Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

My name is Mr. Brown and I'm your teacher for today's English lesson, and we are going to be reading and responding to a poem.

The poem is called, "What Did You Do at School Today?" And it's by a fabulous poet named James Carter.

So let's get started, shall we? The outcome for today's lesson is I can give a personal response to the poem and read it aloud.

The key words we'll use in our lesson today are mischievous, humorous, and conversation.

Let's say this together.

My turn and then your turn.

Mischievous.

Humorous.

Conversation.

Fabulous.

Well done.

Let's look at the definitions.

Mischievous means that showing a fondness for causing trouble in a playful way.

Humorous means that something that makes a person laugh or smile because it is funny or silly.

Conversation is a verbal exchange of ideas, thoughts, or information between two or more people.

We'll start with an introduction to the poem poet, and then move on to exploring the poem itself.

Now James Carter is a British writer who was born in Reading in 1959 and lives in Oxfordshire.

He's a poet, musician, and author who is celebrated for his humorous and entertaining poetry for children.

James Carter has written many collections of poetry and picture books that are enjoyed in lots of schools, libraries, and homes around the world.

He enjoys visiting schools to run poetry workshops with children, and is also an ambassador for National Poetry Day.

So he's somebody who supports National Poetry Day.

Select the statements that are true about James Carter.

A, he lives in London.

B, he is an ambassador for National Poetry Day, or C, he is a poet, musician, and author.

Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's see if you found the correct answers.

Well done if you said B and C.

He is an ambassador for National Poetry Day and he's a poet, musician, and author.

James loves to write poems about all sorts of unusual things from aliens to woolly mammoths and ghosts to garden sheds.

Some of his poems sound like nursery rhymes, and some take the form of questions and answers.

They're often easy to remember and fun to read.

James Carter loves to bring the feeling of fun and play to his poems, and also likes to write mischievous poetry too.

Now, mischievous is an adjective and it means showing a fondness for causing trouble in a playful way.

His poem, "What Did You Do at School Today?" is a clear example of this.

He is a writer who loves to bring fun and play and mischief to his work.

And this poem, "What Did You Do at School Today?" definitely is an example of that.

Now, before we read the poem, what does the title, "What Did You Do at School Today?" make you think of? Make you expect from the poem? What words or images come to mind? Hmm.

Pause the video and have a discussion with your partner.

What do you expect from this poem? Having known the title, "What Did You Do at School Today?" Pause the video and have a go now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's have a look at what June thinks.

So June says, "It makes me think the poem is going to be about a child explaining all the different things they did at school that day." Yeah, I think that makes sense.

A child telling perhaps a parent or a older sibling, everything they did at school that day.

Now, Sophia thinks, "I imagine the humour might come from a child being mischievous and not telling the truth about what they did at school that day." Okay, that could be quite funny.

So making up different things they did at school.

Interesting.

Are these positive or negative images? Do you think this poem is going to create a positive feeling or a negative feeling? Now it's time to read the poem and it's also available in the additional materials.

"'What Did You Do at School Today?' 'Nothing.

' 'Nothing?' 'Well, nothing much.

' 'You did nothing much all day long?' 'Well, alright, Mum, if you really want to know, I had four lessons and 45 minutes of playtime in which I went around with three friends.

For lunch, I had 22 baked beans, two fishfingers, a quarter of a bread roll and a banana.

I fed Nibbles, the class hamster, two sunflower seeds.

I wrote one poem.

I got seven out of 10 for a spelling test.

I did 16 fairly tricky maths questions and I learned five very interesting things about the ancient Egyptians, including how they used to remove the brains of their dead with a hook.

And mum, do you ever listen to a word I say?' 'Oh, sorry, darling, what was that?' 'I said, I removed my teacher's brain today.

' 'What? Oh, well done, you.

What would you like for tea?'" And that is James Carter's poem, "What Did You Do at School Today?" Now I'm going to give you my initial response to the poem.

I'm going to use the questions, what did you like about the poem and do you have any questions about it to scaffold and support my ideas.

Now, I liked that the poem used playful humour and had a funny twist at the end.

I would like to know if the poet was writing from his own experience, either as a child or as a parent.

And now, it's time for you to give your initial response to the poem.

What did you like about it? And do you have any questions about it? Pause the video and discuss with your partner your initial response to the poem now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's have a look at the poem in a bit more detail.

We'll explore the meaning of the poem.

So the poem is written in the form of a conversation between a child and their mother.

It begins with the poem's title, acting as the mom asking the child what they did at school and the child giving a typical response, which is to say, "Nothing." Now, this is very common when you ask a child what they did at school today.

When I ask my daughter what she did at nursery every day she just says nothing or she can't really remember.

So this is a common thing.

The poem is written about an everyday experience that a reader can relate to.

I am sure you have been asked before by someone at home or a family member or a friend.

"What did you do at school today?" And I bet there were times when you said, "Nothing." The child now responds to their mother by sharing an over the top list of all the tiny details of their day, such as how many baked beans they ate and what they scored on their spelling test.

So it feels as if the child is being a little bit sarcastic here, a bit cheeky, a bit mischievous by saying, "Okay, well I'll tell you.

If you really want to know, I'll tell you every detail.

I'll tell you how many baked beans I ate for lunch." So the child is being a bit cheeky and mischievous.

This is shared in a humorous way as the child is being playful and mischievous by giving so much detail.

The child now tries to share a gruesome fact they learned about the ancient Egyptians, but becomes frustrated when it seems their mom isn't listening to them.

This is shown to be true in the mother's response.

The child mischievously tests whether she's listening by saying they removed their teacher's brain today.

And the mother simply says, "Well done," and asks what they'd like for tea.

So that proves that the mother was not listening.

Put the following events that occur in the poem in order.

A, the child says they removed their teacher's brain.

B, the child shares a detailed list of what they did at school.

C, the mother asks the child what they did at school today.

Put these events that occur in the poem in order.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's see if you managed to get the order correct.

So first, the mother asks the child what they did at school today, and that's actually in the title right at the very start of the poem.

Then the child shares the detailed list of what they did at school.

And finally, the child says they removed their teacher's brain.

How did the poem make you feel? Izzy says, "The poem made me laugh so much because I often say 'nothing' when my mom asks me what I did at school." Ah, so this poem tapped into a personal experience that Izzy has.

It was relatable for her.

It was an everyday experience that she knows well.

Andeep says, "I loved the way the poem was written as a discussion between the child and their mother.

I found it funny that the mother asked what the child did at school but then didn't listen to the answer." How did the poem make you feel? And remember, our personal responses to the poem will be different because we're all unique.

Pause the video and have a chat with your partner about how the poem made you feel now.

Welcome back.

I'm sure you had an excellent discussion.

I wonder if the poem made you feel the same way as it made your partner feel.

Time for a task.

Refer to the poem and discuss these questions with your partner.

How did the poet add humour to the poem? And did you notice a structure to the poem that showed who was talking? You might want to use these talk scaffolds.

"The poet added humour by.

." Or, "I noticed that the poem had a structure of.

." Okay, over to you.

Pause the video and have a discussion with your partner now.

Welcome back.

Okay, let's have a look at some example answers.

So Alex says, "The poet added humour through the child's mischievous responses, especially when they said they'd removed their teacher's brain." Absolutely.

And Laura says, "I noticed that the poem had a structure of putting a blank line to show a change in who was talking and the mother's responses were in a different-looking font." Interesting observation, Laura.

So she noticed that there was a blank line put in to show that we were changing speaker, and Laura spotted that there was a different font.

Very good.

Okay, let's move on to exploring the poem.

The poem "What Did You Do at School Today?" is a humorous poem, which is written as a conversation between two people.

A conversation is a noun and it means a verbal exchange of ideas, thoughts, or information between two or more people.

A poem written as a conversation between two people can be a fun way to explore everyday situations and different themes.

James Carter uses a particular layout and structure in the poem to show the reader that it is a conversation between two people.

He starts a new verse each time the conversation changes speaker and leaves a line between each verse to make it even clearer.

So a verse is a single line or a group of lines within a poem.

Also, Carter puts the lines spoken by the mother in a slanted font called italics.

I wonder if you've heard of this font before.

So you can see at the bottom there, I've got regular font and then an italic font.

An italic font is slanted to one side.

So if we look closely at the start of the poem, we can see that the mother says the title, the child then says the first line, and that's in a regular font.

We then leave a line and jump to the mother and it's in italics.

Back to the child leaving a line, "Well, nothing much," the child says, and then we go to the mother.

"You did nothing much all day long?" and that's in italics again.

So we can see that structure and layout that James Carter has put in place to help us, the reader, know who is speaking.

What is the name for the font used for the mother's lines in the poem? Is it A, lexend, B, bold, or C, italics? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Okay, whats was the name for the font used for the mother's lines? Well, well done if you said, C, it's italics.

It's that slanted font and it helps us to know when the mother is talking in the poem.

When reading the poem out loud, you can use your voice to show the listener that the person speaking has changed.

For example, you might use a fast voice for the child and use a deeper and a stern-sounding voice for the mother.

You could also face a different direction when speaking as each person to add an element of performance to the poem.

For example, you might look up when the child is speaking and look down when the mother is speaking.

Now, this will emphasise the height difference between the two and make it clear for anyone watching.

You read the poem, which person is speaking.

So if the child is speaking, looking up, because that's what most children do when they're talking to an adult.

If the mother is speaking, look down, because that's how adults have to look down because the children are shorter than them.

Which direction might you look in when speaking the child's lines in the poem? Would it be A, up, B, down, or C, straight ahead? Pause the video and decide now.

Welcome back.

Okay, which direction would you look if you were speaking the child's lines? If you are almost performing and pretending to be the child when you're saying those lines? You know the child is going to be looking up at their mother because the mother is taller than them.

So it's A, up.

Well done if you said up.

Time for a task, I would like you to read the whole poem out loud to a partner.

Use your voice to read the poem clearly and with expression.

Also, use your voice and gestures to show the listener that the poem is a conversation between two people.

Bring the poem to life by reading it with expression and almost an element of performance too.

It's over to you.

Pause the video and read the poem to your partner now.

Welcome back.

I am sure you did a fabulous job at reading the poem.

Let's reflect on how you read that poem.

Did you read the poem in a loud, clear voice? Did you use your voice and gestures to express that the poem was a conversation between two people? And did you enjoy reading the poem aloud? I think this is an example of a poem where you need to enjoy it.

You need to relax and perform that poem so that you can make it clear to the audience or to your partner or whoever's listening, that there are two people having a conversation and clear who is speaking each tongue.

Here's an example.

"I changed my voice when I was speaking the mother's lines to be deeper and sound more grown up." Very good.

That's exactly what we're looking for.

Time to summarise our lesson today, James Carter is a British poet who is mostly known for his entertaining poetry written for children.

"What Did You Do at School Today?" is a humorous poem.

The poem is written as a conversation between a child and their mother about what the child did at school.

The poet uses a particular layout and structure in the poem to show the reader that it is a conversation between two people.

He starts a new verse for a new speaker, and the mother's lines are written in italic font.

Brilliant work today.

You now know the poem "What Did You Do at School Today?" by James Carter.

Another poem to add to the list of poems that you have learned.

Well done.

I will see you again very soon.