Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're really, really well.

My name is Ms. Afzal and I'm doing really well, and in fact, I'm feeling quite excited today, because we're going to be writing our own poems. So you've been studying quite a lot of poetry recently and you're gonna be bringing together all that learning and all those ideas to help you today write your own poem.

I'm very excited about it.

Let's get started.

The outcome for today's lesson is, "I can write a poem about a place that has significance to me." We have some keywords in our lesson today.

Let's go through them.

My turn, your turn.

Form, atmosphere, imagery, enjambment.

Let's find out what these words mean.

Form is the way that a poem can be presented.

Atmosphere is the mood created in a section or whole of a text.

Imagery is the use of vivid and sensory language that appeals to the reader's senses, creating vivid mental pictures and enhancing the emotional impact of the poem.

Enjambment is when a line of poetry continues onto the next line without pause or punctuation, creating a sense of flow.

These are our keywords.

Let's be on the lookout for them.

Let's listen out for these words.

Today's lesson is writing a poem about a place.

It has two parts to it, generating ideas and writing a poem about a place.

Let's begin with generating ideas.

We have read and responded to a range of poems about different places, including rural, coastal, and urban settings.

So that's rural in the countryside, coastal by the coast, by the sea, and urban is a built up area, perhaps in a city.

We've heard poems with themes of nature, family, childhood, and memory, as well as responding to William Blake's "London" in greater depth.

The poems have contained both positive and negative imagery.

And imagery is the use of language to create mental pictures and sensory experiences for the reader.

We're going to write a poem about a place of significance.

The poem that we write can take many forms and form is the way that a poem is presented.

Through this unit, we have explored a range of free and fixed verse poems. These have sometimes included a rhyme scheme.

When writing our own poems, we can choose to include rhyming words and a specific structure, or we can write in free verse, which does not have to have rules for metre or rhyme.

In today's lesson, we're going to create a free verse poem.

When writing your poem, you may wish to create a fixed verse, keeping a particular form or structure.

When writing a poem about a place, it's important to paint a vivid picture of the setting through our description.

This usually appeals to the senses, so we really want to be thinking about what we can hear, smell, see, touch, and taste.

It's helpful if the place you choose to write about appeals to several senses.

This will allow you to generate lots of ideas.

So I would like you now to decide on the place you're going to write about.

You could be home, school or a classroom, favourite park or green space, a relative's home, local library, sports field or museum.

These are just some ideas for places you could write about.

Perhaps you have some other ideas in mind.

Use the guiding questions in the additional materials to support.

So pause the video here while you decide on the place that you're going to write about.

Let's hear from Jun.

"My poem is about my view from my flat.

From the main window, I can see the river.

It appeals to lots of the senses." Wow, what an amazing place to live, Jun.

Near a river, I love that.

The words we use to describe our setting convey how we feel about it.

Poetry about a place can include positive imagery, negative imagery, or a mix of both.

The imagery that we choose can create an atmosphere or mood.

An atmosphere is the mood that is created in part or in a whole of the text.

So what atmosphere will you create in your poem? Will it be more positive or negative or somewhere in between? Pause the video and tell someone nearby.

Here's Jun again.

"The atmosphere I want to create in my poem is one of calmness and tranquillity.

I will use positive imagery to reflect on the nature I can see outside my window." Oh my goodness, I can't wait to read your poem, Jun.

That sounds wonderful.

Places often evoke a mix of emotions, because they're tied to diverse memories and experiences.

To help us generate ideas, we can complete a mind map of actions and events that are associated with our place.

We can include examples of imagery and a range of poetic devices.

So we know that Jun is going to write a view from his home.

So he's beginning with view from my home, the centre.

And then let's see, what other ideas does Jun have? Sunlight on the water, river flowing, someone caring for plants, oh, maybe a neighbour.

Hum of traffic as people begin to head to work.

Dog walkers, oh, love them.

Birdsong, oh my goodness, this is gonna be a great poem, Jun, if this is what you're including.

I love it.

Remember to focus on actions and events that will fit with the atmosphere you want to create in your poem.

Check for understanding, true or false? Poetry about a place has to contain positive imagery.

Pause the video while you decide if this is true or false.

Well done if you selected false and now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Choose from one of these statements.

The imagery that we choose can create an atmosphere or mood.

Poetry about a place can contain positive imagery, negative imagery, or even a mix of the two.

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

Well done if you selected the second statement.

Indeed, poetry can contain positive, negative imagery or a mix of the two.

And this relates to your earlier answer.

So now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to create your own mind map based on the place you have chosen to write about, like the one we saw earlier from Jun.

Include examples of imagery and a range of poetic devices such as simile, metaphor, personification.

So choose your location, place that in the middle of your page, and then write your examples of imagery and poetic devices.

Pause the video while you have a go at this task in creating your mind map.

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

How did you get on with creating your mind map? I hope you've got lots of good ideas.

Let's have a look at Aisha's.

So Aisha's writing about her bedroom.

Neighbours shuffling upstairs, creak of floorboards, early buses and traffic, pigeons cooing on the window sill.

Concrete canyon, oh, I like that.

And the city waking up.

Oh, I can just imagine this.

That is lovely.

Thank you, Aisha.

Such a great range of ideas on your mind map.

I hope you enjoyed creating your mind maps.

We're now going to focus on creating some ideas for each verse.

We can use poems that we've studied to inspire us in our own poem.

I'm going to use the poem "Tempest Avenue" by Ian McMillan as a template for my own poem.

The poem begins with the speaker awake in the early hours of the morning.

It has a conversational tone, using enjambment to enhance the flow of the poem, engaging the reader or listener.

When writing your poem, you may wish to use another poem as a template or write freely.

There's the great thing about poetry.

We are so free to choose how we want to do things.

We can use the following template to support us when coming to write the poem.

Verse one, waking up, describing a quiet or personal moment you experience in this place.

Verse two, observation of others.

Introduce the person or character associated with this place and describe their actions or a unique aspect about them.

Verse three, community or environment.

Describe the environment or community activities happening around this time.

And verse four, a final reflection.

Reflect on your feelings or thoughts about this place, connecting it to your personal experience.

So we'll be starting with you, we're beginning with you, and then we've got observation of others and of the community or environment as well in between.

So let's map out some ideas for the verses.

It can be helpful to include different senses as unique verses.

Let's take Jun's idea.

So waking up.

7:00 AM standing on my balcony, watching the river flow.

Observation of others, someone waters her plants below.

Each droplet catches the light.

Community or environment.

Dog walkers heading out along winding paths.

The dogs happy to be outside.

And a final reflection, quietly writing the poem down so as not to disturb the scene.

Oh, really lovely ideas there, Jun, thank you for those.

And I love the way that you got each of those four aspects to the poem, the waking up, observing others, taking it more broadly out into the community.

And then back to yourself for that final reflection.

Great work, Jun.

Check for understanding.

Put the following verses in order to match the poem template, community or environment, waking up, final reflection, observation of others.

Pause the video while you put these verses in order to match the poem template.

First of all, waking up, well done.

Next, observation of others.

After that, community or environment.

And finally, the final reflection.

Well done if you put the verses in this order.

When writing your poem, you may wish to use another poem as a template or write freely.

And now for the next part of your task, I would like you to map out the structure of your verses.

Use the template below to support.

So verse one is waking up.

Verse two, observation of others.

Verse three, community or environment.

And verse four, final reflection.

Refer to your mind map.

Remember to include vivid imagery, appealing to the senses to paint a picture of your setting for the reader or listener.

So pause the video here while you have a go at mapping out the structure of your verses.

And I'll see you when you're finished.

Okay, great to be back with you.

I hope you got on well with mapping out the structure of your verses.

Let's see how Aisha got on.

So waking up.

6:00 AM, woken by neighbours upstairs shuffling, floorboards creaking.

Observation of others, brothers in the room next door are still sleeping, dreaming of football.

Community or environment.

The street below hums with traffic, engines a lullaby, concrete canyon.

And a final reflection, opening the window, scribbling these ideas down to match the busyness of the city.

Fantastic job, Aisha.

I really like, I like your enjambment there.

It really kind of kept us going one line over onto the next.

And some really great images there.

Love the concrete canyon.

The engines a lullaby and you're scribbling those ideas to match the busyness of the city.

Great job.

And now it's time to write our poem, writing a poem about a place.

We can now build on our ideas from our mind map.

Let's take a look at some of the ideas that were on Jun's mind map.

So he had river flowing.

We could add onto that gently.

We talk about someone caring for plants.

It's also, it's always more helpful if we get a little bit more specific.

So rather than someone, let's have Mrs. Li caring for plants.

And what about the plants? Each droplet catching the light.

Dog walkers, hm, what should we do here? Meandering dog walkers.

Meandering is when something goes in this kind of a path, takes this sort of a route.

And the pups bark excitedly.

Oh, I can just hear and see them, I love it.

"My mind map and verse structure helped me develop my ideas." Yeah, great one, Jun.

So here is Jun's example, which we've just expanded and got some more ideas in here.

"It's 7:00 AM and I'm standing on the balcony watching the river's gentle flow.

Below, Mrs. Li waters her plants, each droplet catching the dawn light.

Dog walkers pass through the morning mist, meandering along the winding path.

The pup's eager bark, a morning song.

I am quietly, so quietly writing this poem so as not to disturb the serene scene." Really great job, Jun.

And I can see that you enjoyed that enjambment.

And yeah, so Jun's saying, "I liked using enjambment to give my free verse poem a sense of flow." And you have really achieved that, Jun.

I love the way those lines just flow from one to the next.

Ideas flowing one into the other.

So now I'm going to give my initial response to Jun's poem, what I liked about it and if I have any questions about it.

"I liked how the poem keeps a calm and tranquil atmosphere.

The speaker is taking in the beauty of the morning scene.

The poem has themes of nature and community." Over to you.

It's your turn to give your initial response to the poem.

What did you like about the poem? And do you have any questions about it? Pause the video and tell someone nearby.

Thanks for sharing your initial responses.

Okay, it's time for your next task.

I would like you to write your own poem about a place that is significant to you.

Use your mind map and verse structure to support you.

And you can add examples of figurative and descriptive language as you build on your ideas.

Keep expanding, expanding your ideas.

Your lines might include enjambment, when a line in poetry continues onto the next line without pause or punctuation.

So pause the video here and off you go to write your own poem about a place that is significant to you.

Enjoy every line of poetry.

All right, you are back.

You've done it.

Well done.

Well done for creating your own poem.

I'd like you now to read aloud and share your poem and also to consider what was your favourite line, phrase or idea in your poem? So pause the video while you do that.

I hope you enjoyed sharing.

Let's have a look at Aisha's poem.

"It is 6:00 AM and I am woken by the neighbour upstairs shuffling, the creak of floorboards, a familiar sound.

My brothers are still asleep in their beds next door, dreaming of scoring goals in stadiums. Streets outside hum with early buses, their engines a constant lullaby in this concrete canyon.

I open a window and scribble these ideas down on the page, matching the energy of this busy city." And let's hear Aisha's reflection.

"I liked how I matched the busyness of the city with how the speaker wrote down the poem." Yeah, I really like how you do that.

That was fantastic in that final verse.

Well done, Aisha, and well done, everyone.

In our lesson today, writing a poem about a place, we have covered the following.

Poems can be written in many different forms and structures.

When writing a poem about a place, it's important to paint a vivid picture of the setting through our description.

Imagery we create can convey an atmosphere.

To help generate ideas, we can complete a mind map of actions and events that are associated with our experience.

We can use poems that we have studied to inspire us in our own poem.

Using enjambment in our poems can enhance the flow of the poem, engaging the reader or listener.

Well done, everyone.

You have been extremely engaging with your ideas, your imagery, your poems, and I hope you enjoyed this lesson as much as I have.

And if you enjoyed writing your poem today, maybe have a go at another one.

I look forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Bye for now.