Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

I'm so glad you've decided to learn with me.

Today we are in our "Midsummer Night's Dream" unit.

So we are looking at Shakespeare's comedy from about 1595 to '6.

Today we're going to look at what it looks like to edit an essay on "A Midsummer Night's Dream." So we're gonna look at some student work and we're gonna think, well, what have they done really, really well, and how could they refine their analysis and make their essay even stronger? I cannot wait to hear all of your fantastic ideas.

I'm gonna be your support and guide as we work through today's lesson together.

Let's get started.

So by the end of today's lesson, you are going to be able to review and refine an argument about "A Midsummer Night's Dream." So we're gonna look at some interesting model paragraphs that pupils have written.

We're gonna think, well, what is really good about them? But what could be improved? And I really love editing essays because returning to an essay, returning to a paragraph, you can celebrate all the things that are really good about it.

But with that head, that reviewing head on, that editing head on, you can also think, well, how could I improve this essay? Could the phrasing be better? Could my selection of quotations be better? Could my spelling, punctuation or grammar be better? So all these things in order to make an essay even even stronger, and editing is such an important part of the writing process.

It shouldn't be thought of as an additional thing, but an integral, a really important thing that you do every time you write, not just an analytical essay, but actually any piece of writing can always, always be improved upon by returning to it and having a think about what could be even better.

Now we've got some key keywords which are gonna be referenced throughout today's lesson, they're gonna help us achieve our objective, and they are topic sentence methods, context, analysis, and Shakespearean comedy.

So let's go through their definitions.

Topic sentence, the first sentence of a paragraph stating its main idea.

So being able to craft really powerful clear topic sentences in response to an essay question is such a key skill in English.

Methods, the tools a writer uses to create their work.

For example, characterization, setting, language choice.

Now in your analytical paragraphs, you will explore methods, you will select quotations that have lots of rich methods in them, and you'll say, well, what is the effect of that method? Context, this is information about the time period of when a text was written.

And context can help us understand a text more deeply.

So looking at ideas about Elizabethan audiences, how they might react to the play, the type of society that Shakespeare was writing to can be really, really helpful in understanding "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Analysis, in English, this means looking at a text closely and considering what it might mean and why it was written in that way.

Now we are in the business of writing analytical paragraphs of reviewing and refining analytical paragraphs.

So having a really good understanding of what it means to analyse what that word means, Analysis is obviously very, very important to this lesson.

Shakespearean comedy, a play designed to make you laugh, often including misunderstandings and ending in marriage.

Of course, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a comedy, quite a difficult Shakespearean comedy in lots and lots of different ways, lots of misunderstanding, lots of chaos, lots of confusion.

But we do have a happy ending and we do have lots of marriages at the end.

So we're gonna refer to these keywords throughout our lesson, and they're gonna help unlock our learning.

Lesson outline for today, we're gonna start off by looking at powerful analysis of quotations.

What does that actually look like? And in our second learning cycle, we're going to look at using context to develop our analysis.

So let's start off with powerful analysis of quotations.

Now, pupils answered this question, how did Shakespeare use Puck to explore the supernatural? And today you're going to evaluate and improve their responses.

Here is one pupil's main body paragraph.

They wrote, "Shakespeare makes Puck an important character "who creates a lot of chaos, but should we trust him? "He says in his last speech, "'If we shadows have offended, "'think but this, and all is mended.

' "It's unclear if we should trust this apology.

"He also calls himself Honest Puck, but also Robin, "so he seems to have two names.

"The word honest means trustworthy and truthful." Now, Sam gave two pieces of feedback.

She said, "Your topic sentence should clearly link "to the question.

"Shakespeare makes Puck an important character "who creates a lot of chaos, but should we trust him?" Now, the question was about Puck and the supernatural.

So it doesn't quite link to the question yet.

And the second piece of feedback was, "Develop your analysis "by exploring Shakespeare's methods "rather than defining a word." So as pupil said, the word honest means trustworthy and truthful, let's explore the methods a bit more.

Sam is suggesting and linking quotations from across the play.

So I do like how the student does have a number of quotations in their paragraph, but they are all from the same moment in the play.

And actually it's more skillful to link quotations from across the play.

So a good start to a paragraph, but with Sam's piece of feedback, I think they can improve this paragraph even further.

Now, I'd like you to watch the pupil respond to Sam's first piece of feedback, which was, "Your topic sentence "should clearly link to the question." And the question is, how does Shakespeare's Puck to explore the supernatural? So we've got that first draught, and that second draught is, "Shakespeare uses Puck "to explore the more ambiguous nature of the supernatural." And we can see that absolutely now this student, this pupil has answered the question because they've said, "Shakespeare uses Puck "to explore the more ambiguous nature of the supernatural." So using lots of keywords from the question itself in order to create their topic sentence.

Now I'd like you to watch the pupil respond to Sam's second bit of feedback, a bit bigger this bit of feedback because they have to develop their analysis by exploring Shakespeare's methods rather than defining a word and linking quotations from across the play.

And we see their first draught, they just focused on the epilogue and they focused on this word honest, meaning trustworthy and truthful.

And Sam is saying, "I think your analysis "could be a bit better." So let's look at their second draught.

The student has written, "In his epilogue, "Puck speaks to the audience, "saying he will mend any offence "that he's caused in the play.

"He seems apologetic, but he also calls himself Honest Puck, "which doesn't quite match the transformative Puck "we have seen throughout the play.

"His final lines say, 'Give me your hands if we be friends, "'and, 'Robin shall restore amends.

' "The if suggests we can't quite be sure "if we are friends with Puck.

"And the fact that he references the second name emphasises "that we can't trust him, we can't even be sure of his name.

"This moment reminds us of when we were first introduced "to Puck by the fairy, who called him in knavish sprite, "but also Sweet Puck.

"Ultimately, Shakespeare creates "a character we can't quite be sure of, and his malevolence "and mischievousness is open to interpretation." So a lovely second draught there.

Now I'd like you to discuss how has the pupil met Sam's feedback? So pause the video, return to this paragraph and think, well, how have they met Sam's feedback about exploring methods and also linking quotations from across the play? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, really lovely discussion, celebrating this student's second draught, had a lot of pupil saying, "Well, "we can see lots of analysis of methods here." So we've got the epilogue is a reference.

So that is a method used by Shakespeare deciding to have an epilogue, having a character make a comment on the play itself.

And then looking at that word if.

So, it's a very small moment, but I really, really like this pupil's analysis because of saying the if suggests we can't be sure if we are friends with Puck, we can't really, really trust him, and also looking at the idea of his second name.

So richer methods are explored here, rather than just saying, this is what the word honest means.

And then secondly, this moment reminds us of when we were first introduced to Puck by the fairy.

Now this quotation means that within this paragraph, the pupil has looked at the epilogue, which is an Act Five, Scene One, but also at Act Two, Scene One when we first meet Puck.

So we've got quotation selected from a range of scenes rather than just one.

And that is a really, really skillful analysis, shows off knowledge of the full text rather than just focusing on one individual moment.

Now check for understanding before we move on to our own reviewing and refining of another analytical paragraph that needs a little bit of work.

I'd like you to read through Aisha and Sofia's paragraphs, and I'd like you to select which student has used the most powerful analysis about Puck and the supernatural.

So spend a bit of time reading through both of those paragraphs.

And then you consider, well, which one is the stronger piece of analysis? Pause a video, read through, and then complete the check for understanding.

Pause a video now.

Well done for giving that check for understanding the time it deserves, really unpicking both of these paragraphs written by these students.

But ultimately Sofia's is the stronger paragraph.

So looking at the terrifying nature of the supernatural when Puck scares the Rude Mechanicals and we've got that quotation there, "Transforms himself into a horse, hound, hog, bear, fire "at every turn," and the list creates pace.

So that's that exploration of the method there, the use of listing in the sense that Puck is inescapable, increases the list of things he transforms into, becomes scarier as it goes on.

So not only looking at the use of listening to create pace, but also thinking the things he's turning into, a horse is less scary than fire.

So we are really, really analysing, or Sofia has really, really analysed that quote in an interesting perceptive way that looks at the terrifying nature of the supernatural.

If we look at Aisha's paragraph, again, a nice idea in terms of looking at the terrifying nature of the supernatural.

Then Puck calls them, "Hempen homespuns" and, "Swaggering," making fun of their clothes.

That does not link to the idea that they are terrifying.

So the quotations selected there are not particularly helpful to Aisha in terms of our topic sentence.

And then looking at this word swaggering, it does mean they're walking in a way that shows confidence and pride, which Puck doesn't like.

But this doesn't support her topic sentence in terms of thinking about the terrifying nature of the supernatural.

It's zooming in on one word, but in not a particularly helpful way.

So Sofia has used her quotations or selected her quotations in such a way that proves her topic sentence in a way that Aisha has not yet done.

Okay, we're gonna move on to our practise task now.

Now we've got a question, how does Shakespeare use Puck to explore the supernatural? And we've got a first draught of a paragraph here, Shakespeare shows Puck will create chaos.

The fairy says that he loves to "Mislead night wanderers, "laughing at their harm," in Act Two, and later this happens with the Athenians, like when he says, "Fond pageant," and, "Sport," to Oberon.

So we've got the bones of a paragraph here that could be very, very good, but it needs a bit of rewriting, a bit of improving.

We've got Sam's really, really helpful feedback in terms of the topics sentence should link to the question and how to develop analysis.

And we've looked at this throughout this learning cycle, what it means to rewrite and improve a response.

So you're gonna pause the video and you're gonna complete this task.

If you need some useful extracts from the play, you can either use your own play script, but they can also be found in the additional materials.

I can see people absolutely raring to go, really wanting to do some rewriting and editing so that this paragraph becomes even stronger.

So I can't wait to see some of the second draughts of this paragraph that you are going to write.

Pause the video, give this task the time it deserves, and I will see you back here shortly.

Pause a video now.

Welcome back, beautiful to see pupil refining and reviewing that paragraph, thinking how could I make, we've got some good ideas here, but how could I actually make it into a full main body paragraph that really shows off analytical skills? Now we're gonna do some self-assessment of this paragraph and I'd like you to use the questions below to support you.

So the first is, does your topic sentence link to the question? The question is about Puck and the supernatural.

Does your topic sentence link to the question? Have you used quotations from across the play? So not just from one scene, but actually from across the play.

And does your analysis include exploration of methods? This could be the epilogue, foreshadowing, language choices or any other method of your choice.

So pause the video, return to that paragraph, do the final bit of reviewing and editing so that you can really, really feel proud of what you have written.

Pause the video and complete the self-assessment now.

Lovely to see people completing that self-assessment with the same energy and drive as they approached the writing of the analytical paragraph.

So people just checking that topic sentence, uses words from the question like supernatural or Puck or Shakespeare, just noting, yep, I've got a quotation from Act Two, from Act Three, from Act Four, from Act Five.

So that you just know that you've got a range of quotations from across the play.

And then really being able to identify, yes, I have looked at methods here, I can remember Sofia looked at list to create pace, I've looked at foreshadowing or whatever method you have decided to look at.

Just making sure you've got that analysis in there.

Well done, you've now got a beautiful analytical paragraph that has really powerful analysis of quotations.

Now we're gonna move on to our second learning cycle.

Now we've really looked at how to explore dramatic methods, and now we're gonna think, well, how can context help develop our analysis? So when analysing a text, exploring methods is key, and you've just done that in learning cycle one.

However, you can develop your analysis by including context as well.

So this is one of our keywords, information about what was happening at the time, the type of society that Shakespeare was writing in, which was of course Elizabethan.

For example, let's look at Sofia's example.

She writes, "Shakespeare reveals the terrifying nature "of the supernatural when Puck scares the Rude Mechanicals "by transforming into, 'Horse, "'hound, hog, bear, fire at every turn.

' "The list creates pace in a sense that Puck is inescapable, "increases as the list of things he transforms into "becomes scarier as it goes on." So we have that beautiful analysis of that quotation from Sofia, but she's added to her paragraph with context, "Shakespeare's first Elizabethan audiences "often connected the supernatural with evilness "and the devil.

"And the language of this moment seems "to connect Puck to something quite malevolent, "even if the scene itself is staged "in a way to make us laugh." So Sofia has directly referenced Elizabethan audience and she's really considered, well, what did they think of the supernatural? And that has really bolstered, developed her paragraph, her analytical paragraph.

Now I'd like you to discuss these questions to remind yourself of the context that might be appropriate for a question on Puck and the supernatural.

So we've got four questions here.

The first is, what were some common Elizabethan beliefs about the supernatural? What was the character of Robin Goodfellow famous for? How do we know Shakespeare was interested in the supernatural? And what information about Shakespearian comedies helps us understand how we might interpret Puck? So four really rich questions there where you're gonna be able to show off your knowledge of Elizabethan society, of Shakespeare himself.

So pause the video, give this discussion the time it deserves so you can get all of these different ideas down, and pause the video and complete these discussion questions now.

Welcome back after such a lively discussion, so many different ideas about Elizabethan society, about shaking Shakespeare himself, which will be really, really helpful, could be important to a question about Puck and the supernatural.

So some common beliefs about the supernatural and Elizabethan England world that it was very real, that it was a presence in their life and some people thinking, well, it it was quite evil.

It was presented as connected to the devil.

We saw Sofia explore that idea early in her paragraph, but also the idea that there are lots of stories about supernatural characters in Elizabethan folklore, in stories that had been passed down from generation to generation through word of mouth.

So this idea that the supernatural was quite present in their lives.

Now Robin Goodfellow is an example of a character from Elizabethan folklore and he was famous for being quite mischievous, but also for sometimes completing housework.

So we can see that maybe Shakespeare relies on this reputation of Robin Goodfellow of being a bit mischievous, but also a little bit helpful.

So we're not quite sure how to take the character of Robin Goodfellow.

Now, how do we know Shakespeare's interest in the supernatural? So really beautiful ideas in response to this question because it really showed off your knowledge of a range of Shakespeare's plays, some people saying, "Well, I've actually read a few Shakespeare plays," or, "I've watched a few Shakespeare plays, "I've heard of a few Shakespeare plays, and all of them seem "to have these supernatural ideas in them." So in "Romeo and Juliet," we've got this supernatural potion, which is meant to make Juliette appear as if she's dead.

In "Macbeth," we've got these really, really evil witches.

Some people saying, "Oh, I've read 'A Winter's Tale.

' "And in that a statue seems to come to life." So in all of Shakespeare's plays, we've got a keen, keen interest in the supernatural.

So Shakespeare was clearly very, very interested in this concept.

And then finally showing off your knowledge of genre.

So Shakespearian comedies might help us interpret the character of Puck because after all, comedy is meant to be lighthearted and meant to be fun, and it's designed to make us laugh and it has this happy ending.

So actually having knowledge of the idea of a Shakespearian comedy, which does count as context, it has as literary context, understanding the genre of this play might help us interpret the character of Puck.

These are just a few of the ideas that I heard in response to this question.

You have got some fantastic contextual knowledge about "A Midsummer Night's Dream," about Elizabethan society and about Shakespeare as a whole.

Now, I'd like you to consider this paragraph from earlier in the lesson.

So we've got this paragraph here, "In his epilogue, "Puck speaks to the audience, "saying he will mend any offence "that has been caused by the play.

"He seems apologetic, "but he also calls himself Honest Puck, "which doesn't quite match the transformative Puck "we have seen throughout the play.

"His final lines say, 'Give me your hands if we be friends,' "and, 'Robin shall restore amends.

' "The if suggests, we can't be sure "if we are friends with Puck.

"And the fact that he references his second name emphasises "that we can't trust him.

"We can't even be sure of his name.

"This moment reminds us of when we were first introduced "to Puck by the fairy, who called him a "knavish sprite," "but also Sweet Puck.

"Ultimately Shakespeare creates a character "we can't quite be sure of and his malevolence "and mischievousness is open to interpretation." So it was a really lovely paragraph, which use Sam's feedback to develop into a really analytical paragraph and really nice analysis of those quotations.

But I would like you to discuss how could you develop this paragraph even further? What context might you include and where would you include it? So pause a video, return to this paragraph and discuss the two questions now.

Beautiful discussion there, tying the earlier discussion we had about all the different contextual ideas that might be relevant to this question, and then actually applying it to a paragraph itself.

So this is how Laura included context.

She said, "The if suggests we can't be sure "if we are friends with Puck, "and the fact that he references his second name "emphasised that we can't trust him.

"We can't even be sure of his name.

"This moment reminds us of when we were first introduced "to Puck by the fairy, who called him a 'knavish sprite,' "but also Sweet Puck." Now she thought there's some really nice language analysis there, but now I'm going to start thinking about context.

"So both Puck and Robin Goodfellow had strong associations "in Elizabethan folklore.

"Puck was a name for an evil spirit, "but Robin Goodfellow was associated "with mischief and helping with the housework.

"Perhaps Shakespeare includes both these names "so that Puck's character and intentions "are purposely mysterious and open to interpretation." So nice light touch bit of context there where Laura references Elizabethan folklore in order to develop her ideas about her analysis.

Now you could have had loads of different moments of context there.

So you might have said, "Well, "I want to focus on the genre of the play.

"I want to focus on the fact that it's a comedy, "and therefore how should we interpret these moments "where we look at Puck, well, as harmless? "Because this play, the comedy is mentally lighthearted." This is not the only piece of context that you can include here, but just looking at Laura's example, we can see how you can tie together a bit of analysis of language with that context.

Now check for understanding before we apply all of our learning and develop or add some context to an analytical paragraph.

We've got Andeep and Sofia, they've both written paragraphs where they have included some context.

Now, which pupil has best used context to develop their analysis? So you're gonna have to read through both paragraphs and then really consider which pupil has best used context to develop their analysis.

Pause the video and complete this check for understanding now.

Welcome back, well done for completing that check so carefully, and reading through these two paragraphs, you can see that they are similar in lots of ways, but it's the inclusion of context which really sets them apart.

And Andeep is the more skillful example of context.

So we've got this exploration of the supernatural world.

Puck presented as a loyal servant who cares about hierarchy and order, and he's got quotations there to prove that, "Lord," and, "King." Great, and then he applies his ideas about Elizabethan society.

He really cared about hierarchy.

So we can see that Puck's obedience is meant to reassure the audience that he is not malicious.

So linking the ideas from Elizabethan society directly to the character of Puck.

If we look at Sofia, she's got the same idea, the supernatural world, Puck is presented as loyal servant, we've got quotations to prove that.

But then her context, it seems quite random in some ways, rather than connecting the character of Puck to the ideas of context.

So, "A king is a powerful monarch," is not linked to the idea of Puck.

"Elizabethans had powerful monarchs," is not linked to the idea of Puck.

"They also had clear ideas about the supernatural." We've now got a completely different idea, which is not developed.

So Sofia has not used context there really to her advantage in the same way that Andeep has.

So we are now gonna do our practise task.

We have still got our question, how does Shakespeare use Puck to explore the supernatural? Now you're gonna return to your improved paragraph from learning cycle one.

You really improved a paragraph there by developing your analysis of quotations.

Now I'd like you to develop your analysis yet further by including context.

And I've got the questions that you discussed earlier in this learning cycle.

So you've got all of those fantastic contextual ideas and you're gonna select maybe one, maybe two in order to include in your analytical paragraph.

We looked at examples of what that might look like.

We looked at a really good example from Andeep, a really good example from Laura.

Now it is your turn.

So pause the video, return to that paragraph wherever you wrote, in your exercise book, paper and laptop.

And you're going to now develop that even further by including context in your paragraph.

Pause the video and complete the task now.

Welcome back, it was such a pleasure to see you returning yet again to that paragraph and thinking I'm going to make it even stronger.

You now have one fantastic analytical paragraph, which has beautiful exploration of quotations and also some really choice examples of context which have helped develop your analysis even further.

Now we're gonna do some feedback, some assessment.

We're gonna use Andeep to help us because Andeep says, "I included context in my paragraph "about how Shakespeare often includes ideas "about the supernatural in his plays.

"But in this play they're clearly meant to be funny "because it is a comedy." So some really, really nice exploration or explanation of the context that he included in his paragraph, 'cause he said, "Well, I want to look at the idea "that Shakespeare often includes a supernatural in his play.

"But I also included ideas about how it's a comedy." So two examples of context there, which really helped Andeep develop his analysis.

Now I'd like you to discuss what context did you include in your paragraph in order to develop your analysis? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, that was such a nice discussion to listen into.

So lots of people saying, "I, like Andeep, included ideas about the fact "that 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is a comedy "that seems to be key to understanding "how we should interpret Puck and the supernatural." Some really, really nice ideas showing off knowledge of Shakespeare as a whole.

So some people referencing, "Well, "I've seen others Shakespeare plays, I know "that Shakespeare's really interested in the supernatural.

"But here, unlike in other plays, "like for example, 'Macbeth,' "the supernatural is clearly meant to be regarded "as harmless and funny." And other people saying, "Well, Elizabethans had very ambiguous feelings "about the supernatural.

"And that's what I really wanted to explore in my paragraph, "the idea that Elizabethans had quite clear "or had a strong feeling that the supernatural did exist, "but they had ambiguous feelings "about whether it was malevolent "or whether it was mischievous." In summary, topic sentences should link to the question, include multiple quotations in each paragraph from across the play, consider writing methods when analysing quotations and include relevant context to develop your analysis.

It has been such a pleasure to really consider what makes fantastic analytical paragraphs with you today, and I cannot wait to see you next time.