7. You be the teacher! - Havisham

We are working in taking the fear out of poetry at the moment in class in preparation for your Unseen Poetry section of the Literature exam paper you will take in the summer. You are all coming along well but we still have a way to go.

You have said as a class that you learn best when a teacher respects you, is relaxed and connects with you as an individual, is passionate about their subject, enthusiastic, allows you to discuss things (e.g. circle time), makes it practical (doing stuff) and is knowledgable. I could not agree more, these are great things for you to focus on in this task.

So I have challenged you to teach a poem to the class that you have never seen before. This task was met with responses ranging from "Yeah, whatever! That is easy" to "Oh me god...how do we do that?". You will be great, you are the experts as you see teachers all the time and know what works well. Think about how you will get them interested (starter), what you will do in the main section of the session and what you want the class to know at the end of you session and how you will assess this. No pressure then guys!

You have finished 45 minutes group planning in class and will have some time to finish off at the start of the lesson on Thursday and we will then begin the student lead lessons. We will have a class discussoion on your poem after you teach it so be ready for questions.

Katie, Jed, Declan, Shaghayegh and Shivani - over to you!

Havisham

       Beloved sweetheart bastard.  Not a day since then

I haven’t wished him dead.  Prayed for it

so hard I’ve dark green pebbles for eyes,

ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.

5     Spinster.  I stink and remember.  Whole days

  in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the dress

  yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe;

  the slewed morror, full-length, her, myself, who did this

       to me?  Puce curses that are sounds not words.

10   Some nights better, the lost body over me,

  my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear

  then down till I suddenly bite awake.  Love’s

hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting

in my face.  Bang.  I stabbed at a wedding-cake.

15   Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon.

  Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.