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Poetry or Prose

This Let’s Think in English supports students ability to classify text types. Students revisit their expectations of poetry and prose before applying them to opening sentences of a novel and a modernist poem by Pound. They are the presented with William Carlos Williams’ poem “The red wheelbarrow” but the poem is collapsed and appears to be prose. Students are asked to consider what type of text it might be and review their classification system for poetry.

Here is a transcript [Word document] from a Year 9 lesson in an Islington school, as students discuss the cognitive conflict of the LTE lesson as they consider what type of text the collapsed poem is.

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By the Sea (KS3)

In this Let’s Think in English lesson KS3 students explore symbolism in E E Cummings’ poem maggie and milly and molly and may. The lesson therefore explores both how the objects may symbolise aspects of the girls’ personalities and how in the final couplet the sea may have a wider (symbolic) meaning.

One of the first questions students explore in the lesson. is: “What age might the girls be?”. Here is an example of whole class feedback to the question from a mixed ability Year 7 class in Leicestershire.

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Voices in the Park

This LTE lesson is structured over 2 lessons and explore Anthony Browne’s “Voices in the Park”. In the first lesson pupils develop their understanding of narrative perspective through the LTE reasoning pattern of Frames of Reference. In lesson one pupils study the different narrative accounts developing understanding of characterisation and plot.

In lesson two, narrative sequencing is developed as pupils consider the sequencing of the different voices and its impact on the reader. Pupils also consider how our understanding of the characters and events are influenced by the accompanying illustrations.

You can learn more about how the lessons unfold in the classroom here:

Voices in the Park: Starting a year of LTE teaching and reflection

Ripples of reading in LTE: Voices Lesson Two

A pupil considers an alternative front cover for the book and explains their choices.

The Maker (Year 5/6)

This Let’s Think in English lesson explores narrative sequencing through a short film called The Maker. Pupils listen to the soundtrack and consider how changes of mood are suggested by the music. They then move onto considering how narrative may be structured around 5 stages: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. Pupils apply the story mountain structure to the film before reviewing which shape best suits the narrative structure of the film . They then consider who the title of the film refers to and why the action is repeated.

You can read more about experiences teaching the lesson here:
Narrative Shapes. Lesson Six: “The Maker”

A Year 6 pupil’s instructions on how to make a creature.

An example from the cognitive conflict stage of the LTE lessons as pupils consider different models for the narrative structure of the film. They are considering which shape best represents the narrative sequence of the film and where the different stages of a story may lie on that shape: exposition, build up, resolution, climax.

The Giving Tree (Year 5/6)

In this Let’s Think in English lesson pupils develop their understanding of symbolism while studying Shel Silverstein’s story “The Giving Tree”. Pupils consider the representation of the tree and the boy in the story as well as the possible message of the text.


After studying the text in the Let’s Think in English lesson pupils are encouraged to consider alternative endings. Here is an example from a Year 5 pupil of an alternative ending for “The Giving Tree”.

In this video Year 5 pupils from the British International School in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam, are enjoying their first Let’s Think in English lesson. Pupil feedback steers the lesson towards a consideration of the dilemma/problem in the story and when it arises.

This transcript [Word document] gives an insight insight into how a group’s understanding of the text evolves during the opening of the story. Note how awareness of the symbolic aspects of the story start to emerge in the discussions between three Year 6 pupils from an Islington school. This awareness of symbolism is developed further as they continue to read the story and share their thoughts throughout the lesson.

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1)a (Year 5/6)

In this Let’s Think in English lesson pupils  consider the intentions of E. E Cummings and the consequence of his poetic choices on us as readers. They analyse Cummings’ poem l)a and consider why the poet chose the poetic structure. Pupils experiment with the structure of another Cummings’ poem in order to consider the poet’s style.

Towards the end of the lesson pupils are given the text from a different Cummings’ poem and asked to consider what structure the poet might adopt in the light of studying I)a.

Here a Year 6 pupil in an Islington school identifies line breaks as important in I)a and deploy them with the new text.

Here a Year 6 pupil in an Islington school makes their first attempt at mimicking the style of I)a with the new text.

In this example a Year 6 pupil in an Islington school, focus on the reader and seek to provide different ways to read the text. This was a feature in I)a they identified.

Example from a Year 5 class in Norfolk where pupils created their own poems in the style of Cummings’ l)a.