Hello there, Mr. Barnsley here.

Fantastic to see you today.

Thank you so much for joining me.

In today's lesson, we are gonna be looking at a text called "The Dark Lady" by Akala.

You are gonna want to make sure you have a copy of this text.

You want the 2021 Hodder Childrens edition of Akala's "The Dark Lady." In today's ascend, we're gonna be focusing on our arguments.

In particular, we are gonna be looking at writing really great topic sentences and supporting those with carefully selected evidence.

I know you can do it.

I'm really excited to see what you can do today.

So let's get started.

Okay, let's have a look at today's outcome then, shall we? By the end of today's lesson, you are gonna be able to select a range of precise evidence to support your topic sentences.

Let's dive into some keywords.

So a topic sentence.

Remember, we're revising these today.

This shouldn't be the first time you've used topic sentences, but let's remind ourselves what they mean.

So they are sentence that introduces the main focus or idea of a paragraph.

An intention is something that you want and plan to do.

So we are gonna be talking about the writer's intention today.

So we're thinking about what were they planning to do when they wrote their text.

Being selective means intentionally choosing some things and not others.

So when you're being selective, you are really planning what you are going to do.

A semantic field is a group of words with a similar meaning.

And evidence is something that makes you believe that something is true or something exists.

Okay, let's dive into our lesson, shall we? So there are three parts of today's lesson as we revise topic sentences and selecting evidence through reading "The Dark Lady" by Akala.

So in the first part of the lesson, I'm gonna read an extract, remind ourselves of the text that we are looking at.

In the second learning cycle, we'll focus on topic sentences.

And then we'll finish the lesson by selecting evidence.

So let's start by reading the extract, shall we? So you are gonna be planning an answer to this question.

In "The Dark Lady," how does Akala present Henry and Joan's magical room? So let's have a look at this question in a little bit more detail, shall we? That how is a really important word.

It means that we are gonna have to explain how the methods used give us a certain idea or impression.

So we really want to think about the language, maybe the structure, the methods that Akala uses.

But this bit of the question, Akala presents, we really need to be thinking about what the writer's intentions are? What messages are they trying to put across to their reader? And finally, we are gonna be focusing on Henry and Joan's magical room.

So we need to think about what ideas are we given about the room in the text.

So you are gonna need your copy of the 2021 Hodder Childrens Books edition of Akala's "The Dark Lady." It's the text I showed you at the beginning of the lesson.

If you don't have it in front of you, please pause the video and make sure you can, you've got it now.

Okay, I'll give you a couple of minutes, pause the video, make sure you've got a copy of the text.

Right, welcome back.

I hope everyone has their copy now.

So we are gonna use our first readthrough to establish information about the plot and the setting.

Then we're gonna consider our first impression of Henry and Joan's magical room.

So, first, we're gonna read page 68 and we're gonna pause at the end of the page.

You are gonna be able to answer the following questions.

So keep an eye out for these as you're reading.

What do Henry and Joan have to do to reveal the doorway to the magical room? What colour light does the room give off? How does Henry feel in the room? And what does the room do to his magic? Okay, read page 68, pause when you're done, and see if you can answer these four questions to show you've understood what you've read.

Pause video, over to you, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

Some excellent reading there.

Really well done.

Let's check our answers then to make sure we've understood everything we read.

So number one, well, they chant an incantation three times.

Number two, gives off a gold light.

Number three, he finds the room comforting.

And number four, it makes it stronger.

So Henry's magic becomes stronger when he's in the room.

Well done if you answered all four of those questions correctly.

That shows me you've understood exactly what you've been reading.

Let's have a look at page 70 now.

We're gonna do exactly the same.

We're gonna read the page and pause at the end to check we've understood.

Here are the questions that we're gonna use to check our understanding.

One, how to Henry and Joan get out of the room? Two, what sorts of light does the doorway give off? And three, what does Henry compare the doorway to? All right, pause the video, read page 70, and then check your understanding.

Press Play when you are ready to continue.

More great reading there.

Really well done.

Let's check our answers to make sure we've understood everything that we've read in this extract today.

So, how do Henry and Joan get out the room? Well, they chant the incantation in reverse.

And what sort of light does the doorway give off? Well done if you said glowing.

And finally, what does Henry compare the doorway to? The stitching on a beautiful women's clothing.

Well done if you've got all of those answers correct.

That shows me you've been paying attention as you've been reading.

Great job.

All right, let's check how we're getting on now, shall we? True or false? Henry enjoys being inside the magical room.

What do you think? Pause the video, make your guess, or decide which you think is the right answer, and then press Play when you're ready to continue.

Really well done if you said that was true.

Let's now justify that.

Is it A, he finds it energising? Or is it B, that he said he finds it comforting? Pause the video, make your guess.

Press Play when you're ready to continue.

Really well done if you remember that Henry says he finds the room comforting, which shows us that he really enjoys being in that magical room.

All right, over to you now for our first practise task of today's lesson.

You are gonna create a mind map of words or feelings that you associate with Henry and Joan's magical room.

How do you think Akala intended us to perceive the room? Remember, he's deliberately trying to create a specific reaction from his readers.

So think about what did he intend or how did he intend for us to perceive the room.

Pause the video, create this mind map, and press Play when you think you're done.

Welcome back.

Really well done there.

I really liked how some of you were using a thesaurus to make sure that your word choices, your adjective choices were really interesting.

Great job.

All right, I want you to compare your mind map to the one that Sofia created.

So think about, do you have any similar ideas to her? Let's have a look what Sofia said then, shall we? She said alive, wondrous, light, beautiful, safe, and soothing.

Why don't you pause the video, and if there's any words that Sofia's used that aren't on your mind map, now's the time to add them.

Okay, pause the video, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

All right, welcome back.

Now it's time for us to revise how we use topic sentences.

The Oak pupils have been saying the following things about topic sentences.

I want you to discuss which one of them isn't quite right.

Is it Lucas, who says, "Topic sentences explain the main idea of a paragraph."? Is it Laura, who says, "You should use quotations in your topic sentences."? Is it Izzy, who says, "Your topic sentences should be concise."? Or is it Alex, who says, "They should include the writer's name."? All right, pause the video and try and work out which of my four Oak pupils hasn't quite got it right about topic sentences.

If you're working with a partner, you can discuss with them.

But don't worry if you're working independently, you could just think to yourself.

And press Play when you are ready to continue.

Over to you.

Really well done if you identified that it was Laura who was not quite right.

We shouldn't be using quotations in our topic sentences.

We will, of course, be using quotations in our explanations, but we're not gonna be using them in our topic sentences.

You can however mention methods.

You might not always.

You don't always mention methods in your topic sentences, but sometimes you may.

And today, we're gonna practise writing topic sentences where we do mention the writer's methods.

All right, let's consider how we structure a topic sentence then.

So an effective topic sentence might follow a structure like this.

"At the," insert the place in the text, the writer, of course, if you know the writer's name, you will insert their name there, "is showing us that the room is," linked back to the writer's intention, think about those words that you put in the mind map, what is the author trying to say about the room? And then you may add, "through the use of X/Y," and that might be where we add a method.

Let's break down the purpose of each part of that topic sentence.

At the, place in the text, well, this helps the reader understand your idea if they know where or when in the text you're talking about.

Really important to kind of set the scene for our reader.

Link back to intention.

We should always be asking ourself whenever we analyse literature, what is the writer trying to show us? What are they trying to tell us? In this case, we want to think, "What is Akala trying to show us about the room?" And finally, uses X/Y.

That's where we might reference the method.

And remember I said that's not something you would put necessarily put in every topic sentence, but today we're gonna practise using methods as part of our topic sentences.

Okay, so we know that an effective topic sentence might follow the structure that you can see on the screen.

Let's have a look at an example of this, shall we? "At the beginning of 'The Dark Lady', Akala is showing us that the room is a safe, reassuring place through the use of the semantic field of comfort." Okay, shall we just have a look at how that uses that structure? "At the beginning of 'The Dark Lady'," that's telling us the place of the text, the writer, "Akala," we mentioned them by name because we know their name, "is showing us that the room is," linked back to the intention.

Well, what's Akala trying to say? That the room is a safe and reassuring place.

And how does he do that? Through the use of the semantic field of comfort.

Place in the text, the writer's name, link to intention, and reference to method.

Well done if you could see how that example really makes use of the structure that I've shared with you.

Okay, let's check how we're getting on, shall we? Which two of the following statements are true? Is it A, a topic sentence should be, should use quotations from the text? B, a topic sentence should give the reader an idea of where or when in the text? Is it C, a topic sentence should link to the writer's intention? Pause the video, have a think.

Remember, you're looking for two correct answers.

And press Play when you are ready to continue.

Okay, really well done if you said B and C.

So we know that quotations shouldn't appear in our topic sentence.

We're gonna use quotations to justify, to prove our topic sentence true, but we're not gonna put the quotations in our topic sentences.

We should always try and talk about the when or the where in the text to give the reader a little bit of context about what we're talking about.

And of course, our topic sentence should always, always focus on the writer's intention.

Well done if you got that answer correct.

All right, it's time for us now to reread pages 68 and 70.

The ones that we looked at earlier in the lesson.

What we're gonna do now is create two topic sentences to answer the question, in "The Dark Lady," how does Akala present Henry and Joan's magical room? Things I want you to remember as you're writing.

Firstly, a topic sentence should introduce the main idea of the paragraph.

A topic sentence should tell us what the writer uses to present the idea.

And a topic sentence should always, always, always link back to the writer's intention.

It's over to you now to give this a go.

So pause the video.

Let's have two really great topic sentences using the structure that we've already discussed.

Give this a go.

I know you can do it.

Good luck.

Press Play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, welcome back.

I really wonder how you felt using that structure.

I hope you found it really, really useful.

What I want us to do before we move on is just kind of reflect on the topic sentence we've written by comparing them to one of the Oak pupils.

So I want us to think about why Laura's topic sentence is not particularly effective.

Let's have a look at what Laura said.

She said, "At the beginning of 'The Dark Lady', Akala showing us that Henry and Joan's magical room is magical through the use of the light imagery." Pause the video, have a think why might this not be particularly effective.

Press Play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

I really liked it when people said something similar to Alex, who said, "Laura's just like repeating the question.

We need to say something more about what we think the room is like.

For example, we could say the room is beautiful rather than magical because we know it's a magical room because it's called the magical room." So for example, just that very small change of the adjective there makes that a much more effective topic sentence.

Well done if you spotted that as the area of improvement in Laura's topic sentence.

Now might be the time to reread your own topic sentences and see how you got on.

If you want to make any improvements, now's the time to do it.

Pause the video and press Play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, it is time for us to move on to our final learning cycle today, and this is gonna be about selecting precise evidence, or selecting quotations.

So when we are answering an analytical question, we need to consider how we can use the text as evidence for our ideas.

So how do you think we can use the text as evidence? Pause the video, discuss with your partner, if you've got one, or just think through this question by yourself if you're working independently.

Press Play when you're ready to continue.

Welcome back.

So you may have said something along the lines of what Lucas did.

He said, "Well, we can use quotations." And that might be individual words or it might be slightly longer phrases from the text.

That's a really good piece of evidence to kind of support the arguments we're making.

Andeep said, "But we can also talk about the language and the structural techniques that a writer uses." So we might want to make reference to sentence structures or punctuation, which are all structural techniques.

Well done if you said anything similar to Lucas and Andeep in your discussions.

Okay, so we're gonna focus now on using quotations as evidence.

Why do you think it's important to be selective and precise when you're choosing quotations? What do you think you need to consider? Why don't you pause the video and have a think about this question, or if you've got a partner, you can discuss it with them.

And press Play when you're ready to continue.

Well done if you said something similar to Jun.

He said, "I think it's important to be selective and precise because they need to act as proof for our ideas." Let's think about things in reality.

If we want to prove we were innocent, maybe we'd been accused of doing something, if we want to prove we were innocent, we wouldn't just use anything as evidence.

We'd want to make sure the evidence that we were selecting did a really good job of proving our innocence.

Otherwise, we might still get in trouble.

Sofia says, "The quotations are evidence, therefore they need to match our ideas." I think that's a really valid point that Sofia is making.

Okay, I want you to imagine your topic sentence is the following.

At the beginning of "The Dark Lady," Akala presents Henry and Joan's magical room as beautiful through a semantic field of light imagery.

What I want you to think about is which of the following two quotations would you choose to support that argument? And give your reasoning.

So I want you to pick between stitching and shimmered.

Which of those presents the room as beautiful? Pause video, have a think, discuss it with a partner, if you have one, or just think through independently, which of these is the best word to use to support that topic sentence and why.

Over to you.

Press Play when you're ready to continue.

Some really interesting discussions there.

I heard some of you talking about stitching and saying something similar to Sam.

"I wouldn't choose this quote.

It suggests something really small and intricate rather than something necessarily really beautiful and big, like the room would be." Whereas the word shimmered, I heard some of you saying some of the things to Izzy, who said, "I'd choose this word.

It makes me think of something light and sparkly, and therefore that has connotations of beauty to me." So well done if you identified that shimmered would be a much more effective quotation to use to support this topic sentence than stitching.

Great job.

True or false then.

Being selective about your quotations is really important.

What do you think? Pause the video, have a think, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

Yes, of course, that is true.

Let's justify that, shall we? Is it A, you should choose quotations that match your topic sentence? Or, you should choose quotations with the most techniques to talk about? What do you think? Pause the video, have a think, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

That was, of course, A.

We should always be choosing the quotations that supports the topic sentence that we're trying to argue.

Right, final task time now.

I want you to return to the two topic sentences that you created in Task B.

I want for each of those topic sentences you to select two quotations and explain why you've chosen them.

Every analytical paragraph should ideally have at least two quotations.

It will really help you form a more convincing argument.

So things I want you to remember as you're selecting your quotations.

Be selective.

Remember, every quotation is not gonna work in this instance.

And also ensure that both quotations match the point of your topic sentence.

Okay, it's over to you now.

So pause the video, find quotations that you can use to support your two topic sentences, and press Play when you're done.

Good luck.

Welcome back.

Some great work there.

I loved seeing how critical and selective you were being when you were looking for quotations.

That was really great to see.

Good job.

Okay, we're gonna have a period of reflection now, looking at the work that we've done in today's lesson.

We're gonna do that by comparing our work to the work of Oak pupils.

So Sam was using that topic sentence that we've already looked at in today's lesson.

"At the beginning of 'The Dark Lady', Akala is showing us that Henry and Joan's magical room is beautiful through the use of light imagery." Let's have a look at what Sam said, shall we? Sam said, "I chose golden because the colour gold makes me think of something beautiful and valuable, but then I'm not sure whether to choose mesmerising or intensity to go with it." Why don't we stop for a minute, pause and discuss, or think through this question to ourselves, which quotation would you choose and why? Pause and have a think, and press Play when you're ready to continue.

Yeah, lovely.

Well done if you said something similar to Laura.

She said she'd choose mesmerising 'cause it means something is so mysterious and attractive that you can't take your eyes off it, which really does, again, kind of support this idea that it's beautiful.

Well done if you said something similar.

Now I have the time to pause the video and compare your responses to those of Sam and Laura.

Did you get anything similar? Or do you get things slightly different? Now's the time to do a little bit of reflection.

Pause the video and press Play when you're ready to continue.

Okay, that's it.

We've reached the end of today's lesson.

What fantastic work that you've done.

It's been great to see you reminding yourselves how to use topic sentences and how to be really selective with choosing evidence.

On the screen, you can see a summary of everything that we've covered.

You may wish to pause the video, read through it carefully, and make sure you feel really confident with all these things before you move on to our next lesson.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

I've been really, really impressed with your work, and I hope to see you in one of our lessons again soon.

Have a great rest of your day.

Thank you for joining me.

Goodbye.