Good morning.

My name is Ms. Halliday.

Thank you so much for joining me.

It's absolutely lovely to have you all back again for another lesson.

Today I'll be your teacher and I can't wait to see all of the amazing responses that you produce in today's lesson.

So let's get started.

So today's lesson is called Writing About Stave 2.

We'll be looking at Stave 2 and drawing all of the knowledge that we've learned so far into one fantastic essay response.

So by the end of today's lesson, you will have written a convincing analytical response.

But first, here are some key words that you'll need for today's lesson.

So we've got context, impact, to integrate, and analytical.

Here are the definitions of these keywords.

If you'd like to spend a little longer reading them, then feel free to pause the video and do so at your own pace.

So here's the structure of today's lesson.

We're going to begin by looking at context and how to use it really meaningfully in our responses.

We're then going to introduce the question and plan our response to it before writing it up as the last section of our lesson.

So let's get started with using context meaningfully.

So context is the circumstances in which a text was produced.

Now, this can include information about the writer and the life that they led, the time period that the text was written in, the writer's sociopolitical beliefs, any intertextuality, so any references to other texts that are similar or were produced around the same time or that the writer might have been inspired by, and any other relevant background information that relates to illusions the writer has made.

So what I'd like you to do now is I'd like you to read these students' conversation.

And then after you've read, I'd like you to discuss, well, how are they using context in their arguments? So here's the conversation.

So Jun says, "I think that Dickens shows us Scrooge as a lonely boy to illustrate the impact childhood has on adulthood, as Scrooge becomes resentful." And Lucas replies, "Yes, Dickens presents Scrooge as a very isolated and neglected child who spent a lot of time on his own.

It may be that young Scrooge felt abandoned, so decided to shun society in response." And Jun replies, "True.

It's clear that Scrooge became used to being on his own in his early childhood and that this led him to live an isolated and ignorant life as an adult.

And Lucas says, "Yes, true.

But did you know that Dickens was born in 1812?" And Jun says, "No.

I didn't know that, actually, Lucas, but what does it have to do with Scrooge's childhood?" And then Lucas says, "Well, it's just that I knew that fact, and we were talking about Scrooge's childhood, so I thought I should mention what I know about Charles Dickens." So what I'd like you to do now is pause the video and discuss how are these students using context in their arguments.

So I'm gonna invite to pause the video while you have those discussions.

Some fantastic discussions, and well done if you identified that, actually, in this conversation, Lucas does not use context meaningfully at all.

Okay, what he does is he hears a conversation and he thinks, "What do I know about Charles Dickens? Oh, I know he was born in 1812, so I'm going to bring that up," even though it bears little relevance to the actual topic of the conversation, which was about Scrooge's childhood.

Because, actually, the fact that Scrooge was presented as a lonely child has absolutely nothing to do with the year that Dickens was born in.

So that's the error that Lucas made during this conversation when he was using context.

It wasn't relevant and therefore it wasn't used meaningfully.

So this feedback was then given to Lucas.

We told him that his context needs to be relevant, and that it needs to be used meaningfully, and the students attempted the conversation again.

So let's read their conversation again and see if they've done any better.

So Jun says, "I think that Dickens shows Scrooge as a lonely boy to illustrate the impact childhood has on adulthood, as Scrooge becomes resentful." Lucas replies, "Yes.

Dickens presents Scrooge as a very isolated and neglected child who spent a lot of time on his own.

It may be that young Scrooge felt abandoned, so decided to shun society in response." Jun replies, True.

We also know that Dickens himself was very interested in the impact of early childhood on an adult's outlook and their contributions to society." And Lucas here replies, "Oh, yes.

He thought that people who faced injustice in childhood would grow up to become resentful adults, didn't he? So he must be showing us Scrooge's isolation as a child to show us the consequences of his neglect." And Jun replies, "Exactly.

We know from his speech and pamphlet that he felt that society was neglecting the poor and treating them unjustly, so perhaps he's showing us the consequences of societal neglect through Scrooge's experience." And Lucas replies, "And we know he wanted to change the middle to upper classes' attitudes towards the poor, so he's shown us the impact of injustice upon individuals to illustrate how important it is to be kind and empathetic towards others." So what I'd like you to do now is pause the video and discuss, well, what do you notice about how the students use context this time and how is it different from their conversation last time? So pause the video while you share your thoughts with someone else.

Fantastic work and well done to those of you that I heard talking about how the context here is much more closely linked to Dickens' experiences of poverty and isolation in his own childhood himself.

Okay, and then it's really clearly tied back to Dickens' message.

So Lucas, in this conversation, says, "You know what, the reason that Dickens might have shown us Scrooge as a young boy is because he himself faced a difficult upbringing." And then Jun builds on this and talks about the fact that we know Dickens campaigned for the rights of the poor.

And then both students synthesise their ideas together and conclude that, actually, in showing us young Scrooge's experiences, Dickens is showing us the harm that can be done in childhood through neglect and isolation.

So the context is used much more meaningfully in this conversation than the last.

So what we've hopefully learned from these interactions is that context needs to be used as evidence for your argument.

Okay, it's there to support what you are saying.

It's not there as a bolt-on.

It should not just be thrown in at the end or attached because you think it makes you sound clever.

No, it needs to be integrated and threaded through your argument.

Now, to explore context and to integrate it effectively, you can use a cause and effect framework, and I'm going to show you an example of what that looks like.

So here it is.

for example, you might say, we know that Dickens grew up in poverty and faced great injustice at the hands of the government's attitude towards the poor.

So he may have created the character of Scrooge to illustrate the immorality and cruelty of willfully ignoring other's suffering and being uncharitable.

Now, in terms of how that fits into our cause and effect framework, you'll notice here that this statement here, we know that Dickens grew up in poverty and faced great injustice.

That is the cause of Dickens' attitudes.

That's the reason as to why he feels so strongly about the rights of the poor.

You then link your cause and effect together using a discourse marker like so, or thus, or therefore, or consequently.

So here we've gone for so, so we've got, "We know that Dickens grew up in poverty and face great injustice at the hands of the government's attitude towards the poor," which our cause, "so," we're about to show effect, and here's our effect, "he may have created the character of Scrooge to illustrate the immorality and cruelty of willfully ignoring other suffering and being uncharitable." And here is the effect of the cause.

Okay, so here's the effect of Dickens' experiences in childhood and how it impacts upon the text.

Okay, so that is our cause and effect framework that's really useful when talking about context and how it links to the text.

So here is a student's analytical paragraph, and we're going to look at how they use context as a bit of a check for understanding.

So here's our paragraph.

During his visit, Marley's ghost informs Scrooge that he wears the chains he forged in life.

Here, the heavy chain of cash-boxes, ledgers, and lock boxes that he now carries symbolise the heavy burden of his punishment for his avarice and indifference in his past life.

Dickens' use of the verb forge implies craftsmanship, as if Marley intentionally laboured on the chain when alive.

This illustrates his intentional and willful ignorance to the suffering of others.

In this way, Marley's ghost serves as both a cautionary warning figure and a harbinger of hope, who urges Scrooge and readers alike to reevaluate their behaviour and make more socially responsible choices.

Charles Dickens had a very difficult childhood as he was moved by his father's arrest to get a job in a local factory so that he could help support his family.

So there's our paragraph.

What I'd like you to do now is answer the question on the following slide.

Which of these statements best describes how the student used context? Is it A, the student provides details about Dickens' life that influence his writing? However, in this instance, the context is not directly relevant to the argument being made.

The student has attached the context to the end of the paragraph without considering how to use it as evidence for their argument.

Or do you think that it's B? The student provides details about Dickens' life that would undoubtedly have influenced the writing of "A Christmas Carol." The student uses the context to support their argument and evidence Dickens' intentions and purpose in "A Writing Christmas Carol." This is a good example of how context should be used.

So I'm going invite you to pause the video now while you consider which of the two responses you think best describes how the student used context on the previous slide.

And well done if you identified that, in fact, the answer was A.

Okay.

Yes, the student provided details about Dickens that influence his writing, but those details were not relevant to the point that was being made about Marley's ghost.

Okay, the student was arguing that Marley's ghost is a harbinger of hope for the reader and a warning against avarice and greed in life, and then the student just decided to randomly discuss the fact that Dickens had to get a job at 12 to support his family.

Now, those two things do not show cause and effect, okay? Dickens did not create Marley's ghost because he had to get a job at 12.

There would be much more relevant pieces of information about Charles Dickens' childhood and early life that would really support our argument and enhance it, and make it more convincing than this idea of him getting a job at 12.

So well done if you identified that the context used in the previous slide was in fact not relevant and therefore not meaningful.

So here's the paragraph again.

I'm not going to read it to you because this time I would like you to discuss, well, what do you know about Dickens' life or perspectives that could support the idea that Marley's Ghost warns people about the consequences of greed and encourages them to be more socially responsible? So I'd like you to discuss that with the people around you.

What context do you think you could have used here that would've been better placed to support your argument? So pause the video while you have those discussions now.

Some great discussions there.

We're not going to feed back on them just yet because, actually, what I'd like you to do next is I'd like you to add that context into the paragraph that you've just read.

So I'd like you to use the paragraph you've just read and use the discussions that you've just participated in to add meaningful context into the student's paragraph.

So you are basically fixing their paragraph for them.

Whilst you're doing this, you need to remember that context needs to be relevant.

It should support your argument and be used as part of your evidence.

It needs to be integrated into your argument.

And in order to do that, you can use that cause and effect framework to introduce and discuss context.

So here's an example of how you might do it.

You might say, "We know that Dickens da da da da da, so da da da da da." Okay, so what I'd like you to do now is, using the discussion you just had, pause the video and add meaningful and relevant context into the student's paragraph.

So off you go.

Fantastic work.

And I can see many, much better paragraphs.

You have really improved that student work, so well done.

So here's what you could have added in.

Again, I'm not going to read the start of the paragraph.

I've already read it a few times.

I'm just going to read the bit of context that you might have chosen to add.

So you could have added in that we know that Dickens experienced hardship due to poverty as a child, with his father being sent to debtors prison when he was just 12 because of the discriminatory attitudes towards poverty that pervaded Victorian society.

He therefore, so this is the effect, may have made Marley's ghost a cautionary warning figure and a harbinger of hope to urge his wealthy readers to reevaluate their behaviour and make more socially responsible choices.

So here I'm hoping you can see that really clear cause, so Dickens experiencing hardship.

With the discourse marker, he therefore may, and then we have the effects there.

So well done if you've got anything that resembled that.

So now let's have a look at planning a response.

So just a reminder as to what an essay actually looks like, we have that thesis statement, which is our overarching evaluative argument that is focused on Dickens' purpose.

We then have our topic sentences where we outline arguments of each paragraph and we introduce key question vocabulary.

Within this, we also look at key language, form, structure, and also contextual detail because all of this forms part of your evidence for your argument.

In our closing sentences, we are summarising the arguments in each paragraph with a really sharp focus on the writer's purpose.

And finally, our essay should end with a conclusion, which is basically just a conclusive summary of the author's message.

So that is a general and very brief run through of roughly how you would structure your whole response.

So let's check for understanding before we move on.

What I'd like you to do now is match the section of the response to its function.

So I'm gonna invite you to pause the video while you read the options and decide which matches up with which part of the response.

So pause the video and have a go at that matchup now.

Well done for participating and let's mark your answers.

So we know the thesis statement should outline your overarching argument, keep a sharp focus on the question and author's intention.

That topic sentence needs to outline the main argument for the paragraph and include key vocabulary from the question.

The closing sentence should summarise the argument you've made in your paragraph and draw back to the author's intention or purpose.

And finally, we know that the conclusion should summarise the overarching argument again and express a clear thought on the writer's message.

So well done if you've got those right.

So here is your essay question that you'll be planning on writing today.

Starting with the following extract, how does Dickens present the Ghost of Christmas Past in the novella? And here's the extract I'm going to read to you now.

"A small matter," said the ghost, "to make these silly folks so full of gratitude." "Small," echoed Scrooge.

The Spirit signed to him to listen to the two apprentices, who were pouring out their hearts in praise of Fezziwig.

And when he had done so, said, "Why? Is it not? He has spent but a few pounds of your mortal money, three or four perhaps.

Is that so much that he deserves this praise?" "It isn't that," said Scrooge, heated by the remark, and speaking unconsciously like his former, not his latter self.

"It isn't that, Spirit.

He has the power to render us happy or unhappy to make our service light or burdensome, a pleasure or a toil.

Say that his power lies in words and looks, in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count him up.

What then? the happiness he gives is quite as great as if it cost a fortune." He felt the Spirit's glance and stopped.

"What is the matter?" asked the ghost? "Nothing particular," said Scrooge.

"Something, I think," the Ghost insisted.

"No," said Scrooge.

"No.

I should just like to be able to say a word or two to my clerk just now.

That's all." So now that we've read the extract together, we've got some really important questions to ask ourselves.

So we need to ask, what are the important moments in this extract? How does the extract link to other parts of the novella? And finally, what is the purpose of the ghost? So I'd like you to pause the video while you use the extract to answer those questions now.

Some fantastic discussions there and well done.

Keep those ideas with you because you'll need them for the next task in the lesson.

So what I'd like you to do now is plan your response using the planning grid.

Remember that the question you're being asked is basically, how does Dickens present the Ghost of Christmas Past in the novella? So you're using the extracts and the ideas that you discussed with the people around you to plan and populate this grid.

Pause the video while you populate the grid and gather your ideas together so that you can then answer the question.

And well done.

I can see some very, very full plans there, so well done, lots of effort gone into them, and you've really put yourselves in a strong position to go in write now.

So excellent work.

Before we go in, it's important to reflect.

So I'd like you to undertake some self-assessment on your plan.

So here are some coaching questions that will allow you to assess and improve the quality of your plan.

So I'd like you to look back over your plan and ask yourself, do you have an interesting thesis and does it focus on Dickens' intentions? Does one of your topic sentences indicate that you are going to discuss the given extract? Do both of your topic sentences support your overall thesis statement? Because, remember, each one of those paragraphs needs to support your overarching argument, which is outlined in your thesis statement.

Do you use a range of supporting detail from a variety of scenes? Is context part of your supporting detail? Because, remember, it needs to be integrated into your argument.

And do your closing sentences link back to the question? And finally, is your conclusion focused on Dickens' message? So I'm gonna invite you to pause the video now while you undertake that self-assessment and improve your plans in any way that you can.

Fantastic work.

I can see lots of additions to those plans.

So let's move on.

So onto the final part of the lesson where you're going to demonstrate everything that you've learned today and write your response.

So first of all, what we're looking for is we're not just looking for a surface level understanding.

We're looking for a really deeper analysis of this text.

So in order to do that, you need to present us with a nuanced understanding and a critical point of view.

Okay, yes, you need a clear argument that you stick to, but actually you need a really evaluative or critical thesis statement to hang your argument on.

So you don't just want a basic thesis statement, you want a very evaluative one.

Yes, we are looking to check your understanding of the plot, and the characters, and the writer's purpose, but, actually, in order to illustrate that you've got a really deep understanding of the text, we're looking for that really razor sharp focus on the writer's central message and how the plot and character supports this.

We're also looking to see that understanding of the conventional interpretations of the text, but also we're interested in hearing your interpretation of the text.

So what do you think Dickens was doing? What is your perception of Scrooge as a character or the Ghost of Christmas Past and what he represents? And centre your arguments around your own opinions.

It's okay to give your own perspective.

We actually want you to.

Again, yes, we are looking to use subject terminology to identify the writer's use of language, but we should only be selecting terminology that enhances our argument.

I'm not looking to method spot.

Okay, terminology needs to be used meaningfully.

Yes, a good essay comments on form and structure as well as language, but actually what we're looking to do is interweave analysis of all three into our essay.

So we're looking to cover all three, language, form, and structure.

Your comments should focus on the effect of the language, form and structure, but actually the really deep response and the really nuanced response here would mean that all of the comments would be really linked tightly to the overarching thesis statement.

So every single point that you made needs to go back to the thesis statement and you need to explain how it links to your overarching argument.

And then finally, really importantly, we are looking to use context, absolutely, and that context needs to be appropriate and relevant, but it should not be bolted on.

You should be really selective with your use of context.

What context here is going to enhance and support my argument? It's not just a case of what do I know about Charles Dickens.

It's what do I know about Charles Dickens that will really support and evidence my viewpoint.

So let's check your understanding of what we are looking for.

I'd like you to select two criteria that you would expect to see in a response that contained deeper analysis of the text.

Okay.

So I'm gonna invite you to pause the video while you read the responses and decide which you would expect to see in a response that contained deeper analysis.

And well done if you identified that the answers were in fact A and C.

We would actually expect to see all of these in a decent response.

However, for a deeper response and a deeper analysis of the text, the use of context does need to be highly selective.

It's not just any old context that is relevant.

It's, well, what's going to really enhance my argument here.

Okay, so well done if you've got that right.

And onto the final task of today's lesson, and what every single activity we've done today has been leading up to.

So here's your chance to really demonstrate how much you've learned.

You are now going to use your plan to write your response to the essay question, which, if you remember, was starting with the following extract, how does Dickens present the Ghost of Christmas Past in the novella? Remember that you should be including an introduction with an interesting thesis statement that outlines your overall argument.

You need at least two analytical paragraphs which have clear topic sentences.

Now, if you're feeling really ambitious or you know that you're a quick writer, I would definitely be looking for more than two, but we're looking for two minimum.

We're looking for judicious use of embedded quotes.

So have you picked the best quotes possible, not just appropriate ones, but useful and interesting quotes? Have you analyse language, form, and structure and focus it tightly on your argument? So you need to make sure that every single point you make goes back to your overarching thesis statement.

And finally, if you remember back to learning cycle one, we are really looking to integrate context with a sharp focus on Dickens' purpose, and remember that you can do that using that cause and effect framework that we looked at in learning cycle one.

And finally, we need this conclusion, and we need to summarise Dickens' message succinctly and concisely and link back to that thesis statement that we outlined in the first section of our response.

So what I'm gonna encourage you to do now is pause the video while you go and write up your response.

Remember to use your plan and remember to use a success criteria on screen to help you to make the best response possible.

I'm really looking forward to reading some of these, so take your time and enjoy it.

You know "A Christmas Carol" really well, so show me how much you understand it.

Some fantastic work there, and I could see that everybody had written at least two analytical paragraphs, so really well done.

And I could see some of you using that cause and effect framework for the context really effectively, so excellent work.

We're going to undertake some self-assessment now to assess how well we've completed this task.

So I'd like you to reread your work, and I'd like you to ask yourself the following questions.

Where have you included an introduction with an interesting and critical thesis? Where have you used really clear topic sentences? Where have you used embedded quotations? Where have you put quotations within the sentence so that, when you read it, you don't have to pause, it just fits in as part of your sentence? Where have you interwoven analysis of language, form, and structure that is tightly focused on your argument? Where have used subject terminology to enhance your argument? Where have you use context where have you integrated it throughout your response and kept that really sharp focus on Dickens' purpose? And finally, where have you included a conclusion which summarises your thesis and has a really sharp focus on Dickens's message? 'Cause that's what we should always be going back to.

So I'm gonna invite you to pause the video now while you undertake that self-assessment, and see how well you've done in this task.

Fantastic work.

Some really reflective practise being seen there.

Excellent.

So to summarise the learning from today, remember that context should be integrated into your argument to support your ideas and opinions about the writer's intentions.

An essay should absolutely have a strong central argument, and you should be using your evaluative or critical thesis statement to hang your essay on and support this with really clear topic sentences.

Your analysis of language, form, and structure should be interwoven into your response, and these should all be used to support each other.

So the analysis of language should be used to support your analysis of form, and structure, and so on, and so on.

And finally, essays should always focus on the writer's message.

Okay, every single point you make should hark back to what you think the writer is trying to achieve by writing the text.

And just remember that the conclusion is a really good opportunity to summarise exactly why you think the writer wrote the text.

I'd like to thank you for coming to today's lesson.

I've really enjoyed teaching you, and I've loved reading all your responses and seeing the effort that you put into those.

Thank you for coming and I'll see you next time.

See you later.