25 minute lesson?

[Watercress99]

I have an interview approaching and I’m absolutely stuck with this lesson.
I’m stuck between a 20 line or 40 line poem.

I’ve really tried to whittle this down to

1. Starter - date, title, question: write down as many poetic techniques as you can OR do a match up activity with technique and meaning. I’ll go for 5 techniques. Then challenge question
2. Main - read poem with them and have guided questions round the poem that they can answer. OR read half the poem with them and they can find the quotes that link to the key theme and write a sentence about the effect?
3. Plenary- give me 5 - students give me 5 things they’ve learnt OR a true and false quiz

I’m wracking my brains with this. Probably making it more complex than necessary but I just prefer the longer poem as there’s more to pick apart however the time constraint is a problem. And I feel I have to get them to have something writing down to show “progress” and how students have met the LO.

Does anyone have any advice? Or at least whether this sounds half decent?

Are you the same poster who has another thread about a 25 minute poetry lesson for an interview?

In my opinion, you need to select your learning aims first as that establishes what you want them to know or develop by the end of the lesson. Then select the poem that best fits that objective and the time you have available. Then choose your activities from there.

Without knowing the poem and aims, it's hard for anyone to advise on your lesson ideas.

Hello. Poem- either Havisham or Medusa.

Theme - jealousy

Tasks- either the grid task of quote and how is jelousy shown OR go through the poem then they can answer 3 questions OR questions round the poem and I go through the first half and students work in pairs to finish reading the poem and answering the questions round it?

Then straight to plenary of give me 5 things we explored that show jealousy in the poem.

I would avoid introducing "beloved sweetheart bastard" to kids you don't know in an interview! I'd also avoid boulders rolling in a heap of shit.

@MrsHamlet yes I know I remember when I first taught it to my own year 9 class I changed the words! Called it mess instead:)

If I were observing the lesson and you'd changed the words, I'd wonder why you'd chosen it in the first place.

The language in both of them is a risk for a group you don't know. It's not a risk I would take.

Something to consider might be if your learning aim is exploring themes, the whole lesson needs to be built primarily around themes. 25 minutes isn't long and you probably have over an hour of material in your OP.

@MrsHamlet Really? I’m not sure what to do them as I’ve pretty much planned everything on it? Can you suggest anything else I could do?

Okay it’ll be back to the drawing board for me! Do you have any suggestions at all? Maybe “the road not taken”?

@LolaSmiles I also considered a Haiku poem? Could that be a more fitting choice for 25m

A haiku might work better in the time.
I'd happily teach either of those poems but not in an interview. And yes - I observe a lot of lessons. If something needs editing to be suitable, it's not suitable and you've changed the meaning.

@MrsHamlet thank you that’s totally understandable I’m glad you told me as I’d rather re do my plan than have my observer think what you did. I’m thinking of doing the Murakami Kijo haiku. Although I have no idea what structure I should take with this as I’ve never taught one before?

You need to start with the objective. Everything comes from there.

Thankyou! I’ll do that

A haiku is one option that could work. My preference for interview is a poem with a strong speaker or strong theme and enough lines that most students will be able to pull out something.

I'm not sure if MrsHamlet would agree agree me, but I don't think an interview has to necessarily be very short. The lesson just needs to be manageable in the time given by being not so long that you lose time reading it, and any activities are tightly planned to the lesson objectives.

For example, I could easily spend 3 or 4 lessons on a particular poem. We could explore it line by line, look in detail at context, analyse the language, explore themes, poet intent and write up an extended response. The same poem could be done for an interview lesson if the focus was on a particular theme, or the students' first impressions of the speaker, or whether they felt the event was positive or negative. It would be the same poem, but with a much tighter focus.

I do agree Lola.
I've taught Still I Rise and Tennyson's eagle in interview lessons. Both worked, and both could have had longer spent. It's the objective that's key.

@LolaSmiles @MrsHamlet

Thank you both for your advice and help!

I agree with PP that you need to decide what your objective is. What will the pupils be able to do (or understand) at the end of the lesson that they couldn’t do (or didn’t understand) at the start?

Sticking with Duffy as you seem to like her poetry: What enjambement is? What a dramatic monologue is?

Alternatively, it might be worth looking at Armitage for a similar style but sorter poems. His ‘Book of Matches’ collection are all very short.

@AttaGirrrrl I’ve given up on Duffy due to the swearing and possibilities of me looking silly.

I was looking into tennysons the eagle. Are there any Armitage poems you might recommend?

Last time I did an interview like this I was asked to explore imagery in a poem of my choice. I actually chose Street Spirit by Radiohead as it has loads of techniques and it was easy to discuss effect as a result of them. I'd choose a more up to date song now. But objective needs to be clear.