Hello, my name is Ms. Grant.

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

We're in the "World at War: Short Stories" unit.

Today we're going to be focusing on all the different war literature that you have read.

And we're going to think, "Well, how would we compare to text?" There might be different forms. One might be a poem, one might be a short story, there might be an extract, there might be a letter.

How would we go about comparing these texts which are about the same subject "war" but are expressed in different ways? We're going to pay particular attention to the opening of those paragraphs.

How do you set yourself up for success? I'm going to 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 write comparative topic sentences.

Now, topic sentences are the first sentence of a paragraph and they state the paragraph's main idea.

Well, what does that look like, if you're talking about not just one text but two texts? By the end of today's lesson, you're going to be able to answer that question and you're going to have written some fantastic comparative topic sentences.

There are some key words which are going to be referenced throughout today's lesson, and they're going to help us achieve our objective.

If you'd like to pause the video now and go through each one, please do.

You can make some notes.

Otherwise they're going to be referenced throughout and we are really going to get to grips of them across this lesson.

I'd like to draw attention to just one word at the moment, it's the second word, which is "form." And in literature, this is the type of text a writer uses.

Short story, memoir and poems are all examples.

So you might have heard that phrase text type before, but the word "form" might be a little bit unfamiliar to you.

What it means is the type of text a writer uses.

Our lesson outline for today.

First of all, we're going to think, "Well, how do we determine differences between texts? "What might that planning look like?" And then in our second learning cycle, we are going to write some comparative topic sentences, relying on the differences which we have worked out in the first learning cycle.

Let's start off with determining differences between texts.

Now I'd like you to discuss what examples of war literature have you read? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Such a lovely discussion to listen to.

There are so many different types of war literature having been read, some fiction, some nonfiction poems, memoirs, extracts, letters, such a range of different pieces of war literature, so I can tell that these comparative sentences are going to be really, really interesting 'cause they've got such a range of pieces of war literature that people have read in the room.

Now here's what Andeep said.

He said, "I've read 'Propping Up The Line" by Ian Beck," short Story, "'The Fly' by Catherine Mansfield," another short story, "poetry by Wilfred Owen, "a letter from Wilfred Owen to his mother, "dated February, 1917, "an extract from Vera Brittain's memoir, "'Testament of Youth.

'" So like you, Andeep has quite a range, different types of texts that he has read from different time periods and focusing on different aspects of World War I.

Now Andy considers similarities between two of these texts and he selects Vera Brittain's memoir, "Testament of Youth," and a letter from Wilford Owen to his mother.

And he says, "Both Owen and Brittain "write a personal experiences of World War I," so absolutely, that's a similarity between them.

I'd like you to discuss, what's one or more similarity between two pieces of war literature that you have read? Pause the video and discuss this question now.

Welcome back.

A lovely discussion there drawing some similarities between the text.

Some of you had read "Propping Up the Line" by Ian Beck, just like Andeep and you said that both Beck and Owen discuss trench warfare.

What trench warfare is like for the soldiers of World War I.

That was a strong similarity that came through for a number of pupils.

Now next Andeep considers differences between these two texts who still focuses on Brittain's "Testament of Youth" and Wilfred Owen's letter.

But now he's considering the differences and he says, "Owen wrote about the trenches, "but Brittain wrote about the home front." Now I'd like you to discuss, what's one more difference between two pieces of war literature you have read? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, a lovely discussion there.

So we know that all of these writers are focusing on the idea of war, but there are some differences between them.

I'm going to focus on Ian Beck short story and the poetry of Wilfred Owen 'cause that was the thing we discussed when we were looking at the similarities and people said, "Well, Beck is writing using third person "and he didn't experience the war.

"It's an imaginative retelling "of his grandfather's experiences of war.

"Whereas Wilfred Owen was a soldier in World War I.

"So he is writing of personal experiences." So that's a difference between those two texts.

Another difference is that Owen was using poetry, whereas Beck uses the short story form.

Now, comparing one text to another can often help us understand the text more deeply and evaluate it more clearly.

We can compare what each writer chose to write about, how each writer chose to write about it, their methods, the effects and successes of these choices and methods.

So methods of the tools that they've used to create their works and language choices.

An example, structural choices are an example.

So comparing two texts and thinking, "Well, what structural choices did Owen, "for example, make compared to Beck? "How does that help me understand the messages "that they want to convey?" Now, when comparing, you might consider, who wrote the text and why, relevant autobiographical experience, the narrative voice selected, first person, second person, or third person.

So first person, one of our key terms using I, being a character in the story.

Third person using pronouns like he, she, it, they, using people's names and not being a character in the story.

So we considered that Owen sometimes inhabits first person in his letter, for example, in some of his poems. But Beck for example, is using the third person, Catherine Mansfield in her short story, "The Fly" is using third person.

The time period when the text is set and, or written, the form of the text, so we've considered that word already.

So the idea, is it a memoir, is it a poem, is it a letter, is it a short story? The intended audience for the text.

So Owen's letter is a good example here because that was intended for his mother.

Whereas if we think about Vera Brittain's extract, "Testament of Youth," we know that that memoir was intended for a large audience.

The structure of the text, language choices, any other significant method.

So when comparing, there are so many different things that you might want to focus on in order to compare the two texts.

Now Andeep uses a table to help him compare two texts.

First he selects the two texts he wishes to compare.

So he's decided he wants to compare "Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain and "The Fly" by Catherine Mansfield.

Now first of all, he starts to make notes.

So he makes notes about the form and he says, "Well, testament of youth is a memoir, "it's personal, it's reflective, "whereas "The Fly" is a short story.

"It's fictional, it's creative." He thinks about the narrative voice.

"Testament of Youth" as first person we hear of Brittain's deepest feelings, whereas "The Fly" is third person, we've got less access to the character's interior life.

Now I'd like you to discuss which two texts would you like to compare and how would you fill the first two rows of the table.

So the war literature that you have read, select just two, which would you like to compare and how would you fill the first rows of that table? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back.

Nice to hear people formalising their discussion that we had earlier in this learning cycle.

Starting to think about the form.

Well we've got, I've decided to compare poetry by Wilfred Owen to a short story.

I'm actually like Andeep, I'm going to use "The Fly." So that's the form of that.

We've got that short story there and narrative voice, the poems that I'm selecting from Wilford Owen actually use third person, as does Catherine Mansfield in "The Fly." But people had a range of different texts that they wanted to look at.

Now a check for understanding before we start to develop our comparison between these two texts.

Is this true or false? You can compare almost all methods a writer has used, but not things about the writers themselves because they have no control over that.

Pause the video and select, whether you think this is true or false.

Pause the video now.

Well done, if you selected false.

Now I'd like you to justify your idea.

Is it A, you can compare writers' experiences if they are writing in the first person, or B, compare experiences between writers as autobiographical detail is part of a text context.

Pause the video and select your justification now.

Well done, if you selected B, you can compare experiences between writers', autobiographical detail definitely counts as part of a text context.

And it doesn't matter whether they're writing in first person, second person, or third person.

You can still compare these experiences.

So I would like you to complete the table making comparisons between your two chosen texts.

First of all, select the text you wish to compare.

And the second is make notes about their differences using the bullet points to guide you.

Now you might have your two texts selected, fantastic.

If you want to look in the additional materials, you'll find some text there.

You might want to use those in order to complete your table.

But the first thing to do is select the text you wish to compare.

You could use the ones that you were looking at earlier in this learning cycle.

And then you're going to make some notes about the differences using the bullet points to guide you.

So you might want to think about who wrote the text and why, relevant autobiographical experience, all those listed bullet points might direct you in order to find those differences.

Don't worry if you do can't do them all, but do try and aim to do many of them.

So you've got lots and lots of differences between these two texts.

Pause the video and complete this table now.

Welcome back.

Well done for giving that table the time that it deserves.

It's really going to help you as we move into our second learning cycle.

Brilliant to see such detailed tables in front of me.

Lots of people have chosen lots of different types of war texts and we start to see these differences coming through.

Now here's a row of Andeep's table.

Remember he was comparing "Testament of Youth" by Vera Brittain to "The Fly" by Catherine Mansfield.

Now he's looking at who wrote the text and why.

So he's written Vera Brittain, for Britain's "Testament of Youth and he has written, "She wanted to convey her experiences on the home front, "including anger and anxiety." So a nice note there because he's got, developed the idea of why she has written that text.

And then "The Fly" for Catherine Mansfield written by Catherine Mansfield.

It was perhaps inspired by the loss of her brother.

So we've got some autobiographical detail in there and it is perhaps critical of the older generation.

So those are the two notes that Andeep has for the text that he has selected.

Now I'd like you to discuss, what did you write for this aspect of your table? So for this aspect of your table, for your two chosen texts, who wrote them and what were some of the motivations for them writing them? Pause the video and discuss the question now.

Welcome back, lovely to hear people thinking about texts or the biographical detail of the writer and why that is important.

Lots of people are focusing on Wilfred Owen and his poetry or perhaps a letter that he wrote.

And his motivation was he really wanted to capture the true experiences of what it was like to work in the trenches, to to fight in the trenches, and to convey those experiences to those at home because he was aghast, he was really distressed, and he was angry about what he was experiencing in terms of trench warfare and he didn't feel that patriotic messages that were given to young men before they went to fight were really reflective of what he found in the trenches.

Now we're going to move on to learning cycle two.

Keep a hold of your table from learning cycle one because it's really going to help us in the second part of the lesson where we start to write our comparative topic sentences.

So comparing one text to another can often help us evaluate them more clearly.

We looked at this idea in learning cycle one.

Using evaluative words like "more" or "less" can be helpful, for example, so we've got here Andeep's table.

Remember he was looking at "Testament of Youth" by Vera Brittain and "The Fly" by Catherine Mansfield.

Now he has used his table to help him write or speak an evaluative statement where he says, "Brittain's memoir expresses her feelings about war "more explicitly than Mansfield." So that is an evaluative statement 'cause he's making a judgement about these two texts.

So Brittain's memoir expresses her personal feelings about war more explicitly than Mansfield.

And we can see that he's relied on his table to do this because we can see it's a memoir, it's personal, it's reflective, and he's compared that to the short story format, which is fictional and creative.

Here's another sentence from Andeep.

"Brittain wants to accurately capture life "on the home front.

"So her memoir is less ambiguous than Manfield short story, "which is more open to interpretation." So you can see he's got the words "more" and "less" in there.

So this is a nice evaluative statement.

And final sentence, "Brittain's memoir is more reflective "of the feelings of anxiety "when waiting for news of loved ones.

"Mansfield short story focuses less on feelings "and more on the actions of the boss." So you can see how useful these small words "more" or "less" can be in terms of making evaluative statements.

Now I'd like you to look at your table from learning cycle one and see if you can discuss some more or less evaluative statements.

What more or less evaluations does it help you make that table that you had from learning cycle one? So is your chosen text as one more graphic than the other? Is one focusing less on experiences of those in the trenches and more on those on the home front.

You can use these words "more" or "less" and your table to try and say some sentences, discuss some sentences just like the examples we looked at at the beginning of this learning cycle.

So pause the video and discuss, what more or less evaluations does your table help you to make? Pause the video and complete this discussion now.

Welcome back, what lovely evaluative discussions I heard people talking about.

So some people saying, "Mansfield uses more similes "and more metaphorical language in her writing "than Brittain does in her memoir," and thinking about the intended audiences as well.

So Owen is less concerned with a wider audience in his letter because he thinks he's just sending it to, well, he is just sending it to his mother that we now have access to it, but a century later.

Whereas someone like Britain is more concerned with her intended audience because she knows that her "Testament of Youth" is going to be read by a wider audience.

So lots and lots of different evaluative statements there relying on these words "more" or "less" in order to support.

Now Andeep uses his table and discussion to craft the opening of a comparative paragraph.

He starts off, "Both Brittain and Mansfield "use their text to explore World War I and loss." So he starts by creating a topic sentence that states the paragraph's main idea.

This paragraph is going to focus on loss in these writers' pieces of work and he's drawn them together by using that word "both." Then he develops his topic sentence by stating a clear idea about text one.

"Brittain explicitly presents personal experiences of loss "as her text is a memoir." So he says a really clear idea about Brittain and focuses on loss because that is the paragraph's main focus.

Then he compares text two to text one, "By contrast," so he's explicitly stating here I'm going to compare now, "By contrast, Mansfield creates a fictional short story "and her exploration of loss is more ambiguous." So he's still focused on loss because that is the paragraph's main focus.

But now he's talking about Mansfield and he's used that word "more" in order to create an evaluative statement.

So both Brittain and Mansfield use their texts to explore World War I and loss.

The paragraph's main idea is loss.

Brittain explicitly presents personal, sorry, Brittain explicitly presents personal experiences of loss as her text is a memoir.

So that's an idea about Brittain.

By contrast, really drawing that comparison, Mansfield creates a fictional short story and her exploration of loss is more ambiguous.

So really focusing on the idea of loss, but drawing that distinction between the two.

So using these steps, 'cause you can use them to compare any two texts, I would like you to write the opening of a comparative paragraph.

So a reminder of the steps, create a topic sentence stating the paragraph's main idea.

So the first sentence will be about similarity between your two chosen texts both.

Then develop your topic sentence by writing an idea about text one.

So writer A, whatever that writer's name is.

And then compare text two to text one and you can use a sentence by contrast like Andeep did.

We might write on the other hand or you might write however.

So pause the video and using the steps, write the opening of a comparative paragraph.

Pause the video and complete this task now.

Welcome back, well done for opening, for writing the opening of your comparative paragraphs using those steps to guide you, you've got really, really clear topic sentences.

So here's another opening from Andeep.

He writes, "Both Britain and Mansfield "focus on the experiences of those in Britain "rather than in the trenches." So he's got a topic sentence stating the paragraphs main idea.

It's about experiences in Britain.

"Brittain focuses on experience of those on the home front, "particularly her own experiences," a clear idea about text one.

"By contrast, "Mansfield focuses on the older generation "reflecting on what a future "with no younger generation looks like." So he's got a completely contrasting idea from Mansfield, but it's still a focus on Britain because that is the paragraph's main focus.

I'd like you to identify where you have met the checklist.

Where's your opening topic sentence stating the paragraph's main idea? Where's your idea about text one, where's your idea about text two? Pause the video and complete this check now.

Well done, lovely to see people self-assessing their comparative topic sentences and showing where they have met the checklist.

So it's a couple of sentences that you've got to do in order to do these comparative topic sentences, but you can follow these steps every single time you're comparing two texts and it really sets you up for success for the paragraph, a paragraph which has a clear focus, but it's also definitely comparative.

Now I would like you to write two more comparative openings about your chosen texts.

Andeep's model may support your responses, so you're not writing a full main body paragraph.

You are writing two more comparative openings where you are going to follow those steps just as you did for that check for understanding, you're going to do that twice more.

I can see people reaching for their tables because they know that that is going to support them.

Well done and spend some time so that you really set yourself up for success and you've got the openings of three in front of you comparative paragraphs 'cause you'll have your one, from the check for understanding that we just completed.

And two more that you are about to complete now.

So pause the video and write two more comparative openings about your chosen texts.

Use the steps on the board to guide you.

Pause the video now.

Welcome back.

It is lovely to look around and see three sets of comparative opening topic sentences to paragraphs where you've relied on your table.

All the discussion we've done throughout today's lesson in order to write some really nuanced differences between two texts, but still paragraphs that have a clear focus.

Now let's do some self-assessment, just like you did in the check for understanding earlier in this learning cycle.

I would like you to identify where you've met the checklist in each of your comparative openings.

So where is your topic sentence stating the paragraph's main idea.

Where is your topic sentence about text one and where have you got that contrast where you've got comparing text two to text one.

Pause the video, read through your comparative openings and identify where you've met the checklist.

Complete this check now.

Welcome back.

Well done for completing that self-assessment, really holding yourself to account and showing off your fantastic knowledge of what it means to write comparative topic sentences.

In summary, comparing one text to another can often help you evaluate it more clearly.

You can compare what each writer chose to write about and how they chose to write about it.

The opening of comparative paragraphs could start with a topic sentence, which states the paragraphs main idea.

The next sentences of a comparative paragraph could focus on the differences between two texts you wish to compare.

It has been such a pleasure working through today's lesson with you and I look forward to seeing you next time.