Hello there.

Welcome to your lesson today on exploring how home reflects our authentic selves.

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

Our learning outcome for today is to explore how the poem, "Filter," by Suma Subramaniam, it shows how home can reflect our authentic self.

We have three key words today.

Let's go through them together.

Our first key word is authentic.

Authentic means to be real or true.

So if you are your authentic self, it means you're being your real or true self and you're not hiding any aspects of yourself.

Filter.

A filter is something that holds back elements or modifies the appearance of something.

So if we filter water, we are removing the impurities from the water, so we're holding back the impurities from it.

If we filter ourselves, we might be holding back parts of ourself.

And lastly, heritage.

Heritage is the history, traditions, and practises of a particular country or society.

Now, everyone will have a different heritage depending on their background and their family origins.

We often say that our heritage is part of what makes up our identity and is part of what makes us unique.

I'll give you a moment to reflect upon those three key words now.

Pause the video and have a little re-read.

Let's move on to look at our learning cycles.

In the first learning cycle today, we'll be reading the poem, "Filter," by Suma Subramaniam.

And in the second learning cycle, we are going to be thinking about the filters that we shed when we are at home.

So let's start off by reading this wonderful poem.

Before we begin reading, we are going to consider how a poem's title can be used to clarify the meaning of the poem in terms of theme and subject matter.

So why do you think it's so important to study the title of a poem 'cause we often do it before we even read it, pause the video and discuss.

You may have said that our title is our first introduction to a poem, and so it sets the tone and mood for the rest of the poem.

The title will give us many, many clues about what the poem might be about.

So let's take this poem's title, "Filter." What do you think a poem called "Filter" might be about? Pause the video and reflect upon that question.

Let's go through what you have said.

A poem called "Filter" might be about trying to fit in because someone might not be willing to show their true selves because they want to fit in and they're worried they might be judged.

"Filter" could also refer to putting across the best image of ourselves.

So we might filter parts of ourselves that we think are undesirable or we think people might not like.

A poem called "Filter" might be about trying to hide our insecurities.

So we may be trying to look a certain way if we try and put a filter on our faces potentially.

And finally, a poem called "Filter" might be referring to someone not saying what they truly think.

Remember, filter can be referring to a variety of things.

It could be how we present ourselves outwardly, but it could also be what we say, what we do.

We might be filtering something in our behaviour and in our words.

So there are four brilliant ideas about what this poem could be about, maybe you said some of them.

Well done on making those predictions.

Let's now read this poem.

It's called "Filter" and it's by Suma Subramaniam.

I hope you enjoy it.

I hope you enjoyed it.

The first question I want you to answer is, what do we learn about Suma Subramaniam from reading that poem? Pause the video and reflect upon that question.

So you may have noticed that in this poem, the poet refers to her mother wearing a sari at home, to her eating biryani at home, and to her father's sacred thread that he wears at home.

So you may have mentioned that it's revealed that Suma Subramaniam has Indian heritage.

I now want you to read the poem again.

Remember, reading the poem multiple times will really help your comprehension of it.

So go ahead and read the poem, "Filter," once more.

The next question I want you to answer is, who do you think Suma Subramaniam is talking to in this poem, because she uses the second person, and she directly addresses the reader using the words you.

But who do you actually think she's addresses poem to? Pause the video and discuss? You may have said that Suma Subramaniam seems to be talking to maybe her peers because she talks about sharing sweets with them at the end of the poem and asking them to shed their filter.

So potentially she's talking to classmates, her friends, who she wants to know more about, and she wants to share more about her with them.

Now read the poem for a third and final time.

Off you go.

What do you think the message of the poem might be? Pause the video and reflect upon that question.

Potentially, the message of this poem is to be ourselves, to not walk around with a filter and to let people in to our authentic selves, to show people our authentic selves and not be ashamed of our authentic selves.

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

What does Suma Subramaniam reveal to the reader about her identity through her home? Does Subramaniam reveal her favourite hobbies through her home, her Indian heritage through her home, or her introverted personality through her home? Pause the video and answer that question.

Suma Subramaniam reveals to the reader that she has Indian heritage through her home, and we know that because she references her mother wearing a sari, her father wearing sacred thread, and her eating biryani.

So she gives us all these clues about her Indian heritage, and she seems very proud of it.

Now, I want you to write a short paragraph in response to the question.

What does the poem "Filter" reveal about who we are at home? So you could write about what Subramaniam reveals about herself through home, how Subramaniam seems to feel about herself at home, and what Subramaniam's message may be.

Pause the video and write your paragraph.

I hope you enjoy dissecting this poem and its core message.

Off you go.

Great effort there.

Let's look at what you may have written.

So here are some ideas.

In "Filter," Suma Subramaniam tells the reader about her Indian heritage through family, clothing, and food that she has at home.

She explains how this may be different from traditional American food, but she seems proud of her heritage.

Suma Subramaniam may be telling the reader that we are our authentic selves at home and that this is a version of ourselves we should take pride in and never hide.

Well done if you said any of that.

It's a real powerful message that Subramaniam gives to us in this poem.

Now let's move on to thinking about the filters that we shed when we get home, because this is a poem that potentially we can all relate to.

So who are you outside of your home? Are there any filters that you put on? Pause the video and reflect upon that question.

Now, it's okay to keep your responses to yourselves here, but I'm gonna go through an example.

So someone might dress smart outside of the home, make sure they look presentable a lot of the time, they might seem very talkative and friendly outside of their home and make effort with other people, and they might come across as quite funny.

However, that same person may be very different when they get home.

So I now want you to consider what versions of yourself are expressed when you are at home.

Pause the video and reflect.

So for a lot of us, home is where we can be our authentic selves.

So in this example, someone that dress smarts outside of the, that dress, that dresses smart outside of the home may just want to wear casual clothes and be comfortable inside of the home.

So that aspect of them changes.

Someone that's very talkative outside of the home may become more introverted inside of the home.

They feel like they need to put less effort into social interactions potentially, they want to be more quiet, they want to do more deep thinking.

They want to spend time alone.

And that same person that was really funny outside of the home might be quite serious in the home, might have more responsibilities.

Well done for considering the differences between who you are inside and outside of the home.

Now, if we are able to shed our filter when we are at home, what does it suggest? Does it suggest we can be our authentic selves at home, that we are trying to look our best at home, or that we are hiding parts of ourselves at home? Pause the video and answer that question.

Remember, a filter is something that holds back elements or modifies something, and to shed means to get rid of.

So if we get rid of something that holds us back, that means we can be our authentic selves at home.

It means we're not hiding parts of ourselves.

It means we're not trying to be anything different than who we really are.

And in the poem, "Filter," by Suma Subramaniam, that's exactly what she encourages us to do.

She shows us her authentic self and her Indian heritage when she's at home, and she asks us to shed our filter too.

Now, I want you to write a short poem based on how your home environment reveals your authentic self.

So in your poem, you could include the people in your home, the things that show your culture at home, the things that show your personality at home, what you wear at home, what you do at home, and the things you eat at home.

So remember how Suma Subramaniam showed us that she eats biryani at home, that her mother wears a sari, and that her father wears sacred thread.

You might have your own versions of what you wear and what you eat at home that show your heritage and your identity.

I want you to be as open and proud of your heritage and your unique identity as possible.

And I really want your authentic self to come through as you write this poem.

I can't wait to learn more about who you are and what makes your home unique.

There are some sentence starters on the right there to help you write this poem.

You could say, "I invite you round to my house and," "Come and visit me and you will," or, "Once you are past the green facade of my door." So use the checklist and use the sentence starters to help you write your brilliant poem now, off you go.

Thank you so much for being brave enough to share your authentic selves with me in your poems. So let's look at Laura's poem.

Laura's written, "I invite you round to my house and serve you homemade lasagna in a colourful bowl.

We sprawl on the sofa in our pyjamas and watch television.

My baby sister's crying interrupts our peace so we go upstairs.

My bedroom's messy, but you don't mind." I think that's a wonderful, wonderful poem from Laura.

It shows us what her home environment is like, and Laura is being her authentic, her authentic self in this poem, she's not hiding away parts of her that she thinks she'd be judged for, and she's not hiding the true nature of her home that it can sometimes be loud, that it can sometimes be messy.

She's giving us a really true image of her home, and I think that makes for a brilliant poem.

So Laura's commenting one of her choices now.

Laura says, "I used direct address in my poem to show that although I'm a bit disorganised at home, my true friends love and accept me the way I am." And Laura's referring to that last bit where she says, "My bedroom's messy, but you don't mind." So by putting that last section in and using direct address, Laura's showing the reader that she's accepted for all the parts of herself, I now want you to annotate a line of your poem and explain why you wrote it.

Pause the video and annotate your own work now.

Great, maybe you showed the reader what type of food you eat.

Maybe you showed the reader your religion.

Maybe you showed the reader who you live with and what family members you spend time with.

Maybe you showed the reader some hobbies that you have, whatever you express in your poem, very well done on opening yourself up in this lesson.

Here's what we've learned today.

The poem, "Filter," reveals that home is a place that reflects our authentic selves.

Subramaniam seems to take pride in her identity as reflected in her home.

Home, can reveal our heritage, hobbies, and personality, and we can help the reader understand what our home is like by inviting them inside via poetic descriptions.

I've really loved learning alongside you today.

I hope you've enjoyed reading the poem "Filter," and I hope you've enjoyed, and I hope you've enjoyed writing your own versions of that poem.

Thank you so much for joining me.

I hope to see you in another lesson soon.