We commissioned teacher and poet Aoife Lyall to produce lesson plans for secondary schools in Scotland (Broad General Education S1-S3). When it came to selecting the poems for this project, Aoife wanted those chosen to be from poets working and writing today – people the pupils could meet, connect with, see at events – because she wanted to show young people that poetry is something that is happening around them everyday, and something they themselves can belong to.
With the lesson plans, Aoife kept the exams and coursework of the higher years in mind, and she created resources that contain a mix of critical and creative responses to each poem. Each set of resources comes with a variety of these activities for each poem so teachers can utilize them as they see fit- picking one activity for the class or allowing pupils the opportunity to choose the activity or activities that best reflect their interests and abilities. You can hear Aoife’s readings of the poems via links further down this page.
S1-S3 Selected Poems – Word Document
S1-S3 Poetry Resources Unit 1 – Word Document
S1-S3 Poetry Resources Unit 1 – PDF