Insights into English Literature Teaching and Creative Writing Techniques
Jennifer Webb, an Assistant Principal and T&L author, shares valuable insights on teaching English Literature and imbuing writing skills. Structured papers, poetic interpretations, and architectural analogies are creatively explored, inviting educators to rethink traditional approaches and embrace innovative methods.
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Jennifer Webb Assistant Principal: T&L Author: How to Teach English Literature and Teach Like a Writer www.funkypedagogy.com Twitter: @funkypedagogy
Stuart Pryke @SPryke2
Structure Paper that lets the light shine through, this is what could alter things.
Structure Paper is the subject there is no ambiguity here even if students think there is... Paper that lets the light shine through, this is what could alter things.
Structure Positive paper as a conduit for light... Lamp shades, fabric, stained glass... Paper that lets the light shine through, this is what could alter things.
Structure Break in lines has real impact this middle line becomes an imperative when read alone... Is it a plea to the POEM itself? Paper that lets the light shine through, this is what could alter things.
If buildings were paper, I might feel their drift, see how easily they fall away on a sigh, a shift in the direction of the wind.
An architect could use all this, place layer over layer, luminous script over numbers over line
through the shapes the pride can make, find a way to trace a grand design
...our lives... ...the kind you find... ...I might feel... Balances description using familiar I and you with direct address and imperatives. Takes away some sense of stability in the poem makes it feel uneasy...
How profound IS IT?! Really???
Paper (...) turned into your skin thinned by age sepia transparent borderlines, marks, rivers, roads... trace
How can we make the abstract CONCRETE? Real border disputes around the world Real examples of money flying away... Real examples of transience
Intention... ...a poem doesn t actually owe you anything... explanations are not a requirement of the poet s craft.
What if the poem isnt the puzzle to be solved? Sometimes the poem is the MEANS to solving that puzzle... writing is a great clarifier. What problems could the writer be trying to solve or work through? Treat the poem like someone crying out in the dark what is that cry responding to? If you heard someone saying this, what would you assume about them? How do they feel? Take away the printed page context it forces a lens on us which is sometimes unhelpful...
...see how easily they fall away on a sigh. ...fly our lives like paper kites. ...never wish to build again. Characters overheard saying this on stage? The opening or closing of a narrative piece? Spoken by a 1st person narrator... How might characters they already know say something like this and have it make sense in context? What would you think of someone who you heard saying this on the phone?
CRUNCH the poem: one word per line... paper who shine sepia alter stroked thinned transparent well-used buildings Koran drift histories sigh born wind
Manipulate and REDUCE the poem: collect images and ideas together... Paper, books, pages, maps, slips, kites drift, fall, sigh, shift easily In the direction of the wind alter things Build again brick and block, shapes, pride, structure a grand design
Collect all the verbs... What do we do to paper? Written, smoothed, stroked, turned, feel, shine through, fly, layer, trace Paper is the tool of Dharker s craft. Could this be an ode to paper? To her artistic medium? Paper seems to have a transformative power. Does paper turned into a poem do the same? fly our lives ? raise a structure ? turn into our skin ?
Light Dawn begins to grow Daylight breaks through Luminous, the sun s smile true Its shining eyes Transparent with attention The bright, filled paperweight Light shines through Now a lie. Banned. Branded. Sunk fires Shadow falls
Light Dawn begins to grow Daylight breaks through Luminous, the sun s smile true Its shining eyes Transparent with attention The Emigree Tissue Exposure The bright, filled paperweight Light shines through Now a lie. Banned. Branded. Sunk fires Shadow falls
Wind Merciless iced east winds Mad gusts tugging on the wire The wind s nonchalance Come up with other themes and make re- forged poems great as a recall activity, exploration, basis for comparison etc. Feel their drift Fall away on a sigh, a shift/ in the direction of the wind Fly our lives like paper kites Ozymandias (clear) Checking out me history (paper, history, reality, truth...)
Paper (...) turned into your skin Plath Lady Lazarus My skin/ Bright as a Nazi lampshade Shrivelling many hands, and puckering foreheads crisp a shaven head full of powerful incantations misogi ( ) that spot/ Of joy into the Duchess cheek ... the faint/ Half-flush that dies along her throat They accuse me of being dark I wanted to graze my nose against the tip of your nose first Black/ Republic born All flesh is grass
Anthem by Leonard Cohen there is a crack in everything; it s how the light gets in Can students find examples of other writers or artists exploring the same themes?
Tow-Path Leaf by leaf, the day grows smaller. Whoever we are now, this has been bequeathed to us. Every other claimant has stepped aside. Our steps the only steps. The last finger of light points out landmarks we do not recognise. Every step we take could have been a step in another direction. This time we choose to go to the canal. By the time we reach it the day decides to stop following us around. Still, between the cobbled banks, cradled by bare branches. we know we will be safe. Now, even the unknown path will tow us home. While we are picking our way down, watching our feet, the park packs up, the city moves a few miles away. Children's voices are balloons released to open sky. Behind us footsteps fade, streets turn into water.
Prayer So many shuffling hopes, pounded into print, as clear as the pages of holy books, illuminated with the glint of gold around the lettering. The place is full of worshippers. You can tell by the sandals piled outside, the owners prints worn into leather, rubber, plastic, a picture clearer than their faces put together, with some originality, brows and eyes, the slant of cheek to chin. What are they whispering? Outside, in the sun, such a quiet crowd of shoes, thrown together like a thousand prayers washing against the walls of God. What prayer are they whispering? Each one has left a mark, the perfect pattern of a need, sole and heel and toe in dark, curved patches, heels worn down, thongs ragged, mended many times.
Useful blogs: Emma Lee https://madameanglaise.wordpress.com/tag/tissue/ Stuart Pryke https://englishteachersnotebook.blogspot.com/2019/02/how-tissue- became-my-favourite-poem-in.html Sarah Barker https://roundlearning.org/2018/04/06/paper-that-lets-the-light-shine- through/
How to access my sessions... FUTURE CPD on Eventbrite 23rd February: Extract from the Prelude (GCSE Poetry)(Southern Fried) 9th March: Across the anthology AQA Relationships (Southern Fried) 30th March: Across the anthology AQA P&C (Southern Fried) Summer Term: FOUR sessions on the AQA English Language Papers. Buy individual tickets, or the whole bundle for a discounted price. (Kids Club Kampala) Guests: Andy @_codexterous, Haili Hughes, Natalie Cole and Stuart Pryke! bit.ly/FUNKYCPD
How to access my sessions... PAST sessions on VIMEO Rent sessions for 3 months OR Get a department subscription with unlimited access to all my resources for your whole team (50% discount during lockdown: LOCKDOWN50 ) bit.ly/FUNKYVIMEO bit.ly/FUNKYSTREAMING
Jennifer Webb Assistant Principal: T&L Author: How to Teach English Literature and Teach Like a Writer www.funkypedagogy.com Twitter: @funkypedagogy
