This document outlines a 12-week curriculum on First World War poetry for Year 8 students. Students will create an interactive timeline using Capzles to show how war poetry reflected changing national mood in Britain during and after WWI. Lessons include analyzing early optimistic poetry by Rupert Brooke and later more negative poems. Students will assess poetry, plan and create a video reflecting the tone and mood of a poem to demonstrate their understanding.

1. KS3 Digital Studies Year 8: First World War Poetry
Curriculum Aims:
This SOW will enable students to explore First World War poetry in the context of changes in the public’s perception of the war
from 1914 onwards. Students will plan, develop and evaluate their own interactive timeline, utilising narrative, images, audio recordings
and videos. This should portray how the style, tone and content of selected war poetry reflected the changing national mood in Britain
during and after the Great War. As part of this process, students will utilise a range of techniques for analysing poetry using
technology, whilst also developing their ability to explore the historical, social and cultural context of poetry. Pupils will ultimately
write and perform their own poem of remembrance. This SOW explicitly complements the topic studied in English, in which pupils will
be analysing and interpreting First World War poetry.
Information:
This is a twelve week SOW with two opportunities for assessment; one in week six and one in week ten. Students will need time to
comprehend both the Digital Studies assessment criteria and the English APP.
Assessment Opportunities
Digital Studies: AF1 and AF3 English: Speaking and Listening: AF1
AF1 - Planning, developing and evaluating
AF3 - Finding, using and communicating
information
AF1: Talking to others
Talk in purposeful and imaginative ways to explore ideas and feelings, adapting and
varying structure and vocabulary according to purpose, listeners, and content
Skills Developed Summative Assessment
Digital Literacy MovieMaker Assessment 1 (DS: AF1 & 3): All students will plan, develop and evaluate a short
film on Moviemaker in which they use images, music and quotes from war poetry to
illustrate the mood, tone and content of a selected WW1 poem.
Assessment 2 (English S&L AF1): All students will present their completed poem
of remembrance to members of the class. Each performance will either be observed
or recorded to enable assessment and moderation.
Research & Planning Source analysis
Developing Interactive timeline
Evaluating Embedding files
Oracy Wordclouds
Title Learning objectives Available Possible teaching activities Key Assessment

2. KS3 Digital Studies Year 8: First World War Poetry
resources Words/Literac
y
opportunities
Lesson 1
Introduction to
First World
War Poetry
• To know key facts
about the First
World War
• To analyse the
causes of the War
• To judge who was
to blame for each
cause of War
Wordsearch
Lesson PPT
inc.
worksheets
(pg. 4 & 8)
Causes of
WW1
resources
(shared area)
Source
material
(shared area)
Computers
Headphones
Hook: WW1 wordsearch including key terms
Starter: Pupils should research the key dates and
main participants in the First World War.
Main: Pupils should use the sources provided to
research and analyse the main causes of the First
World War. This should cover militarism (the ‘Arms
Race’), imperialism (the race for Empire), nationalism
(patriotism) and alliances (the British guarantee to
protect Belgium, plus the Entente).
Plenary: After a class discussion about the main
causes of the war, pupils should judge who – given
the balance of evidence – they feel were mainly to
blame for each of the causes they have investigated.
Cause
First World War
Imperialism
Militarism
Nationalism
Alliance
Hinge questions
Teacher
guidance and
feedback
Bloom’s
questioning
Lesson 2
The War
Begins
• To understand the
concept of the
‘public mood’
• To explore the
public mood in
Britain at the start
of the First World
War
• To predict the tone
of early First
Lesson PPT
Source
material
(shared area)
Computers
Headphones
Starter: Pupils should use a dictionary to find the
definition of ‘public’ and the definition of ‘mood’.
Using this, they should come up with their own
definition of what ‘public mood’ is and why it might
be relevant to studying the First World War.
Main: Pupils should explore the public mood in Britain
at the beginning of the war. First, provide (via
discussion) a definition of ‘public mood’. Pupils should
examine four sources dating from the early days of
the war and consider what they show about the
public mood in Britain. As a plenary, pupils should
Cause
First World War
Tone
Poetry
Source
Public Mood
Attitude
Hinge questions
Teacher
guidance and
feedback

3. KS3 Digital Studies Year 8: First World War Poetry
World War poetry consider British peoples’ likely attitude toward
Germany in 1914.
Plenary: Quiz pupils on what words, phrases and
concepts will be prominent in early WW1 poetry.
Finally, pupils should write a response predicting:
- The tone of early WW1 poetry
- Extension: how the tone changed during the
war
Bloom’s
questioning
Lesson 3
Creating a
Timeline
To create a timeline to
record the evolution of
poetry during WW1.
• Identify different
elements of an
interactive timeline
• Create an account
and start a timeline
• Adapt the
background colour
and image of your
timeline to suit the
topic
Lesson PPT
Instructions
handout
Exemplar Capzle
(link)
Images in
shared area
Computers
www.capzles.com
Starter: Show an example of a Capzle timeline on
the interactive whiteboard. You could show the
Digital Studies WW1 example or a Batman example.
Students should identify the different digital
features and what makes the timeline effective.
Main:
1) Students should follow the instructions to set up
their own Capzles account.
2) Pupils should follow the instructions to set up
their Capzle timeline and enter the introductory
information.
3) Planning - In their exercise books, students
should identify the colours they most associate with
war and the images that come to mind when they
think of war (in particular, WW1). They should
explain their answers.
4) Students should use the instructions provided to
adapt their timeline by altering the background
colour and image
Extension: Pupils could upload images relating to the
start of the war onto their Capzle and write a brief
summary of the early public attitude towards the
Timeline
Interactive
Appropriate
Image
Background
Evaluate
Teacher
questioning
Individual in-
task feedback
Self-
assessment

4. KS3 Digital Studies Year 8: First World War Poetry
war.
Plenary: Pupils should evaluate the suitability of the
images/colours they have selected for their
timeline. They should also consider the pros and
cons of using the interactive timeline, focusing on
how it could be useful for studying poetry during
WW1.
Lesson 4
Early days:
the optimism
of Rupert
Brooke
To evaluate the extent
to which Rupert
Brooke’s poetry
encapsulates the public
mood in 1914.
• Understand how to
use wordclouds to
analyse poetry
• Analyse the tone,
mood and themes
of Rupert Brooke’s
poetry
• Evaluate the extent
to which Brooke’s
poetry reflected
the public mood in
1914
Computers
Rupert Brooke’s ‘1914’
poems
Rupert Brooke
wordcloud
http://www.abcya.com/
word_clouds.htm
Starter: Literacy focus; pupils should identify
the definitions of topic key words (tone, mood,
theme, analyse, reflect) from a selection of
definitions provided.
Main: Pupils will focus on Rupert Brooke’s ‘1914’
poetry series. First, introduce a biography of
Brooke. Provide pupils with a printed copy of
Brooke’s poems and challenge them to identify
any themes or key words in his poetry. They
should evaluate how easy it is to do this.
Subsequently, pupils should use digital software
(ABCya) to create a wordcloud based on Brooke’s
poetry. Using this, they should identify the major
themes running through his poetry and analyse
the intended tone and mood.
Plenary: Students should evaluate the extent to
which Brooke’s poetry reflected the public mood
in 1914. This could be done in the form of a PEE
paragraph or in a more creative way. As an
extension, pupils could consider why Brooke’s
poetry reflected the public mood in 1914, linking
to Brooke’s own personality traits, values and
Theme
Wordcloud
Analyse
Biography
Identify
Tone
Mood
Reflect
Class
discussion
Bloom’s
questioning
Peer-
assessment

5. KS3 Digital Studies Year 8: First World War Poetry
experiences.
Lesson 5
John McCrae:
In Flanders
Fields
To explore the attitude
to war reflected in the
poem ‘In Flanders Fields’
1. You will identify the
major themes of the
poem
2. You will judge the
tone of these
themes
3. You will compose
your own version of
the poem
4. 4. You will evaluate
your understanding
by comparing your
poem to the actual
poem
Lesson PPT
In Flanders
Fields –
wordcloud
In Flanders
Fields – poem
In Flanders
fields – analysis
worksheet
Recording of ‘In
Flanders Fields’
(inserted into
PPT)
Wordsearch
Hook: Key Term wordsearch
Starter: Pupils should decide on the definition of
‘theme’. They should then use the ‘In Flanders Fields’
word-cloud provided to make groups of similar words
and to decide what themes they represent. They
should finish by determining the tone of these
themes and the poem.
Main: Pupils should use the themed groups of words
to write their own version of ‘In Flanders Fields’ on
the computer. They should take 15 minutes and
should follow the instructions given in the
Powerpoint. Whilst enabling pupils to progress
through the intended learning objectives, this task
should also give pupils an insight into the process of
writing poetry.
Plenary: Pupils should use the sentence prompts
provided to compare their own poem to the real
thing, making reference to the poet’s attitude to war
and the tone of the poem.
Theme
Tone
Attitude
John McCrae
In Flanders Fields
Teacher-led
questioning
In-task
feedback and
class
discussion
Self-evaluation
Lesson 6
The War Drags
On
To explore how
attitudes and mood
changed as the war
progressed.
• To understand how
the public mood
changed as the war
progressed
Lesson PPT
Computers
Source material
Eye-witness
accounts
Starter: Pupils should use the source material
provided to understand and explore how attitudes
towards the war had changed by 1916-17.
Main: Pupils should use facts about the war alongside
eye-witness accounts of people at home and in the
trenches to analyse why attitudes towards the war
had become more negative by 1917.
Attitude
Eye-witness
Account
Emotion
Complement
Perspective
Setting
Teacher-led
review
Bloom’s
Questioning

6. KS3 Digital Studies Year 8: First World War Poetry
• To analyse why
attitudes toward
the war changed
• To predict how this
impacted on the
main themes of war
poetry
Internet
Diary entry
template
Plenary: To illustrate their understanding of the
conditions in which later war poems were written,
pupils should write a diary entry from the
perspective of a poet living in 1917.They should first
plan in their exercise books: how they will convey the
setting and the emotions of their poet. They should
then write up their diary entry.
Peer
assessment
Lesson 7
Later War
Poetry
To explore the
attitude to war
reflected in later war
poetry
• You will identify the
major themes of
later war poems
• You will judge the
tone of these
poems
• You will compare
and contrast the
attitudes to war
shown in early and
later war poems
Lesson PPT
Selection of
poems
Internet
Starter: Pupils should use the selection of later war
poems provided to construct a word-cloud.
Main: Pupils should use their word-cloud to analyse
the major themes of later First World War poetry.
They should be prompted to consider the overall
tone and mood of these poems, judging what this
suggests about the poets’ attitudes to war. They
could use iPad software to merge their wordcloud
with a relevant image that illustrates the attitude
of the poem(s) being studied.
Plenary: Pupils should answer a PEE question in which
they compare and contrast attitudes to war in early
war poetry to attitudes in later war poetry.
Theme
Tone
Mood
Attitudes
Judge
Compare
Contrast
Teacher-led
review
In-task
feedback
Bloom’s
questioning
Self-
assessment
Lesson 8
Assessment:
Planning
To plan the images,
music and text you shall
include in your video
about WW1 poetry.
Assessment
booklet
Internet
Selection of
poems
Pupils should work on this assessment
independently.
The assessment will require pupils to:
• Select a WW1 poem
• Analyse the tone and mood of the poem
o Examine the use and effect of poetic
devices
Tone
Mood
Analyse
Wordcloud
Context
Source
Represent
SUMMATIVE
ASSESSMENT
(AF1 & AF3)

7. KS3 Digital Studies Year 8: First World War Poetry
Selection of
images
Music tracks
Computers
o Create a wordcloud to illustrate the
themes and tone of the poem
• Use the sources provided to assess the link
between the poem and the public mood
• Plan which parts of the poem they will use in
their video, and plan what kind of images they will
use to represent their poem visually
• Plan the kind of music they will include
• Source and store the images and music they will
use
Lesson 9
Assessment:
Developing
To develop your video
about WW1 poetry using
Moviemaker.
Assessment
booklet
Internet
Moviemaker
Headphones
Music tracks (in
shared area)
Pupils should work on this assessment
independently.
The assessment will require pupils to:
• Use Moviemaker to create a video that
demonstrates the tone and mood of a particular
WW1 poem by utilising appropriate images and
music.
• Upload this video onto their Capzle timeline
Moviemaker
Appropriate
Engaging
Effective
Integrate
Evaluate
SUMMATIVE
ASSESSMENT
(AF1 & AF3)
Lesson 10
Assessment:
Evaluating
To evaluate your video
about WW1 poetry
using Moviemaker.
Assessment
booklet
Internet
Evaluation
checklist
Success criteria
and APP levels
Pupils should work on this assessment
independently.
Pupils should by now have completed their video on
Moviemaker and should now be given this opportunity
to evaluate their video and make any final changes to
it before it is submitted for marking.
Evaluate:
• Planning - assess the extent to which the text,
images and music used in their video reflect the
Evaluate
Success
Criteria
Reflect
Assess
Improve
Self-
assessment
SUMMATIVE
ASSESSMENT
(AF1 & AF3)

8. KS3 Digital Studies Year 8: First World War Poetry
tone and mood of their poem.
• Developing- assess how well the elements of the
video have been integrated, considering how
effective and engaging their final product is .
Lessons 11 and
12
Updating your
Capzles timeline
To construct a timeline
on Capzles that
reflects the changing
nature of First World
War poetry.
Capzles
interactive
timeline
Poetry banks (in
shared area)
iPads could be
used to create
more visual
representations
of poetry
Computers
Internet
Pupils should use this opportunity to develop their
Capzles timeline. This should reflect the changing
nature of First World War poetry, illustrating how
events and experiences during the war influenced the
main themes, tone and mood of war poetry and how
this linked to the public attitudes toward the war.
Their Capzles timeline could include:
- Images relating to the war
- Word-clouds and poems
- Blog entries containing facts, diary entries, PEE
answers, analysis
- Videos and audio recordings
- Appropriate selection of music
Capzle
Develop
Timeline
Influence
Attitude
First World War
Representation
Mixture of
self- and peer-
assessment.