Power of Friendship

Overview

This is Lesson 3 in a six-lesson unit titled "Exploring Friendship and Courage" aimed at Year 7 students (ages 11-12). The lesson lasts 45 minutes and engages students in exploring the qualities of friendship through discussion, literary analysis, and a creative mapping activity. The core text will be a shared class novel or short story featuring strong examples of friendship to contextualise learning.

The lesson adheres strictly to the National Curriculum for England, English Key Stage 3, focusing on developing spoken language skills, comprehension, and the ability to analyse character relationships and themes.

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National Curriculum Links

English – Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9)

Reading - Comprehension and Understanding

• Pupils should be able to:
  • Maintain positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read.
  • Understand and evaluate texts, identifying themes and conventions.
  • Make inferences and refer to evidence in the text (NC POS: English KS3 Reading 2a, 2b).

Spoken Language

• Pupils should be able to:
  • Ask relevant questions to extend understanding and knowledge.
  • Participate in discussions, presentations, performances, and debates (NC POS: English KS3 Spoken Language 1a, 1b, 1c).

Writing

• Pupils should be able to:
  • Organise ideas clearly, showing understanding of audience and purpose (NC POS: English KS3 Writing 3a).

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

1. Identify and describe key qualities of friendship through brainstorming.
2. Analyse how friendship is portrayed through characters in the shared class text with textual support.
3. Create a detailed friendship map connecting characters and illustrating the complexity of their relationships.
4. Articulate how these friendships influence the narrative and character development during a group discussion.

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Resources Needed

• Copies/excerpts of the class novel or story containing rich examples of friendship
• Whiteboard or large paper for group brainstorming
• A3 paper or digital software (optional, such as Google Jamboard) for friendship maps
• Markers, coloured pencils
• Sticky notes or cards for character names and traits
• Lesson handout with brief prompts for the friendship map activity

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Lesson Structure

Starter (5 minutes): Brainstorming Qualities of Friendship

• Activity:
  • Teacher writes "What makes a good friend?" on the whiteboard.
  • Students brainstorm qualities (e.g., loyalty, honesty, kindness) and suggest examples from their own experience.
  • Teacher guides, encouraging students to justify choices and think critically about friendship qualities.
• Purpose: Activate prior knowledge and use spoken language skills.

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Main Activity Part 1 (15 minutes): Exploring Friendship in the Text

• Activity:
  • Teacher briefly revisits key extracts from the class novel illustrating friendship moments.
  • In pairs, students identify moments that best demonstrate friendship, noting characters involved and the nature of their relationship.
  • Pairs report back with brief quotations to support their ideas.
• Outcomes:
  • Develop inference and evidence-based reading skills.
  • Build understanding of theme and character interaction.

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Main Activity Part 2 (15 minutes): Creating a Friendship Map

• Activity:
  • Each student receives an A3 sheet or access to digital mapping tools.
  • Using sticky notes/cards representing characters, students map out relationships, adding notes for qualities, conflicts, or key events that influence friendships.
  • Encourage students to use colour coding to show positive, negative, or complex relationships.
  • Students work individually or in pairs, referring back to the text as needed.
• Purpose:
  • Embed understanding of character networks and thematic complexity.
  • Develop organisational and creative skills.

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Plenary (10 minutes): Sharing and Discussion

• Activity:
  • Students display their friendship maps.
  • Teacher facilitates whole class discussion on:
    • How do these friendships influence the story’s events?
    • Are friendships always straightforward? Why/why not?
    • How does understanding friendships deepen appreciation of the text?
• Assessment:
  • Informal formative assessment through observation of participation and ability to use textual evidence to support ideas.

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Assessment & Feedback

• Formative Assessment:

  • Observation of group discussions and participation during brainstorming.
  • Quality, detail, and textual evidence in friendship maps.
  • Student ability to articulate links between friendship and narrative impact in plenary discussion.

• Feedback:

  • Immediate verbal feedback during activities.
  • Highlight effective use of textual evidence and thoughtful connections during plenary.
  • Written comments on friendship maps (if collected) for next lesson.

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Differentiation

• Support:

  • Use sentence starters/prompts for students who struggle with oral or written expression.
  • Provide character summaries to reduce reading load.

• Challenge:

  • Encourage more able students to explore ambiguous or evolving friendships and contradictions.
  • Ask them to suggest how the story might change if friendships were different.

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Cross-Curricular Links

• PSHE: Exploring qualities of friendship supports social and emotional learning and wellbeing.
• Art: Mapping activity connects to visual and organisational skills.

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Reflection and Extension Ideas

• Ask students to write a short paragraph reflecting on their own friendships, comparing them with characters studied.
• Prepare for next lessons that focus on courage by linking how friendship provides support in moments of bravery.

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This lesson plan ensures active engagement, critical thinking, and skill-building aligned with the National Curriculum’s emphasis on reading comprehension, spoken language, and personal reflective skills. It encourages students to think deeply about friendship’s role in literature and life.