Hi there.

Welcome to your lesson today on understanding the poem, "Checking Out Me History" by John Agard.

I'm Miss Sutherland and I'll be teaching you today.

For this lesson, you are going to need your copy of the "AQA Power and Conflict" anthology, so make sure you go and get your anthology before you continue with this lesson.

Our learning outcome for today is to be able to explain how Agard presents identity in his poem, "Checking Out Me History." We have quite a few key words today.

Don't worry if they look unfamiliar at first, we're going to read them and understand them together.

The first key word is Eurocentric.

Eurocentric means focusing on European culture to the exclusion of the rest of the world.

So if something is Eurocentric, it might ignore or discredit stories or accomplishments from non-European cultures.

The next key word is Creole.

Creole is a language developed from a mixture of languages.

We are going to look at John Agard's use of Creole in the poem "Checking Out Me History." Indignant.

Indignant means showing anger or frustration at unfair treatment.

Colonisation.

Colonisation is the act of settling and establishing control over the indigenous people of an area.

And indigenous.

Indigenous means the people inhabiting a land before the arrival of colonists.

I'll give you a moment to reflect upon those keywords now.

Pause the video and reflect.

We'll be revisiting each of these keywords in the lesson.

So for our learning cycles today, we're going to start with exploring identity in "Checking Out Me History," we'll be looking at how John Agard presents the theme of identity in his poem.

In the second learning cycle, we'll learn a bit more about the context behind this poem and what may have inspired Agard to write this poem.

So let's start off with exploring identity and "Checking Out Me History." First question is, do you recognise any of these figures? Pause the video and reflect on that question.

Interesting discussions there.

These are key figures in today's poem, and we're going to revisit them later.

So who they are will be revealed in Agard's poem as we read.

The second question before we read is what does the term history mean to you? Pause the video and reflect upon that word history.

What exactly does it mean to you? Off you go.

Perhaps you said that history involves facts about the past.

History could also mean stories intended to be remembered.

History could be what gets written down and history could also be stories about the past.

Perhaps you said one of those things or a combination of those things.

We'll be looking at the importance of history and exactly who writes history as we read the poem.

I want you to consider who you think writes history.

Do we all get a chance to write history? Is history written by people with authority and power? And is the way in which history is written always fair? Pause the video and reflect who writes history.

Interesting discussions there.

Now let's read the poem.

I want you to open your anthology and read the poem, "Checking Out Me History." I hope you enjoy it.

Off you go.

"Checking Out Me History" is actually my favourite poem from the whole anthology.

I like how this poem is very unique in its use of dialect.

It really stands out to me from the other poems in the anthology because in this poem, I feel that John Agard is being authentically himself.

Now, I really want to find out what you liked and disliked about this poem.

Pause the video and discuss that now.

Now, I want you to read the poem a second time.

What patterns can you see within this poem upon reading it for a second time? Reread and discuss that question.

Off you go.

Perhaps you noticed John Agard use of italics throughout the poem.

Perhaps you thought that could be significant.

Now, I want you to read the poem for a third time, and I want you to discuss what do you think this poem is about? Pause the video, reread it for the third time, and discuss that question.

Off you go.

A lot of you are saying how you can see that the theme of identity is very much present in this poem.

Very well done.

And answering those three questions.

I hope you enjoyed reading that poem.

Now you have four further questions to discuss and they're going to support your comprehension of this poem.

The first one is, who do you think is the dem of this poem? How do you think Agard feels towards dem? What tone do you think there is initially in this poem? And does the tone change in different sections? How? Pause the video and discuss those four questions now.

Off you go.

Now, we don't know exactly the identity of them or dem in this poem, but what we can assume is that there is a conflict between John Agard and the dem of this poem, and he makes that very clear in the way in which he writes the poem.

You may have said that the tone at the beginning of this poem seems to have a frustrated or even indignant tone, especially in the first three stanzas.

But by the fourth stanza, there seems to be an upbeat celebratory tone.

Well done on discussing those four questions.

Now let's move on to what we can predict about the writer of this poem, because John Agard's identity is crucial in understanding this poem.

Pause the video and reflect.

What can you predict about John Agard based on reading his poem? Off you go.

John Agard was born in Guyana, a country closely connected to the Caribbean.

So you may have noticed the use of Guyanese Creole in this poem.

On the screen there, is an example of what the poem might look like if it didn't use Guyanese Creole.

I want you to pause the video and discuss why do you think Agard writes this poem using his Creole? Pause the video and discuss.

Perhaps you mentioned that Agard's use of Guyanese Creole allows him to express his identity in this poem and tell the reader exactly who he is because language speaks volumes and is one of the main indicators of our identity.

You also may have noticed Agard's use of italics in this poem.

I want you to discuss now what does Agard seem to be talking about every time he uses italics? Pause the video and discuss that question now.

So in the italicised sections of this poem, Agard references important figures from his Caribbean history that were neglected in his own history lessons at school.

So all of those people on the screen there now, Agard tells you exactly who they are in the italicised sections of this poem, and he tells you exactly what they should be remembered for.

So he speaks of Mary Seacole, he speaks of Toussaint-Louverture and he speaks of Shaka the Zulu Warrior.

So perhaps if you didn't know who these people were before you read the poem, you now do, and that's because of Agard's italicised sections where he almost seems to be teaching us something.

Let's check your understanding now of what we've just talked about.

What was agar not taught at school? Pause the video and answer that question.

At school, Agard was not taught to Caribbean history, and that's shown throughout his poem as he explains what he was told about and what he wasn't told about.

He very explicitly mentions that he was taught European history.

He mentions that he was taught about Waterloo, he was taught about Lord Nelson.

He was taught about Florence Nightingale, which is all part of European history.

But he mentions he wasn't taught about Mary Seacole, nor was he taught about Toussaint-Louverture, nor was he taught about Shaka the Zulu warrior.

And how does Agard seem to feel about not being told Caribbean history? Pause the video and answer that question.

Agard seems indignant about not being taught Caribbean history as he was growing up.

Remember, indignant means being annoyed at what you might perceive as unfair treatment.

And of course, Agard, having grown up in Guyana, which is a place connected to the Caribbean with a place with Caribbean heritage, he feels like it's very unfair that he was not taught about Caribbean figures.

Now, I want you to write a paragraph answering the question, how does the poem "Checking Out Me History" link to the theme of identity? You may want to discuss stanza two of the poem, the use of Guyanese Creole throughout the poem, the italicised sections and the final stanza of the poem.

So in this paragraph you may want to discuss how Agard presents his identity now, how he presents his identity as he was growing up, and what his identity has been shaped by throughout his life.

Pause the video and write your paragraph now.

Off you go.

Well done in writing that paragraph.

Let's go through an example answer.

How does the poem "Checking Out Me History" link to the theme of identity? A key theme of "Checking Out Me History" is identity.

We see this in the second stanza when Agard claims he was blind to his own identity.

He seems to have been denied the opportunity to learn about his own heritage.

We see in the poem that he was never told about Caribbean history despite growing up in Guyana.

Perhaps Agard uses Guyanese Creole to reaffirm his own Caribbean heritage and assert his true identity that he feels he was denied.

The use of Creole is in harmony with the italicised sections in which Agard celebrates the Caribbean figures he was never told about.

The process of writing this poem may have allowed agard to rediscover his identity, hence the final stanza.

I want you to think, are there any ideas from this paragraph that you can take away and add to your own? Pause the video and self-reflect.

Great effort there everyone.

I hope this paragraph gave you at least one idea for your own writing.

Now let's move on to our second learning cycle where we'll learn more about the context of this poem and why Agard may have written it.

So when talking of inspirations for his poem, Agard said one of his school books stated that West Indian history began with Columbus in 1492.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who landed in the Bahamas, a Caribbean country in 1492.

He claimed the Bahamas for the King and Queen of Spain.

Although it was already inhabited by an indigenous population.

Columbus's encounter led to European colonisation within the Caribbean, which had devastating effects on its indigenous populations.

Based on this information, how do you think reading this in the school book would've made Agard feel and why may it have inspired the poem? Pause the video and discuss those two questions now.

You may have said that reading this in the school book may have made Agard feel frustrated, incredulous even because he's reading something that is not only biassed, but also very inaccurate.

And it may have inspired the poem because perhaps Agard wanted to reveal the truth about Caribbean history and expose the insufficient and biassed history that he was taught when he was growing up.

A bit more information about Agard and where he was born because that's really important to understand this poem.

Agard was born in Guyana in in 1949.

Guyana was colonised by Britain in 1831, and Guyana became independent in 1966.

So Agard went to school in Guyana whilst it was a British colony.

How do you think Agard's schooling was influenced by Guyana being a British colony? Pause the video and discuss that now.

Due to Guyana being a British colony, whilst Agard was growing up, he received a Eurocentric perspective of history in school.

That means that Agard learned about European figures, he learns about European events, and this was the curriculum and knowledge prioritised because of Guyana's status as a British colony.

Now I want you to discuss how do we see the Eurocentric perspective of history being shown in the poem? Pause the video and discuss.

We see the Eurocentric perspective of history in this poem through all the sections that start with dem.

Agard seems indignant about his narrow education that focused on European stories and figures, neglecting the stories and figures of his own Caribbean heritage.

Let's now check your understanding of the context of this poem.

Agard may have been inspired to write "Checking Out Me History" based on? Pause the video and complete that sentence.

Agard may have been inspired to write, "Checking Out Me History" based on his Eurocentric education in Guyana.

Remember that means that Agard was taught mainly about European figures and events, which neglected teaching him about his own Caribbean history.

And this may have inspired him to write the poem because he felt like he was missing a huge chunk of his identity due to this narrow education.

Now, why did Agard receive a Eurocentric education? Pause the video and answer that question now.

Agard received a Eurocentric education because he grew up in Guyana, which at the time was colonised by Britain.

So what that means is that Guyana was under control of the British and the British prioritised European history in schools.

Now onto our last task of this lesson, write an answer to the following question.

Why do you think Agar wrote his poem "Checking Out Me History?" So what was his purpose in writing this poem? You have all of this helpful vocabulary to help you write this paragraph.

You could use the word learn, teach, criticise, advocate, subvert, and encourage.

Those are all words that will help you talk about Agard's purpose.

And here are some ideas for the paragraph.

You could write about his personal reasons for writing the poem, the impact he wanted to have on readers and the impact he wanted to have on wider society.

Pause the video and get writing now.

Off you go.

Brilliant.

Here are some ideas of what you could have written.

So for personal reasons, perhaps Agard wrote this poem to truly learn his own heritage because part of writing this poem was researching Caribbean history.

He may have also written the poem to affirm his own identity.

And we can see that through his use of Guyanese Creole, he may have also written the poem to celebrate Caribbean history.

Perhaps he wanted to show everyone how prouder he is of his own culture.

Now let's talk about the effect Agard may have wanted to have on his reader.

Perhaps Agard wanted to teach his reader about Caribbean history and the way that he was never taught.

Perhaps he wanted to support those readers whose history has also been neglected.

So many readers may relate to this poem in the sense that they may be from other places in the world, but due to colonisation, they may also have not learned about their own history growing up.

And another reason Agard may have written this poem is to encourage the reader to find out about their own history like he did, and in that way get to learn who they are better.

Now let's talk about Agard's message for society.

Perhaps Agard wrote this poem to criticise the effects of colonisation, and that is something that can be applied to the whole world and any place that has been affected by colonisation.

Agard may have also wanted to write this poem to subvert the narrow Eurocentric view of Caribbean history because perhaps Agard's education in Guyana is not unique to him and not unique to where he grew up.

A lot of people growing up in other parts of the Caribbean that were once colonies may have also received this Eurocentric education.

And lastly, perhaps Agard wanted to write this poem to advocate for more cultural awareness and diverse curriculum in schools across the world.

Well, on on writing your paragraph there.

Here's what we've learned today.

Agard received a Eurocentric perspective on history growing up in Guyana whilst it was a British colony.

Agard shares his indignation that the education system restricted him from understanding his full identity.

In his poem, Agard affirms his Caribbean heritage through his use of Guyanese Creole.

Agard celebrates Caribbean figures, neglected in his history lessons in the italicised section of the poem.

And one of Agard's messages could be the importance of breaking free from restrictive systems. Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson.

I hope you've been able to understand and enjoy the poem "Checking Out Me History.".