In Mrs Tilscher’s Class

1. In Mrs Tilscher’s Class Carol Ann Duffy

2. First Stanza • You could – anything seems possible, addresses reader directly, puts us in the place of the naïve child • Chalky pyramids rubbed into dust – persona seems to think Mrs T is magical and wonderful: naïve/innocent • The laugh of a bell - personification reflecting the persona’s happiness, • minor sentence – images flashing into the persona’s memory

3. Stanza 2 • Classroom glowed like a sweetshop - simile, the child sees the classroom like treasure • Like the faint, uneasy smudge of a mistake – simile, the child feels scared of Brady and Hindley, and after Mrs T has tried to make them forget it she cannot completely • Mrs Tilscher loved you. - statement, - the personasees it as a fact

4. Stanza 3 • Over the Easter – one part of their life has finished, the structure suggests change, E suggests rebirth. Turning point • Inky tadpoles changed from commas into exclamation marks – change, growing up, metaphor/symbol, comma – continuation, exclamation marks – extreme emotion • Appalled - disappointed, disgusted by sex, persona is not ready for adolescence

5. Stanza 4 • That feverish July/feverish …untidy,hot,fractious – the persona is uncomfortable physically and also uncomfortable emotionally with growing up • Then turned away. - she can’t help, she can’t guide the persona, persona needs to be independent • Ran through the gates impatient to be grown – now they are ready to grow up and face the world, they have left ‘Mrs Tilscher’s’ class to go into the real world

6. Paragraphs • Relevant – theme of growing up, reaching adolescence • Vivid memory – persona, reader • Clear structure, moving towards a desire to embrace changes • Senses • How they felt, how we felt • In the first stanza it is clear to the reader that the innocent child feels happy and secure in the class. • … • This stanza makes the reader reminisce about their own time in Primary school.

7. Topic sentence • Should include: A link A reference to the question Evaluation • Second stanza: • Duffy continues to evoke powerful memories in the teenage reader with the second stanza. These lines clearly show the child’s naivety becoming mixed with an awareness of the world beyond the classroom.

8. Final sentence/s • Should include: • A summary of the points you have made in the paragraph • Reference to the question • Evaluation • Something to link forward So, in this stanza we relate to the persona preserving their innocence while becoming aware of the darker side of the adult world which contributes to her unwillingness to grow up in the next stanza.

9. Peer Assessment • Question • Evaluation • Analysis

10. 2005, Q13 • Choose a poem which you feel is particularly relevant to a teenage audience. • Make clear why you think the poem is so relevant to this age group and show how the poetic techniques used in the poem help to achieve this.

11. Question: • “relevant to a teenage audience” Memory – clear, emotional, relate, empathise • “poetic techniques help this” • Second person, senses, minor sentences, imagery

12. Analysis and Evaluation Analysis – recognising technique, comments about what the writer is doing, how describe character, theme, style Evaluation – your opinion, “we”, “our”, “the reader”, “in my opinion”, “empathise”, “relate to”

13. First to Second Stanza • Finish two paragraphs • Link to next