Lesson video

Hi, everyone.

My name is Ms. Boyle, and welcome to this lesson where you are going to be planning the first section of your information text about an author.

During this lesson, you will need to refer to the model information text about your chosen author, and you can find this in the additional materials section of the lesson.

For this lesson, you need to be listening and looking carefully, there'll be tasks where you need somebody to talk to, and you will also need a piece of paper and pen or pencil to write your plan.

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to learn.

Let's get started.

The learning outcome for today's lesson is, "I can create a plan to support me when writing a section of an information text about an author." Here are the key words for today's lesson.

Let's practise saying them, my turn, your turn.

Plan, notes, information, describe.

Great job, well done.

You will be hearing these words throughout today's lesson and we will be discussing their meaning.

There are two parts to today's lesson.

In the first part, you will be preparing to plan, and in the second part you will be writing your plan.

So let's begin with preparing to plan.

You are going to write an information text about a chosen author, Atinuke, Roald Dahl, or Ibtihaj Muhammad.

Your information text will be structured into three sections, introduction, childhood and inspiration, jobs and books.

You have already written your introduction for your information text.

In this lesson, we are planning the childhood and inspiration section.

The subheading, "Childhood and inspiration" tells the reader what this section will be about.

In this section, you will need to include the following: when the author was born if this is known, because we don't always know an author's date of birth, where the author was born and raised, important or interesting facts about their childhood, and what or who inspired them.

Let's revisit an example of the "Childhood and inspiration" section about the author Atinuke.

" Atinuke was born and raised in the beautiful West African country of Nigeria.

She was inspired by her grandmother's oral storytelling when she was little.

These folktales reflected their culture and they were full of magic, wisdom, and laughter.

When Atinuke was five, her family moved to a quiet part of the city of Lagos.

It was here that she began to immerse herself in books and she developed an even deeper love for storytelling.

She enjoyed reading books by Enid Blyton." We can see in this example that it says where Atinuke was born, the West African country of Nigeria.

It does not say her date of birth because this is not known.

It talks about what inspired her, her grandmother's oral storytelling of folktales that reflected their culture.

It goes on to provide more facts and details about her childhood and what inspired her, like when she began to immerse herself in books and who one of her favourite authors was.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of the following need to be included in the childhood and inspiration section? A, when and where the author was born, B, important or interesting facts about their childhood, C, the name of the first book they wrote, D, what or who inspired them? Pause the video and select all of the correct answers now.

The answers are A, B, and D.

In the "Childhood and inspiration" section, it is important to include when and where the author was born, important or interesting facts about their childhood, and what or who inspired them.

It is time for your first task.

Read the information text about your chosen author in the additional materials, and then tell your partner the key facts about your chosen author for the "Childhood and inspiration" section.

Include the following, when the author was born if this is known, where the author was born and raised, one important or interesting fact about their childhood, and what or who inspired them.

Pause the video to do the task now.

Welcome back.

Well done for reading over the information about your chosen author and summarising the key facts for the childhood and inspiration section to your partner.

I really enjoyed listening to all of the information you shared.

Let's take a look at an example for each author.

If writing about Atinuke, you might have said, "Atinuke was born and raised in Nigeria.

She was inspired by her grandmother's storytelling.

She loved reading, especially books by Enid Blyton." If writing about Roald Dahl, you might have said, "Roald Dahl was born in Wales on the 13th of September, 1916.

His literary idol was Beatrix Potter and he met her.

He went to boarding school next to a chocolate factory." And if writing about Ibtihaj Muhammad, you might have said, "Ibtihaj Muhammad was born on the 4th of December, 1985 in New Jersey.

She wore the hijab as an expression of her Islamic faith.

She loved sports and pursued fencing." All of these answers provide key information about these authors' childhoods and the things that they enjoyed doing and inspired them.

Well done for sharing this key information with your partner, you should now be feeling really prepared to plan the childhood and inspiration section about your chosen author.

It's now time for the second part of our lesson where you'll be writing your plan for the first section of your information text.

When we write a plan, we use notes.

Notes are short and capture key vocabulary and important information.

The purpose of notes is to help the writer to organise information easily for future use.

We use bullet points when note-taking They look like this.

Notes are not written in full sentences and do not require capital letters or full stops.

They can be made out of just a few words.

The writer making the notes just needs to understand them.

The writer then takes the notes and turns them into full sentences.

Let's check your understanding.

When we write a plan, which of these do we use? A, full sentences, B, drawings or C, notes.

Pause the video and your answer.

The answer is C, we use notes when writing a plan.

Well done.

When taking notes, it is important that the information you gather is precise and accurate.

You should also include key adjectives that you will use to describe things in the "Childhood and inspiration" section.

Here are some example facts.

We know that Atinuke was born in Nigeria.

We know that she was inspired by her grandmother's storytelling.

Let's take a look at what this would look like in note form.

Born in Nigeria, beautiful country, West Africa.

Here I have included detail about where Nigeria is, I've said it's in West Africa, and I have used the adjective beautiful to describe the country.

But I have only included key words, I have not written in a full sentence.

Inspired by grandma's stories, wise African folktales.

Again, I have not written a full sentence, but I have added some detail about the grandma's stories, wise African folktales.

It's important to include all of the key vocabulary that you will need for writing your section.

Let's check your understanding.

What type of key vocabulary should I include in my notes, A, precise and accurate information, B, conjunctions to join clauses, C, precise adjectives to describe key nouns.

Pause the video now and select all of the right answers.

The answers are A and C.

When you are taking your notes, you should include precise and accurate information and precise adjectives to describe key nouns.

This will support you when writing your childhood and inspiration section.

It's now time for your task.

Write notes about your chosen author for the "Childhood and inspiration" section.

Use the information provided about your chosen author in the additional materials.

Include the following, when the author was born if this is known, where the author was born and raised, important or interesting facts about their childhood, and what or who inspired them.

Remember to also include precise adjectives to describe key nouns.

Pause the video and do the task now.

Welcome back.

I am really impressed with how well you managed to pick out the key vocabulary you needed to write your notes and create your plan.

If you are writing about Atinuke, your notes on your plan should include lots of the following, born in Nigeria, beautiful country, West Africa, inspired by grandma's stories, wise African folktales, moved to quiet part of Lagos, aged five, spent all her time reading, deep love of storytelling, enjoyed adventurous books by Enid Blyton.

Now let's take a look at what the notes on your plan should say if you are writing about Roald Dahl.

Born in Wales, 13th of September, 1916, Norwegian parents, father and sister died when young, literary idol, Beatrix Potter, met her age six, challenging time at boarding school, aged 9, school next door to Cadbury's chocolate factory, inspired magical story, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." And finally, let's take a look at what the notes on your plan should say if you are writing about Ibtihaj Muhammad, born in New Jersey, USA 4th of December, 1985, daughter of African American parents, raised in Islamic faith, wore hijab, which is a head covering, from young age, important to her, enthusiastic, ambitious athlete, loved sports, pursued fencing, able to wear hijab while competing, inspired by Black female athletes, Williams sisters.

Well done for writing notes to create your plan for the first section of your information text.

This will really support you when you are doing your writing.

We've now come to the end of our lesson, so let's go over a summary together.

The subheading, "Childhood and inspiration" tells the reader what the section will be about.

The plan should include when and where the author was born, important or interesting facts and inspiration.

Notes are used when making a plan and capture key vocabulary and important information.

Notes are not written in full sentences and do not require capital letters or full stops.

Well done again for your hard work in today's lesson, I have really enjoyed teaching you.