Out of the Blue

Simon Armitage

Pg. 35 of

Moon on the Tides Anthology

Out of the Blue Simon Armitage

• http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/simon-armitage-on-his-poem-out-of-the-blue/13456.html

Success Criteria

Band 3 – ‘Clear, Consistent’• Cleat links between sentences;

some discourse markers to create fluency.

• Consistent accuracy with greater range of punctuation.

Band 4 – ‘Confident, Assured’• Phrase and sentence constructions

self-consciously crafted for effect.• full range of punctuation marks

used assuredly and accurately.

Band 5 – ’Sophisticated, Impressive’• High levels of whole text coherence.• Varied and sophisticated sentence

structures used to impressive effect.

Success Criteria

Learning Outcomes

• Identify the success criteria for Producing creative texts.

• Evaluate the best examples of descriptive language and prioritise which are most effective. • Peer assess the work of others.

PROG

RESS

English Language Unit 3 (b) Producing creative texts. Controlled Assessment

Learning Objective

LO1: To explore the poem ‘Out of the Blue’ by Simon Armitage. LO2: Develop skills in creative and descriptive writing in preparation for the Controlled Assessment on “Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another ’

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Controlled Assessment

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts (creative writing) Re-creations. Taking a text and turning it into another

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“Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another ”

Controlled Assessment.

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Rules of Controlled assessment

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts (creative writing) Re-creations. Taking a text and turning it into another

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Controlled Assessment.

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts (creative writing) Re-creations. Taking a text and turning it into another

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

2012/2013 Bank

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

1200 words over 2 Controlled Assessments = approx 600 words per CA

Out of the Blue• This poem comes, as its title suggests, from the

much longer poem 'Out of the Blue' which Simon Armitage wrote to commemorate the victims of the attack on the World Trade Centre in September 2001 known as 9/11 and the fall of the Twin Towers.

Out of the Blue – Simon Armitage

• Some things that you might like to note about the poem... It is a monologue in four-line stanzas, in the voice of one of the victims of the attack on the World Trade Centre in September 2001 known as 9/11.

• Armitage has imagined himself into the place of one of the people involved, a man who finds himself trapped on the top floors of the burning building, aware of his position, but unable to escape. This situation was one of the ones which most horrified people who watched footage of the attacks--people could be seen waving from windows, looking for help, and yet there was no way to reach them before the towers collapsed.

• The speaker directly addresses us as readers throughout, actually making us feel slightly voyeuristic in watching this film, and selecting this person to watch: 'you have picked me out / Through a distant shot of a building burning'. In this respect it is interesting in that it deals with a non-combatant, and a victim of conflict, though not a victim of a war, but of a terrorist attack. The speaker's horror and disbelief are powerfully conveyed in the poem, and the extract ends with the dark suggestion that his ability to keep speaking is disappearing 'I am failing, flagging'.

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Out of the Blue – Simon Armitage

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Before 9/11

After 9/11

Before 9/11

After 9/11

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yacjArDnRbY (Video)

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj69WLACry8 (audio reading)

http://thunderbay.indymedia.org/uploads/woman-waving-close.avi

Extract from 'Out of the Blue'

You have picked me out.Through a distant shot of a building burningyou have noticed nowthat a white cotton shirt is twirling, turning. In fact I am waving, waving.Small in the clouds, but waving, waving.Does anyone see asoul worth saving? And when will you come?Do you think you are watching, watchinga man shaking crumbsor pegging out washing? I am trying and trying.The heat behind me is searing, searing,but the white of surrender is not yet flying.I am not at the point of launching, leaving.

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http://www.helpmewithenglish.co.uk/page_2111251.html

A bird goes by.The depth is appalling. Appallingthat others like meshould be wind-milling, wheeling, spiralling, falling. Are your eyes believing,believing?Here in the gillsI am still breathing. But tiring, tiring.Sirens below me are wailing, firing.My arm is numb and my nerves are sagging.Do you see me, my love. I am failing. Flagging.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj69WLACry8 (audio reading)

Can you imagine the

horror of this?

Out of the Blue – Simon Armitage

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M

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eaning

magery

anguage

motion / Effect

tructure

Meaning - What does it mean? What is the poem about?

Language -What words are used and what do you think of, when these words are used? E.g. Black – usually has connotations of death. Also use of simile, metaphor, personification, sibilance, onomatopoeia etc...

Imagery – Use of word pictures, figures of speech, and description to evoke ideas, feelings, objects, actions, states of mind, etc...

Emotion /Tone – What emotions can you feel while reading the poem? Is it a happy poem? Sad/angry/morbid? What makes you think this?

Structure – How the poem appears on the page, how it is constructed and organised. Eg. Ballad, acrostic, sonnet, blank verse, etc... What shape is it – E.g. In ‘Flag’ the writing is set out to appear like a flag fluttering in the breeze.

Analysis of the poem

‘Out of the Blue’

Out of the Blue Simon Armitage

1 You have picked me out.

Through a distant shot of a building burning

you have noticed now

that a white cotton shirt is twirling, turning.

5 In fact I am waving, waving.

Small in the clouds, but waving, waving.

Does anyone see

a soul worth saving?

Stanza 1 & 2

Implies the reader is watching

the TV coverage of the disaster

‘Distant’ suggests everyone is staying at

a safe distance.

Pronoun ‘You’ immediately engages the audience.

Alliteration adds to the horror

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-sounds anonymous and vague – alliteration emphasises the distance

from the people

watching.

Gentle calm movements (verbs) are

misleading at first.

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Does anyone see

a soul worth saving?

Creates images for the reader.

Repetition to show panic. More rep on L6 shows

more panic. Sense of insignificance / poignant feels the

watching world won’t help.

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Sense of hopelessness

He feels insignificantPronoun ‘I’ gives

visual detail to ‘you’ and in doing so

creates images for the reader.

Out of the Blue Simon Armitage

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Out of the Blue Simon Armitage

Enjambment or enjambement is the breaking of a syntactic unit (a phrase, clause, or sentence) by the end of a line or

between two verses.

Enjambment is sometimes referred to as a "run-on line."

Definition

Out of the Blue Simon Armitage

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Out of the Blue Simon Armitage

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Back to the Controlled

Assessment Task

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

2012/2013 Bank

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

1200 words over 2 Controlled Assessments = approx 600 words per CA

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

IDEAS TO HELP YOU…

• You could be an onlooker describing the events unfold?

• A reporter

• A victim in the twin towers

• A survivor

• A relative of a victim watching the events on tv etc…

• The child of a victim. You have never met your father /mother etc and wonder what they were like…

• A teenager watching the news as it unfolds on the news in front of your very eyes…

• Someone in the second hijacked plane.

The list is endless. Pay attention to your writing skills: You will be marked on :

sentences structure, punctuation and grammar, etc..

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

“Mum, come watch this”, I scream, my eyes never leaving the TV screen for even a

fraction of a second, grappling desperately with the remote control to turn up the

volume.

“Oh my God! Jesus, your Father” wails Mum, her face turning ashen grey. Grabbing the

phone, punching in my dad’s cell phone number she desperately tries to connect to him.

Busy line. Again she punches in his numbers - 055412347. Dropping the phone as the

doorbell rings, both of us run for the door…

• A relative of a victim watching the events on tv etc…

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Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

Unit 3: Part b: Producing creative texts Re-creations : Taking a text and turning it into another

PLENARY Complete the target sheet with

targets you have set yourself in

order to achieve the higher level

bands.and fix into your exercise book

GCSE Anthology – Moon on the Tides: Conflict

Plenary

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http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine

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Out of the Blue Simon Armitage