This was a standalone, informal lesson with an S3 English class. Having previously visited Scots war poetry and a related creative writing task as part of the Application task for Unit 4, we this time explored Tom Leonard’s classic poem ‘The Six O’Clock News’. I discussed the poem’s main ideas including linguistic hierarchy and class/accent prejudice before the class were asked to write a poem in a similar style. They were to use the title as a starter then report on a news story, either real or imagined. I showed them an exemplar which took the form of a lifht-hearted weather report. Pupils were encouraged to ‘write like they speak’ and to take a freewriting approach, avoiding thinking too much about technical accuracy, formatting etc. Afterwards  they went into groups of 4/5 and read their pieces aloud. 

Pupils enjoyed the informal, freewriting and creative aspects of the task and among them covered items including Donald Trump, Rangers’ league performances and a zombie invasion! They also enjoyed reading them aloud, something that they probably found easier as we have recently been reading a play aloud together which has really built confidence. I had been concerned that not providing word banks/lists would cause problems for pupils but this seemed to allow them more freedom. I had also been concerned they would struggle to see the relevance of this standalone task but they enjoyed that it was a short burst of activity with less pressure. 

I would definitely do this task again but would develop the teaching and learning around the poem itself next time. I would also provide more individualised feedback on their creative pieces and allow them to redraft them to develop and increase their use of (recognisable) Scots words. 

Going forward I will make more regular use of freewriting and ‘writing like you speak’ strategies and will provide more opportunities to pair writing and speaking in Scots.