Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad you've decided to learn with me today.

We're in the modern text first study unit and our modern text is "Leave Taking." Today, we're gonna look at an essay question and we are gonna create a watertight plan, a really convincing argument in response to this essay question.

I can't wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas.

I'm gonna be your support and guide as we work through this lesson together.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're going to be able to plan a well-structured and convincing argument.

We're gonna get to grips with an essay question.

We're gonna annotate and we're gonna think, well, what is our argument in the first place? And how can we structure it so that by the end of the essay, by the end of our plan, our readers are convinced by our argument, whatever that argument might be.

There are some key words which are gonna help unlock our learning today.

They are thesis, which is the overarching argument to an essay supported by the entire text.

We're gonna look at this word in a lot more detail throughout today's lesson.

Topic sentence.

This is the first sentence of a paragraph, and it states the paragraph's main idea.

And just like thesis statements, we're gonna look at topic sentences in a lot of detail today as well.

Dramatic methods.

Now, these are the tools a playwright uses to create drama.

Examples of setting stage directions, dialogue, and language choices.

And I know that you know, want to explore and are eager to look at Pinnock's dramatic methods in this fantastic play in "Leave Taking." Main quotations.

These are quotations which support your topic sentence and that require analysis.

So there's really rich quotations that you really want to unpack.

Supporting quotations.

These are quotations which support your topic sentence, but don't require analysis.

Not every single quotation needs to be analysed, but you still might want to use it in your essay.

So these key words today, they're gonna be referenced throughout the lesson and they're gonna unlock our learning.

Our lesson outline for today, we're gonna start off by looking at thesis statements and topic sentences.

Obviously, these are two of our keywords, so it's important we understand them really thoroughly.

And then we're gonna look at main quotations and supporting quotations.

Again, these are part of our keywords.

So by the end of this lesson, you're really gonna understand well what can create a well structured and convincing argument, and how can I rely on these key terms over and over again when I'm doing some analytical writing, some analytical planning.

We're gonna start off with thesis statements and topic sentences.

So you're gonna plan and answer to this question in today's lesson.

How does Pinnock use Del to explore ideas around belonging in "Leave Taking?" Now, Alex has done the sensible thing.

His first step is to annotate the question and he annotated the word "how" because he knows he needs to explore Pinnock's dramatic methods.

He annotated the word "Del" because he knows he needs to focus on this character.

And he annotated the word "belonging" because he knows he needs to explore this theme.

So a small step, but a really important one when you are faced with an essay question, just to do some quick annotations.

Now, when writing an essay, one way to start your planning is to write the thesis statement and supporting topic sentences.

'cause these will be the foundations of your essay.

So if you get these right, the rest of the planning and the rest of the writing will be really, really easy.

So a thesis statement is a general overarching statement, and as we said before, it is supported by the whole text.

We looked at that when we looked at our key words.

Now, your topic sentence is specific and focused, and you can see that you have one thesis statement, but one, two, three topic sentences generally.

Sometimes you might want an additional topic sentence, you might have more to say, and more time for your particular essay.

But we are gonna work with the idea that we want three topic sentences today.

Now, here is Alex's plan, which answers the question, how does Pinnock use the character of Del to explore ideas about belonging? So we know he's annotated the question.

And now his first stage of planning is to think of his thesis and three topic sentences.

So his thesis, he wrote, "Pinnock uses the character of Del to explore ideas about belonging.

Sometimes Del doesn't feel like she belongs and other times she does.

Overall, Pinnock shows that feeling like you belong is hard." Here is topic sentence, the first one.

Del is very angry in Scene Two when she says to her mum, "You don't see the police vans hunting us down." Topic sentence two.

Pinnock explores ideas around migration, 1980s Britain, and the legacy of colonisation.

And topic sentence three.

At the end of the play, Del and Enid reconcile.

Now, I'd like you to discuss, look at Alex's plan, his first draught of his plan, what improvements could Alex make? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Some really beautiful discussions there looking at this plan and really showing off your knowledge of these keywords, thesis and topic sentence.

So thinking, has Alex got a secure thesis? Does he have three secure topic sentences? And this is a really, really good first draught.

He's got some foundations of a plan, but there are, you are absolutely right, some improvements that he could make.

So you might have said, "Well, if we look at this thesis, he hasn't actually got an overarching thesis." Instead, he's looked at the question from two completely different angles.

He said, "Sometimes Del feels like she belongs and other times she doesn't." Now, that's not a clear thesis.

It's sort of looking at the question from two different angles.

And we don't want that in essay.

We want to have a clear idea, of course, allowing four different ideas, but at least one solid idea in that thesis.

Let's look at these topic sentences.

Now, we've got three really big ideas, actually probably more than three ideas.

Alex has tried to put in as many ideas as he can to these topic sentences.

And, actually, that's not super helpful to him because instead they should focus on one idea that can be developed into a paragraph.

So, for example, if we look at that second topic sentence, Pinnock explores ideas around migration, 1980s Britain, and the legacy of colonisation.

That is a lot to do in one paragraph and it'll be probably be better if Alex broke that down a little bit.

Lots of people also said, "Well, he's got some ideas and yes, there should just be one, so we should drill that down." But also these topic sentences should link to the question and your thesis.

And at the moment they seem slightly random.

They don't seem to be really linking to the idea of Del and belonging specifically.

And that is after all our essay question, they haven't asked us to write everything we know about "Leave Taking," but instead they've asked us to focus on Del and ideas around belonging.

So some really helpful feedback that you've given to Alex there.

And of course it was his first draught of his plan, first draught and redrafting and redrafting is a really important part of the planning process.

So there's absolutely no issues with returning to your plan thinking, how could I make it even better? Which is exactly what Alex did.

So let's have a look at that.

He's redrafted his plan and now it reads, we've got his thesis, "Pinnock explores ideas of belonging in the character of Del by presenting her sense of dislocation both in her family home and in Britain where she was born." Topic sentence one, Pinnock presents Mai's influence as a significant factor in Del's sense of belonging.

Topic sentence two, Pinnock presents Del's feelings of unbelonging as linked to her status as a second generation immigrant.

And topic sentence three, in the closing scenes, Pinnock reveals that Del's sense belonging comes from confronting and accepting her past, including her cultural identity.

So lovely, a second draught here.

Well, let's work out why it is so lovely.

Why is this a much more successful plan? I'd like you to look at this plan, Alex's redrafted plan and discussed this question.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Some really lovely discussions there celebrating a student's redraft, which is a really nice thing to hear.

And again, showing off your knowledge of what makes a really powerful thesis and what makes a good, clear, specific topic sentence.

So here's some ideas you might have had.

So the thesis to begin with, it is very clear and it's overarching links to the question.

So Alex is saying that, "Pinnock explores ideas of belonging the character Del by presenting her sense of dislocation." And he's expanded that a little bit by saying that she feels a sense of dislocation, a sense of unbelonging, unsettlement in her family home and in Britain.

So I can see where his essay is going to go.

So really nice clear thesis there.

The topic sentences, while each topic sentence does develop his thesis and they continue to link to the question.

So you can see that each topic sentence looks at the idea of belonging, actually uses that word.

So we've got the character of Mai is the first focus of that first paragraph, the idea of being a second generation immigrant.

So he's refined his ideas about 1980s Britain, the legacy of colonisation, and migration.

He's just focusing on one thing now and then looking at the closing scenes and the character of Del and what's happening to her there.

So really clear plan.

So writing the essay for Alex.

Now he's got these solid foundations, he's redrafted them, made sure they're really, really strong, really, really clear, and he can move forward with his plan knowing that he is secure in his ideas.

Now, I'd like to do a check for understanding with these key words, thesis and topic sentence.

The first one we're going to focus on our check is what makes a powerful thesis because it's such an important foundation for any essay.

So I'd like you to select the most powerful thesis, which answers the question, how does Pinnock use Del to explore ideas around belonging in "Leave Taking?" We've got, A, Pinnock presents Del as a character who feels intense anger at her sense of unbelonging because she's a second generation immigrant.

Scene Two sees her express her frustration about this.

B, Pinnock presents Del's feelings of belonging as linked to her sense of self.

As Del begins to accept her cultural identity, she begins to feel she belongs.

Or C, Pinnock presents Del's feelings of belonging as connected to our relationship with Mai, especially in Scene Six.

So pause the video and select which you think best supports, which is the most powerful thesis, sorry, which answers this question, how does Pinnock use Del to explore ideas around belonging in "Leave Taking?" Pause the video and select your response now.

Well done.

If you selected B, we can see we've got an overarching idea here, which is supported by the whole text.

A and C have some really interesting ideas, but they are located in one scene of the play.

So they are not thesis statements, not an overarching idea which you can carry forward through a whole essay.

Now, let's look at the idea of topic sentences.

So which topic sentence best supports this thesis? Pinnock presents Del's feelings of belonging as linked to her sense of self.

As Del begins to accept her cultural identity, she begins to feel she belongs.

This time, I'd like you to read through each of the responses and then select which you think is the most powerful topic sentence, which best supports the thesis.

Pause the video, read through the responses, and then select which you think is the best topic sentence to support this thesis.

Pause the video now.

Well done if you selected C, Pinnock's opening scenes established belonging as a central theme with Del's anger at her sense of dislocation directed towards Enid.

So really nice clear idea.

I know this student is going to look at the opening scenes and Del's sense of dislocation.

If we look at A, Pinnock uses a range of dramatic methods to explore ideas around belonging.

It is of course important to look at dramatic methods, but you shouldn't list them in a topic sentence.

You should instead look at a big idea.

And with B, "I already know who I am," shows that Del initially rejects the idea that she doesn't have a strong sense of belonging.

This student has started with a quotation and it's a really important quotation in the play.

I completely agree that the student might want to focus on it in their essay, but it's not the way to start a topic sentence with a quotation.

You should use that for later analysis in your main body paragraph.

Well done for sharing such a secure understanding of topic sentence and the thesis.

Really important foundational words when you are creating a plan, and when you are writing an essay about "Leave Taking." So with all of that fantastic knowledge about what makes a really good thesis, what makes a really good topic sentence, I would like you to write your own thesis and three supporting topic sentences, which answered this question, how does Pinnock use the character of Del to explore ideas about belonging? You're gonna pause the video, you're gonna create your thesis and your three topic sentences.

If like Alex, you need to go back and do a little bit of redrafting after you've written your initial ideas, please, please do that.

Such an important part of the writing process.

I can't wait to hear all of your fantastic thesis and see your topic sentences which support that thesis.

So pause the video and you're gonna get started now.

It was so lovely to see people writing there with their play right beside them, looking in for ideas, just checking, refining thoughts that they had about Del and the idea of belonging and just really sense checking their topic sentences and thesis statements against the success criteria that we've been looking at throughout this learning cycle.

Now, you are going to use the following questions to self-assess your plan so you know it's absolutely watertight and you can move forward with the next stage of your plan, feeling really, really confident.

So does your thesis have a clear and overarching argument? I know you are able to evaluate this because you did it for Alex earlier in this learning cycle.

Does each topic sentence support and develop your thesis? Again, you did this for Alex, so I know that you can do it for yourself.

And does each topic sentence have a clear focus so you can explore the play and/or its contexts? So pause the video and using these three questions, just self-assess your plan, your thesis statement, and topic sentences so far.

Pause the video now.

Lovely to see people refining their plan, making sure that it is really secure as we move on to the next stage of our lesson where we're gonna build upon this plan.

So you've got a really good thesis statement, a really good topic sentence.

The next stage of the lesson is going to be really easy and you're gonna feel even more confident that your plan is something that you can really rely on to answer this exciting question, how does Del, sorry, how does Pinnock use Del to explore ideas around belonging? So we've looked at thesis statements and topic sentences, and now we're gonna look at this idea of main quotations and supporting quotations.

And we're gonna find main quotations and supporting quotations for your topic sentences.

So when writing a main body paragraph, the way you select and write about quotations is key to creating a convincing argument.

And that is our objective today, to create a convincing argument.

Now, your quotation should support your topic sentence, come from across the play, and be divided into main quotations and supporting quotations.

And main quotations are quotations you will analyse in depth and you'll focus on dramatic methods.

And supporting quotations are quotations you'll embed in sentences, but they don't need to be analysed.

So Alex, Alex has got his thesis statement, his topic sentences, and he's now gathering quotations to support his first topic sentence.

So his first topic sentence was Pinnock presents Mai's influence as a significant factor in Del's sense of belonging.

His main quotations are, Del "hangs" back from Scene One, so stage direction.

"I can see you need to talk," from Scene One as well.

And, "Now I see it plain plain," which is from Scene Seven.

And his supporting quotations are voodoo, mumbo jumbo, and stupid, all of which are found in Scene One.

So you can see that his main quotations come from across the play.

It's got something from scene one and from scene seven, and they are rich in dramatic methods.

We can see stage directions, for example, in that first quotation that he has selected.

So really nice selection of quotations for this topic sentence.

Now, Alex uses his plan to write a main body paragraph.

Here it is, "Pinnock presents Mai's influence as a significant factor in Del's sense of belonging." So that was his topic sentence that he planned in learning cycle one.

"Indeed, Pinnock foreshadows their relationship in Scene One, despite Del calling obeah voodoo, mumbo jumbo, and stupid, the stage direction state that when Enid and Viv go, Del hangs back showing that despite her antagonism she's drawn to Mai in some way.

Furthermore, Mai offers to be a support to Del saying, 'I can see you need to talk.

' Mai's ability to see what Del needs is echoed in Scene Seven when she realises that Del has a calling to be an obeah woman saying, 'Now I see it plain plain.

' In this way, Pinnock shows that it is Mai who helps Del feel like she belongs offering both somewhere to stay when she leaves the family home, and more importantly a stable sense of her identity so that Del no longer feels a sense of dislocation." So really nice paragraph that Alex can feel proud of there.

He's used his topic sentence, which he planned and his main quotations and supporting quotations.

And we're gonna look at these main quotations and supporting quotations in a bit more detail now.

So I'd like you to discuss, I've just got a section of his paragraph where he's looked at these main quotations and I want you to discuss what has he done with his main quotations? So pause the video, look at this section of his paragraph and discuss this question.

What has he done with his main quotations? Pause the video now.

Some beautiful discussions there showing off your fantastic knowledge of what this phrase main quotations actually means.

So lots of people focused at the beginning with the fact that he's got this word foreshadows.

He's mentioned stage direction and he's looked at echoing language.

So he has identified dramatic methods, but it was really nice to hear people saying, "Well, it's not enough just to identify dramatic methods.

You actually have to analyse them." And we can see that Alex has done this when he says, "The stage direction showed that despite her antagonism, she's drawn to Mai in some way.

And Mai's ability to see what Del needs is echoed in Scene Seven." So he has explored those dramatic methods.

He hasn't just said this is an example of stage direction.

This is an example of echoing language.

He's actually said what that might mean, how Pinnock uses these dramatic methods to explain, develop her messages.

We've also got this idea that he's linked quotations together.

So he has this quotation from Scene One where he talks about Enid and Viv go and Del hangs back, but then he uses this lovely discourse marker, furthermore.

And then he says that this language is echoed in Scene Seven.

So just using a discourse marker, furthermore, in addition later on, and then linking these two quotations together is a really skillful thing to do with your main quotations in a paragraph.

And Alex has done that really, really well here.

Now, I'd like you to discuss this question.

We know Alex has explored his main quotations really well.

Well, what has he done with his supporting quotations? And I've just selected a moment from his paragraph where he's looked at his supporting quotations.

So pause the video and discuss this question.

What has he done with his supporting quotations? Pause the video now.

Some really nice sharp, clear discussions there saying he's embedded them into a sentence but he has not analysed them and he does not need to analyse these quotations.

They're really good ones to include.

It's nice to know how Del was feeling about obeah at the beginning of the play, but he doesn't need to say the word voodoo means, the phrase mumbo jumbo means, the word stupid means.

It might mean that these quotations are useful to explore in another essay, but for his particular paragraph, he knows that he can just put them in and then explore his main quotations and he doesn't need to explore his supporting quotations.

So a check for understanding.

We showed our fantastic knowledge of thesis statements and topic sentences in our earlier checks for understanding.

Now, let's have a look at quotations.

So is this true or false? Every quotation in an essay should be analysed in detail.

Pause the video and select whether you think it is true or false.

Pause the video now.

Well done if you selected that it is false.

Now, I'd like you to justify your answer.

Is it, A, quotations don't always have to be analysed in detail, but you should always identify at least one method in them or zoom in on a word, or B, quotations, which are rich in methods should be analysed.

Supporting quotations can be embedded into sentences without analysis.

Pause the video and select your justification now.

Well done if you selected B.

Of course, you do not need to analyse every single quotation.

You do not need to look at a method in every quotation.

You do not need to zoom in on a word in every single quotation.

Okay, let's have another check for understanding.

We know that we've got quotations, some of them we need to analyse in some of them we don't.

Let's see if we can identify which are the main quotations and which are the supporting quotations.

So we've got paragraph here.

Pinnock presents Del's feeling of unbelonging as linked to her status as a second generation immigrant.

In Scene Two, she expresses her frustration at being treated like she can't speak English.

And more than that at the "police vans hunting us down," the verb "hunting," expressing Del's sense of vulnerability in the face of racial discrimination as a black British citizen in 1980s Britain.

Now, I'd like you to tell me, which are the main quotations and which are the supporting quotations? Pause the video, look at that paragraph and see if you can divide the quotations into main and supporting.

Pause a video now.

Well done if you selected "police vans hunting us down" as a main quotation.

We can see that this student has analysed this verb hunting and the supporting quotation is "can't speak English." They have not explored this for dramatic methods, which is of course absolutely fine.

Now, with this fantastic knowledge of main quotations and supporting quotations, and of course with your brilliant topic sentences from learning cycle one, I would like you to select your main quotations and supporting quotations for each of your three topic sentences.

And there's a diagram on the board to kinda show you what that might look like.

So pause the video, get your play script to hand.

I could see people already reaching for it.

Of course, there's no way you can get your main quotations or supporting quotations without the play script in your hand and getting your plan, your topic sentences that you wrote earlier so that you can find those main and supporting quotations.

So pause the video, good luck and get started.

Beautiful to see people selecting really, really rich, main quotations with exciting dramatic methods, which they're going to explore in their main body paragraphs and some really choice selection of supporting quotations, which are just going to enrich your paragraph and really show off your knowledge of the full play.

Now, before we celebrate your fantastic plans, I'd like you to self-assess your quotations using the three questions below to guide you.

Do they support each of your topic sentences? Do they come from across the play that can really lift a paragraph if you've got quotations from across the play to support your topic sentence? And are they divided into main quotations and supporting quotations? Pause the video using these questions to guide you, self-assess your plan now.

Beautiful to see people refining some of the quotations that they want to use and really thinking, do these quotations support my topic sentence? Can I analyse a dramatic method here? Will I be able to embed this into a sentence with a supporting quotation? It has been such a pleasure to create this fantastically convincing argument with you today.

And as a reminder, a thesis statement is a clear overarching argument.

Topic sentences give focus to individual paragraphs.

Topic sentences should support the overarching thesis.

Select main quotations and supporting quotations to include in an essay.

Main quotations should be analysed.

Supporting quotations don't need to be analysed.

You now have an absolutely amazing plan, which you could leave, put aside, and return to when you're doing some revision about "Leave Taking." Or you could write the essay and really show off how this foundational plan with all these different elements, thesis statements, topic sentences, supporting quotations, main quotations, has really allowed you to answer this question about Del and her sense of belonging really, really beautifully and powerfully.

I look forward to seeing you next time, and thank you for sharing all of your fantastic ideas with me today.