Hello there, fantastic to see you today.

My name's Mr. Barnsley.

Thank you so much for joining me in today's lesson as we continue to explore some unseen poetry.

And in today's lesson we are gonna be creating our own personal responses to poems, but we're also gonna be comparing those personal responses.

We're gonna learn a little bit about why it's so important, or what we learn from making these comparisons.

All right, there was two poems in your additional materials, which you're gonna want to have in front of you for today's lesson.

Once you've got those, it's time for us to get started.

Let's dive in.

Okay, so let's look at today's outcome then, shall we? So by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to compare and interrogate your own personal responses to poems that you are reading for the first time.

So some key words that I want us to keep an eye out for in today's lesson, the first is interrogate.

We saw that in the outcome, and that means to ask questions in order to seek answers or information.

So during this lesson we're really gonna think about what our personal responses to a poem might be, but really ask ourselves questions and think like where has that opinion come from? Where has that response come from? Other key words you can see on the screen are ambiguous, pertinent, provocative, and poignant.

All of these words are gonna be really helpful in helping us interrogate our own responses.

So ambiguous means something that's unclear or vague.

Might be open to more than one possible interpretation.

If something is pertinent, it's very relevant, or applicable to a particular matter.

If something is very provocative, it really causes a strong emotional reaction.

And finally, if something is poignant, it can cause or have very sharp feeling of sadness.

So they're the words that we're gonna be looking out for in today's lesson.

And even better, you're gonna be trying to use them in your own discussions.

So in today's lesson, there are two learning cycles.

In the first part of today's lesson, we're gonna think about forming our own personal response.

We're gonna read a couple of poems, and we're gonna think what our initial responses to those poems are.

In the second half of the lesson, we are gonna develop those responses further.

Okay, but let's start by thinking about forming a personal response.

Now we're gonna focus today on comparing responses.

So you may have already looked at some poetry before and you might have already thought about what your personal responses are, but in today's lesson we're gonna be comparing different responses that we might have to different poems. So I want you to think about why do you think comparing personal responses might be a really useful exercise? Why don't you pause the video, have a think.

If you've got a partner, you can discuss with them.

Otherwise, you can just think through this question independently.

So pause video, give this a go, and press play when you think you've got some answers that you're willing to share.

Welcome back, some fantastic discussion there.

Now, you might have said many things, but some things I really wanted to shine a spotlight on that I heard was, first of all, lots of you are talking about actually by comparing your reactions to two different poems, you might start to understand how poets create different moods.

You might start to think about their different constructions, and how different constructions can lead to different emotional responses from a reader.

I also heard people talking about comparing might make you identify which poem brings out a stronger or a particular emotion.

And you might start to think, why did this poem make me feel this way? Whereas this poem made me feel a different way.

So lots of really important reasons why it's great for us to compare our personal responses.

So we're gonna read a couple of unseen poems, and of course, whenever we're reading unseen poem, I'm handing this straight over to you.

I want you to be reading this independently.

The first poem is called "Nobody" written by Michael Laskey.

This is in your additional material.

So do make sure you have got a copy of this in front of you.

All right, over to you now.

Pause the video and read this poem.

Remember, you're gonna want to read it more than once, maybe two or three times to check that you're feeling really confident you've understood what it's about.

Okay, pause video over to you, give this a go, and press play when you are ready to move on.

Some fantastic independent reading there, well done.

Special shout out to anyone who read that poem at least three times, great job.

Now I want you to think what do you think is the most powerful line in this poem and why? Okay, you're gonna want to pause the video and just think on this, reflect on this question.

If you've got a partner, you can reflect on this with them.

Otherwise you can just think through this independently.

Okay, pause the video, have a think.

Which poem was the most powerful line to you, and why did you feel that way? Over to you.

Welcome back, heard some really nice ideas there.

I'm not gonna put any on the screen because this is your personal response to this poem, okay? So whichever line you picked, as long as you could justify that, that's absolutely fine.

All right, we're gonna move on to our second poem now called "Donegal," and this is by Robin Robertson.

Again, this poem is available to you in your additional material, so do make sure you've got a copy in front of you.

Now, you know what happens now? Well, it's time to read some unseen poetry.

You're gonna pause that video and read through this poem two or three times to make sure that you understand it.

All right? Best of luck, pause the video.

Give this a go and press play when you're ready to move on.

Fantastic independent reading there.

Great job.

Okay, we're gonna reflect on what we've just read, and I want you to pause for a moment and think what do you think was the most evocative line? What evoked the most emotions or feelings within you? Okay, which was the most evocative line and why? So pause video.

Have a think about this.

Of course if you've got a partner, you can share some ideas with them.

All right, over to you, and press play when you're ready to move on.

Right, welcome back.

As I said, I'm not gonna take any responses to that because this is all about your own interpretation.

But what I do want to check before we move on is that you have understood both of these poems. So which of the following statements are true? Is it that A, both poems are about relationships between parents and children.

Is it B that Laskey's "Nobody" is about nostalgia for childhood, or is it C, Robertson's "Donegal" is about a father and a daughter? Which of those is correct? Pause video, have a think and press play when you think you've got the right answer.

Welcome back, well done if you said C, Robertson's "Donegal" is about a father and a daughter.

Now Laskey's "Nobody" is very interesting.

There is an implication this is about a parental relationship, and there is an implication that there is something nostalgic about this poem, but I think we can interpret it as a parent, as a father looking out and remembering the times when his children were young, but they clearly no longer are, there's clearly no longer any young footsteps to run through that untouched snow like there once was.

So there is an element on nostalgia, and there's an implied relationship that there was a previous relationship between parents and children, but I don't think there is an explicit one in this poem.

So well done if you said, C, Robertson's "Donegal" is about a father and a daughter, great job.

All right, over to you then.

I would like you to reread both the poems, and I want you to answer the following questions.

I want you to think about which poem makes you feel more emotional.

You might want to think about what kind of emotions they are.

Which poem do you think is more relevant, like which feels more important, and which poem do you think you understand better? All right, pause the video, think about your personal responses to these poems. Jot some ideas down and press play when you are ready to move on.

All right, welcome back.

Remember this is all about forming a personal response, okay? And there are no right or wrong answers here.

What I would like us to do to give us a moment of reflection, to think about what we've written, I'm gonna share a couple of responses from some of our Oak pupils, and you can start to think, do these align to mine? Are these similar to mine, or are they different to mine? And that's okay.

It doesn't matter whether they are similar, or whether they are different.

This is all about you.

Just taking a moment to reflect on what was your personal response to these two poems? So Izzy said that she thought Laskey's "Nobody" made her feel the most emotional.

She said she thought it was the most relevant to her because it's about seizing every moment, making the most of it, trying to live without regrets.

And she felt that she understood this poem better because it felt like something she could relate to, this idea that you don't want to waste time, you don't want to look back and think what if, what could I have done? Whereas Sofia had a different response.

Sofia found Robertson's "Donegal" made her feel the most emotional.

She said because she thought it was relevant because it's about children growing up.

And she understood it better because it's about the growth of relationship between a parent and a child.

And she can really understand that because Sofia has her own parent that she can say, "Hey, yeah, I can see my relationship with my parent in this poem." Okay, so you might have had similar responses to Sofia, you might have had similar responses to Izzy, you might have had completely different, but that's absolutely okay.

But the thing I want you to remember is that we always, when we're reading a poem, want to start by thinking, how is this poem making me feel? Okay, what emotions is it bringing? Does it feel relevant to me? And do I understand the messages in there? All right, great job on this learning cycle.

Let's move on to the next.

So now we've formed our personal response.

We've got some ideas on paper.

Now we're gonna develop these responses further.

So I think it's really important that when we think about at the core of poetry, it's all about emotion.

It's all about our emotional response to the ideas in that poem.

So when we're reading an unseen poem is really useful to try and understand, interrogate, ask questions about, what is provoking those emotional responses.

And if we're comparing poems, which one is provoking the strongest emotional response? Over to you then.

Why do you think that's such a useful thing to do? Why don't you pause the video, if you've got a partner, talk through this with them.

But don't worry if you're working by yourself, you can think through this independently.

All right, pause the video, have a think and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back, that might have felt like a really philosophical question.

Some big questions and ideas to think about.

I want to shine a spotlight on something fantastic that I heard, heard someone saying, actually it really made me think about why reading literature is so important.

Not only does it help us understand the world around us, often texts are about different cultures, different countries, different ideas, different people, different times in history.

Literature and reading can really help us understand those things.

But actually it can really help us understand things about ourselves, particularly when we interrogate the way that we are responding to these texts.

Fantastic if you said something similar to that great idea.

All right, true or false then.

Interrogating your personal response to poems is not a useful exercise.

What do you think? Pause the video.

Have a think and press play when you think you've got an idea.

That is false, now let's justify that.

Is it A, that interrogating your personal response can help you better understand yourself and your emotional reactions? Or is it B, that interrogating your personal response can help you better understand the world around you and yourself? Which do you think of those is the right justification? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to move on.

Welcome back, well done if you said B.

Yes, of course this is about interrogating our own emotional reactions and responses.

But also it can also help us make that link to thinking about, okay, what are we learning here? What did I know? What did I not know? If something feels ambiguous, key word there, if something feels like unclear or open to interpretation, or to more than one interpretation, does that mean, is that something that I need to try and learn about, try to discover more about? So yes, interrogating our personal responses to poetry will both help us understand the world and ourself.

Okay, let's return to our two poems then.

We've been thinking of the bigger idea of interrogating our personal response.

But now let's go back to these two poems. So over to you.

Discuss, how would you summarise the two poems? Why don't you pause the video, have a think, and press play when you have got an idea.

Okay, welcome back.

Some fantastic ideas there.

I wonder if you said something similar to our Oak pupils, Laura, summarise "Nobody" by saying, "is arguably about inviting someone," inviting the reader, "to live life to the fullest." And Izzy said, well "Robertson's 'Donegal' is arguably about the change in relationship between a parent and a child." I wonder if your summaries sounded something similar to this.

So why might these subject matters then provoke, create and cause different reactions in different people? So think about what those two poems are about, and think about how different people might respond to those two poems. What is it about those subject matters that could cause strong reactions in people? Why don't you pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Some really, really interesting discussions there.

It was great to hear people using words like alternatively or additionally, and building on, or offering different ideas because people are all individual, and therefore we might respond to poems, or subjects, or ideas within poems in very different ways.

Now Laura said actually it can really depend on how happy someone is feeling with their life and decisions.

You know, someone who has that sense of regret might respond in a much more emotional way to Laskey's "Nobody" than someone who says, "No, actually I don't feel like I have lots of regrets in my life.

This doesn't feel particularly pertinent and relevant to me 'cause I've made the most of my life." Whereas someone else could read that poem and say, "Oh this is really reminding me of all the regrets I have." And Izzy said when she was thinking about Donegal she was thinking, well actually this poem will create different reactions in different people, depending on what their relationship is like with their parents.

Maybe they have grown apart, maybe that relationship is in the process of changing quite drastically.

And you know, if you've got a really positive relationship with your parent in comparison to a negative relationship with your parent, all of these things are gonna impact what our personal response might be.

So in order to express our ideas, particularly when we're comparing ideas, we're going to want to use comparison adjectives.

Now there are three degrees of comparison of adjectives.

The first is the positive degree, and this is where we describe something without directly comparing it to something else.

So for example, we could say, Robertson's "Donegal" is poignant.

It evokes this kind of moment of reflectiveness and maybe slight sadness.

(clears throat) Okay, and that's a positive degree 'cause we're just focusing on one poem there.

Now the comparative degree is where we compare two objects, people or things with each other.

So we could say Robertson's "Donegal" is more poignant than Laskey's "Nobody." Okay, so we are adding that word more, and to say, actually I'm comparing the two, and personally I feel that Robertson's "Donegal" is more poignant.

It creates a greater sense of reflection and sadness than Laskey's "Nobody" does, in my personal opinion.

Now the superlative degree, very similar to the comparative degree.

This still compares two or more people, or things, but let's see if you can spot the difference.

Robertson's "Donegal" is the most poignant, okay? It is not saying that Laskey's "Nobody" isn't poignant, but if I was to make a judgement , I'm gonna say "Donegal" is the most, okay? So more has, so the comparative degree I might mention both poems. And I am kind of directly comparing them by using the word more or less before the adjective.

And the superlative degree, I'm only mentioning one, Robertson's Donegal is the most poignant.

But that word most implies that there is another poem that is less poignant than Donegal.

Okay? So in today's lesson we are gonna be focusing on that comparative element.

So to compare poems, you might use that comparative degree of adjectives.

So some examples you can see on the screen, some might consider Laskey's "Nobody" to be more provocative than Robertson's "Donegal", or some may think that Laskey's "Nobody" is less provocative than Robertson's "Donegal".

You can use these to express your comparative responses to poems. Okay, so when we think about what our initial responses are, and we want to compare them, we want to try and use that comparative degree of adjective.

So which of the following, let's check to see how we're getting on then.

Which of the following is using a comparative adjective? Is it A, Laskey's "Nobody" is a provocative poem.

B, Laskey's "Nobody" is a more provocative poem.

Or C, Laskey's "Nobody" is the most provocative poem.

Which of those is the comparative adjective? Pause the video, have a think and press play, when you think you have the answer.

Well done, if you said B, some of you might have gone for C.

Remember that's the superlative.

If you're saying it's the most, if you're putting it as the top of the list, that's the superlative, whereas the comparative uses words like more and less with the adjective to kind of weigh those up against each other.

So as well as considering which poem seems more provocative than the other, we might also consider which seems the most pertinent.

So remember, pertinent means relevant, okay? Or appropriate to the matter that you are thinking about or talking about.

So why might thinking about which poem seems more pertinent and relevant be important? Why don't you pause the video, have a bit of a think here.

If you've got a partner, discuss with them, or think through this independently.

Why might thinking about a poem seem more pertinent and relevant? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you're ready to move on.

Some really interesting ideas there.

Well done if you said something similar to Izzy who said, well, "it might give us a hint about what societal concerns are," and what "are particularly prevalent at that moment of the reading." Because remember some poems might have been written hundreds of years ago, and what's pertinent and relevant then might not be pertinent and relevant today.

So you might find that a more modern poem feels more pertinent to you, but that might always be the case.

'Cause obviously some themes will span generations and people have been writing about them.

Say for example, family or parents and children.

You know, we might have seen that written about hundreds of years ago, and that might still feel really pertinent and relevant today because people still live in families.

There are still parent and children relationships, and the brilliance and the difficulties that they bring.

So initially Izzy said that she found Laskey's "Nobody" more relevant because it was about seizing the moment.

Have a think about how could she develop that? How could she make that feel a little bit more sophisticated using potentially some of the key words.

Why don't you pause the video, have a bit of a think, work through how can you make Izzy's idea, feel more formal there.

Pause the video, have a think about what Izzy could have said and press play when you've got an idea.

Welcome back, some really great discussions there.

I heard people saying something similar to what Izzy's saying now.

She said, "Perhaps I could say that Laskey's 'Nobody' feels more pertinent, which could imply there are societal concerns about how we're living our lives and whether we're making most of the time." So you can see that Izzy used that word pertinent, but she's also said, "Well, if something's pertinent, it reminds me about, I can link that to societal concerns.

So if I'm saying Laskey's 'Nobody' is pertinent.

Maybe there are concerns in society that we're not making the most of our lives.

We're gonna live with regrets." Really nice and well done if you said something similar to this.

Now we could also consider how we can compare the ambiguity of a poem.

And remember if something is ambiguous, it might mean it's not quite as clear.

It might be a little bit vague, it might be open to interpretation.

Why might thinking about which poem seems more or less ambiguous, why might that be important? Pause the video, have a think, discuss, or just think through this independently.

Why might thinking about the ambiguity of poems or comparing the ambiguity of poems be important.

Pause the video, give this a go and press play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back, great ideas there.

I heard some of you saying some very similar things to what Laura said and Laura said, well, "Whether things seem unclear or vague to us largely sent from our collective understanding of an idea or words.

So it might tell us that which ideas are more or less common or important." So if something feels quite ambiguous to us, we might be thinking maybe this is, you know, we can link this to the idea of relevancy and say, "Is this something I know a lot about? Or is this something that I don't know a lot about, and therefore is this an important topic for me? Or is it something an idea that I need to research further?" So Laura initially said that Laskey's "Nobody" felt less ambiguous to her.

What might that tell us then? What might that tell us if she said, "You know what, after reading these two poems, I think Laskey's 'Nobody' feels less ambiguous to me." What might that tell us? What might we learn from that, kind of that response? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you've got some ideas.

Yes, great if you said something along this idea that actually it could suggest that ideas around seizing the day and making your life matter they're really commonly held ideas, they're commonly understood ideas in contemporary society.

Okay, so fantastic if you can link that idea between ambiguity and the ideas in there, and their relevance, and their how commonly held or heard they are in society.

So let's put all of this together then, shall we? Once you read and formed your initial response to unseen poems, you might want to ask yourself the following questions to really help you compare them.

Which poem is more provocative to you, and why do you think that might be? Which poem is the most pertinent to our understanding of humanity, and society, and why might that be significant? Which poem is less ambiguous in its meaning, and why might that be important? Right, before I hand over to you for our final task of today, let's do one quick check for understanding.

The idea that Laskey's "Nobody" is more pertinent, could help us to understand contemporary society.

Is that true or is that false? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you think you've got an answer.

Well, if you said true, let's justify that.

Is it potentially it could suggest that there are current societal concerns about whether we're making the most of our lives? Or is it potentially it could suggest there are current societal concerns about the distance between parents and children? Which of those do you think is the right answer? Pause the video, have a think, and press play when you have got a response.

Yeah, well done if you said that was a great job.

All right, over to you then for our final task of today's lesson.

I want you to return to your initial responses to Laskey's "Nobody" and Robertson's "Donegal." And you're gonna use the questions that we've just gone through to help you develop your responses.

So which poem is the most provocative to you, and why do you think that might be? Which poem is the most pertinent to our understanding of humanity and society, and why might this be significant? And which poem is less ambiguous in its meaning? And why might this be important? Remember, we're still focusing on our own personal responses, so there is no right or wrong answer.

We want to develop our responses so they feel more fully formed and we can justify where our personal responses are coming from.

All right, pause the video, over to you, and press play when you are ready for some feedback.

Fantastic work there.

Welcome back.

Great to see so many of you checking your spelling, punctuation, and grammar before you put your pen down.

Well done if that was you.

Now, like I said, we're developing personal responses here.

So I'm not gonna tell you what is right or wrong, but as part of our feedback I'm gonna share with you some Oak pupil responses.

And I just want us to spend a moment and think, is this similar to mine? Is this different to mine? Really interrogate why there might be those similarities or differences.

So in response to the first question about which pain was most provocative, Sofia answered, "I think Robertson's 'Donegal' is more provocative because our relationship with our parents is such a formative part of our lives and it makes up such a large part of our identities." Okay, did yous have something similar? Did you have something different? For the second question about which poem was most pertinent, Sofia said, "I think Robertson's 'Donegal' is more pertinent, which could suggest that the potential distance between parent and child as time passes could be a contemporary societal concern." Lots of people have the concern, particularly parents about worrying as their children grow up, will they grow apart, okay? Maybe think about.

When I think about my relationship with my parents when I was a small child, it is very different to my relationship with them now as an adult.

So which poem is the least ambiguous? Well, Sofia said, "I think Robertson's 'Donegal' is less ambiguous because ideas about parent and child relationships are universal across humanity.

And it could suggest that ideas around children's independence are being discussed throughout society," and throughout generations, and throughout history.

This is not a new issue.

There's always been conversations around children's independence as they grow up.

So hopefully you can see that through Sofia's work, but also through your own, that you are, and welcome, and should have your own personal responses.

But to really develop them further, you want to interrogate them and think, okay, what is bringing this response out to me? Okay, what is it about this poem? Does it link to big ideas relating to my life, or the world around me, the society around me? Fantastic work today.

It's been an absolute pleasure to have you learning alongside me today.

On the screen you can see a summary of all the key learning.

Let's quickly go through this, so you can feel really confident before you move on to your next lesson.

So when comparing unseen poems, you might begin to form a response by considering which one you have a greater emotional reaction to, then you might develop your comparison by considering which one you find more provocative, pertinent, or ambiguous.

Comparing your personal response can help you to understand how poets create meaning.

And interrogating why you react differently to poems can help you understand the world around you and yourself.

Great work today.

I really hope to see you in one of our lessons again in the future.

Have a great day.

Bye-Bye.

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