Performance Brings Meaning

Overview

Lesson 15 of 20 in Poetry: Read, Hear, Create. Students explore how performance choices—gesture, pace, volume, facial expression and audience awareness—shape a poem’s meaning and emotional impact. In groups, they rehearse and perform a selected poem, then give kind, specific and useful feedback.

Learning intentions

• WALT explain how performance choices affect a poem’s meaning.
• WALT use gesture, pace, volume, facial expression and audience awareness deliberately.
• WALT rehearse collaboratively and respond constructively to feedback.
• WALT connect spoken delivery to the poet’s ideas, mood and audience.

Success criteria

• I can identify a performance choice and explain its effect.
• I can make deliberate choices about my voice, movement and expression.
• I can perform clearly while considering my audience.
• I can give feedback that is kind, specific and useful.

Curriculum links

• Speaking, presenting and performing: communicate ideas clearly for a purpose and audience.
• Reading and responding to texts: interpret how language, sound and structure create meaning.
• Creating texts: make deliberate choices to shape an audience’s response.
• Key competencies: participating and contributing; managing self; relating to others; thinking.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 minutes – Hook: one line, three meanings Open with the introduction and performance hook slides. Read the same short line three times: once excitedly, once angrily and once sadly. Students silently show which feeling they heard, then briefly discuss what changed. Establish that performance can add meaning beyond the words.

2. 5–13 minutes – Notice the choices Model a short poem or familiar stanza twice: first in a flat voice, then with purposeful delivery. Ask: “What did you notice about the pace, volume, gesture, facial expression and eye contact?” Record student observations on the board and use the performance choices teaching slides to define each feature. Emphasise that choices should support the poem rather than distract from it.

3. 13–20 minutes – Quick experimentation In pairs, students choose one neutral sentence from the poetry performance planner and perform it using two different choices, such as slow/fast or quiet/loud. Partners identify the choice and describe its effect using a sentence stem from the Question Stems Poster. Invite two pairs to share contrasting examples.

4. 20–25 minutes – Form groups and plan Place students in groups of four or five, balancing confidence and support needs. Each group selects a poem already studied in the unit, or receives a teacher-selected poem. Distribute the poetry performance planner and direct groups to mark key words, decide the mood and audience, and plan at least three deliberate performance choices.

5. 25–40 minutes – Rehearse and coach Groups rehearse their poem, assigning roles such as lead voice, alternating voices, chorus, movement and timekeeper. Circulate with the prompts on the rehearsal and coaching slides: “What should the audience feel?” “Which word needs emphasis?” “Does the movement add meaning?” Require each group to run the whole performance at least twice and improve one specific feature.

6. 40–53 minutes – Perform and give feedback Groups perform for another group or for the class, depending on confidence and time. After each performance, listeners give one kind, specific and useful comment: one effective choice, its impact, and one practical next step. Students record feedback on the poetry performance planner. Remind listeners to comment on choices and effects, not personal ability.

7. 53–60 minutes – Reflect and consolidate Return to the reflection and plenary slides. Students complete the prompts: “Our performance showed the poem’s meaning by…” and “Next time I would change…” Invite several responses. Reinforce that strong performance is an interpretation: the performer makes choices, and the audience uses those choices to understand and feel the poem.

Resources

• the poetry performance slide deck
• the poetry performance planner
• the Question Stems Poster
• Copies of two or three poems studied in the unit
• Whiteboard and markers
• Timer
• Open classroom space for rehearsal
• Optional simple props, used only if they add meaning

Assessment

• Listen during pair experimentation and group rehearsal for accurate use of performance vocabulary and purposeful choices.
• Use the planner and observation notes to assess whether students explain how delivery affects meaning and audience response.
• During performances, assess clarity, collaboration and deliberate use of voice, movement, expression and audience awareness. Use peer feedback as formative evidence.

Differentiation

• Provide a pre-highlighted poem, a choice of three manageable performance features and sentence stems for students who need support.
• Allow students to perform in a smaller audience, use a chorus role or contribute through movement, sound effects or directing before taking a solo line.
• Support EAL learners with visual demonstrations, paired rehearsal, pronunciation practice and vocabulary displayed on the board.
• Extend confident students by requiring shifts in pace, volume or movement to match changes in mood, structure or speaker, and by explaining these choices to the audience.