Skellig Lesson 6: Powerful Verbs - Lesson Plan

The sixth lesson in the study of David Almond's 'Skellig' focuses specifically on deepening the students' understanding of the character Mina. The learning objective is to consolidate their grasp of how Mina is presented in the text through a combination of reading, discussion, and character analysis. To assess progress, students will create a character profile, which will demonstrate their comprehension at various levels of depth. The expected outcomes are tiered as 'Must', 'Should', and 'Could', with each level indicating a progressively deeper understanding of the character presentation, from basic to insightful.

To accommodate different learning needs, the lesson plan includes differentiation opportunities such as editing the PowerPoint presentation, tailoring tasks, and balancing teacher guidance with independent learning. The lesson begins with a 20-minute starter activity where students create a spider diagram based on their first impressions from reading. This is followed by a series of main teaching activities: a 'Description, Dialogue, Action' task that takes 5 minutes, a 10-minute Mina table task, and a 15-minute 'I'm Mina' activity where students further explore the character. The lesson concludes with a 10-minute plenary session, where students provide feedback and constructive criticism on the work completed during the lesson.