Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

It's good to see you again.

It's Ms. Afzal here.

I'm very happy because today we're gonna be reflecting on "The Final Year".

This verse novel that we've been exploring together.

I hope you're ready.

I hope you're up for it.

Time for some reflection.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can engage with the key themes in "The Final Year" and reflect on the text.

We have some keywords in our lesson today.

Let's go through them.

My turn, your turn.

Theme, convey, identity.

Let's find out what these words mean.

Theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs within a story.

Convey is to communicate a message directly or indirectly.

Identity is understanding who you are and your place within the world.

Let's look out for these words.

They'll be coming up in our lesson today.

So our lesson reflecting on "The Final Year".

It has three parts to it.

Personal responses to the text.

Identifying and reflecting on themes and reflecting on the text.

Let's begin with personal responses to the text.

"The Final Year" is written by Matt Goodfellow and illustrated by Joe Todd-Stanton.

"The Final Year" is an illustrated verse novel that follows 10-year-old Nate as he navigates his final year of primary school.

The poems in the text are mainly written in free verse and use a range of poetic devices such as abstinence, alliteration, and enjambment.

And you'll be familiar with these words from previous lessons.

Rhymes sometimes reflect Nate's dialect.

Here's a summary of Part Five.

Nate's best friend, PS, has become increasingly inseparable with the school bully, Turner, and is distancing himself from Nate.

Mr. Joshua, Nate's new teacher, sees a spark inside Nate and supports and encourages him to express himself through reading and writing.

Throughout the year, Nate battles with some big emotions and has to work hard to tame the beast inside of him.

He's triggered by the unkindness of Turner and PS who snigger at him.

Nate builds a valuable friendship with Caleb.

Together, they learn to express themselves through their words and drawings.

Mr. Joshua introduces the class to "Skellig" and this becomes an important text for Nate.

Nate's youngest brother Dylan is rushed to hospital with a rare congenital heart defect.

Through this family crisis, Nate finds support in Auntie San, Jax, Caleb and Mr. Joshua, and he finds ways to cope.

PS returns to Nate to support him through this difficult time and apologises for what's happened.

Nate manages to complete his SATs.

PS, Nate, and Caleb are all together through their final days at primary school and Dylan is recovering in hospital.

I'd like you to put the following events from Part Five of "The Final Year" in chronological order.

Use the text to support you.

On the last day of school, Mr. Joshua tells Nate he's proud to know him and gives him a copy of "Skellig" to keep.

The class start reading "Skellig" and Nate gets hooked.

Dylan gets rushed to hospital and no one knows whether he will be okay.

In the playground, a ball hits Nate and PS and Turner snigger at him.

So pause the video here while you put these events into chronological order.

Use the text to support you.

Okay, good to be back with you.

Let's have a look how you got on.

Did you put this one first? In the playground, a ball hits Nate.

Next, the class start reading "Skellig".

After that, Dylan gets rushed to hospital, and on the last day of school, Mr. Joshua tells Nate he's proud to know him and gives him a copy of "Skellig" to keep.

And now I'd like you to read Part Six, pages 282 to 285, aloud with a partner and discuss what are you left thinking and feeling after reading the last poem and does it leave you with any questions? So pause the video here while you read those pages and discuss your answers to the questions with someone nearby.

So what did you come up with? Perhaps something like this.

I felt a real sense of relief to hear that Dylan was better and out of hospital.

It feels like Nate has all the important people around him again and gives a positive feeling for the future.

Maybe.

I have a question about who the man is walking towards Nate at the very end of the text.

I wonder if Nate is imagining this person like a symbolic figure.

Really interesting.

And now it's time for your first task.

Now that we've explored a story, we're going to discuss our own thoughts and feelings about the text.

I'd like you to answer the questions in the grid with a partner.

Be honest about your thoughts and make sure you listen to your partner's opinion.

So we have likes, dislikes, and puzzles.

So likes.

What caught your attention? What made you want to keep on reading? Dislikes.

Was there anything that you didn't understand? And puzzles.

Was there anything you found strange or surprising? And you may like to begin like this if it likes, It could be I enjoyed or my favourite part was.

For dislikes, you may start your sentence I was unsure about or I wanted to know more about.

And puzzles, I wondered or I noticed.

So pause the video here and share your personal responses, your likes, your dislikes, and anything puzzling to you with someone nearby.

Okay, great to be back with you.

So what did you come up with? Maybe something like this? Likes, I liked how the poems were honest about everyday life, including funny and emotional moments that I could relate to, especially to friendship difficulties.

The poems are short and easy to read.

Yeah, very likeable.

Dislikes.

I found it quite emotional to read at times as Nate has a really tough time.

He has to navigate a lot of difficulties and sadness and I could really empathise with him.

Yeah, I love that.

Hearing about that empathy and puzzles.

I wondered why Nate forgave PS so easily at the end after PS had been so horrible to him.

I want to know why "Skellig" was such a meaningful text for Nate.

I'll have to go away and read it next.

Yeah, great idea.

It's an amazing text.

Thank you for sharing your responses.

And now we are onto the next part of our lesson, identifying and reflecting on themes.

A theme is a big idea, topic or message that recurs within a story.

Within literature, authors use techniques to convey themes to the reader.

These themes often mirror issues and topics that we encounter in our own lives, making the story relatable to the reader.

Examples of themes.

Friendship, family, love, courage, identity, support, illness, guidance, loneliness, and survival.

I wonder if there are any of these themes that you feel you'd particularly relate to.

Pause the video here and tell someone nearby.

Thanks for sharing.

I think my top ones would probably be identity, friendship, family, and love.

Oh gosh, I've taken quite a few.

There are so many great ones.

Identifying themes within a text involves inference.

Themes are not explicitly stated within a text.

Authors commonly use repetition to convey themes to the reader.

There are a few ways to identify themes.

Considering actions and characteristics of people within the text.

Identifying repetition, actions, emotions, traits.

Searching for deeper meaning using inference, and considering the overall message of the text.

There are many possible themes that can be drawn out from "The Final Year".

Readers may interpret themes and their importance differently.

Here are some themes.

Family, friendship, emotions, identity.

These are just some of the themes that can be inferred.

There are many more.

I would like you to match the theme to how it is conveyed in a text.

So we have some themes here.

Emotions, identity, family.

How they're conveyed in the text? Characters experience self-discovery and change during their final year of primary school.

Nate learns ways to express himself.

Despite their hardships, Nate is very close with his mom, brothers, and Auntie San and they support each other through the hardest times.

Nate experiences intense feelings of love, anger, and pain throughout the text.

So pause the video while you match up a theme to how it is conveyed in the text.

Emotions goes with Nate experiencing intense feelings of love, anger, and pain throughout the text.

Identity goes with characters experience self-discovery and change during their final year of primary school, and family goes with despite their hardships, Nate is very close with his mom, brothers and Auntie San and they support each other through the hardest times.

Well done if you made these connections.

And now it's time for your next task.

I would like you to discuss which other themes appear throughout the story.

So we have family, friendship, emotions, identity.

What other themes are there? Some themes are more complex and encourage us to consider their meaning.

So pause the video here while you discuss with someone nearby, which other themes appear throughout the story.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Okay, what did you come up with? I am interested to find out.

Let's see what other themes you found.

Belonging, hardship, power of literature, illness, self-expression, transition and change.

Wow, so many really wonderful interesting themes you came up with here.

Well done.

Now I'd like you to choose three themes and discuss how these are conveyed in the text.

How do these themes impact the characters? So for example, here's Aisha sharing with us.

"The theme of identity is conveyed through Nate showing that he has a strong sense of who he is when he describes what he likes and dislikes in the poem 'Me' on page 11.

However, his struggles with the beast and his changing friendships also make him question his identity." Thanks for sharing that, Aisha, great example.

So pause video here while you choose three themes and discuss how they're conveyed in the text and how these themes impact the characters.

I'll see you when you're finished.

Okay, great to be back with you.

Let's have a look at another example.

Here's Alex.

"The theme of change is shown through Nate preparing to transition from year five to year six.

Nate shows that this is weighing heavily on his mind, which class he's put in and who his new teacher is are both really important to him." Really great example.

Thank you.

And now let's move on to reflecting on the text.

Hearing from the author and illustrator can enhance the reading process by adding layers of meaning and context.

It can help us, as readers, to think more critically and deepen our understanding of the text.

We're going to find out more about Matt Goodfellow's inspiration for the themes and characters in "The Final Year".

This can be helpful as it provides insight into the experiences, emotions, and influences that shaped his writing.

This can reveal connections between his own personal history and the themes, characters or settings in his work, which may help to deepen our appreciation and interpretation of the text.

I'm looking forward to this.

So let's hear from Matt about what inspired him to write "The Final Year".

<v ->I started writing "The Final Year"</v> because everything I write is a combination of three things, my life, lives that I've seen, and stuff that I make up.

So I'd watched stories happening around me when I was a teacher and it always interested me the lives of young people 'cause sometimes in class you get very loud people, very quiet people.

So as a teacher, it was very interesting to watch young people.

And I was able to talk about what life was like for me when I was at school.

And sometimes stories just come together and if your brain is wired like mine is, eventually you have to write the ideas down to let them go.

Otherwise, they just knock on the inside of my head.

<v ->How wonderful to hear from Matt.

</v> Matt explains that his writing is a combination of his life, lives of others that he's seen, and stuff he makes up.

He watched a lot of stories of young people when he was a teacher.

He eventually writes the ideas down.

Let's find out from Matt where did the idea for Nate come from? <v ->So Nate is a combination of a few different young people</v> that I taught when I was a teacher.

And there are bits of Nate that are like me and then there's other stuff that I made up.

So when you're a writer, the brilliant thing is you can just take bits from different parts of life and Nate is somebody that there's got a lot of stuff going on in his life, but he begins to understand that his voice matters and that his words matter and he's lucky enough to have a teacher that spots that and encourages it.

So yeah, Nate's very close to my heart.

<v ->So interesting to hear from Matt.

</v> And now we're going to find out where did the other characters come from.

<v ->So there's lots of different characters</v> in "The Final Year".

I get asked the question a lot, which is, "Are you Mr. Joshua?" And the answer to that is no.

There's bits of me that are Mr. Joshua 'cause he was a failed rock star like I was.

So again, you can put stuff into that.

There's quite a lot of my mom in the boys' mom 'cause my mom had a very difficult life and she never really learned how to be happy I suppose.

So there's quite a bit of my mom in Nate's mom and the brothers Jackson and Dylan, there's quite a bit of stuff that I stole from my kids 'cause I've got two kids.

So Turbo Terror is what the boys called Dylan.

I used to call Daisy, my daughter, Turbo Terror when she was a toddler, like pulling stuff on on herself and that.

But interestingly, the stuff about Dylan's sweating quite a lot, that's my son, Will.

So the great thing is put your life into the stuff that you write in.

Watch the world around you and put it in.

<v ->How interesting.

</v> Matt's advice is to watch the world around you and put things from your own life into writing.

Which of the following are true? All of Matt's writing in "The Final Year" is based on his own life experiences.

There's a lot of Matt's mom reflected in the character of Nate's mom.

Nate is a combination of a few different young people Matt taught, parts of Matt's own personality, and parts that are made up.

Pause of video while you decide which of these statements are true.

Well done if you selected statements B and C.

Indeed there's a lot of Matt's mom reflected in the character of Nate's mom.

And Nate's a combination of a few different young people Matt taught, part of his own personality, and parts that are made up.

Let's hear from Matt again.

Let's find out what was school like for Matt in year six? <v ->My experience of year six,</v> I can't really remember, to be honest.

I have a terrible memory.

I don't really remember a huge amount about primary school.

I had a teacher called Mr. Brown that I liked, that used to, like, read to us and put funny voices on.

Most of my year, six memories come from being a year six teacher.

And being a year six teacher is a really important year group because young people in year six are just on the cusp of something really exciting.

Moving to high school and becoming young adults.

And as a teacher, I thought it was a fascinating place to talk about life to young people.

<v ->Matt, can't remember much about primary school.

</v> Most of his year six memories come from being a year six teacher.

He finds year six a fascinating time for young people, which is part of what inspired the book.

And now let's find out how did Matt approach writing "The Final Year"? <v ->So I get asked quite a lot</v> about how I wrote "The Final Year" and did I write it.

Did I start at the start and write all the way to the end? And the answer to that is no, I didn't.

I've got quite a disorganised mind and I sort of.

When I sit down and write something, I will focus really heavily on something and then I might put it away and forget it.

So I started.

I wrote the start of "The Final Year" and then I didn't come back to it for quite a bit.

In fact, I forgot about it.

And then I wrote the end of "The Final Year" and then I wrote the middle bits and just sort of pieced its way together.

And the cool thing about writing is it doesn't really matter how I write, you know, 'cause people write differently to me.

If you are interested in writing, what matters is like how you want to say and how it comes for you 'cause everybody's different.

And that's the interesting thing about writing.

<v ->How fascinating.

</v> Matt says his mind can be quite disorganised.

He wrote the start, then the end, then the middle bits.

And let's find out, what do you hope people will gain from reading "The Final Year"? <v ->So I would hope that if somebody read "The Final Year",</v> that they would begin to understand one, that poetry can do whatever it wants to do from the most complicated things in the world to the simplest.

I'd like to think that people could also begin to understand, like Nate does, that their life matters.

So your life matters and the experiences of life that you have, they matter.

And that if you are the sort of person whose brain is wired like I am.

That I have to write things to sort of stop the chaos in my head.

If your brain is wired like that, I think poetry is a great way of talking about your place and your position in the world because it matters.

<v ->Matt hopes that the reader will</v> understand that poetry can do whatever it wants to do.

Understand like Nate, that their life and experiences matter.

Understand that poetry is a great way of talking about your place and position in the world.

And now I'd like you to discuss.

Having listened to Matt talk about his inspiration for and experience of writing "The Final Year".

Does this change how you see the story or its characters? And if so, how? Pause the video while you have this discussion.

Thanks for sharing your responses.

And now I'd like you to reflect whether this statement is true or false.

Matt Goodfellow wants people to begin to understand that their life and experiences are important.

Do you think this is true or false? Pause a video, share with someone nearby.

Well done.

This is true.

And now I'd like you to give a justification for your answer.

Pause a video, share your reasoning with someone nearby.

I wonder if you said something like this.

Like Nate begins, to understand in "The Final Year", Matt hopes the reader will realise that their life matters too and poetry is a great place to talk about it.

Here, here, what a wonderful statement there.

And now it's time for your final task.

A takeaway idea within a text may link to themes that are explored and developed in it.

It may include a key message, insight, or perspective that the author has communicated to the reader.

I'd like you to discuss, first of all, what are your takeaway ideas from "The Final Year"? Here are a few examples.

Izzy.

"Life can be tough, but the support of friends, family, and key people will help you through." Here's Alex.

"Everybody can find their own unique way to express themselves.

Poetry is a great way to do this." Oh, I love these.

Great takeaways.

So over to you now.

Share what are your takeaway ideas from "The Final Year".

Good to be back with you.

So some takeaway ideas you might have mentioned could be: Change and transition can be a very anxious time for some.

Friendships will develop and change.

Always try to be there for your friends, especially through hard times.

Everybody experiences big emotions.

We can learn strategies to help us to cope with these feelings.

We should try not to make quick judgements about people based on their situations.

Some people are trying really hard despite challenging circumstances.

Well done for sharing your takeaway ideas.

And now for the next part of your task, well we've listened to Matt Goodfellow talk about what he hopes people will gain from reading "The Final Year".

I'd like you to discuss now what have you learned or gained from reading "The Final Year"? Here's an example from Izzy.

"I've learned that there are no rules in poetry and a poem can be whatever you want it to be.

Reading 'The Final Year' and listening to Matt has inspired me to write poems to express my feelings using my own unique style.

I'd love to have a go at playing around with the layout to show different emotions." Oh, I love that, Izzy.

Wonderful.

So pause here, everyone, and share with someone what have you learned or gained from reading "The Final Year"? I hope you enjoyed sharing your ideas.

Let's have a look at an idea from Andeep.

"Reading about Nate's experiences has reminded me that going through transitions can be tough and that each and every one of us matter.

I've also learned that we can use writing to help us deal with both good and bad experiences.

I'm going to try writing my thoughts and feelings down in future." That is a great idea, Andeep, and I recommend everyone has a go at that.

Can be so helpful.

In our lesson reflecting on "The Final Year", we've covered the following.

At the end of the text, Nate leaves primary school with his friends around him and Dylan has been released from hospital.

The theme of identity is conveyed through Nate's emotional journey of finding out who he is.

Hearing from the author and illustrator can enhance the reading process by adding layers of meaning and context.

A takeaway idea within a text may link to themes that are explored and developed in it.

It may include a key message, insight, or perspective that the author has communicated to the reader.

We will all have different ideas and responses to a text as we are all unique.

Well done for joining in with this lesson.

I loved hearing your reflections and those takeaway ideas.

And yeah, I really hope you keep taking away more and more from this wonderful verse novel and hope you can really embrace your own identities and embrace poetry as well.

I'll see it another lesson soon.