Walking with My Iguana

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The Highwayman could also be the inspiration for children producing different types of writing e.g. Bess’s diary entries, a love letter from The Highwayman to Bess, a play depicting the meeting between Tim the ostler and the soldiers prior to the final shooting. A switch in perspective would also be intriguing, perhaps the poem could be re written as a story through the eyes of The Highwayman himself. Moses originally wanted to be a musician. [1] That original musical influence can still be heard in his work; he performs so that pauses, tone of voice and speed become a central part of the poem, such as the hiss in "The Snake Hotel" or the Tom Waits growl in "Walking with my Iguana". I can’t stand Poetry! Bores me to death,” came the comment from next to me. “Great,” I thought, for next week I would be starting a 3 week unit of Poetry, and I was only in the first week of my 3rd Year Placement. What a confidence booster ;).

I needed to do something or run the risk of losing the children’s engagement and probably the result I wanted from my entire placement as first impressions always count! He is also founder & co-director of a national scheme for able writers administered by his booking agency Authors Abroad.

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The effect was amazing. Suddenly, the children were discussing if they had an unusual animal, what would it be and why? What would they do with this animal? How could they describe it? This then led to using features of poems to describe their animal and how they do what they do. They then, after some preparation lessons, wrote their own poems and performed it. Not only that but the children decided to share some for the school’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations. Brian also runs writing workshops and performs his own poetry and percussion shows. To date he has given over 3000 performances in schools, libraries, theatres and at festivals throughout the UK and abroad. Ask children to note what is going on in each section. What do we learn about the iguana and how it behaves: from the way it is described? and from the way people react to it? Role playing questions.

I would share a couple of performance audio clips but refrain from doing so as I no longer am at the school (it being one of my placement schools) and I don’t have permission of the parents to share anything online, even if it is only their voice. This poem was written by Brian Moses to celebrate an unusual sighting on the beach at Hastings, where he lives. Year 3 and 4 used it to think about animal movement and adverbs, and had a go at performing it themselves. This was an important learning experience for me but also, I’m sharing this because it is a great poem. I am aware, like my poem-deriding colleague from earlier, that poetry can be dull – but only if it is made dull. And this is the same with any topic/theme/skill I think…although fractions I’m still working on! 😉 Whole class activities Activating prior knowledge; discussion. Before reading and listening to the poem, ascertain with the class what an iguana is. If possible, play a video or multimedia web image of an iguana in its habitat. Draw up a list of words to describe the animal. What might it be like to have one as a pet? How would it be differ from having a dog/cat/hamster as a pet? Elicit responses and note on a list through shared writing. Listening. Listen to recording of Brian Moses reading the poem once. What do you notice about the poem and its rhythm, rhymes, use of words? What feelings and responses do you have towards it? Listen to the poem again. Why is it unusual to take an iguana out for a walk?Brian Moses (born 1950) is an English poet. He mainly writes for children, has over 200 published works and is a children's poet. His poetry books and anthologies for Macmillan have sold in excess of 1 million copies. Moses was asked by CBBC to write a poem for the Queen's 80th birthday.

What primary classroom would be complete without Please Mrs Butler? Let’s face facts, this poem is virtually your birth right if you are in junior school and is certainly a poem that every teacher should read to their children. It’s iconic, it’s cheeky and it’s fun- what more could we ask for?

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Discuss with the children what it looks like, how it moves, what it might be like to touch. Elicit personal responses from them: does it look fierce or friendly? Cuddly or angry? Intentionally, I have not included the whole of the poems in this blog as some of them are fairly long. The whole versions are all easily found for free online. A new book of history poems: 1066 & Before That (co-written with Roger Stevens), picture books The Frog Olympics and Dreamer: Saving Our Wild World (OtterBarry Books) and his childhood memoir Keeping Clear of Paradise Street have just been published. There is lots of great vocabulary to explore here which gives could give children the impetus to find out more about Georgian England. The relatively simple rhythm and rhyme scheme makes it easy for children to write and add in their own verses perhaps supplying the poem with a new and happier ending!? I actually introduced this poem by reading it myself, in the dullest way possible. The children recognised immediately I was making a point. Then we listened to the performance of Brian Moses, the poet, found on the link.