Hi everyone, this is Mr. Chandrapala, and I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

We're gonna be having a look today at powerful topic sentences.

This is one of the most important things for us to get right at this moment in time.

Topic sentences really help set up our argument and actually allow us to structure ideas in a really helpful way.

If we can get this right now, it's really gonna help us in the future as we develop more and more complex arguments.

So without further ado, let's dive in.

So our outcome for today is that we can explain how Puck is presented using evaluative and well supported topic sentences.

Our key words for today's lesson are the noun topic sentences which is the first sentence of a paragraph, and it states our main idea.

We're gonna be evaluating, so we're gonna be making a judgement about something.

We're gonna consider the word irreverent, which is an adjective, which means disrespectful.

We're gonna be thinking about conjunctions which are words which connect two clauses in a sentence.

These include; for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, and although are all examples.

So all of those are examples that we can think of when linking ideas together.

And then we're gonna think about the adjective contemptuous, which means insulting.

So all of irreverent and contemptuous could be really important when we're thinking about the character of Puck in today's lesson.

So we're gonna start off with developing and understanding of evaluative topic sentences.

Understanding topic sentences is a key part to writing a clear paragraph.

Topic sentences are always found at the start of a paragraph.

They explain the purpose of a paragraph, and they are supported by moments in the text.

Now I wanna be really clear about this, we don't use those moments in a text, we don't refer to them as part of the topic sentence.

So when you are writing a topic sentence, never ever, ever include a quote.

Don't want you to do that.

You can say something like, "Shakespeare presents Puck as contemptuous when he insults the Athenians." But we wouldn't say, "Shakespeare presents Puck as contemptuous when he insults Bottom as," and then give a quote.

We don't wanna do that.

We're referring to wider moments in the play at this point.

So Izzy wrote two topic sentences in answer to this question.

How does Shakespeare present the character of Puck? She wrote two topic sentences.

The two topic sentences she wrote were, "Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who enjoys disorder, and Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who likes humiliating people." Aisha looked at these and she was really impressed.

She said, "You know what, Izzy? These are really clear, but can we make them more evaluative?" So Izzy went away and she had to think about this.

She looked at her first topic sentence and she wants to make it more evaluative just like Aisha told her to.

So she looked at her first draught, "Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who enjoys disorder." And she thought, "How can I do this? How can I make it a bit more evaluative?" So she tried in her second draught to compel to develop it a little bit further.

So she wrote, "Shakespeare Presents Puck as a character who enjoys disorder yet he obediently carries out Oberon's commands to restore order at the end of act three." Now, I really like this because what we're starting to see here is a little bit of comparison between Puck at one moment and then later on in the text.

We're starting to see at Izzy trying to show that actually Puck is more developed than just a character who enjoys disorder, because ultimately he does have a role in restoring order.

Now, I've given a little bit of a hint on how Izzy has made her topic sentence evaluative, but it's not the only thing she has done to create a more evaluative topic sentence.

I want you to pause the video now and have a look for yourself.

Think back to those three things that I said that we need to include in a topic sentence.

That it starts our argument, that it allows us to refer to other moments in the text and it's supported by our moments in the text.

How is Izzy's argument doing this? Pause the video now.

See if you can talk to the person next to you and gather some ideas, or maybe write down the topic sentence for yourself and maybe jot down, annotate your ideas for yourself, and when you're ready, hit play.

Some lovely work there, some really excellent feedback being taken, and some really careful drafting.

Let's have a look here at what Izzy has done to make her topic sentence more evaluative.

So she has complicated her idea using a conjunction, hasn't she? She used that conjunction yet to show that actually there are moments when Puck is more than just enjoying disorder and actually helps to restore it.

So Izzy was really pleased with that first topic sentence redraft, and she thought, "You know what? I'm gonna do this again.

I'm gonna redraft my second topic sentence to make it more evaluative." So again, her second topic sentence was, "Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who likes humiliating people." For her second draught, she said, "Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who likes humiliating people, but the pain he inflicts is arguably much less serious than the punishment Egeus plans for Hermia." Really interesting.

I want us to think about and discuss how has Izzy made her second topic sentence evaluative here? We discussed how she managed it for the first one, does she do anything similar in the second topic sentence? Pause the video now and see if you can pick out what she has done to make a more evaluative second topic sentence.

Really pleased to see that so many of you were thinking back to what she did in the first one and thinking about that key word conjunctions.

Did she use any conjunctions? Well, she does use the conjunction but, doesn't she? Which allows her to complicate her idea again and actually add a level of nuance, a level of evaluation in her reading of Puck.

She has compared one character to another, so she's compared Puck to Egeus using that conjunction but to allow for that contrast to be created.

So Izzy has done really well there with that second topic sentence.

Well done, Izzy.

Izzy decides she's gonna write a third topic sentence.

Let's see how this goes for her.

Her first draught was, Shakespeare presents Puck as an irreverent character.

She's had a look at it and she thinks, "You know what? I need to improve that." But how would you make Izzy's topic sentence more evaluative? So if you've got that first draught she's got, "Shakespeare presents Puck as an irreverent character," what could you do to make Izzy's topic sentence more evaluative? Remember, we were talking about comparisons, we were talking about using conjunctions to structure those comparisons, and add a level of evaluation into how we read a character.

Pause the video now and see if you can redraft your idea either on your sheet of paper, or maybe out loud to your partner, or maybe on a mini whiteboard.

And when you are ready, hit play.

So really helpful when we've got Izzy giving us such a good idea to initially work from.

But I'm still so pleased to see how many of you are starting to use those conjunctions comparing to other characters to do that.

Well done everyone.

So here are some ideas Izzy had that we could actually use to inspire us or maybe we can contrast our ideas with hers and see which one we think is a little bit better.

Izzy's second draught for Shakespeare presents Puck as an irreverent character was: "Shakespeare presents Puck as an irreverent character but his respect for Oberon is never in doubt." Now, that clearly has got a conjunction but, and it's starting to link Puck to another character so that we're starting to see a little bit more of that evaluation because we're comparing him to his actions over the course of the play.

She drafted a second one.

"Shakespeare presents Puck as an irreverent character, although his contempt seems to be mainly reserved for those he feels are beneath him like the Rude Mechanicals." Now this is really interesting and get as well, we have that the link to the key word contempt, but then we have that conjunction although, and then we're linking it to a key moment in the play, how he treats those who are below him.

We then have the third topic sentence.

"Shakespeare presents Puck as an irreverent character and even in his epilogue we are not sure if he is making fun of us." So again, that conjunction and then linking to another key moment in the text.

But all of these are interesting topic sentences, but they're not all equally strong.

I want you to choose which of these is the strongest example of an evaluative topic sentence about the character of Puck.

Izzy has drafted all three.

We've gone through them, but which one do you think is the strongest example? Is it a, Shakespeare presents Puck as a contemptuous character.

He is also presented as loyal servant to Oberon.

B, although Shakespeare presents Puck as the source of chaos, he also shows how important he is in restoring order.

Or c, Shakespeare presents Puck as a powerful character, but unlike Oberon, he uses it for innocent mischief rather than cruel revenge.

Pause the video now and shoot a, b or c.

Which one do you think is the strongest evaluative topic sentence? Really interesting thinking there everyone, really like the way that some of you were discussing it with the people next to you.

I really thought it was interesting that some of you were starting to break this down, going back to our initial success criteria for topic sentences.

So we can see that b and c are the stronger examples of evaluative topic sentences.

A isn't really a strong example, right? Because it hasn't got that, whilst it does have an attempt to compare Puck to how he acts later in the play, there's no conjunction there.

These are almost two separate ideas put next to each other and though they're linked, they're not clearly linked enough, whilst actually b and c do have those conjunctions that link those ideas together.

Although, also link the ideas together that Puck is a source of chaos but also helps restore order, and then that conjunction but allows us to understand that he is a powerful character, but also that he does use it for innocent mischief rather than cruel revenge.

Well done to those of you who got that right.

Well done to those of you who noticed that I was trying to trick you, really impressed there.

So I would like you for yourself now to write three evaluative topic sentences in answer to the question: how does Shakespeare present the character of Puck? We've gone through a couple of ideas, so you may draw inspiration from there, but I'd love to see you go a little bit further and actually push yourself to new horizons, not just going back to what we've already discussed.

You can use the definition of conjunctions to support you, so I would really encourage you to use those conjunctions for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, although, and so, as conjunctions to link different ideas together so that we're creating more evaluative views of Puck.

Pause the video now, draught those three topic sentences in your notes or on your whiteboard, and when you are ready, hit play.

Lovely work there everyone.

Let's take some feedback so we can improve those topic sentences and check how we've done.

So if we have a look at one of Izzy's evaluative topic sentence, Shakespeare presents Puck as an irreverent character although his contempt seems to be mainly reserved for those he feels are beneath him, like the Rude Mechanicals; we can see she has a clear idea to begin with.

She then uses a conjunction and then she has that evaluative idea.

I want you to identify where each of your sentences meets that success criteria.

Where do we have a clear idea, a conjunction, and then an evaluative idea to deepen our reading of the character? Pause the video.

Make sure that you are identifying each of those three things in your topic sentence.

If you're not, you may need to rephrase or redraft your topic sentence.

Once you have done that in a different colour pen, hit play.

Really good work there everyone.

These topic sentences are really hard, so I appreciate that actually all of you doing that hard work on redrafting during this feedback task.

Is not only really difficult but also shows that you're really committed to improving your work.

So, so pleased with that.

Well done.

We're now gonna have a look at developing supported topic sentences.

So Izzy has written a paragraph using her evaluative topic sentence as the foundation.

She wrote, "Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who enjoys disorder, yet he obediently carries out Oberon's command to restore order at the end of act three.

When the Athenian nobles are really unhappy, Puck calls it a sport and a fond pageant showing he thinks their distress is entertaining.

He says it is like watching a show.

So in a way, Puck is like us, the audience, watching a comedy." Aisha looked at this and she thought, "You know what? I really like the fact that Izzy has used evidence which supports her first idea." Her first idea was the fact that Puck is a character who enjoys disorder.

And actually because Izzy has included that quote, Puck calls it sport and describes it as a fond pageant and then explained it, she's really clearly backing up that initial idea.

Aisha is a little bit concerned about Izzy's work though and gives this EBI.

She says she needs to evidence which, you need evidence which supports both ideas.

So even though Izzy has supported the first part of her topic sentence, she hasn't supported the second bit where she says, "Puck obediently carries out Oberon's commands to restore order at the end of act three." So it's definitely something that we need to improve.

Izzy therefore decides, "You know what? I've heard Aisha, she gave me some really helpful advice the first time.

I'm gonna listen to her advice again and I'm gonna redraft my paragraph." So she produces this piece of work.

"Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who enjoys disorder, yet he obediently carries out Oberon's command to restore order at the end of act three.

When the Athenian nobles are really unhappy, Puck calls it a sport and a fun pageant showing he thinks their distress is entertaining.

He is saying it is like watching a show.

So in a way Puck is like us, the audience, watching the comedy.

Despite his desires to watch people he calls fools, he does restore order because Oberon tells him to.

He applies the antidotes to Lysander and act three ends with Puck saying, "All shall be well." Puck therefore enjoys disorder, but also respects hierarchy and his master." Izzy has done really well here, hasn't she? She now has evidence to support her entire topic sentence.

Her second part of the topic sentence has been developed because she said that Puck obediently carries out Oberon's commands to restore order at the end of act three.

And we can see that, because even though she notes that Puck describes the Rude Mechanicals as fools, he also says that all shall be well because he knows that actually it's important to follow the hierarchy and listen to his master.

So I want us just to have a quick check for understanding here.

I've got two topic sentences and pieces of evidence to support them, and I want you to tell me which answer best supports the topic sentence.

So is it, a, Shakespeare presents Puck as a powerful character, but unlike Oberon, he uses it for innocent mischief rather than a cruel revenge.

We see Puck's power when he transforms into a headless bear, sometime a fire with the Rude Mechanicals and then transforms Bottom.

Bottom's head becomes that of a donkey and this is a moment of physical comedy, a key feature of Shakespeare in comedy.

Or is it b? Shakespeare presents Puck as a powerful character, but unlike Oberon, he uses it for innocent mischief rather than cruel revenge.

We see Puck's power when he becomes a headless bear, sometimes a fire with the Rude Mechanicals, and then transforms Bottom.

However, this is arguably more mysterious than Oberon, who actively wants Titania to fall in love with something vile so he can steal the little boy he wants from her.

So two topic sentences, both the same, but very different approaches.

I would like you just to choose which one you think is better supported, which of a or b supports that topic sentence better.

They both use the same piece of evidence but they go for very different inferences.

Pause the video now and choose which one you prefer.

I'm gonna give you an extra five seconds, or I'm gonna ask you to pause the video again now and I'm just gonna ask you just to be able to justify it.

So maybe turn to your partner now and explain why you chose that.

Really good.

Really pleased to see that so many of you be able to explain your choices in your decisions there.

So I would argue that b is the better one because we have a little bit more work done around that comparison with Oberon and a little bit more of a development of actually what makes Puck a mischievous character rather than seeking revenge.

But now I'm gonna pass the baton over to you.

This is a practise task where we need to select just one of your evaluative topic sentences, and I want you to write a paragraph which supports your idea.

To do this, you may wish to refer to some of Puck's most important scenes in the play.

You should have this available to you from earlier lessons.

There may be elements that you could look at in the additional materials, or quotes that we've already covered this lesson, and you can also refer to specific moments or characters in the play without directly quoting them.

Not always will you be able to directly quote moments in the play, and that's absolutely fine if you can refer to a specific enough part of the text, that's absolutely workable as well.

Pause the video now, you're gonna have a go at developing your own argument using the topic one of the topic sentences that you've drafted.

When you are ready, hit play.

What's really impressive is the wide variety of knowledge all of you are able to bring to your writing.

I've been so, so pleased to see some of you going back to your notes, being able to retrieve key ideas, really trying to develop those topic sentences into really full and thoughtful arguments.

Well done everyone.

Let's take some feedback.

So if we just go back to Izzy's paragraph and have a look at it and think about actually how she improved it, we'll see that she has an evaluative topic sentence: "Shakespeare presents Puck as a character who enjoys disorder, yet obediently carries out Oberon's command to restore order at the end of act three." She has evidence to support the entirety of her topic sentence.

The first part definitely agrees more with the initial clear topic sentence and then that more evaluated part of the topic sentence comes towards the end.

I would like you to assess your own paragraph using this checklist.

Have you gotten a evaluative topic sentence? Have you been able to use evidence to support the entire topic sentence? So you may just want to box off the topic sentence and then underline the way you've managed to include that evidence.

Pause the video now.

Make sure that you complete that self-assessment task.

If you haven't got one of those things, you may want to just rework your paragraph in a different colour pen just to make sure that you are hitting our class expectations.

When you're ready, hit play.

You've all been so impressive, so pleased to see the diligence in which you have worked through this feedback task.

It is going to put you in such good stead further down the line.

Well done everyone.

So we've reached the end of another lesson.

So we're gonna just have our summary of powerful topic sentences.

So topic sentences state a paragraph's main idea.

Evaluative topic sentences offer a judgement about a character, and we could compare one character to another or the complexity of a character to create an evaluative topic sentence.

Conjunctions help us to create evaluative topic sentences and we must support these evaluative topic sentences with appropriate evidence from the text.

You have all been fantastic today, I've really enjoyed working with you again.

Such a delight and I really hope to see you all very soon.

Bye for now.