity that we face in our lives, you know, we can always have hope, and I think again, that's a really touching and important lesson for students to be learning.

And finally, as Sam points out, "in 'The Tell-Tale Heart,' we learn about the consequences of guilt.

We learn that it is inescapable.

So we've got to think very carefully about the consequences of our actions." And again, I think that that links really nicely to the idea of morality, and all of these messages and lessons that we learn from Gothic text basically teach us the right from wrong, and I think that that is what Gothic literature achieves so well.

I think it's really, really important in teaching us morality and the consequences of a lack of morality.

So thank you very much to our Oak students for their suggestions, I think that these were really valuable lessons that we've learned from these Gothic texts, and equally, I know that many of you had different ideas and also some similar ones, and equally, it was so lovely to hear all of your personal responses to these texts as well.

So thank you very much for your suggestions and your contributions in this discussion task, brilliant work.

So I'd like you to discuss now, well, we know that the Gothic genre was really popularised in the Victorian era, and I'd like to think about why that was.

Why do you think that the Victorians liked Gothic literature so much? And why do you think that we, as 21st century readers, all this time later still really enjoy a good old Gothic text? What is it about Gothic literature that makes it universally popular? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while again you discuss these questions, ideally with the people around you, but no worries if you're working on your own, you can just think about it independently.

So pause the video, and have a think about those questions now.

again, some fantastic suggestions there.

Now, well done to those people that identified that actually the Victorians really liked Gothic literature so much, because they lived in a very conservative society.

So remember, it's very traditional, it's quite resistant to change in some aspects.

So actually Gothic literature gave them some form of escapism from that society.

Reading Gothic literature gave the Victorians a real thrill.

They didn't have amusement parks, so Gothic literature would've got their hearts really racing.

And actually reading Gothic literature is still an incredibly thrilling experience.

As I said earlier in the lesson, that is one of the key reasons as to why I personally love Gothic literature, because it really gets my adrenaline going.

21st century readers perhaps enjoy the psychological aspect to Gothic literature.

And again, that was one of the reasons that I gave you earlier as to why I like Gothic literature so much, because I am deeply interested in psychology and Gothic literature looks at the darker side to human behaviour.

So really well done if any of those ideas came up in your discussions.

I'm really impressed with your insight there.

And now another discussion, which is brilliant, because today's lesson is all about discussion, it's all about sharing ideas, particularly in our first section of the lesson where we are looking to generate ideas, and the best way to generate ideas is through discussion.

So I'm not gonna apologise for giving you another discussion task because they are super, super useful.

So I would now like you to discuss, well, how might studying Gothic literature affect your own writing and abilities in English? So how does it help you to do better in English, basically is what I'm asking.

So again, if you can discuss this, please do.

If you can't, don't worry at all, just have a go at it in any way that you can.

So thinking independently or jotting ideas down.

So pause the video while you have a think about that question now.

Fantastic, and again, really lovely to hear how much you found Gothic literature beneficial to your own writing.

Because actually Gothic writers are some of the most talented at descriptions, as we've seen.

From Gothic writers, we learn how to create really mysterious and ominous atmospheres, dark and daunting settings, and also how to create vivid and provocative characters.

Okay, and that word, provocative, obviously remember from the beginning of the lesson is one of our key words that means to kind of create debate.

So I would like to check your understanding of what provocative means as it is a very important word for today's lesson.

So I would like you to tell me now, which of the following is the correct explanation of what provocative means in this context specifically.

Is it A, something that forces to people to debate? Is it B, something that makes people excited? Is it C, something that makes people angry? Or is it D, something that motivates people? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you make your answer selection.

And fantastic if you selected A.

In this context, these Gothic protagonists are quite provocative, because they cause people to debate them.

And I'd like to think about why that is now.

So why might Gothic characters be quite provocative? Why might they spark debate? Is it A, because the characters are usually quite isolated or egotistical, which makes them provocative? Is it B, that the lines between good and evil are often blurred, which creates debate? Or is it C, that Gothic characters are always dislikable characters, which gives readers strong reactions to them? So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you consider which of the following reasons might be the explanation as to why Gothic characters are so provocative.

So pause the video and make your answer selection.

And a massive well done, if you correctly identified it is in fact, B.

We know that the continuous blurring of good and evil is a convention of Gothic literature, and that is in fact, what makes these characters so provocative, because often we can't put them into the category of good or evil, 'cause they often exhibit characteristics of both, okay? If we take Victor Frankenstein as an example, you know, Victor Frankenstein does something absolutely terrible by creating the Creature, and you know, blurring the lines of morality, and in fact nature.

But he then tries to undo all of his evil or wicked actions by destroying the second Creature, which in itself was quite a nasty thing to do, which was evil, because he upset the Creature.

So as we can see, lots of these Gothic protagonists particularly do with things that we would consider both good but also evil.

So therefore they're provocative because we can debate whether or not we think that they are right or wrong or good or evil.

Okay, so that's why they are so provocative.

So onto our first task of the lesson now.

Based on all of the discussions that we've had this lesson, if you could give three, and I'm gonna be really harsh here and only say three, like you're not allowed to give any more than three reasons as to why Gothic literature should continue to be allowed to be studied in schools.

What would your three reasons be? So if you were to take every single idea that we've discussed from today's lesson and boil it down to just three pure reasons as to why Gothic literature needs to be kept in lessons, what would those three reasons be? And I'd like you to write your reasons in full sentences.

So here's an example.

"Gothic literature helps to teach students right from wrong." And if it helps you, feel free to start each of your sentences with the words, Gothic literature, okay? You don't need to worry about repeating that.

It's really important that these reasons are written in full sentences.

So if that helps you to write the sentences, please use that and take it, okay? It's absolutely fine.

So I would like to pause the video now while you reduce all of the discussions we've had this lesson into just three reasons as to why Gothic literature should be allowed to continue being studied in lessons.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic work.

Really well done, and great to see all of those full sentences.

Great to see so many of you using capital letters at the beginning of them, and full stops at the end of them.

Great spelling, punctuation, and grammar there.

So what we're gonna do with those reasons now is we're going to rank them in order of importance with one being the most important and three being the least important, okay? So what I'm going to do now is invite you to pause the video for a few moments while you rank your reasons.

You can just put one, two, and three next to them, okay, to make it quicker.

So pause the video and rank your reasons.

Off you go.

Brilliant, now that you've ranked those reasons, I'd like you to use that as part of a discussion that we're going to have.

So first of all, I would like you to explain your reasons, and the order that they are in to a partner, where possible I would like you to try and give really specific examples from Gothic texts you have read, such as this.

"Gothic literature helps to teach students right from wrong.

This is taught to us in 'Frankenstein' as we watch Victor treat the Creature very immorally, which then makes the Creature into the monster he appears to be on the outside.

This is my most important reason, because there is nothing more important than to understand right from wrong." So that's an example of the kind of discussion that you might have.

Now, again, if you don't have a discussion partner, that is absolutely fine.

You can just formalise your ideas in in a little paragraph, like the one on screen, or you can just bulletpoint some ideas down.

or think independently if you don't have paper in front of you, no worries.

So I'd like you now to pause the video while you have a go at explaining your reasons and thinking about specific examples from Gothic text that you could use to reinforce your reasons.

So pause the video and off you go.

Brilliant work, and it's great to see so many of you using the Gothic text that you've read to inform and evidence your opinions, well done.

So on to the second part of our lesson now where we're going to have a look at how to create really brilliant topic sentences.

So first of all, well, what is a topic sentence? And you are going to tell me, okay, so I'd like you to tell me what a topic sentence actually is.

So pause the video and off you go at explaining to somebody else and me what a topic sentence is.

And well done because I think everybody there was able to remember that a topic sentence introduces the main idea in your paragraph, it introduces a new reason for your opinion whilst also reinforcing your overall argument.

So really well done if you remembered that.

Now in the task you have just completed where I asked you to write three reasons, and then rank them, you've basically sneakily and slyly just come up with three topic sentences, okay? It wasn't that hard, was it, okay? A topic sentence is just really a reason for your opinion, okay? It is how you introduce the main ideas that you are going to be arguing.

So now we've got basic topic sentences ready to go.

We just need to make them more engaging.

So let's have a look at how to do that now.

So let's work through the process of transforming a topic sentence together.

So here was our original topic sentence.

Gothic literature helps to teach students right from wrong.

Okay, it's a great idea, is it the most engaging sentence in the world? No, okay? So we are going to make it into the most engaging sentence in the world now through the following steps.

So here is a much better version of the same topic sentence.

"Gothic literature is the easiest form of parenting, Mom, Dad, it does the work for you.

No more grounding, scolding, and confiscating.

I've learned vicariously through Frankenstein's mistakes." So as I'm sure you can appreciate a much more engaging and creative topic sentence.

So what I'd like to discuss now is, well, what has actually been added here that makes this topic sentence more engaging? So pause the video while you discuss that, again, either with the people around you or just think about it independently, if you are working on your own, off you go.

Fantastic discussions.

So let's have a look at what makes this really engaging.

So first of all, hyperbole has been used, and if you remember that is kind of that exaggeration.

So we've really exaggerated here and it's very persuasive, you know, we've said it's the easiest form of parenting.

Obviously that's not true, which is why it's an exaggeration.

We've also added in some direct address, okay? And that's the word, you, okay? Where we're talking directly to our reader or audience, okay? So we've said Mom, Dad, we're addressing them, it does the work for you, okay? So here, direct address has been added to engage an imagined reader, okay? We are imagining who might be reading this, who might be interested in this topic, "Oh, parents." So we're going to write this as if we're speaking directly to the parents, try and convince them that Gothic literature is super important in the classroom.

And finally, we've added in this really strong sense of voice through the use of humour.

This is so clearly a child that has written this, because they've said, "No more grounding, scolding, and confiscating." Okay, this is clearly something that causes friction in their household.

So they're saying, "You know what, mom and dad, I don't need any more of this.

If you just give me some Gothic literature, we won't have any more arguments.

You won't have to punish me anymore, because I will be learning vicariously through Frankenstein's mistakes.

Okay, so it's really clever the way that this has been done here.

So just to conclude, we've added in that hyperbole, we've added in some direct address, and we've added in that really strong sense of voice through using humour.

So well done if you got that in your discussions.

Brilliant work.

So what we're going to do now is have a go at doing an example together and transforming a very basic topic sentence into something much more creative and engaging.

So here's our basic topic sentence, "Reading Gothic literature improves our own creative writing." True but boring.

Okay, let's make it better.

So now we're going to completely rejig this, and we're gonna add in some rhetorical devices.

We're gonna add in some humour if it's appropriate, 'cause it isn't always, you need to decide that yourself, and that really strong sense of voice.

So here we have now, we've kind of zhuzhed it all up, we've made it more exciting, and we've got reading the work of a creative genius transforms you into one.

So again, we've got that kind of humour there, and where we're comparing ourselves to a creative genius, and it works really nicely to create that strong sense of voice.

So if you look and compare the two topic sentences, they're both basically saying the same thing, that Gothic literature makes you a better writer, but one is saying it in a much more humorous and engaging way.

So there's a good example of how you can take a really quite simple topic sentence, and transform it into something fabulous.

So now you are going to do just that.

You are going to transform this basic topic sentence into something absolutely fabulous, really engaging, and much more creative.

So here it is, "Gothic literature is exciting to read." Well that topic sentence isn't very exciting to read, is it? You are going to make it exciting to read by perhaps adding in some rhetorical devices.

So maybe some direct address, some humour if it's appropriate, I think it is in this context, or a strong sense of voice.

So what I'm going to do now is invite you to pause the video while you have a go at waving your magic wand, and transforming this into a much better topic sentence, using the advice above.

I'm really excited to see what you come up with.

I can't wait to hear some of your suggestions.

So off you go, get started, and transform those topic sentences.

Fantastic work, really well done.

Here's what you might have come up with.

Studying Gothic literature will save you money.

No more footing the bill for my chills and thrills at the theme park.

Okay, so what makes this successful is that rhyme.

We've got bill, chills, thrills.

Okay? So it kind of, it almost rolls off the tongue, it makes it quite humorous, and also that direct stress, it will save you money.

Again, we're talking to an imagined reader, which is the parents here, okay? So it's really a much more engaging and creative topic sentence there, and I'm sure you got something different.

I doubt we all got the same sentence, but I'm sure that yours is brilliant as long as you've added in one of the three things in the bullet points there to create that more engaging topic sentence.

So really well done there.

What you're gonna do now is take your three reasons from the previous task and transform them into fantastic creative and really brilliant topic sentences that support your viewpoint.

That Gothic literature is a valuable genre of text to study in English.

So remember that you can add rhetorical devices, so things like direct address, rhetorical questions, triples, all that jazz, you may add in.

You can also add in some humour if it's appropriate.

That's up to you to decide.

And finally, you can add in that really strong sense of voice, you know, maybe through humour, or just through imagining who you're speaking to.

So remember, here's our earlier example to help you where we transformed our very basic topic sentence into one that's much more exciting and fun.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you have a go at, you know, using all of your expertise in persuasive writing to really make these topic sentences impactful, engaging, and fabulous.

So pause the video, and off you go.

Brilliant work, it's great to see how much effort you've all put into that task, and the massive improvements between the first version of your topic sentence versus the second, much more creative, much more brilliant topic sentences, so really well done, big pat on the back for you guys today.

So to reflect on how successful our topic sentences have been, we are going to annotate them with how we have managed to improve them, just like we did earlier.

So what I have done is I've put the example that we annotated earlier on screen for you to show you kind of what kind of things you might wanna pick out of your response, and I want you to basically signpost me to what you have improved about your topic sentence, what have you added in to make it more creative, to make it more engaging.

So I'm going to invite you now to pause the video while you annotate your improved topic sentences with what you've added to improve it.

So pause the video and off you go.

Fantastic, and I'm seeing some really, really detailed annotations, which tells me that you've actually thought really carefully about what to add in, and that you've tried to improve everything possible.

So really well done, brilliant work from you today.

So to summarise the learning from today, well when planning an opinion article, the message needs to be really consistent, because your opinion is your message.

You should identify between three and four reasons or examples that support your opinion.

You can use topic sentences to help you maintain a cohesive and a convincing argument.

You should also aim to make your topic sentences as engaging as possible, because they're introducing each new section of your argument through them, and finally, rhetorical devices like direct address can be used to really elevate your topic sentences and make them more brilliant, fabulous, and engaging.

Thank you so much for coming to today's lesson and for all your contributions and effort in the tasks that we have undertaken together today.

I've been so, so impressed, and I massively look forward to seeing you next time.

Thank you and have a brilliant day.