the point in the narrative where the suspense and excitement reaches its highest point

to pull out the key information and ideas from the text

the inner voice of a character - their thoughts to themselves, not spoken aloud

a group of motionless figures showing a scene from a story

Exploring Addie's speech in the climax of 'A Kind of Spark'

English

Understanding the historical context of the Scottish witch trials

Exploring Addie's character

Using drama to explore a character 'low'

Adopting different perspectives

Planning the build-up of 'A Kind of Spark' including switches in perspective

Writing the first half of the build-up of 'A Kind of Spark'

Writing the second half of the build-up of 'A Kind of Spark'

Self-editing the build-up of 'A Kind of Spark'

Exploring a historical scenario linked to ‘A Kind of Spark’

Planning the climax of 'A Kind of Spark' including flashbacks

Writing the first section of the climax of 'A Kind of Spark'

Writing the next two sections of the climax, including a flashback

Writing the final sections of the climax, including a flashback

Self-editing the climax of 'A Kind of Spark'

In this unit, pupils finesse writing a build-up and climax with a focus on switching between the past and present tense to highlight a jump in perspective. In 'When The Sky Falls’: Narrative and Diary Writing', pupils will write a narrative climax and use it as the stimulus for writing a diary entry from a character's perspective.

In 'Beowulf’, pupils rewrote the build-up and climax of a scene from the end of ’Beowulf’, focusing on interspersing dialogue to convey atmosphere and advance the action. In this unit, pupils will finesse writing a build-up and climax with a focus on switching between the past and present tense to highlight a jump in perspective.

In this unit, pupils write a build-up and climax based on the text, 'A Kind of Spark'. They learn to switch tense to highlight a jump in perspective from narrative prose to an internal monologue and from present to past tense to indicate a flashback. These outcomes can be used for KS2 SATS writing.

'A Kind of Spark': narrative writing

Which of the following events is the climax in 'A Kind of Spark'?

autistic people are better than non-autistic people

autistic people may notice things others do not

Bonnie does not have a choice in her situation

Which of the following are points made in Addie's speech?

Because she's autistic, she experiences the world differently. 

In the past, people who were different might have been accused of witchcraft. 

We shouldn't forget the people who experienced this in the past. 

Put these key arguments from Addie's speech in order.

Which of the following are features of speech as opposed to formal writing?

At what point might Addie be thinking the following piece of internal monologue in relation to her speech? 'People are really listening! Maybe they're being convinced ...'.

She notices the bright lights and she sees Maggie's name on her hand. 

She sees lots of people looking up at her. 

She is overwhelmed by the noise of clapping.

Put the things Addie notices before, during and after the speech in order. 

A birthmark could be used as evidence of witchcraft. 

Everyone accused of witchcraft was executed. 

Hanging was used to execute convicted 'witches'. 

People did not believe the devil could influence everyday life. 

Which of the following might have made a person more vulnerable to witchcraft accusations? 

When did the Scottish witch trials occur? 

Jean 'cursed' a neighbour after an argument. 

Soon after, the neighbour's animal died. 

Put the events of Jean's story in order. 

to remind her to mention Maggie in the speech

so that she could look at it and be inspired to continue speaking

to remind her that the speech was about the 'witches'

Why did Addie write Maggie's name on her hand during her speech? 

knowing she could not argue with the accusations

Why might Maggie have confessed to witchcraft? 

Exploring Addie's speech in the climax of 'A Kind of Spark'

Lesson outcome