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 more closely at the character of Del and her development from scene one all the way through to scene eight.

I can't wait to have a really deep understanding of this character and hear all of your fantastic ideas.

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

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you're going to be able to explain how and why the character of Del develops.

We're gonna look at her at the beginning at scene one, look how she changes over the course of the play over the course of the eight scenes and what factors might have contributed to that development.

I'm really excited about this lesson, not only because we get to track a character across a whole play, which gives such a rich understanding, but also because your argumentative voice is going to come through.

You are gonna decide how much you think Del develops and what contributes to her development.

There are some key words which are gonna help us unlock our learning and achieve our objective today.

They are obeah, which is a series of spell casting and healing traditions found in the Caribbean.

Development, the process by which something may change over time, including people understanding and accepting who they are.

And of course, today we're going to look at the character of Del and her development.

How does she understand who she is? How does she accept who she is? Identity, who you are, the qualities that make you.

Understanding, finding, and accepting your identity can be a life's work.

Topic sentence, the first sentence of a paragraph.

And it states the paragraph's main idea.

And I'm looking forward to hearing some fantastic topic sentences from you today.

Our lesson outline for today.

First of all, we're gonna think how does Del develop? And then we're gonna think, how does Pinnock present Del's development? And that's gonna be our bit of writing for today.

Let's start off with how does Del develop.

Here are all the scenes in which Del appears.

We've got one, two, five, six, seven, and eight.

I'd like you to discuss, focusing on Del, what happens in each scene.

Pause a video and discuss this question.

Recall what happens in each scene of "Leave Taking" where Del appears.

Pause the video now.

Fantastic quick summaries there, showing off your brilliant knowledge of the play, but I also saw lots of people flicking through their play, just making sure that their summaries were accurate.

And having your play next to you is such an important part of being a student of English, always having the text that you are studying next to you so that you can reread, reannotate, discuss.

So let's have a look at each of these scenes and think, well what happens with a focus on Del? What happens in each scene? So scene one, she's taken to an obeah reading.

She's rude, she tries to steal from Mai.

Scene two, she accuses her mother of ignoring racial discrimination and she leaves home.

Scene five, she lives with Mai.

There's an increasing interest in obeah and she argues with Viv.

Six, she continues living with Mai and believes her mother hates her.

Seven.

Finds out that her father used to beat her mother.

Eight, learns Mai is ill, becomes an obeah woman, and reads Enid's palm.

So really nice summary there of what happens in each of the scenes that Del appears.

Now bit of a harder question now.

I'd like you to discuss how does each scene see Del develop? So look at the first scene that she's in, how she's presented and what happens to her at the end.

And how does each scene see Del develop? How does it help her develop, help her understand who she is and how do we see her change over time? Pause a video and discuss this question now.

Some fantastic discussions.

They're really nice to see people thinking about a character over the whole course of a play, a really good understanding as well of this idea of development, this idea of changing, this idea of accepting who you are.

Here's some ideas you might have had.

So scene one, we know she's taken to an obeah reading.

She's rude, she tries to steal from Mai.

Well, despite her protests, there is an interest in obeah sparked.

Scene two, she accuses her mother of ignoring racial discrimination, she leaves home.

Well she's now independent of her mother.

She's out of the family home and its safety.

And this was a really nice moment.

I remember when I first read "Leave Taking," I didn't really understand the significance, I think, of the end of scene two where Del leaves the family home.

It's only when I've been rereading it really understanding, like this is a moment of her independence, breaking away from the family home and its safety.

Even though she argues with Enid a lot, there is a safety in that family home and now she's out on her own.

Scene five, she lives with Mai.

There's an increasing interest in obeah and she argues with Viv.

While she develops her understanding of obeah and its part of her cultural identity.

And Mai's really clever I think in the way that she introduces Del to obeah.

It's not didactic, it's not aggressive, it's just a drip feed of ideas often in response to Del's questions.

So we can see that she's developing her understanding of obeah and as such she's developing herself.

Scene six, she continues living with Mai and believes her mother hates her.

And she actually hears in this scene a different perspective of another mother raising a child.

So we know Mai has a son.

And in scene six she does reveal to Del the way that she brought her son up and her relationship with her son.

And again, this is something that I think I missed when I first read "Leave Taking." I know we came to when I was rereading it and writing about it and thinking about it more deeply that actually this moment, again, it's quite a light touch from Mai just saying this is how I brought up my son.

It allows Del to understand the perspective of another mother.

So rather than just criticising Enid and thinking this is what she chose to do and she's wrong, she actually sees another perspective and begins to understand her mother.

And that of course helps her understand herself.

Scene seven, she finds out that her father used to beat her mother and she develops an understanding here of her mother's choices, strength, and love.

And this is really important for Del who is always very, very critical of Enid.

And in fact in scene two, one of the reasons she leaves the family home is because she accuses Enid of being the cause of their parents breaking up, of her dad leaving.

Enid is so angry that she slaps Del and this is why Del leaves.

But here at this moment in scene seven, the penultimate scene of the play, she understands why her mother left her father.

And it's crucial in her understanding, coming to understand her mother, being a bit more accepting of her, a bit more understanding.

And finally, scene eight, she learns Mai is ill, becomes an obeah woman, and reads Enid's palm.

Well she now seems very secure in her cultural identity.

We see this because she assumes the mantle.

She becomes an obeah woman and she has a much more stable relationship with Enid.

So well done for really tracking Del's development over each of those eight scenes and thinking, well how can we move from the idea of plot to understanding what this character is doing, how she's developing.

Now students were discussing what they thought was the most important factor in Del's development.

We've got lots of different ideas.

Well here's what some students thought was the most important factor in her development.

So Aisha says, "I think the most significant factor is her relationship with Mai.

Although they argue, Pinnock uses Mai to bridge the gap between both Del and her mother and Del and her cultural identity.

Del's initial rejection of obeah develops into curiosity and acceptance.

We see this in scene eight when Del reads Enid's Palm." So really like Aisha's idea, she's saying, well I think it's her relationship with Mai.

So the real clarity with that line of thought and then all of these different moments really establish that Aisha's idea is something that we can believe in particularly this nice moment.

We see this in scene eight when Del reads Enid's palm.

So selecting a really clear moment in the text to support the idea that it is Mai's relationship that helps Del develop.

But Lucas says, "I think the most significant factor is Del finding out about her father's treatment of her mother in scene seven.

Although she initially rejects what Brod is telling her, it alters the way she sees and interacts with her mother.

We see this in scene eight when she and Enid have their only non-confrontational conversation in the whole play." So again, Lucas's got a really nice clear line of thought and he justifies it.

And I really, really like his final sentence.

"We see this in scene eight when she and Enid have their only non-confrontational conversation in the play." To pick out that all their other conversations are actually fights filled with conflict and say, look, this one is unique.

I thought that was a really perceptive moment.

I really like to hear both of those ideas.

Of course, neither student is right.

It's about their own interpretation and here both students have justified their interpretation.

So I'd like you to discuss now what do you think is the most significant factor in Del's development? It doesn't need to be her relationship with Mai, it doesn't need to be her father's treatment of her mother in scene seven.

You can think of any aspect, it might be something you've already discussed in our first learning cycle, first task in this learning cycle where we'll be looking at all the different ways that Del develops.

So you can now decide, well what do you think is the most significant factor in Del's development? And you can use Aisha's idea and Lucas's idea just to structure your discussion so that not only are you saying what do you think is the most significant factor, but also you can justify it with a reference to the text.

So pause the video and discuss this question now.

Some fantastic discussions there.

Lots of people debating what they think is the most significant factor in Del's development and pointing to moments in the play in order to justify their idea.

So really good to pinpoint various bits in the play where you think, well I think this is the most significant factor in Del's development.

And let me prove to you, let me prove why my argument is correct.

So here are some of the ideas that I heard during that debate, during that discussion.

Mai offering to be a support if she needs it.

Some people said it's scene one, that is what sparks Del's development because Mai seems to see in Del that she needs someone to speak to.

And maybe this allows Del to be a little bit more vulnerable to an adult in her life, to Mai, someone who's not her mother.

So this is the most important factor.

Heather said, "realising she's pregnant." So not only is leaving home saying, look, I'm an adult now, but also the fact that she herself is going to be a mother.

So having to assume that kind of independence and maturity.

Quitting her job in the face of racial discrimination.

I heard a few people say this, saying that this is really important because it kind of puts a marker in the ground of what she is or is not willing to accept in her life.

And this is really important in her development in terms of her growing up, in terms of her accepting who she is and what she is able to accept in her day-to-day life.

Moving out of home after Enid slaps her, which for me does seem a really, really significant moment in her development.

And something that I would really like to explore further, probably through some writing to see can I explore this idea and see if it really holds up.

Moving in with Mai in scene five, lots of people mentioned this, the fact that moving in is a kind of moment where she's saying, "I do need Mai's help.

I can't rely on my friends." And Mai, she has a very different relationship with Mai than she does with Enid.

And that really helps her to develop.

The breakdown of her relationship with Viv.

So no longer having that sibling relationship but really feeling like I need to be independent.

But some people also saying, well it shows the reason she throws Viv out is because Viv skipped one of her exams. So this is Del not being this kind of confrontational antagonistic, I don't care about anything character, but instead saying your education's really important.

And so this is a kind of moment of her maturing, developing, seeing the world with clarity.

Learning about Mai's son and his desire for escape.

So that kind of perspective of understanding that Del is not alone in feeling kind of restless in Britain and dissatisfied in Britain.

So maybe that helps her to develop.

Passing Mai's exams. So this is a really lovely moment in the play because Del has found education quite difficult.

And so the fact that she's so successful in these exams feels really successful and then moves into the idea that, okay, I'm going to be an obeah woman.

It's a really lovely moment for this character.

A really positive moment of kind of affirmation.

Learning Mai is ill.

So the passing of Mai's exam balanced with this really unhappy moment, learning that Mai is ill, that she's not going to have this person to rely on to support her as she has had before.

Or hearing Enid speak about her relationship with her own mother.

So these last moments of the play, they're so revealing for Enid, she has a really long bit of dialogue.

Del actually barely says anything and this seems, but what we do see is Del's actions.

What does she do after her mother tells her about her relationship with her own mother? So again, this seems like a really significant moment in terms of Del's development, in terms of her relationship with her mother.

So lots and lots of different ideas there and no correct answer, but just what you think is the most significant factor in Del's development.

If you can justify it with moments from the text with your reading of the text, then you will be able to do a really nice bit of writing in terms of the most significant factor in her development.

So check for understanding just so that we really understand how Del has moved from scene one Del to scene eight Del, how she developed over the course of the play.

What does Del's more stable relationship with Enid in scene eight signal about the character of Del? Is it A, she's an obeah woman.

B.

She has developed her understanding of Enid.

C.

She needs Enid because Mai is going to die.

D.

She feels more secure in who she is past and present.

Pause the video and select your responses now.

Well done if you selected B and D, she has developed her understanding of Enid absolutely and she feels more secure in who she is past and present.

Now "Leave Taking" ends with a set of stage directions.

So scene eight, just have eight scenes in this play and it ends with a set of stage directions.

And here they are.

It says, "Del has a struggle with herself.

Then she makes a decision.

She joins Enid at the table and takes her mother's hand into both her own and smooths the palm with her thumbs.

She examines the palm for a moment, then looks into her mother's eyes.

The lights go down as Del begins the reading." So we just had Enid's extended bit of dialogue where she explains this is what my relationship was like with my mother.

And then we see Del's reaction to it.

So no dialogue, just her reaction in these stage directions.

Now using the prompts to guide you, I'd like you to annotate this section, how Pinnock establishes Del's character development.

And here are the prompts.

I'd like you to consider Pinnock's verbs.

What do they show about Del's choices? I'd like you to consider the last time Del and Enid had physical contact.

How is this different? And Del looks into her mother's eyes, what does this tell us? So these incredibly rich stage directions, an amazing way to end the play.

Seeing this on stage I think would be so incredibly powerful.

It reveals so much.

But we get to read these stage directions and as such, we can think about small things like Pinnock's verbs choices.

We can think about the last time Del and Enid had physical contact.

So we get to be able to unpack these stage directions.

So I'd like you now to pause the video and using those prompts to guide you, just annotate this section, showing how Pinnock establishes Del's character development.

Pause the video and complete your annotations now.

Beautiful annotations there.

So rich and so reflective in terms of your conversation.

Bringing all of the ideas from this learning cycle from that table where we thought, well how can we connect those plot points to the idea of Del's development? Bring them all to richness in this annotation of the final stage directions of this play.

Let's have a look at some of the ideas that you might have had.

So I think this might have been my favourite question because looking at these verbs, verbs are so important.

Showing the action, what are the characters actually doing? And always a really, really nice place to start I think.

So what do they show about Del's choices? Well it shows she makes a decision.

She joins Enid, she takes her mother's hand, she smoothes the palm, she examines the palm, she begins the reading.

So unlike when she was dragged along to the obeah reading in scene one, Del is gentle with her mother, giving her time, shown through the verb "examines." And the final verb "begins" suggests the end of the play is a new beginning for Del.

So the lights go down, Del begins the reading, as Del begins the reading.

And I think that's such a lovely verb to end the play on because we have an end of the play.

It is in some ways an end, but it also seems like it is the start of something new for Del.

Consider the last time Del and Enid had physical contact.

How is this different? Well we know at the end of scene two, Enid slapped Del.

She was so angry with her for accusing her of being the reason that the father left.

But now she, Del, joins Enid at the table and takes her mother's hands into both her own and smoothes the palm.

With her thumb, she examines the palm.

So in scene two, Enid slapped Del and Del left.

Now Del joins Enid.

Smoothing her palm is symbolic of a closer relationship.

Del doesn't make accusations, she tries to understand her instead.

So a very tender moment between mother and daughter, the taking of each other's hands, the smoothing of the palm, looking at the palm, all very symbolic at this idea of their closer and more understanding relationship.

And finally, Del looks into her mother's eyes.

What does this tell us? Well Del not only tries to understand her mother and connect with her, but she's also listened to Mai's advice about what it means to be an obeah woman.

Del respects the practise as well as her mother.

So Mai has told Del repeatedly, if you want to understand your clients, you need to look into their eyes, and we can see that Del has taken that to heart.

And again, we've got this moment of connection 'cause they're sort of holding each other's hands, but they're also looking into each other's eyes.

So I think a really beautiful kind of still shot to end the play on.

Well done for looking at those stage directions in such detail.

For me, such a beautiful moment, a beautiful resolution to this play, particularly for Del and Enid to have had such internal and external conflict throughout.

So we're gonna move on to our second learning cycle.

How does Pinnock present Del's development? We've had amazing discussions in learning cycle one, so I'm really looking forward to getting some of our ideas down on paper, which is what we're gonna do in learning cycle two.

So a student wanted to answer this question, how does Pinnock present Del's development? And this is their argument.

"Pinnock presents Del's development as inextricably linked to the theme of identity.

As Del begins to understand and then accept her cultural heritage, she begins to feel, as Mai puts it, more at peace with herself and at home in Britain." I'd like you to discuss why is this such a powerful idea? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Some lovely discussions there celebrating some fantastic writing, and we're gonna aim towards some fantastic writing towards the end of this learning cycle.

So it's great that you already know what makes really, really powerful work.

So here's some ideas you might have had.

Pinnock presents, while acknowledging that Pinnock crafted her characters, though they seem so real to us, they have been crafted by Pinnock.

And always good to acknowledge that at the start of your argument.

Del's development as inextricably linked to the theme of identity.

Well that's a really clear argument.

It might not be your argument.

You might think Del's development is linked to something else, but this student thinks it's linked to the theme of identity and they've made that really clear.

So the clarity of their argument is really important.

And then this final section is, Del begins to understand and then accept her cultural heritage.

She begins to feel, as Mai puts it, more at peace with herself and at home in Britain.

So they've justified their argument.

This is not their full essay, but it alerts me to what they might be talking about in their essay.

So a really, really nice powerful idea there.

Now I'd like you to discuss what would your own powerful idea be in response to this question? And I'd like you to use the appearances of Del to help you.

So here's our table that we looked at in learning cycle one.

So we've got all of these plot points that you correctly identified.

So what would be your own powerful idea in response to this question? How does Pinnock present Del's development? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Some fantastic discussions there.

Really, really rich.

Again, people developing their ideas with the support of their play.

So having their play right next to them and looking at it to say, "I think this idea, can I justify it? Yes I can." We're gonna look at two ideas from other students and you're gonna compare your powerful idea to these students' and see, have I got a really clear line of argument that I could follow through throughout a whole essay? So we've got Pinnock presents Del's development in conjunction with Enid's.

Both characters have to confront their pasts in order to feel secure in their identities and their future.

So I really like Izzy's idea, the idea of anchoring Del's development with Enid.

So her essay would explore both of these characters and I can see that really, really clear line of argument with both characters have to confront their pasts in order to feel secure in their identities and their future.

So I can see what type of ideas Izzy is gonna be exploring throughout her essay.

But Jacob says, "Pinnock presents Del's development as one of growing up, a move from unhappy dependence on her mother to assuming her independence and power within the world." So quite a different idea to Izzy's.

He's not gonna be looking at the past so much, but the idea of what actually happens in the play.

Del moving out, Del realising that she's pregnant, Del throwing Viv out, learning about obeah.

So really, really nice essay but completely different to Izzy's.

And you can see that it's really important you establish your own line of argument.

There is no right answer about the play "Leave Taking." There is no right answer about Del's development.

It's your own interpretation.

So after crafting their main idea, the student wrote a topic sentence and they said, "Pinnock presents Mai's influence as a significant factor in Del's development." I'd like you to discuss what evidence could they use to support this idea.

Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Really fantastic discussions there showing your understanding of Del and her relationship with Mai throughout the course of the play.

You might've said, well Mai sees that Del needs to talk and offers to be always here.

And this stable presence helps Del feel more stable with herself.

And this happens in scene one at the very end where Mai seems to understand Del in a way that maybe is a bit unexpected for Del.

She didn't quite expect Mai to understand her like she does.

Mai tells Del of her son, she wished he could journey inside himself and find peace.

She helps Del with her own journey by helping her find her cultural roots via obeah practises.

And this happens in scene six.

And Mai's impending death sees Del developed into someone confident enough to carry the practise of obeah on.

The play ends with her beginning a reading, perhaps suggesting a new beginning for Del.

This happens in scene eight and it was really nice to hear people look at the topic sentence and think Pinnock presents Mai's influence as a significant factor in Del's development.

And not just pinpoint one idea that would support that topic sentence, but a number of ideas, meaning that this paragraph would be incredibly rich.

Now a quick check for understanding before we move into justifying our own arguments about how Pinnock presents Del's development.

Which of the below would serve as a powerful idea in answer to the question, how does Pinnock present Del's development? I'd like you to read through the three responses and then you select what you think is a really powerful idea in terms of how Pinnock presents Del's development.

Pause the video, read through the responses, and select your answer now.

Well done if you selected B, Pinnock establishes that Del's developing interest in obeah mirrors her developing understanding of her own self-worth and value.

So a really powerful idea.

I can see that the student would then talk about Del's relationship with obeah, with her cultural identity throughout their essay.

C cannot be correct.

It is not a bad idea, but it can't be the powerful idea that begins their essay because it has a quotation and a reference to scene eight that would come further down later in the essay rather than starting the essay.

And A, Pinnock includes a plot development, Del's pregnancy, to see this character think about how to earn money; being an obeah woman is the best option available to her.

That's an inaccurate reading of the text.

That is not why Del becomes an obeah woman.

So the correct answer is B.

Now, earlier in this learning cycle, you created your own powerful idea in response to this question.

How does Pinnock present Del's development? You came up with an overarching idea how you think Pinnock presents Del's development.

I'd like you to add to this argument with a developed paragraph that has a topic sentence and evidence from the text.

And you can use a student's topic sentence if you wish, which was Pinnock presents Mai's influence as a significant factor in Del's development.

So if that makes sense for your argument, for your overarching idea, you can use that topic sentence.

So we've been thinking about Del's development throughout this whole lesson.

I'm really excited now to see you put those ideas to paper.

And we'll get lots and lots of different interpretations, lots of different answers to this question.

So pause the video, get your pen and paper ready, or your laptop if you are typing, and answer this question.

Pause the video and answer the question now.

It was so lovely to see people writing their ideas, getting that powerful idea down to the paper and then justifying it in a main body paragraph.

People had their texts open, were flicking between different scenes, different pages, in order to justify their arguments.

It's a lovely, lovely sight to see.

Now, before we celebrate your work, I'd like you to self-assess using the following questions to guide you.

Do you have a powerful idea to start your writing? Does your topic sentence clearly explain what that paragraph will be about? And does each paragraph include evidence from the text to support your topic sentence? So really hold yourself to account.

'Cause we've had amazingly rich discussions today, and so you should have a really powerful idea, a great topic sentence, and some of that evidence.

So just check that you do, pause the video, and edit your work using these questions to guide you.

Do that now.

Beautiful to see people going through their work so carefully.

Editing is such an important part of the writing process, just as important as discussion and the writing itself.

In summary, at the start of the play, Del appears uninterested in obeah and her cultural roots.

At the start of the play, Del's relationship with Enid is full of conflict.

Del develops over the course of the play.

Pinnock links Del's development to Mai, obeah, and Del's newfound understanding of her mother.

The closing stage directions established the depth of Del's development.

It has been such a pleasure to work through this lesson with you today, to hear your amazing ideas and then see them all come together in a beautiful bit of writing.

I look forward to seeing you next time.