Lesson video

Hello, there.

How are you today? I hope you're doing well.

My name's Ms. Afzal.

I'm doing pretty good too.

Thank you.

And that's because we're going to be exploring some poetry together today, which is something that I really love doing.

We're going to be looking at the poem called "First Snow" by John Mole.

So you're going to need your copy of the poem.

So I will pause here and allow you to go and get your copy.

All right, you're back.

You've got your copy of the poem.

Fantastic.

So hopefully you're all ready to go with your enthusiastic approach and your creative ideas and your collaboration and your listening and sharing skills.

Let's get into it.

The outcome for today's session is I can give a personal response to the poem and give some evidence to justify my ideas.

Here are some keywords in our lesson today.

Let's go through them.

My turn, turn.

Rhetorical question, rhyme scheme, imagery.

Fantastic.

I heard those loud and clear.

Let's find out what these keywords mean.

A rhetorical question is a question asked that does not expect an answer, but rather makes a point or creates emphasis.

A rhyme scheme refers to the pattern of rhyming words or sounds at the end of each line in a poem, often represented using letters to indicate the rhyme pattern, e.

g.

, AABB, ABAB.

Imagery is the use of language to create a mental picture or sensory experience for the reader or listener.

Let's make sure we look out for these words.

Let's listen for them.

Let's think carefully about them.

They're gonna come up in our lesson today.

Our lesson reading and responding to "First Snow" by John Mole has two parts to it: introduction to the poem and poet, and exploring structure and imagery.

Let's begin with the introduction to the poem and poet.

John Mole was born in 1941 in Taunton, Somerset, England, and we can see Taunton on the map there, and its by the south coast of England.

John worked as an English teacher for 30 years up until 1998.

He's still involved in education and visit schools for readings and poetry workshops.

As well as writing poems, John is a jazz clarinettist.

Some of his poems have a musical influence in terms of how the words sound and how they are presented on the page.

John has enjoyed exploring the idea of improvisation in both his poetry and his music,.

And improvisation, that's a noun, is created spontaneously or without preparation.

I wonder if you've ever improvised something, some poetry, some music, a game, or anything else.

It's really fun to improvise.

Check for understanding.

Select the statements that are true.

John Mole worked in schools as a music teacher.

John Mole is a jazz clarinettist.

John Mole does not improvise in his music or poetry.

John Mole was born in Taunton, England in 1941.

Pause the video while you decide which of these statements are true.

Well done if you selected statements B and D.

Indeed, John Mole is a jazz clarinettist, and he was born in Taunton, England in 1941.

Before we read the poem, what does the title "First Snow" make you think of? What words or images come to mind? Pause the video while you share with someone nearby.

What does "First Snow" make you think of? What comes into your mind? Let's gather some responses.

Here's Jun.

"It makes me think of the first time I saw snow.

I was both confused and excited." Thanks for sharing that, Jun.

The first time you saw snow, wow, what a time, what a feeling.

What a moment.

Here's Sofia.

"I imagine the crunchiness of the snow under my feet.

I can almost feel it and hear it!" Yeah, me too, Sofia.

Just as I was reading that, I could just imagine myself stepping in that crunchy first snow.

Ooh, can't wait when it next snows.

Are these positive or negative images? Pause the video while you decide.

I wonder what you came up with.

Perhaps you were thinking more positive.

Yeah, because Jun was yeah, maybe a bit confused, but excited.

And it seems like Sofia is enjoying that crunchiness of the snow.

Now it's time to read the poem.

To begin, read the poem silently in your head and then read it out loud.

You might like to read it with a partner with one person taking the first and fourth lines of each verse and the other the second and third lines.

So pause the video here while you read the poem, first, silently in your head, and then out loud, perhaps with a partner.

Enjoy reading.

Okay, it's great to be back with you.

I hope you enjoyed reading that poem.

And now I'm going to give you my initial response to the poem.

I'm going to tell you what I liked about the poem and any questions that I have.

I liked the use of rhetorical questions in the poem.

So rhetorical questions are questions that don't really require an answer.

They're just making a point.

It makes the poem's narrator sound curious about their changed landscape.

I wondered how the poet felt as he wrote the poem.

The poem is very different to my expectations from its title.

Yeah, I'd love to ask John Mole that question: how did he feel when he wrote this poem? And now it's your turn to give your initial response to the poem.

So what did you like about the poem? And do you have any questions about it? Pause the video here and share with someone nearby your initial response to the poem.

I hope you enjoyed sharing your responses to the poem, and I wonder if your responses were similar or different to each other.

Let's explore what happens in the poem.

So let's look, first of all, at verse one.

So there is an unexpected arrival of snow.

And then later in verse one, the narrator cannot hear their voice echo anymore.

Let's move to verse two.

Snowflakes fall as if someone is crying.

There's tension between the quiet and the drumming in the narrator's ears.

There's quite a lot to do with the senses and to do with hearing there.

The narrator cannot hear the echo, crying, drumming, and quiet.

And now let's explore what happens in the poem in verses three and four.

In verse three, the snow is described as a handkerchief.

The trees whisper a blessing while the narrator describes themselves standing ghost-like.

And then in verse four, the narrator questions their own identity and whether this is real.

They still recognise themselves despite the change in surroundings.

And finally, verse five, the narrator wonders if there is a deeper message or significance to the snowfall.

The bird shakes snow off its wing.

The narrator notices that the sky is endless.

I wonder if you've ever had that experience looking up at the sky and having that sense of the vastness.

Check for understanding.

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

A bird shakes snow off its wing.

The narrator notices that it has snowed unexpectedly.

Snow is continuing to fall onto the ground.

Pause the video while you place these events in the order that they occur in the poem.

Okay, so did you get the first event being that the narrator notices that it has snowed unexpectedly? Next, the snow is continuing to fall onto the ground, and then towards the end, a bird shakes snow off its wing.

Well done if you placed the events in this order.

And now let's get into our responses.

How did you feel? How did this poem make you feel? Pause the video and share with someone nearby.

How did you feel when you read this poem? Let's hear some responses.

Here's Izzy.

"This poem made me feel unsettled.

It describes the snow as affecting the narrator's surroundings.

Everything has changed overnight." And here's Andy.

"The poem made me feel sad.

The narrator describes the snow as tears, as if the sky is crying." Thank you for sharing those responses.

So Izzy, you were feeling unsettled and it was sad.

And I wonder, how does this poem make you feel? So pause the video here.

Turn to someone nearby and share with them.

How does this poem make you feel? Okay, it's good to be back with you.

I hope you enjoyed sharing your responses to how this poem made you feel.

Remember, our personal responses to the poem will be different because we are all unique.

And also, I'm wondering, did you feel differently to how you imagined you might have felt when you first read the title of this poem? Remember, our personal responses to the poem will be different because we are all unique, and that's what makes us interesting.

And now it's time for your first task.

Rhetorical questions are included in each verse of the poem.

And rhetorical questions is one of our keywords.

So remember, it means a question that doesn't seek for an answer, and it's there to make a point or for emphasis.

I'd like to refer to the poem and identify the rhetorical questions with your partner.

And then choose one of the questions and consider whether the question is positive, negative, or neutral.

What do you think the narrator's feelings and emotions are like as they ask the question? Use evidence from the poem to support your discussion.

And you may like to begin your sentence with the question is.

Is it positive, negative, or neutral? I think the narrator may have felt.

Describe the feeling, because, and give your reasoning.

And use evidence from the poem to support your discussion.

And you could also begin, I noticed.

So pause the video here while you have a go at this task and I'll see you when you're finished.

Okay, it's great to be back with you.

So the question you chose, was it positive, negative, or neutral? What do you think the narrator's feelings and emotions were as they asked the question? And where's the evidence for this? Let's hear from Alex.

"I think the rhetorical question the poet asks when they cannot hear their own voice is negative.

They might feel anxious because their voice may go unanswered." Thanks for sharing your answer, Alex.

Yeah, so you felt that question was more of a negative one, had more of a negative feel to it.

And you could feel anxious if you feel like your voice isn't being heard.

Yeah, I could really understand that.

Thank you.

And was Alex's response similar or different to your ideas? I wonder.

And now let's move on to exploring structure and imagery.

The structure of a poem is the way it is ordered, including its pattern of lines, verses, and rhyme.

Verses refer to a group of lines in a poem.

They can also be referred to as stanzas.

So here we have the lines and we have a few lines together make a verse or a stanza we could say.

"First Snow" has five verses with four lines in each.

These verses have alternating rhymes.

Rhyme is the use of similar or the same sounds in words, usually at the end of lines.

Refer to the poem "First Snow." Can you find any examples of rhyme in the first verse? Pause the video while you refer to the first verse and find any examples of rhyme.

So what did you come up with? Did you find elbow, wall, call and echo? And the words that rhyme are elbow and echo from line one and four, and wall and call from lines two and three.

Looking at the rhyming words in the first verse, we can say that the rhyming scheme is ABBA.

This remains the same throughout the poem.

So the word elbow and echo rhyme, that's A and A.

And wall and call, B and B.

Check for understanding.

What is the rhyme scheme of the poem "First Snow?" ABAB, ABBA, ABCB.

Pause the video while you decide which is the rhyme scheme of the poem "First Snow." Well done if you selected ABBA.

Poets can use imagery to create a picture or impression of something in the reader or listener's mind.

And imagery, one of our keywords, is the use of language to create a mental picture or a sensory experience.

Poets can use a range of poetic techniques to do this, including descriptive or figurative language.

Figurative language can include use of simile, metaphor, personification.

Refer to the poem "First Snow." Are any specific techniques used in this poem, any of those poetic devices we mentioned? Pause the video and share with someone nearby.

Are there any specific techniques used in this poem? Let's hear from Jacob.

"Metaphor is used when the narrator of the poem compares the snow to an elbow resting on the wall.

It is also used to describe the snow as tears, as if the sky has been crying." Really powerful images there.

Snow resting on the wall and the sky crying.

Really noticing a feeling in myself as I remember those.

And here's Jun.

"Personification is used to describe the trees whispering a blessing." It's very beautiful.

Thanks for reminding us of that, Jun.

Were these similar or different to your examples, I wonder? Check for understanding.

True or false? John Mole uses personification in the poem "First Snow." Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false.

It is true.

And now I'd like you to justify your answer.

The snowflakes are described as tears.

The trees are described as whispering a blessing in response to an imagined sneeze.

Pause the video while you decide which of these statements justifies your earlier answer.

Well done if you selected the second statement.

Here we can see how the trees are being given human-like qualities.

And now it's time for your final task.

What impression of the snow was created in the poem? And remember, impressions are our initial feelings about the text.

Try to justify your response with reference to an aspect of structure or language used in the poem.

And you may like to begin your answer, "The snow seems..

Give your impression.

And then because, give your reasoning, justify your response with reference to an aspect of structure or language used in the poem.

So pause the video here while you have a go at this task and share your impression of the snow that was created in the poem.

It's good to be back with you.

So I am curious what impression of the snow was created in a poem.

Let's hear from Lucas.

"The snow seems surprising to the narrator.

It arrives out of the blue, it is unexpected.

The narrator ends the poem giving the snow a magical quality through its description of the bird and sky." I love your answer, Lucas.

That impression of the snow is surprising and having a magical quality.

And I like how you've referenced some of the language used there to justify your answer.

And here's Sam.

"The wind seems silent and peaceful because the narrator comments on the quietness of the snowfall.

The silence is so affecting, it makes their ears drum.

This creates an impression of the snow as something serene and peaceful, enveloping the world in a tranquil stillness." Thank you for sharing that, Sam.

Yeah, some really quite different ideas and we can see how, depending on which aspect of the poem we are focused on, we can maybe get a different impression of the snow from this poem.

Thank you for sharing your ideas.

If your impressions can be justified by the structure or language in the poem, then they are likely to be good justifications.

In our lesson reading and responding to "First Snow" by John Mole, we've covered the following.

"First Snow" describes a changed landscape as a narrator explores their surroundings.

Rhetorical questions are included in each verse.

Readers can infer the narrator's possible feelings by exploring these in more detail.

The poem uses the rhyme scheme ABBA.

John Mole uses imagery to create a picture or impression of the scene in the reader or listener's mind.

Impressions can be justified by referring to an aspect of structure or language used in the poem.

Thank you, everyone for joining in with this poem.

I loved hearing your responses, your feelings, your impressions of this poem.

It's really such a rich and beautiful poem.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson and I look forward to seeing you next time.

Bye for now.