Teaching Literature at Key Stage 3 and 4

Poetry

Differentiation and supporting pupils' responses to poetry

Many student teachers coming from university study may have some preconceptions about what it is to study literature. Some may have come from a background of study geared towards rather dry analysis of texts line-by-line, attempting to read the author's thoughts and find the 'right answer' to what the author 'meant'.

However, we know that responding to literature is much more complex, and so it is important that we empower pupils to be able to respond independently to the literature they read: studying literature is not about 'getting the right answer' but 'finding the genuine response'. To this end, we need to provide pupils with techniques, structures, skills and frameworks which will help them formulate and organise their responses.

There are many misunderstandings about differentiation, but one of the most damaging for pupils of lower ability is that it is appropriate to give them different, 'easier' work. What we should be aiming for is to find ways to give pupils of all abilities access to the same curriculum, and opportunities to develop the same skills at appropriate levels.

Therefore, when we use different texts within the classroom, we should try as much as possible to use those texts to develop the same skills for all the pupils: if we use different poems, individuals in the class should be able to talk to each other about subject, theme, imagery, word choice, etc., and no pupil should be excluded from that talk because they have 'done something different'.