YEAR 8 CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Dates
Autumn
Half Term 1
Unit overview
Modern Prose - Story Openings
Assessment
Writing Assessment
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Stories often start with the writer
describing a setting.
Millions
Face
Students will read a whole novel. In line
with the new curriculum, students will
use reciprocal reading strategies to
explore the meaning within the stories
and will closely analyse story openings
At least a week’s teaching will cover
effective story openings and devices
used by writers to hook a reader:
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Create tension
Setting
Sentence structure
Character
EITHER:
Write a description suggested by
this picture.
OR:
Write the opening part of a story
based on the picture that you
see.
Skills focus
• Inferring what meanings
language has and how it
expresses a character’s;
thoughts and feelings
• Explaining the writer’s ideas
and how they are shown in a
text;
• Using language to suit the
task of their writing;
• Writing an engaging opening
to a story to hook the
reader.
What can be done at home?
• Completing
comprehension quizzes
and reading with the
`Accelerated Reader
Scheme`;
• Using a thesaurus to
extend their
vocabulary;
• Reading the opening of
short stories and
making notes on what
the writer uses to keep
them interested.
YEAR 8 CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Autumn
Half Term 2
Poetry – Porphyria’s Lover and
Follower
Reading Assessment
•
(Love and Relationships Cluster)
How does the poet present the
idea of X in Y?
•
Write about:
•
Character’s attitudes and
feelings
•
Language used
•
Poetic devices
•
Structure
•
Study of two poems, “Porphyria’s
Lover” by Robert Browning and
‘Follower’ by Seamus Heaney
Explore the relationships as presented
in the poems.
Consider narrative viewpoints; focus on
use of language, poetic devices and
structure. Developing reading skills:
reading for meaning, retrieving and
interpreting ideas and information, use
of quotation, poet’s use of language
and structure and some awareness of
the context in which poems were
written.
Identifying poetic devices
and exploring their hidden
meanings;
Explaining how a poem is
structured and how it is set
out in this particular way;
Explaining what ideas the
writer has about the topic
and how this is shown
through their choice of
words .
•
•
Reading a wide range of
poetry from the
nineteenth century and
prior to this;
Practise writing their
own poems about a
topic they are
interested in using
poetic devices.
YEAR 8 CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Spring
Half Term 1
Media – The Sandman
Using the film The Sandman as the
stimulus, students will revisit media
terminology and the areas of sound,
colour, camera angles and film
language.
Writing Task
•
Students will be given a question
on how media techniques are
used in a clip. They will analyse
the effects that are created.
•
•
Spring
Half Term 2
Shakespeare – The Merchant of Venice
Reading Assessment
Students will be introduced to various
extracts from the whole play including
the main plot and the sub plots. They
will be mainly on the character of
Shylock and his role and speeches
within the play. They will examine the
language used by Shakespeare to create
characters and they will be required to
think about the many dimensions to
Shylock’s character. Students will be
encouraged to make judgements about
Shakespeare’s characters and support
their ideas with quotes. Students will
Starting with this speech how
does Shakespeare present X?
Write about:
•How Shakespeare presents X in
this speech
•How Shakespeare presents X in
the play as a whole
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Understanding and
explaining how a technique
is used to suit the film and
how this makes the audience
think and feel a certain way;
Writing clear topic sentences
and developing the detail on
a topic throughout their
paragraph;
Using connectives to link
their ideas.
•
Commenting on the
language used and what this
represents about a
character, theme and how it
makes the audience feel
Making links between the
play and how Shakespeare
shows that he is writing for
an audience of his time
Making connections and
links between parts of the
play
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•
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•
Watching media clips of
films and writing
commentaries about
what techniques are
used and the effects
achieved;
Use doddle for tutorials
on paragraphs;
Reading reviews of films
and books etc. to
understand how to
organise their ideas.
Using sparnkotes.co.uk
to revise the plot and
key scenes (modern
versions are also
available);
Researching the time
period that
Shakespeare was
writing in (role of men
and women, religion
and the monarchy etc.)
YEAR 8 CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
also be required to think about the
play’s themes. They will also get the
opportunity to do some creative writing
as various characters before the formal
assessments which focus on Shylock.
Summer Half
Term 1
20th Century Drama – Our Day Out by
Willy Russell
A module designed to consolidate prior
learning about the conventions of
drama. Students will look at the
background influences on the play, the
ways in which characters are portrayed
and the dramatic devices used by the
playwright. Students will be exposed to
the features of persuasive writing and
different forms of writing (letter,
article).
Writing Focus
A statement will be provided and
students will write an article for a
newspaper in which you argue
your point of view on this
statement.
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Using relevant ideas that link
to the purpose and audience
of their writing;
Using features of newspaper
writing;
Organising ideas into
relevant paragraphs with a
clear structure;
Using connectives to link
ideas together;
Choosing vocabulary that is
suitable to the task.
•
•
•
Reading a wide range of
non-fiction texts to
understand how they
adopt language to suit
their audiences;
Extending their
vocabulary by using a
thesaurus;
Research their topic for
the writing task to
develop knowledge
about it.
YEAR 8 CURRICULUM OVERVIEW
Summer Half
Term 2
Autobiographical Writing
Students will be exposed to a variety of
autobiographical texts to analyse and
deconstruct how language is used to
present a writer’s feelings and impact
the reader. They will also be expected
to select relevant information from a
text which they will then summarise in
their own words.
Reading Focus
Q1: How does the writer use
language to X?
Q2: Summarise what we learn
about Y?
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•
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Extracting relevant
information that links to the
assessment question;
Exploring the use of
language, its meaning and its
effect;
Summarising their own
thoughts about a topic
based on a text.
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•
Reading a wide range of
biographies and
autobiographies;
Practise writing their
own autobiographies
about their own
experiences using
language to suit their
audience.