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Original poster

GCSE English Lit - Anthology - know all 18?

34 replies

s4rah19 · 02/05/2017 20:12

Should the students know all 18 poems? Nephew has said teacher told them they only need to memorise two for each section (so two for love/relationships, two for war/conflict etc). Am I missing something, what is the point of giving them 18 poems? Typical boy, he only knows a few (ones he's done in class), now panicking about ones he doesn't know and realistically is there time to cover the rest? It's almost like teacher is assuming only certain poems will come up, how can they possibly know? Some of them seem so difficult it's taking me all the time to understand them, and I left school over 20 years ago Shock. He's one of those that thinks he got plenty of time, I'll do it tomorrow and then all of a sudden you're sitting the exam at the end of the month! (Yr 10 sitting early Confused)

OP posts:
Trifleorbust · 02/05/2017 20:49

AQA?

AngelicaSchuylerChurch · 02/05/2017 20:55

Which board?

badhotfanny · 02/05/2017 20:56

Which board is this? Usually you only have to learn poems from one cluster (topic) and I would suggest that love and conflict are two different clusters. At least, they always used to be.

PossumInAPearTree · 02/05/2017 20:57

Dd reckons she needs to know all 18. She's revising with a personal,tutor and they're definitely covering all 18.

PossumInAPearTree · 02/05/2017 20:57

I think Dd is wjec board.

PossumInAPearTree · 02/05/2017 20:59

Checked, it's Eduquas.

TheFlyingFauxPas · 02/05/2017 21:01

Know them or memorise?? You an learn all about a poem,form, themes , context etc without having to recite from memory.

PossumInAPearTree · 02/05/2017 21:01

www.eduqas.co.uk/qualifications/english-literature/gcse/eduqas-gcse-english-literature-spec-from-2015.pdf

Two questions based on poems from the poem anthology. So it reads to me like it could be any of the poems.

AngelicaSchuylerChurch · 02/05/2017 21:03

Possum your DD is right. One poem will come up as a named poem and they will need to be able to recall quotations, themes and contextual points from another poem to compare.

Original poster
s4rah19 · 02/05/2017 21:04

School website says WJEC but some links on the revision bit of their site says EDUQAS which I'm assuming is the same board just rebranding?

OP posts:
titchy · 02/05/2017 21:06

Ds hasn't learnt them by rote. Understands the structure, form, how author represents themes etc, but no need to learn by heart.

Check the spec on the exam board website.

PossumInAPearTree · 02/05/2017 21:08

Yes, some of dds books say eduqas and some say wjec....seem to be the same according to their website.

Trifleorbust · 02/05/2017 21:08

She will need to know all the poems from one 'cluster'. Although I don't teach that board, all the major exam boards are now required to meet the same standard, so closed book and students need to cover whole texts (in this case an anthology of poems). Learning two poems won't help her if the specified poem is one she hasn't learned.

She needs to find an online revision resource - there is loads out there - and swot up on meaning, themes, devices, context etc. for each poem.

PossumInAPearTree · 02/05/2017 21:09

Dd seems to be memorising them as has been told she needs to be able to write down quotes to back up her answers. She's bloody sick of English.

AngelicaSchuylerChurch · 02/05/2017 21:10

WJEC has rebranded as Eduqas in England.

Your nephew has been misinformed. They don't need to memorise any poems in full but for EACH poem they need to know 3/4 quotations (with corresponding points about the poet's use of language) and 3/4 contextual points (e.g. Keats wrote 'To Autumn' in the knowledge that he was dying; 'The Manhunt' is written from the perspective of a real army wife whose husband suffers from PTSD after fighting in Bosnia and whom Simon Armitage met, etc).

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 02/05/2017 21:10

You need to tell us which exam board before we can help. Found this about AQA which says that "you must have a really good working knowledge of all the poems in your cluster" but your OP seems to say that he is studying more than one group of poems, which suggests it's not AQA Confused

www.hoddereducation.co.uk/media/Documents/English/AQA-GCSE-English-Literature_Working-with-the-Poetry-Anthology-Unseens_Samples-Pages.pdf

AngelicaSchuylerChurch · 02/05/2017 21:11

Trifle Eduqas don't use clusters. There is one anthology of 18 poems.

walruswhiskers · 02/05/2017 21:11

We teach the eduqas spec. He needs to know ALL the poems from one cluster - either love or conflict are the most popular. He should know some quotes from as many as he can, should be confident on themes, ideas and techniques used and the effect they create. The exam will name and print one poem and he's expected to remember another to compare and contrast with it.

walruswhiskers · 02/05/2017 21:12

And context info as well as a pp said.

Original poster
s4rah19 · 02/05/2017 21:13

I just find it strange that the teacher would advise them to choose two of their own choice, obviously kids will choose the easier ones. DN initialled the poems as war, love/relationships and nature but I've been reading up on the Anthology on the internet and the poems are separated into war, loss, change, place,nature,life,power, death, time/seasons. I don't want to baffle him but it seems like the teacher hasn't gone into depth like other schools do.

OP posts:
TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 02/05/2017 21:13

Oh, ok. Yes, the Eduqas specification explicitly states that "learners must study all of the poems in the anthology".

titchy · 02/05/2017 21:15

I think people need to clarify what to 'know' a poem means. It doesn't mean being able to recite it word for word. It means understanding the meaning, how author does this that or the other. A few key words from each to illustrate the points made in the answer.

walruswhiskers · 02/05/2017 21:16

Having just checked I may be wrong about clusters - that might be last year's spec. (Haven't taught Lit this year, only Lang.). The other stuff I said is correct though.

Laniakea · 02/05/2017 21:17

the AQA spec says this:

"Students will study one cluster of poems taken from the AQA poetry anthology, Poems Past and Present. There is a choice of two clusters, each containing 15 poems. The poems in each cluster are thematically linked and were written between 1789 and the present day.

The titles of the two clusters are:

Love and relationships
Power and conflict.
Students should study all 15 poems in their chosen cluster and be prepared to write about any of them in the examination."

and for the exam:
"Section B Poetry: students will answer one comparative question on one named poem printed on the paper and one other poem from their chosen anthology cluster."

DD says they study all the poems from one cluster (hers is conflict) they don't learn any by rote but must be able to quote, compare themes/structure/technique ... which means you end you knowing them pretty well.

(I'm getting her to check this again tomorrow because I'm worrying now!)