Opening Doors to Famous Poetry and Prose

Ideas and resources for accessing literary heritage works (Opening Doors series)

Bob Cox

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781845908966
• eBook ISBN: 9781845909208
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Opening Doors provides 20 units of work which includes poetry and prose from our literary heritage. Each unit of work has exciting stimulus material with creative suggestions for ways in which the material can be used for outstanding learning possibilities. Visuals and innovative ideas to help pupils' access the meaning and wonder of the text which will add to the appeal. Pupils are encouraged, throughout the units of work, to engage with language, invent questions and write with flair and accuracy, bringing literature from the past alive for them and opening doors to further reading and exploration. Also included is an introduction to the concepts used in the book and suggestions about a range of methods and pathways which can lead to language development and literary appreciation. Although the units are all different and have a range of poetry and prose for teachers to use, each unit will have some common sections to give a coherent and ambitious approach. Opening Doors both informs and excites, it gives fresh resources and suggests new ways of going on the journey to outstanding literacy achievement. For 7-11 year olds.

Part 1

Opening doors to poetry

Unit 1

Voices on the Sharp Air

‘The Call’ by Charlotte Mew

Access strategies

One principle I would recommend throughout your work using challenging literature is to design specific strategies to support access to the text. Once your pupils start to ask questions, feel curiosity and offer ideas, the chances of making an impact escalate.

Try projecting the following quote from Charlotte Mew’s ‘The Call’ onto the whiteboard as your pupils walk in:

Resource 1

To-night we heard a call,

A rattle on the window-pane,

A voice on the sharp air,

And felt a breath stirring our hair,

A flame within us: Something swift and tall

Swept in and out and that was all.

Ask them to say nothing to each other but on different coloured sticky notes to write down:

Three questions they would ask about words or meanings which they don’t understand.

What each of them thinks the ‘call’ might be.

What these words make them feel and why.

Then ask the pupils to pair up and explore their ideas. The buzz will be enormous! Ask them to share their ideas with you. This will give you the opportunity to pick out shy pupils to answer questions and ensure that able pupils are challenged to evaluate, give evidence and be original. This is think, pair, share – a great technique for varying thinking and expression.

Now, how many are ready to throw the javelin high and attempt more? Ask the children how the punctuation contributes to the meaning. Will they mention the colon setting up something mysterious with the pause it brings? Will they describe the way the commas help to build the images one after another (the window-pane, the sharp air, breath stirring hair)?

Another possible javelin question is, how does the rhyming and layout contribute to the meaning?

Javelin questions follow the principle of aiming as high as possible and encouraging pupils to reach for the sky. If expectation is set high, teachers often say they are amazed at how well their pupils perform – and it’s not always the children they initially thought would excel.

Now set the children the following task: Write the next five lines of the poem beginning, ‘Was it a …?’

Bob says …

As a regular habit, set the hardest question first and then use support resources for the less able. You will be encouraging all pupils to practise open-ended conceptual thinking while supporting others at the optimum moment of need.

Excellent responses will:

Imitate the rhyme scheme closely.

Continue with the same mysterious theme.

Use punctuation to enhance meaning.

Potential support resources for those who need them could include:

An illustration of the room in the poem or the chance to draw aspects of the room (like the illustration on page 17).

Providing the next few lines of the poem.

‘Mystery’ vocabulary on cards which could prompt ideas about suspense.

Examples of other poems which build tension.

Resource 2

The real skill in teaching, and it’s hard to get it right, is to know when to offer support resources and when to prompt pupils to get themselves unstuck. I have taught a lot of pupils who wer...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• Part 1: Opening doors to poetry
• Part 2: Opening doors to prose
• Part 3: The other side of the door: poetry for writing
• Glossary
• Bibliography
• Copyright