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So @Team_English1 I had an idea today about a different way to approach teaching GCSE *poetry anthology* and wondered if anyone had tried something similar. The idea partly came from watching @DavidDidau ResearchEd talk about attention. My thinking... /1
Typically this is how I teach the anthology. The class come in having never read/seen the poem before. I read it to them, give them time to reflect on it/jot some ideas down etc. We discuss and annotate. The end. But... /2
The issue with this is there’s not really *that* much time to process the poem, to really and deeply consider it before I’m expecting them to begin discussing/sharing ideas. I want to frontload that class discussion with prior consideration but in a way that is still guided /3
My idea is for each poem to create a 10/15 minute video that guides them through the poem, *directing* their attention to specific lines/images and asking them to consider this, introducing relevant information at the most appropriate point. /4
I might ask them to pause the video at certain points, make annotations on a blank copy of the poem, jot down their initial thoughts, but all within the framework of a guided, teacher-led reading. Watching this video becomes their homework /5
Yes, I too prefer to stay away from flipped learning. So I would need to add in accountability loops and other ways to check understanding. I could create a self-marked MCQ quiz to be completed *before* the lesson so I can immediately address obvious misconceptions. /6
My hope is this would allow them to more carefully think about the poem prior to the lesson, creating the intellectual space to engage with it more meaningfully than a single lesson allows. The video would mean they’re not on their own but *guided* through this initial reading /7
The lesson itself, once misconceptions are addressed, could be focussed more immediately on substantive discussion of the poem, really getting to grips with its big ideas and imagery. Pushing them deeper into it because the initial work had already been done. Thoughts? END
