Hello, welcome to our lesson today where we'll be reading the opening to "Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood and forming opinions on characters.

My name's Ms. Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

Our learning outcome for today is to form a personal response about a character.

Today we'll be forming a personal response about the narrator of "Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood.

We have three key words today.

Let's go through them together.

The first is "alias".

An alias indicates a false identity, especially one used by a criminal.

Our next word is "relish".

To relish something is to like or enjoy it.

And "penitent", if you show you are penitent, you are showing that you are sorry for doing something wrong.

So our three keywords for today are "alias", "relish" and "penitent".

I'll give you a moment to pause the video and reflect upon those keywords now.

Great, let's move on to look at our learning cycles in today's lesson.

In our first learning cycle, we are going to be reading the opening to "Alias Grace" and we'll be making inferences on the text.

And in our second learning cycle, we'll be forming an opinion on the narrator of "Alias Grace".

So let's begin with reading the text and making some inferences.

So today we are going to read an extract from "Alias Grace" by Margaret Atwood.

It is narrated by a character named Grace.

Let's start off with some predictions about the text based on the title.

What do you think of when you hear the word "alias"? Pause the video and reflect upon that question.

Let's go through what you may have said.

"Alias" could bring to mind any of these ideas here.

Maybe you thought someone that has an alias or uses an alias might be mysterious.

Maybe the word "alias" brought to mind criminal associations.

It could also make you think that someone with an alias might have secrets or may wish to remain hidden.

So let's take these predictions with us as we read the text.

What do you expect a narrator named "Alias Grace" to be like? Do you expect to like her? Do you expect her to be trustworthy? What do you think this narrator is going to be like? Pause the video and discuss.

Fantastic discussions.

A lot of you are not expecting to trust Alias Grace.

A lot of you are perhaps expecting not to like her.

Let's read the text and find out more about Alias Grace.

I want you to read the first seven paragraphs from Chapter three of "Alias Grace".

You are going to start with the word "1859" and end with the word "bonnets".

Here are your questions to answer as you read this text.

First of all, what is a governor? Second of all, what is the narrator often doing in the Governor's wife's parlour? The third question is, the narrator says she's an object of two things.

What are they? And number four, the narrator says she's one of the Governor's wife's "accomplishments".

What do you think she means by this? So those are your four comprehension questions to support your reading of the text.

Pause the video and get reading.

I really hope you enjoy this extract.

I found it really interesting the way the narrator builds intrigue around her in that section of text.

I wonder what you found interesting.

Let's go through your comprehension questions now.

A governor is someone in charge of a particular organisation.

So we get the sense that the narrator works for someone who's quite important.

The second question, the narrator is often cleaning the Governor's wife's parlour.

This might make us think that the narrator works as a maid or a cleaner for the Governor and his wife.

Number three, the narrator says she is an object of both fear and charity.

That creates a sense of intrigue around the narrator because we're not quite sure why people might fear her, but also why do people view her as charity? Why might people feel sorry for her? And number four, the narrator says she is one of the Governor's wife's accomplishments.

Perhaps she means that the Governor's wife is proud of her or feels that she can show her off.

Perhaps the narrator makes the Governor's wife feel superior.

We are not quite sure what the narrator's purpose in the Governor's wife household is because she's an object of fear and of charity, but she's also an accomplishment.

So in this section of text, the narrator's role and character is quite ambiguous, which builds a sense of intrigue.

Now, we are going to start making some inferences on the text now.

What does inference mean and when might this skill be useful in English? Pause the video and discuss.

An inference is where you look for suggested ideas rather than just what is obviously stated.

Making inferences is about looking at texts and coming up with interpretations based on evidence and reasoning.

Inferences usually rely on things that haven't been explicitly stated but rather hinted at or suggested.

By making inferences, we learn to decipher the true meaning behind someone's communication with us.

Whether that being us learning what our friend really meant to say, or whether that being us learning what an author really wanted us to come away from a text feeling.

So inferences are crucial in both making sense of our everyday interactions, but also making sense of some things that we read.

Now, let's check your understanding of what we've just talked about.

True or false? " Inferences usually rely on things that have been explicitly stated." Pause the video and answer that question.

Is that true or false? Well done if you said that is false.

Inferences do not usually rely on things that have been explicitly stated.

Now I want you to pause the video and answer why that is.

In other words, justify your answer.

How do we know inferences are not usually based on things that have been explicitly stated? Pause the video and justify your answer.

So it's false that inferences usually rely on things that have been explicitly stated.

And the reason why that is false is because inferences rely on things that haven't been explicitly stated but rather hinted at or suggested.

So making inferences is all about reading between the lines of what someone said to us or what we are reading.

So let's practise making inferences now.

We're gonna start with an image.

What inferences can you make from this image? Pause the video and discuss.

Let's go through what you may have said.

You may have said that it is a wet or rainy day.

You may have said we can infer that it is winter or that there is cold weather.

You may have said that we can infer that in the picture is a parent and child and we can also infer that they might be at an activity centre.

Now what evidence from the image supports these inferences? Because remember, inferences are always based on evidence or reasoning.

So we need to justify our inferences now.

Pause the video and find evidence that supports each of these inferences.

Off you go.

Let's go through what you may have said.

So how did we get to the conclusion that it might be a wet or rainy day? The Wellington boots that each character is wearing might have suggested to us that it's a wet or rainy day.

How did we come to the inference that it is winter or cold weather? The fact that both characters are wearing jackets and hats may have suggested to us that it is winter.

How might we have come to the conclusion that in the picture is a parent and child? Perhaps the fact that both characters are holding hands may have hinted to us that the characters are parent and child.

And how might we have inferred that they are at an activity centre? Perhaps it's because the log looks as if it's been deliberately set up to walk on.

So notice there how our inferences aren't just plucked out of thin air.

Our inferences are based on robust evidence from the image.

Therefore, when you are making inferences about texts, your inferences should be based on robust evidence.

And inferences are not always true.

We may be wrong about our inferences, but as long as we base them on evidence from the text, then they are reasonable inferences to make.

These Oak pupils have some helpful tips on how to identify and explain inferences correctly.

Izzy says," Inferences should pick out implicit or suggested meanings, not paraphrase explicit statements." So when we're making inferences, we don't just want to repeat what the author has already told us.

We want to be reading what the author has told us and take a step back to think what that actually suggests.

Sam's advice is to avoid over-reliance on "This suggests.

." when stating your inferences.

You can instead use phrases like," This illustrates.

." "hints", "implies" or "alludes".

That makes the inferences you make more powerful and more convincing.

And Laura's tip is that evidence supporting inferences doesn't have to be extended.

You can base inferences on single words, phrases, or even short sentences.

Thank you to Izzy, Sam, Laura for that great advice about making inferences.

Now let's practise making inferences using "Alias Grace".

In the extract, the narrator calls herself one of the Governor's wife's "accomplishments".

Discuss what could this word "accomplishments" suggest about the narrator, the fact she's called an "accomplishment".

Pause the video and discuss.

So let's look at what inferences we could make based on the word "accomplishment".

The narrator calls herself an "accomplishment" of the Governor's wife.

This highlights that the narrator is something that the Governor's wife can show off to her own advantage.

It also has more sinister connotations, perhaps implying that the narrator has been dehumanised, treated by the Governor's wife as merely an object to flaunt or showcase.

Let's break down how we've made this inference so you feel confident making your own inferences later.

So this response uses short, embedded quotations.

We've based our inferences of one single word and that word was "accomplishment".

We also have used synonyms for "this suggests".

We've said "this highlights", which signposts our inference in an interesting way.

And finally, we've made our inference, which is based on the supplied evidence.

Now I want you to make some inferences based on "Alias Grace".

You have six questions to answer and they all require you to make inferences.

Here are your questions.

Number one, what impression do you get of the Governor and his wife? Number two, what is the role of the narrator in the Governor's household? Number three, what social class do you think the narrator is? Number four, what social class of people do you think the narrator is usually surrounded by? Number five, how do you think the narrator is treated by the Governor's wife and the other ladies? And number six, why do you think the narrator is treated in this way? So those are your six questions.

Make sure you are making some really great inferences as you answer those questions based on evidence from the text.

Pause the video and get answering those questions.

Off you go.

Now, well done on making your inferences.

Reread your work.

Across your responses, have you used points that are inferences based on supplied information, short, embedded quotations to justify your inferences, and synonyms for the phrase "this suggests"? Pause the video and check that you've made inferences based on appropriate evidence whilst signposting those inferences in an interesting way.

Pause the video and check your work.

Great job.

These inferences are going to help you form your opinion on our narrator in the next section of the lesson.

So let's move on to our second learning cycle where we'll form an opinion on the narrator, Grace.

I now want you to read the rest of the "Alias Grace" extract.

You are going to read from paragraph eight starting, "The reason" to the word "tongues".

After reading this section, I want you to discuss what has now been revealed about the narrator.

Pause the video, get reading, get discussing.

Off you go.

I was so shocked when reading that section of the text because the true role of the narrator and the reason why she's in the Governor's household is revealed.

I found it so clever how Margaret's Atwood delayed that piece of information to build suspense and intrigue for the reader.

So let's discuss now what has been revealed about the narrator.

You may have said that we learn in this section that the narrator is a convicted criminal.

She's called a "murderess".

She's also the object of much intrigue in the community.

There are lots of rumours and stories made up about her.

And she is a prisoner who has been allowed to work in the Governor's house as a housemaid because he is the Governor of a prison.

So she's not your typical housemate, she hasn't been hired by the family.

She's been allowed to work in the house as a prisoner.

And finally, she's only allowed to work in the Governor's house during the day.

And it seems this is because the Governor's wife and her friends are still a bit suspicious or wary of Grace.

In this part of the chapter, the narrator tells us about her role in the Governor's wife's household and how the community perceive her.

Aisha gave her opinion on the text.

Aisha said," In this section, we learn more about the narrator through her narrative voice than from the multitude of stories people tell about her." Discuss now, what exactly does the narrator reveal about herself? Why might Aisha have come to this conclusion? Pause the video and discuss.

So Aisha thinks that in this section, the narrator reveals that she relishes the attention she gets from the public.

So Aisha's opinion is that in this section, we learn more about Grace through the way she describes the attention she gets rather than the rumours made up about her by the public.

So let's dig deeper into Aisha's comment.

Aisha thinks the narrator relishes the attention she gets from the public.

How could Aisha support her opinion further? Pause the video and discuss.

Aisha could add credibility to her opinion by justifying it with relevant evidence from the extract.

So what evidence could Aisha use to support her opinion that Grace relishes the attention she gets from the public? Pause the video and discuss.

Let's go through some of the evidence you may have found.

First of all, the narrator describes her title of "murderess" as something that "rustles".

This simile might suggest that Grace enjoys being an enigma.

And what that means is Grace might enjoy being someone that's hard to understand.

She might enjoy being a mystery.

And we get that impression that the title of "murderess" adds a sense of mystery to her character because of the way she describes it as "rustling".

It's an intriguing sound that encourages us to find out more about the thing that is rustling or why or where the rustle is coming from.

Another piece of evidence to support the narrator relishing the attention she gets from the public is the repetition of "I" when describing the conspiracies about her, which could reflect a sense of self-absorption.

And finally, the narrator does not want to ruin the public perception of her as "romantic".

She wants to retain the fascination around her and remain mysterious and prized.

So there are three pieces of evidence that Aisha could use to support her opinion that the narrator relishes the attention she gets from the public.

Now let's check her understanding of what we've talked about.

Which of the below statements best sums up the narrator's perception of herself? Pause the video and answer that question, off you go.

Well done if you said the narrator seems to relish the attention that she gets for being a criminal.

And we've seen that through the way in which she talks about the rumours made up about her, how she talks about her title as rustling, how she talks of not wanting to ruin the romantic perception of her.

It seems she's definitely not humble and it also seems that she does not hate being talked about.

Now, I want you to reread the extract from Chapter three of "Alias Grace" from the beginning of the chapter to the word "tongues".

And I want you to answer the following questions.

Number one, what is your opinion of the narrator? And number two, do you trust the narrator? Why or why not? Make sure you justify your answers with a range of evidence from the text when answering these questions.

Pause the video and get answering these questions to form your on the narrator now.

Excellent job there.

Now, let's look at what some of our Oak students thoughts about the narrator.

Here's Sam's opinion.

" I think the narrator is sinister and evil as she does not show any sympathy for Nancy.

Instead, choosing to focus on the unpleasant smell of her rotting bones and being grateful that she was not there as it would've been distressing.

The narrator's tone suggests sarcasm and she appears insensitive." What did Izzy think? Izzy says," I don't trust the narrator because when she describes her reaction to the Governor's wife's scrapbook, she explains that she fakes her reaction.

It is almost as if she has rehearsed it.

The extract closes with a violent brutal imagery, which suggests the narrator feels no remorse for her crimes.

Perhaps she pretends to be penitent to gain the Governor's wife's trust." Now take a moment to reflect on how far your ideas align with Sam's and Izzy's.

Pause the video and reflect.

Well done for forming your opinion on the narrator of this text.

I hope you'll be able to see that everyone can have a different opinion on the narrator, but as long as you justify your opinion with appropriate evidence, you can create a strong argument.

Here's what we've learned in today's lesson.

Making an inference means coming to a conclusion based on evidence and reasoning.

A variety of synonyms of "suggests" should be used to express inferences.

You can make inferences based on single words.

Inferences should always be justified with evidence from the text.

And making inferences can help you form an opinion on characters.

Thank you for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope to see you in another lesson soon.