1. Part A) Lesson 1 – Extract Carousel
LO: To explore a range of extracts from Hamlet and develop confidence in our analytical approach to Part A)
STARTER - Prioritise these scenes in order of importance:
Claudius and Gertrude speak about Hamlet after they kill Polonius
Laertes and Hamlet fight over Ophelia’s grave
Hamlet sees the player act as Pyrrhus
Polonius advises Ophelia about behaving virtuously
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern apprehend Hamlet to find out where the body of Polonius is
Hamlet rejects Ophelia
REFLECT: What defines an ‘important’ scene in the context of Aristotelian tragedy?

2. What is the purpose of each of the roles in the group?
Groupings Time!
In your groups, nominate 4 of the following:
SCRIBE * LEADER * LANGUAGE EXPERT * DRAMATIC EFFECT EXPERT * CHARACTERISATION EXPERT
Group 1: Focus on figurative language
Tilly & Felicity & Ameera & Elvis
Group 2: Focus on meter and structure
Nikki & Urvashi & Lade & Fabbiha
Group 3: Focus on motifs & symbolism
Jenny & Zuhair & Mahisha & Mushahid
Group 4: Focus on dramatic form and register (e.g. soliloquy, turn-taking, asides, dramatic irony etc)
Group 5: Focus on word-play & double-meanings
What is the purpose of each of the roles in the group?
LO: To explore a range of extracts from Hamlet and develop confidence in our analytical approach to Part A)

3. Critical Friends… 1. Tilly & Felicity Nikki & Urvashi
Typically, A-Level students seem to place less value upon Feed Forward: why?
Critical Friends…
1. Tilly & Felicity
2. Ameera & Elvis
3. Samiya & Sarfraz
4. Francis & Esther
5. Junaid & Sanmi
Nikki & Urvashi
Lade & Fabbiha
Jenny & Zuhair
Mahisha & Mushahid
Aaron & Edward

4. Contextualise: What does this extract do for… - the tragic structure
Contextualise: What does this extract do for… - the tragic structure? - characterisation? - the development of the tragic hero’s role?
Register: Ranging through the extract as a whole, how does Shakespeare… - show character dynamics? - highlight characters’ tones and attitudes to each other and their situation? - highlight the characters’ dramatic function?
Analysis: Exploring patterns, motifs and the structure of the language, can you… - unpick how a character’s language is used to develop their stage performance? - offer a detailed analysis of how Shakespeare’s language / structure affects the audience response? - consider how dramatic irony and characterisation is being developed (e.g. through soliloquies, meter, turn-taking / interactions of characters etc)?
Nuance: Can you find a key moment in the extract that… - causes the audience to question their interpretation of a character? - creates ambiguity through double meaning? - potentially changes the whole meaning of the extract?
Evaluation / End: Focusing closely on the final lines of the extract, what is… - the dramatic impact of the end? - this scene causing or what caused it? - this scene setting up in the tragic structure? - this scene doing for our tragic hero’s ultimate demise?
Essay structure – highlight that this is not prescriptive, but a guide to what they should talk about at each stage of their essay. They find registers the hardest – it is about the WAY the characters speak to each other and the tone / interactions.
It should also be noted that these skills should be demonstrated throughout their essay, but they can pay particular attention to each skill in each paragraph.

5. C.R.A.N.E.
In your groups, move to one of the extracts on sugar paper. Once you’re there, choose one of these tasks – you have 5 minutes to complete it: a) Can you draw a picture to represent what you need to do in the ‘C’ part of C-R-A-N-E? OR b) Can you role-play a conversation between a student and an examiner to explain what the ‘C’ in C-R-A-N-E does in your essay? OR c) How far do you agree that the ‘C’ part of C-R-A-N-E is the most important part of your essay?
LO: To explore a range of extracts from Hamlet and develop confidence in our analytical approach to Part A)

6. Contextualise: What does this extract do for…
C.R.A.N.E.
Now, read the extract you are sitting at and write a brief introduction…this is what others will root their analysis in…
Contextualise: What does this extract do for…
- the tragic structure? - characterisation? - the development of the tragic hero’s role?
LO: To explore a range of extracts from Hamlet and develop confidence in our analytical approach to Part A)

7. C.R.A.N.E. CAROUSEL
You have 5 minutes at each station. You need to annotate the extract for your focus, linking it to the extract’s role in the tragic structure…
Group 1: Focus on figurative language -
Group 2: Focus on meter and structure -
Group 3: Focus on motifs & symbolism -
Group 4: Focus on dramatic form and register (e.g. soliloquy, turn-taking, asides, dramatic irony etc) -
Group 5: Focus on word-play & double-meanings -

8. Now move back to your original extract, focusing on the final lines…
C.R.A.N.E.
Now move back to your original extract: can you write the last few sentences (the EVALUATION) based on the annotations from other groups?
Evaluation / End: Focusing closely on the final lines of the extract, what is… - the dramatic impact of the end? - this scene causing or what caused it? - this scene setting up in the tragic structure? - this scene doing for our tragic hero’s ultimate demise?
Read out each paragraph at the end…scan in annotations to use next lesson…
LO: To explore a range of extracts from Hamlet and develop confidence in our analytical approach to Part A)

9. Reflection… Which extract had the most interesting language in it?
Which extract was the easiest to write about for its dramatic effects?
Which was the most challenging extract?
Which 2 extracts would you like to live model next lesson and write about?
LO: To explore a range of extracts from Hamlet and develop confidence in our analytical approach to Part A)

10. Part A) Lesson 2 - Walking-Talking Mock
LO: To create a group essay response to a Part a) extract, focusing on analysis of language, verse form and dramatic effects
Target Charades: Because Part a) is all about the acting!
Write your target for Hamlet Part a) on your post-it.
Select 5 students with different targets to act out their target to the class.
THEN, get students to move to the person who they think shares the same target as them. This means they will all be working together with a similar focus as you do the walking-talking mock
Can you guess what these students have as their target purely based on their acting skills?

11. Here are our annotations from yesterday… How would I plan this?
Give students the exam paper that they chose last lesson. You should also put a picture of the annotations up on the board and talk through it to create a plan…

12. Contextualising the extract…
You may use the paragraph they wrote last lesson – if they did – as a Feed-Forward activity; or you can just write your own with the class…

13. Where does our essay go from here?
Continue modelling as a whole class – use walking-talking mock style to allow moments for students to write…

14. How much have you retained?
Next lesson…
…you will be writing a response to this question. You can have the exam paper, but none of the writing we practiced today.
How much have you retained?
STRETCH: Do you wish to do a completely different paper from scratch that we looked at last lesson? Ask me and I will print a copy for you ready…

15. Part A) Lesson 3 – Feed Forward
LO: To write an effective response to a Part a) question
In this lesson, students write their response to one of the extracts from Lesson 2, but with a blank slate and none of the writing they practiced – they do it from memory. After around 15 minutes, go to around 6 students and create targets based on their work. Write these targets on the board (numbered) and pause students in their writing. Ask students to read what they’ve written so far and apply one of those targets to their own work. Students should copy this down in the margin, continue for the lesson and, at the end, they should highlight where they have met that target in their work.

16. Pause for Thought: What are you missing?
Select a number target based on what you’ve written so far and write it underneath your work:

17. Part A) Lesson 3 – Feed Forward
LO: To write an effective response to a Part a) question
REFLECT:
What mark would you give your essay out of 15 as it stands? Why?
At the start of the lesson, you had a target. You should now have a new one from verbal feedback…
In this lesson, students write their response to one of the extracts from Lesson 2, but with a blank slate and none of the writing they practiced – they do it from memory. After around 15 minutes, go to around 6 students and create targets based on their work. Write these targets on the board (numbered) and pause students in their writing. Ask students to read what they’ve written so far and apply one of those targets to their own work. Students should copy this down in the margin, continue for the lesson and, at the end, they should highlight where they have met that target in their work.