Lesson video

Hi there.

So lovely of you to join me.

We are going to be doing some really fun things in today's lesson.

First, we're going to illustrate our poems, then we're going to publish them, and finally, we get to perform our poems. So when you are ready, let's get started.

Today's lesson outcome is I can publish and perform a free verse poem using the illustrations and performances of John Lyons as inspiration.

The keywords for this lesson are here, publishing, illustrations, performance.

Let's look at what they mean.

Publishing is the process of producing written content to become available for an audience.

Illustrations of visual elements such as drawings, paintings, or images that accompany a text, and usually they enhance a text.

Performance is the presentation of a poem in front of an audience using voice, gestures, and expressions.

In this lesson, we're going to be splitting it up into three parts.

The first part we're going to look at is illustrating a free verse poem.

The second part of the lesson is we're going to publish a free verse poem.

And finally, we're going to perform a free verse poem.

So let's start illustrating a free verse poem.

Let's do a little recap.

John Lyons is a painter, writer, and prize-winning poet.

Much of John Lyons's work draws on themes linked with Caribbean folklore and mythology.

As a painter and poet, John Lyons feels an intuitive, that means natural, link between painting and poetry.

Which is why in his poetry collections, he has some beautiful illustrations to accompany his poems. John Lyons' poetry collection "Dancing in the Rain" is all of these.

A collection of poems for younger readers.

It is written and illustrated by John Lyons.

It's shortlisted for the 2016 Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award.

And it draws inspiration from Lyons' childhood in Trinidad and Tobago, in particular the traditions of carnival and calypso, which is a type of music that originated from Trinidad.

Let's review the features of a free verse poem.

A free verse poem contains these elements.

No rhythm pattern.

No rhyme scheme.

Varied line length.

An emphasis on imagery and emotion.

A focus on a particular theme or particular themes.

And a unique structure.

So a structure that the poet has come up with on their own.

It provides poets with the freedom to experiment with form, style, and content.

This is a free verse poem inspired by one of John Lyons' poems "Carib Nightfall," "We watched the fiery orb of fire scorch relentlessly in the Caribbean sky.

Oppressive, suffocating heat.

Down, down, down, the sun drops beyond the edge of the world.

Sky streaked with orange, red, and purple hues like a painting.

All of a sudden, darkness engulfs." These are some of John Lyons' illustrations from "Dancing in the Rain." This one is from "Happy Hummingbird Food." The second illustration is from a poem called "The Scared Crow." And the third coloured illustration, because there are lots of illustration in his, illustrations in his collection that don't have colour is from "Iguana Chase.

And if you look really carefully, you can see the outline of an iguana hiding in the shrub.

These were created using water colours.

These are some other illustrations from John Lyons' poetry collection "Dancing in the Rain." This illustration or this sketch, or this drawing is from his poem "Carnival Moko Jumbie Dance." This one you might be familiar with is from his poem called "Granny's Sugarcake." And finally, these two illustrations are from "Carnival Dance Lesson." These are drawn with pencil and ink.

Which two media does John Lyons mainly use to create his illustrations from "Dancing in the Rain"? Does he use watercolours, wood, pencil and ink, or clay? Hmm.

Which ones do you remember seeing from his poetry collection? Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, so hopefully you said that he used watercolours.

And you also said that he used, I'll show you this one it's from an agouti story, pencil and ink.

Well done.

Let's now learn to illustrate a free verse poem.

You'll need these materials.

A copy of a selected free verse poem.

Hopefully one that you've written yourself, or if you haven't had a chance to write your own one, you could perhaps choose one from John Lyons's poetry collection or you can choose a poem from one of your favourite authors, poets, sorry.

You need plain paper, or you can use drawing paper, which is a little bit thicker.

You need pencils to sketch and to draw.

You need erases or an eraser in case you make a mistake and you'd like to rub it out.

And then you've got to think about what art mediums you want to use.

You can use watercolours, oil pastels, or coloured pencils.

Remember to choose your media based on the effect that you want to achieve.

Now I'm gonna have a go at illustrating my free verse poem using the success criteria.

Let's have a look at the success criteria.

I have chosen a free verse poem to illustrate.

That's the first thing I need to do.

I've got mine there.

I have underlined the words in the poem to connect with the themes and the tone.

So let's have a look at the words I've underlined.

So fiery orb of fire.

So I need to create that image somehow in my illustration and I need to show that it's scorching relentlessly in the sky, and it's creating an oppressive, suffocating heat.

So we might wanna think about using quite strong colours, maybe some reds, oranges, some yellows.

Then later on it says the sun drops and the sky was then streaked with orange, red, and purple.

So then perhaps around the outside, towards the edges of my illustration, I might want to create blend in some reds and purples.

So if I'm trying to create a picture of a sun that's scorching relentlessly, I might want to choose quite strong colours.

So watercolour could be good for this or maybe I might wanna use oil pastel because it's got a slightly stronger colour.

And then at the end, I need to reflect on my artwork and see if it actually does enhance my poem.

Okay, I've gathered all the things that I think I need.

So I've chosen to use a bit of drawing paper.

Actually, this is watercolour paper, so it's a bit thicker.

Can you see? It's a bit like card.

And what I've done is I've stuck it onto some scrap piece of paper because I don't need this paper.

So I've just stuck it onto the back.

And the reason for doing that is so that when I use my oil pastel, I can go right up to the edge and I'll show you what I mean in a minute.

So I've got two bits of card.

One is just a rectangular piece of card if I want to use the whole thing as my sunset.

And then the other one, I've actually split into half because I want to do a reflection.

And I just need to work out what style I want to go for.

I'm going to set these aside.

And I've got my tape.

I've got my cotton wool buds, which I will use to blend my oil pastels.

I don't have my own oil pastels, so I've borrowed these off my really kind neighbours and friends who dropped them off this morning for me.

So just need to think about what colours will be effective for my sunset.

In my free verse poem, I've written about the sun being a fiery orb of fire, which scorched relentlessly.

And I've also said that it drops beyond the edge of the world.

So I have to show that the sun is setting and it's painting the sky with orange, red, and purple hues.

So those are the sorts of colours that I will need.

So I'm going to choose orange, pink, red.

I'll need purple as well.

Maybe I'll go with a blue and a purple for now.

And this is a darker red, perfect.

So I think these are the colours that I'll need.

And perhaps we'll need a lighter orange and maybe a peach so that I can blend my sunset really well.

So I've got the colours that I need now ready to go.

I can put the other ones away.

What I'm going to do is I'm going to start with my fiery, because of the word fiery, I'm going to use a dark, darkish red.

So I'm going to start with my fiery hot sun, which scorched relentlessly.

Then I'm going to move on to a slightly less dark red, it's sort of an orangy red.

And what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to create a gradual colour blend from reds to oranges.

And then perhaps what I'll do is at the top, I'll leave that bit blue because I'm going to create some sort of bluish, purplish hue.

And then perhaps maybe a bit of white there as well.

So we can blend those colours together later.

With my cotton wool bud, I'm now going to start blending and smoothing out the oil pastel.

I could use my finger to do it.

That's also another really great way if you don't have cotton wool buds.

But I do, and I want to keep my fingers nice and clean.

So I'm just going to start blending that now.

Let me just show you what it looks like after it's been blended with the cotton wool bud.

I can see that some parts need a little bit more, so I'm just gonna go over it with a bit more of my oil pastel.

And can you see that you can still see some of the lines? So what we wanna do is we wanna make sure that it's blended really well so that there's a nice little transition between the colours.

We don't want it to look too distinct, the lines.

So let's now try a different method, which is just to put on the oil pastels in a different manner.

Maybe we use a different direction.

We draw on our colours in a different direction.

And then using the cotton wool bud again, we're going to blend.

What I would like to do now is I'd like to show that the sun is setting behind mountains.

So I'm going to use a sort of purplish colour for this.

So I'm gonna draw some mountains here.

Perhaps start off here.

Okay.

And then colour it in just very lightly with a sort of purplish tone.

And then I want to show a sort of layered effect.

So I think I'm gonna get a darker colour, perhaps a black would be nice.

And I'm just gonna layer some mountains in front of that one and just colour it in like that.

I'm going to blend it now.

Okay, so the blending technique didn't quite work, so I just went over it with the oil pastel to make it stronger.

And now what I'm going to do is I'm going to take off my tape.

And it's created a really lovely sharp line there, a neat line.

And I'm going to move my tape up to there, because now what I'm going to do is I'm going to create the reflection.

So again, I'm going to start off with a sort of bluish colour.

Maybe this time we'll do a little bit more blue.

And then instead of reds this time, I'm just gonna use orange.

Because the reflection isn't as vivid or strong colour as the actual sunset itself.

So in fact, I might even use a bit of yellow this time.

I don't know if that's gonna work, but it's about experimenting.

Okay.

And then again, I'm going to use my cotton wool bud, and I'm just going to blend it.

Okay, what I've done now is I've taken off the tape after blending.

I've taken that off.

So you can see the mountains and now the water and the sunset reflected onto the body of water.

I think what I haven't done though is I haven't shown or I haven't portrayed how hot it is.

So I think I'm going to go back with my red, go back over with my red oil pastel.

And I'm just going to put in a few reddish clouds just to show how hot or how much the sun is scorching down still, even though the sun is setting.

I want the reader to still realise that the heat is still around and it's still very hot.

Okay, so I'm just gonna blend those bits now.

Right.

I think I'm nearly finished, but what I want to do is I want to show that the sun is dropping behind the mountains.

So I'm just going to use white to show that it's still glowing hot.

And I'm going to put the sun there.

Will this show up, I wonder? Perhaps not.

Perhaps I need to use a yellow.

So go over with my yellow.

Yellow and then go back with my white just to show the sun is drop, drop, dropping, as it says in my poem, over the horizon.

So there is my sun.

I just need to make sure that I've got the outline of it in still in there.

And I think what I haven't done here is I need to just blend this in a little bit better.

I can still see some whites of the paper, so I'm just gonna go over that a little bit more.

And then a final thing I need to do is I would like to do a little reflection of the sun dropping down in the water.

I can't see it, I might need to press a little bit harder.

But yeah, there it is.

And maybe slightly over here as well.

And over here.

I think the white's just really good for blending anyway.

If you want to use, if you want things to blend a little bit more, you could use the white.

And there we have it.

Should we take off the tape to see what that looks like? Oops, it's taken a little bit of the paper off, but that's okay.

And that is my sunset illustration to go with my poem.

What do you think? Okay, I'm just going to check my success criteria.

I've chosen a free verse poem to illustrate, yes.

I've underlined the words in the poem, definitely, to connect with the themes and the tone.

I've selected the medium based on the effect that I want to achieve.

So I chose oil pastels because I wanted to choose quite strong vivid colours.

And I've reflected on my artwork.

Does this represent my poem? Absolutely.

Now it's your turn to illustrate a free verse poem.

You're going to choose your free verse poem to illustrate, get the plain paper and art materials that you need, and use the success criteria to support you with the illustration.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

What a fantastic job you did.

I want you now to just check that you've done all of the things in the success criteria.

Let's look at mine, shall we? Okay, so I've chosen a free verse poem to illustrate.

Yes, I can tick that one off.

I've underlined the words, yes.

I've selected the medium based on the effect that I want to achieve, definitely.

And I have reflected on my artwork.

Now it's your turn to pause the video and just check that you've done all of those things as well.

Fantastic.

Now we're onto the second part of the lesson, publishing a free verse poem.

To publish a piece of writing means to produce a final best version that becomes available to others.

Published poetry can be found in magazines, online platforms, and literary journals.

Illustrations can enhance the understanding and emotional impact of a poem.

Illustrations can be in the form of drawings, paintings, and collage.

There is no specific or structured way to lay out a poem when publishing.

Illustrations and texts may be placed anywhere the poet chooses.

So if you look at John Lyons' poem "Carnival Dance Lesson," he's broken up each of the verses with illustrations in between.

It is important to use neat, joined handwriting when publishing so that it is visually appealing to the reader.

Which of the following is true about publishing a free verse poem? There must not be an illustration to accompany the poem.

Is that true? The illustration must be placed before the poem.

The illustration must be placed after the poem.

Or the poet can choose how to layout the illustration and poem themselves.

Pause the video and have a think.

Okay, so hopefully you've come to an answer.

Which of these is true? Well, it is the final one, of course, D.

The poet can choose how they want to layout the illustration and the poem.

Now you're gonna design the layout of your free verse poem on a piece of plain paper.

I've got two pieces of plain paper here so that I can have a look at which style I prefer.

I'm gonna start with a title at the top of the paper that's going to be the title of my poem.

So if you look in John Lyons' poetry collection, you can see at the start of every poem, he's got the title of the name of his poem.

So we need to make sure that we have that right at the start of our poem.

Then we want to think about placing the illustration on the plain paper to plan where the poem will go.

We want to put it to the left, to the right, in the middle, maybe before the poem, maybe after the poem.

And then think about where the text will sit in relation to the illustration once you have decided where the illustration will go.

Let's make sure that we use the success criteria to help us to publish our free verse poem.

I have created an illustration to enhance my poem.

I have designed the layout of my poem.

I have used neat, joined handwriting to publish my poem.

And I have checked the spelling of ambitious vocabulary.

If I'm copying in onto my published paper, I need to make sure that the spelling is correct.

Now let's publish the beginning of a free verse poem using the success criteria.

I'm going to show you how I use the success criteria to publish my poem.

I've stuck my success criteria in.

And the first thing I can see is I've created an illustration to enhance my poem.

So I can actually tick that one off.

I have designed the layout of my poem.

So I've played around with where I want my illustration to go, and I think I would like it to go in the middle.

And I'm going to put my text around my illustration.

So I have designed the layout of my poem I have.

The next thing I need to do is use neat, joined handwriting to publish my poem.

So I haven't started that one yet.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to get my poem, and I'm going to start to, I'm not going to stick this down yet, and I'm going to just start to write my first line.

So I could place another piece of paper on top so that I don't get my hand dirty when I'm writing over it.

So we watch is my first line.

We watch the fiery orb of fire scorch relentless, oops, lessly in the, capital C for Caribbean, sky, full stop.

We watch the fiery orb of fire scorch relentlessly in the Caribbean sky.

Oppressive, suffocating heat.

Down, down, down.

Okay, I think I'll put those, the next line, the word, those words here and here.

I've just written out the next part of my poem.

Oppressive, suffocating heat.

Down, down, down, the sun drops beyond the edge of the world.

And there is, I'm showing that happening.

Sky streaked with orange, red, and purple hues like a painting.

All of a sudden, darkness engulfs.

I haven't illustrated this part, but the reader can imagine that happening really quickly.

So let's go back.

Let's return to the success criteria.

I have used neat, joined handwriting.

Have I? Yes, I've joined my letters.

I've checked the spelling of ambitious vocabulary.

So let's just go through and check it now.

Relentlessly, relent, I've got my t, lessly, excellent.

Caribbean, capital C.

Oppressive, opp-ress-ive.

Suffocating.

And what else have I got? Engulfs.

And then edge, have I got my d? Edge of the world, yes.

So now I can take off the final thing that's on my success criteria.

And there it is.

My finished, published piece of writing.

Now it's your turn.

I would like you to get some lined and plain paper.

Choose a free verse poem, create an illustration, and use the success criteria to publish.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, let's just check that we have done everything in the success criteria.

So we created an illustration, mm-hmm.

We designed the layout, yes.

We use neat, joined handwriting, definitely.

And check the spelling of ambitious vocabulary.

Amazing.

Now it's your turn to just double check.

Pause the video and do it now.

Great job.

Now we're onto the final part of our lesson which is performing a free verse poem.

Let's practise using our voices.

We need to think about all of these, volume, pitch, speed.

Now read a free verse poem focusing on my voice's volume, whether I want to go loud or soft.

I need to focus on my voice's pitch, whether I'm going high or low.

And then also the speed, whether I'm going fast or whether I'm going slow.

Are you ready? We watch the fiery orb of fire scorch relentlessly in the Caribbean sky.

Oppressive, suffocating heat.

Down, down, down, the sun drops beyond the edge of the world.

Sky streak with orange, red, and purple hues like a painting.

All of a sudden, darkness engulfs.

Now it's your turn to read a free verse poem, focusing on your voice's volume, pitch, and speed.

Pause the video and have a go at doing this.

Now let's practise using different facial expressions.

We need to think about this range of human emotions, happiness, sadness, shock, and fear.

I will read another free verse poem that I've written focusing on my facial expressions.

Are you ready? An inky blanket tucking in the sky for bedtime.

Sparkling stars like diamonds dotted across the sky pierce the black, winking at the moon.

Blinking, blinking, blinking.

Then, (instructor yawns) a tired yawn.

Now it's your turn.

I would like you to read another free verse poem, focusing on your facial expressions this time.

Pause the video and have a go.

Okay, so now we're going to warm up our bodies for some movement.

Start with your wrists, your fingers, your arms. Maybe you might wanna stretch your side, stretch your back.

Maybe go forward and touch your toes, reach up to the ceiling.

And now we're all warmed up, we are ready to perform.

I will read another free verse poem that I've written, focusing on my body movement.

Drifting, drifting, gracefully like a ballet answer, twirling and swirling.

Filling the sky like a soft blanket, wrapping its arms in a warm embrace.

Wispy, wispy, floating gently.

Now it's your turn.

Read another free verse poem, focusing on your body movements.

Pause the video and have a go.

This time in your task, you are going to choose a free verse poem to rehearse and perform.

Use the success criteria to support you.

I have considered the tone and meaning of the poem.

I have used my voice appropriately to match the tone and meaning of the poem.

I've used facial expressions to match the tone and meaning of the poem.

I have used appropriate body of movements to enhance my performance.

Pause the video and enjoy.

So I just want you to check now if you've done all of the things in your success criteria.

Did you consider the tone and meaning of the poem? Did you use your voice appropriately to match the tone? Well done.

Did you use facial expressions? Yes, that's brilliant.

And finally, you use body movements.

I definitely saw those.

So well done.

We can give all of those ticks.

To summarise.

Poems can be published with illustrations or artwork to help the reader engage with the poetry further.

Performance of poetry requires the performer to use their voice, facial expressions, and body movements.

I hope you enjoyed illustrating, publishing, and performing a free verse poem in this lesson.

Goodbye.