| Riddling
Workshop
Aims
- To
raise pupils' awareness, through riddles, of the
following technical aspects of poetry: metaphor,
first person voice, personification;
- To
draw pupils' attention to other technical
strategies commonly used in riddle-making (e.g.
qualification);
- To
locate the riddle within its Anglo-Saxon literary
heritage.
Workshop
Objectives
Pupils will:
- 'solve'
riddles (whole class);
- consider
the way in which riddling works (whole class);
- write
their own riddles (pair work).
Workshop
Methodology
1. Introduction
- Read
a riddle and take solutions (Michael Rosen, New
Exeter No. 71)
- What
is this type of puzzle called? Take any pupil
riddles offered.
- Refer
to famous riddles, e.g. the Riddle of the Sphinx
- Identify
the riddle as an Anglo-Saxon poem
2. Presentation
of the riddle model
- Work
through handout of riddles
(link to separate page)
- Brainstorm
devices used in riddles: they use the first
person voice; the topic of the riddle is the
speaker; they use personification; they are
metaphorical; they use qualification.
- Draw
attention to their focus on function (what you
can do with/use the object for), habitat (where
the object lives/can be found) as well as use of
colour, shape and the senses (touch, smell,
sound)
3.
Using the riddle model
- In
pairs pupils draw a topic from the envelope
(parts of the body/fruits work well) and together
they write a four-line riddle on their topic
using the following model:
- A
direct comparison with something unusual
- Something it is and something it isn't
- What it is used for/what people do with it
- Something descriptive (e.g. its colour, feel,
sound, smell, shape etc.)
- Take
volunteers to read out their riddles - class
guess the topic.
Suggested
Age Range and Possible Adaptations
This
workshop outline is aimed at Y7/8 pupils. Within the
above framework, adaptations for pacing and individual
need can be readily made (by, for example, altering the
level of difficulty of the model riddles; omitting/adding
to the number of model riddles; encouraging pupils to
write more than one riddle; construction of alternative
groupings for writing activity). The workshop outline may
also be adapted for older children and for adults in a
number of ways: increasingly difficulty riddle models can
be offered, for example, and workshop participants can be
asked to 'riddle' more challenging topics and to write
these in more demanding poetic forms (e.g. sonnet form -
see Carol Ann Duffy, 'The Dummy').
Resources:
- Crossley-Holland,
C. and Sail, L (1999) The New Exeter Book of Riddles. Enitharmon
- Pupil
handout: selection of riddles - see
separate page
- Envelope
of riddle topics (for pupils to draw from)
©
Elizabeth Barrett
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