'Checking out Me History'

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AQA GCSE POETRY ANTHOLOGY: CHARACTER AND VOICE

‘Checking Out Me History’ by John Agard

Learning Objectives:

-AO1: Respond to the using details from the poem to support your opinion

-AO2: Analyse the writers’ methods (language, structure and form) and the purposes of these methods

Pre-reading activity

1. Why do you think it might it be a good idea to teach young people history at school? Note three reasons.

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1. Why do you think that British history is widely taught across the world?

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1. What reasons might there be to teach young people about the history of other cultures as well as British history?

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 Take 3 minutes to discuss your opinions with a partner. Justify your ideas.

 Add any further issues you have uncovered.

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First impressions

 Read the poem.

 What are your first impressions of the tone and meaning? What, do you think, is the speaker’s opinion?

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What type of poem is this?

 This poem is a dramatic monologue. A dramatic monologue is a piece of verse that gives the speaker a voice to EXPRESS his/her feelings to a silent audience.

In the case of ‘Checking Out Me History’, Agard’s speaker expresses a desire to learn more about his/her own country of origin, not just the Britishhistorys/he has been taught in school. Agard himself was born in Guyana in South America in 1949 and moved to England in 1977.

Poetry detective

*Find table on next page (page 4).

What is the narrator of the poem taught at school? What does the narrator wish he or she was taught?

Instructions for teacher:

1. Enlarge, cut out and hide the statements around the classroom.
2. Put pupils into groups of three. One student within the group takes on the role of scribe; s/he will need the empty table on page 5 and a pen. The other two students are ‘runners’. (Teacher to differentiate accordingly.)
3. The task for the ‘runners’ is to find a statement, memorise it and then return to the scribe who has to write down the information provided by her / his runners. Runners are NOT allowed to pick up the statements or to shout the facts across the classroom. Neither are they allowed to memorise more than one fact before returning to the scribe.
4. The team must arrange the statements in the table under the relevant heading.
5. This is a frantic activity but one that students enjoy and it often turns into a race without the teacher even mentioning the word. Advice on movement around the classroom might be necessary.

Webquest

 Use the Internet to find 3 - 4 details about the historical figures that Agard feels have been ignored or underrepresented.

Poetry detective

Spot the following poetic techniques and devices at work in the poem. What is their PURPOSE and EFFECT?

Let’s take a closer look

 Answer the following questions by providing quotes and analysis. Think PEA - point, example, analysis.

Stanzas 1 – 3

What can we infer about the speaker?

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Who do you think ‘dem’ refers to?

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Why do you think the poet has included a mixture of real events, characters from children’sstories and nursery rhymes?

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Stanzas 4, 6 and 9

Select an effective noun phrase used to describe each historical figure. Discuss the effect of each noun phrase and how the speaker’s praise for them is made clear.

Toussaint L’Ouverture

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Nanny de Maroon

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Mary Seacole

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Below is stanza four of the poem, rewritten in standard English.

 Give examples of / make a note of (up to you which; delete below as necessary) the non-standarddialect and grammar forms that this has revealed. Explore their effect.

Why might the poet have used such short lines in these stanzas?

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Why might the poet have used italics for these stanzas?

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Stanza 10

What might the metaphor‘I carving out me identity’ mean? Think about the connotations of the verb ‘to carve’.

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What could you infer about the way the speaker feels about his or her identity from this stanza?

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Comparing poems

-AO3: Make comparisons and explain links between texts, evaluating writers’ different ways of expressing meaning and achieving effects

 Use the Venn diagram to find the differences and similarities between the two poems.

Sample exam question

Compare the theme of history in ‘Checking Out Me History’ and ‘The Horse Whisperer’.

Planning an essay

 Using MITSL as a guide, create anessay plan or spider diagram for your essay question. You must include 3 - 5 points of comparison. Number each point in the order you would write about them in your exam. When you write your essay, remember to analysestructuralandpoetic devices for their effectand meaning. Don’t just list.

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Acknowledgments and thanks

Written by Chantel Mathias and Amanda Fiegel

Introduction and copy by Karen Bishop

Audio file scripts and recordings by Barrie McDermid -

Interactive resources and design by David Riley -

Images:

• napoleonstark.wordpress.com
• voiceseducation.org
• mwhcp-per6.wikispaces.com
• clayvilla.com
• flmnh.ufl.edu
• famous.y2u.co.uk

Agard, John

‘Checking Out Me History’ Copyright © 1996 by John Agard reproduced by kind permission of John Agard c/o Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency Limited.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright holders of material reproduced in this collection. If notified, we will be pleased to rectify any errors / omissions.

Copyright © 2010 TES English