Reading 'The Twisted Tree': the draugr as a villain
I can understand the plot and how the villain is introduced.
Reading 'The Twisted Tree': the draugr as a villain
I can understand the plot and how the villain is introduced.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- Martha thinks the dead have escaped from the tree in the form of a draugr.
- Martha can see faces appearing in the shadows around the cabin.
- A howl sounds close to the cabin.
- A villain can be considered an antagonist and has an evil and scary presence.
- The draugr is an effective villain with its malevolent presence and unpredictability.
Keywords
Transfixed - motionless with horror or astonishment
Mortified - feel very embarrassed or ashamed
Inheritance - belongings, for example money and property, received from someone after they have died
Horde - a large group
Draugr - from Norse mythology, a ghost, spirit or reanimated corpse
Common misconception
Villains are easily identifiable and will be always be introduced from the outset of a text.
Consider the draugr's subtle and encroaching presence. Burge uses this slow reveal to create tension.
To help you plan your year 7 english lesson on: Reading 'The Twisted Tree': the draugr as a villain, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 7 english lesson on: Reading 'The Twisted Tree': the draugr as a villain, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 english lessons from the 'The Twisted Tree': fiction reading unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
You will need access to the text 'The Twisted Tree' by Rachel Burge, published by Hot Key Books, 2019.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
- Depiction or discussion of serious crime
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
- Depiction or discussion of mental health issues
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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Starter quiz
6 Questions
the highest of the gods and god of wisdom, knowledge and death
ruler of the underworld
the three women in charge of weaving fate
the tree that connects all the realms and is centre of the cosmos
Odin's ravens who fly through the nine worlds and report back
tasked by Odin to water the tree he was hanged from