1. Scottish Text – Norman Maccaig Basking shark
S4 National 5
Scottish Text – Norman Maccaig
Basking shark

2. We are learning to:
Consolidate our knowledge of Memorial through the use of Active Literacy skills.

3. Task
You are going to design a poster that conveys the knowledge you have gained about Memorial this week.
You will investigate the poem using Active Literacy strategies.
Your poster will contain the following information:

4. Prior Knowledge
Looking at your knowledge of Basking Shark and ONE other poem think about what you expect “Aunt Julia” to be about.
Think also about how you expect the poem to be in terms of form and imagery
Refer to specific examples to justify your opinion.
2. Metalinguistics
Using word comprehension strategies and reading the words in the context of the poem – try to figure of the definitions of the following words:
stub
displaced
Decadent
Emerging
3. Visualisation
Create a visualiser (mind-map) that demonstrates the different ways MacCaig describes the shark in the poem.
Explain the connotations of these images.
4. Inference
Select 3 quotations from the poem and discuss the “implied” meaning (what the poet tells us without actually saying it!)
5. Main Ideas
The main ideas (themes) of this poem are:
Evoluation
Who is the monster?
Select quotations that convey these main ideas and explain how they do so.
6. Summarising and Paraphrasing
Sum up the content of the poem in 5 bullet-points.
Attempt to use your own language as far as possible!
(This is good practice for In Your Own Words Close Reading questions!)