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AQA English Language: Speaking and Listening PLCs

Pass Merit Distinction These three main stages in the Speaking and Listening marking criteria are quite different. As a result, I'v...

Friday 10 January 2014

Zooming in and out and Zones of relevance!

First post...

I was recently inspired by @ASTsupportAAli and @LearningSpy.

I created the attached resources as a result of blending some ideas from David Didau and ASTAli (Twitter).

I adapted Ali’s great 'Is it Relevant?' idea by applying it to PEARL (PEE) paragraphs instead of general questions. I’ve used David’s fantastic Powerpoint slide definitions of analysis and evaluation.

So I created the Zones of relevance target sheet and Powerpoint (attached).

The process:

A quote is analysed starting with the ZOOM in process (analysis of language techniques/structural devices in the quote). Students then use the ZOOM out process (evaluation) to notice how the surrounding information (setting, motifs, foreshadowing) influence our interpretations of the text/character as a whole.

The zone tasks increase in higher levels of analysis/evaluation with each inner circle.

I noticed that some students didn’t know where to start with analysis and this seemed to help their understanding of how to analyse a quote. I got the Year 7s to draw their zones of relevance on their tables with chalk pens.

They thought it was great fun. They also completed a hexagon sheet with several points about what they’ve analysed from their selected quotes.

You could adapt the Zones of Relevance sheet to assist all key stages!
My colleague, Mr Peel (@mrpeel) adapted my Year 7 Powerpoint for Year 9 and he used sticky notes instead of the hexagons with excellent results:
http://jwpblog.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/1869/

I highly recommend that you use this strategy for analysis and evaluation of poetry, prose and non-fiction texts.

:)