- Year 9
How Simon Armitage writes about life in 'About his person' and 'Poem'
I can listen and respond to Simon Armitage talking about ‘About his person’ and ‘Poem’.
- Year 9
How Simon Armitage writes about life in 'About his person' and 'Poem'
I can listen and respond to Simon Armitage talking about ‘About his person’ and ‘Poem’.
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Lesson details
Key learning points
- Armitage was inspired to write ‘About his person’ by reading news reports of people who were found dead.
- He liked the idea that you could build a picture of someone’s character from the objects they had on them.
- Armitage was inspired to write ‘Poem’ from reading different biographies and autobiographies.
- He suggests that reading different biographies can give us a completely different impression of the same person.
Keywords
Biography - the life story of a person written by someone else
Impression - an idea or opinion of what something or someone is like
Authentic - the quality of being real or true
Common misconception
A biography offers an authentic impression of that person.
We all might have different perspectives on the same person, so different biographies are likely to portray the same person in different ways.
To help you plan your year 9 English lesson on: How Simon Armitage writes about life in 'About his person' and 'Poem', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 9 English lesson on: How Simon Armitage writes about life in 'About his person' and 'Poem', download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
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Explore more key stage 3 English lessons from the Simon Armitage: writing your world unit, dive into the full secondary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Equipment
There are copies of Armitage's 'About his person' and 'Poem' in the additional materials.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.'The life story of a person written by someone else' is the definition of which of the following?
Q2.'The act of doing or saying something again' is the definition of which word beginning with 'r'?
Q3.Which of the following pairs of words rhyme?
purse
sight
thrive