The English Book Room

Along with my wonderful colleague Dette Therese, I run a Facebook group for NSW English teachers that focuses on sharing resources and building a culture of open collegiality and practical support. Term 3, 2021, has been quite a challenging time to be a teacher in NSW, so to keep our teachers' Facebook group focussed on something positive I started sharing a few examples of books we usually tend to find in the high school English book room so people could discuss them.  

It's been absolutely amazing to hear from teachers all over the state and beyond, with a range of experience, as we shared our impressions and ideas regarding individual books. It pepped me up a little each day to see so many passionate teachers willing to share their thoughts on class-set novels. The goal was to prompt a few thoughts with generic questions:

• Anyone taught this one before?
• If so, which year groups?
• Is it a winner?
• Who's seen it in their bookroom?
• Would you / do you still teach it?

...and anything else a teacher might want to add. 

Anyway, I've collected the information into the following excel spreadsheet:

The English Book Room (Version 1, Sept. 2021)

I've kept it in a spreadsheet so the information can be sorted by the reader - you might be looking for the most popular options, and can therefore sort by the 'recommended' column, or you might prefer to browse through alphabetically by author. 

In the spreadsheet you will find:

> Book Title 

> Author 

> Year of Publication 

> Country of Publication 

> Key Words indicating themes and genre 

> What kind of class it suits

> How many teachers recommended teaching it 

> How many teachers recommended not teaching it 

> Content Warning = things that could prompt potential issues in the classroom when teaching it

and

> A separate tab at the bottom that contains comments/reviews from teachers on each title.

Some Notes

• This is a living document. It will change and get updated periodically to reflect the ongoing accumulation of further information, and additional permissions granted by teachers to have their contributions included. Some elements may appear a bit rough at the moment but I'll continue to enhance the spreadsheet as more is added.
• More than 200 teachers contributed to this so I want to say a massive THANK YOU to each and every one of them. It's a great testament to how social media can be used in a positive fashion for collaboration.
• Each of the teachers featured in the document gave their permission to be quoted. I am only uploading the spreadsheet here and in the Facebook group. Downloading your own copy is fine so long as it's non-monetary and for your own use. 

Books Featured So Far:

• Does My Head Look Big in This by Randa Abdel-Fattah
• 10 Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah
• The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah
• Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody
• The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
• The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
• Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl
• The Divine Wind by Garry Disher
• Hitler's Daughter by Jackie French
• Macbeth and Son by Jackie French
• Mahtab's Story by Libby Gleeson
• Once by Morris Gleitzman
• Two Weeks with the Queen by Morris Gleitzman
• Singing the Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman
• Looking for Alaska by John Green
• Journey to Eureka by Kerry Greenwood
• Deadly Unna? by Phillip Gwynne
• That Was Then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton
• I Am David by Anne Holm
• Taronga by Victor Kelleher
• Onion Tears by Diana Kidd
• Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence
• Goodnight Mister Tom by Michelle Magorian
• So Much to Tell You by John Marsden
• Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden
• Boys of Blood and Bone by David Metzenthen
• Raw by Scott Monk
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
• The Loblolly Boy by James Norcliffe
• Z For Zachariah by Robert C. O'Brien
• Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien
• Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park
• The Harp in the South by Ruth Park
• My Sister Sif by Ruth Park
• Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
• The Wave by Morton Rhue
• Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
• The Cay by Theodore Taylor
• Blueback by Tim Winton
• The Sky So Heavy by Claire Zorn

Thank You:

Acknowledgement to the English teachers who contributed and graciously gave permission to be included here:

Alan Lane, Amanda Elizabeth, Amanda Fournaris, Amanda Hannah, Amelia Drinkwater, Amelia Kerr, Amy Greatrix, Angelina Catherine, Angell Harris, April Flavell-Adams, Ashleigh Ftynogiannis, Bec Atkins, Bec Jane, Belinda Diddly-Doodly, Belinda Ryan, Belinda Sinclair, Bernadette Gurr, Bernadette Virwani, Bernhard Huber, Beth Kermode, Brunella Pagano, Carla Beattie, Caroline Brosnan-Kennedy, Catherine Byrne, Catherine McCrae, Cathy Greaves, Celeste Fernandes, Cherie Clark Obrien, Chris Hardy, Claire Low, Clairie Ormiston, Cosette Sheridan, Crab Apple, Cristie Reid-Heuser, Danielle Asquith, Danielle Cleary, Darcy Moore, David Searle, Debbie de Graaf, Denise McKinna, Detter Therese, Deyel Bokor-Charlier, Dhara Des Fours, Dia Zois, Edwina Adelaide, Edwina McCarron, Eleanor King, Elif Tirzik, Elizabeth Ford, Emily Beach, Emily Bosco, Emma Jane Hope, Erika Monk, Erin Graham, Erin Stewart, Ez Fong, Fadia Abousaleh, Faye Cazouris, Fergus Gardiner, Fez Chepe, Fiona Lugnan, Francesca De Leon, Gavin Raymond Brown, Genine Howard, Georgia L'Bank, Georgina Lindsay, Georgina Philpott, Grant Sciberras, Hannah Gierhart, Hannah Rappell, Hannah Thompson Geraghty, Hayley Chisholm, Hayley Sharkey Crowshaw, Hellon Wheels, Imelda Judge, Isabelle Marzano, James Clarke, Jamie Barnes, Jane Drabble, Janelle Stenner, Jarita Banerjee, Jay Goocher, Jeannie Baker, Jeffrey Campbell, Jemma Messer, Jennifer Purssell, Jennifer Waljae, Jenny Holmes, Jess Laxton, Jessica Ansell, Jessica Campbell, Jessica Mann, Jo Bickford Sturgiss, Jo Gresham, Joanna Jennings, Joerg Gruenfeld, Josephine Camilleri, Judith Ridge, Julie Renee, Julz Jewels, Juvena Baldry, Karyn Mooney, Kate Bradley, Kate O'Sea, Katelyn Parrott, Kathleen Emma, Kelly Mack, Kelsey Rae, Kerri Yates Green, Kerrie Guest, Kimberley, Kirilly Farrell, KJ Burke, Kristi Ryan, Kristin Smith, Kristin Vlasto, Lara Hancock, Laura Gabrielle, Letitia McCubbin, Lexi Hunter, Linda Grats, Linda Holloway, Linda Officer LisaPisa Pot, Loren Yaslana, Lorena Najarro, Lorrine Eggleston, Louise O'Reilly, Lu Mac, Lyn Tiernan, Maddie Lee, Mandy Jane, Mark Cochran, Mark McDonald, Markus Joseph, Marney Meredith, Meg Clarke, Megan Gilbert, Mel Marin, Melanie Bailey, Melanie O'Nions, Melinda Giveen, Melinda Lee, Melinda Taylor, Melissa Anne, Melissa Anthony, Meredith Healey, Merrilee Lennon, Michelle Johnson, Michelle Nooroa Katuke, Michelle Patricia, Michelle Renshaw, Michelle Sloan, MJ Logan, Narece Thapa, Natalie Bluhdorn, Natalie Jones, Natalie Quimby, Natasha Audrey Joseph, Nicole Taylor, PamPam Potter, Patricia Fay, Paul Cullen, Paula Madigan, Pauline Griffiths, Peta Clark, Phoebe Black, Rachele Haigh, Rebecca Lea Grant, Rebecca Millhouse, Rebecca Ormand, Rebecca Rowlings, Rhys Hernan, Rob Lockett, Robert Klein, Roberta Wolsey, Rony May, Samantha Jackson, Samantha McFayden, Samantha Miller, Samantha Woolnough, Sandra Lee, Sarah Lee, Sarah Marie, Sarah Wellington, Semir Kuljanin, Sharon Rae, Simon James, Sofia Carmensita Whitehouse, Sophie Kenna, Stacey Treloar, Steve Upsall, Steven Call, Stewart McGowan, Sue Atkins, Sue Harper, Suzana Curcuruto, Suzanne Smith, Tamara Jill, Tammy Borthwick-Mathurin, Tate Williams, Tennielle Willis, Teresa Rodd, Tim Creighton, Tracey Adamson, Ursula Jones, Vicki Denton, Victoria Keech, Wayne Crich, Yosheda Tracey-Lee

* Apologies to anyone I've accidently left off, accidentally left in, or misspelt the name of. Let me know if this is you and I'll fix it up straight away!

Stage 6 Writing Craft 2: Craft of Writing

This post follows on from last week's overview of writing craft across Stage 6. For that blog, I outlined my approach to Reading to Write for Year 11. Today, I'll share how I approach Craft of Writing for Year 12. 

My approach here is a little less involved than what I do with Reading to Write, and the reason for this is that I prefer a student-led approach. I don't mean student enquiry or anything like that - the idea is just for students to create a portfolio in which they craft their own pieces of imaginative, persuasive, and discursive writing. 

It's also less involved for practical reasons. Reading to Write is mandated as the first module of work for Year 11. By contrast, Craft of Writing usually ends up as the last module undertaken in Year 12. Being last means that the module is subject to all kinds of variables - other modules could have overrun, the teacher may decide that copious amounts of revision is needed for their class in preparation for the Trial HSC... anything could happen, really. So I like to ensure that I only need about 5 weeks for Craft of Writing. This is supplemented by ensuring that a suitable degree of prep work is integrated into Stage 6 leading up to this point.

Anyway, without further preamble, here's what I do.

Craft of Writing

One of the key elements of giving students room to create their own portfolio is in setting them up with a range of supporting material. The previously-outlined approach to Reading to Write is designed to do just this, but another thing that can be done on top of this is ensuring that explicit teaching of writing craft happens on a regular basis throughout all of Year 12. 

Students can chip away at this at the start of every second lesson by engaging in mini-lessons that highlight a literary device or writing technique, with the teacher walking students through short activities in the first 5-10 minutes. Where preferable, these mini-lessons should happen within-context, highlighting writing craft for the Prescribed Texts from the other modules (hence why you may notice a few Nineteen Eighty--Four, Under Milk Wood, The Tempest, and Hag-Seed references throughout my resources - these are my texts from my most recent pattern of study). 

Throughout Year 12: For the mini-lessons, students are given a 'Writology' exercise where they learn about an element of writing craft and then try it out themselves. These are aimed at an Advanced English level. I'll admit there are some obscure ones in here but this unfamiliarity/newness is part of what motivates Advanced students to try them out. It's not expected for students to learn them all by-heart, it's just presented as an ongoing range of tools for them to explore. Said tools are placed in front of students and they pick which ones they like. Some examples:

• Asyndeton
• Parentheses
• Hyperbaton
• Modality
• Pathetic Fallacy
• Iambic Pentameter
• Brachyology
• Shared Lines
• Congery
• Irony
• Symbolism
• Ellipsis
• Anthimeria
• Antithesis
• Stream of Consciousness
• Reported Speech
• Anadiplosis
• Allusion
• Tmesis
• Euphemism
• Motif
• Intertextuality
• Synaesthesia 

Weeks 1-2: This is where the study of the Prescribed Craft of Writing texts begins. I start by introducing the Craft of Writing module, looking at the writing genres, and examining selected prescribed texts.

• Students work through this PowerPoint to explore the different writing genres from the module descriptor. There are certain points throughout where the teacher will need to stop and look at some of the Prescribed Texts from Craft of Writing. The ones I use, as included in this PPT, are 'Eulogy for Gough Whitlam' by Noel Pearson (persuasive), 'Eight Days in a Corset' by Siri Hustvedt (discursive), and 'Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice' by Name Le (imaginative).
• Each time we look at one of the Prescribed Texts, students complete a schema to analyse it - resource here.
• On top of the ones we look at as a class, I also include another three Prescribed Texts for students to read and choose from on their own. I wanted to give my Advanced students a range of options to look at so that there's some level of differentiation at work. The other texts I offer the class are 'How to Marry Your Daughters' by Helen Garner, 'Spotty-Handed Villainesses' by Margaret Atwood, and 'That Crafty Feeling' by Zadie Smith. 
• We also look at some poetry - 'Mastering the Craft' by Vernon Scannell (which came recommended to me courtesy of some ETA professional learning), 'O What is That Sound' by W.H. Auden, and a piece of poetry that I've written myself (I think it's important for English teachers to be vulnerable with their own writing and share with students as part of building a collaborative writing culture). 

This is all a lot more open-ended than how I do Reading to Write. Some other things we might do:

• Examine and annotate a page from one of the Prescribed Texts.
• Have students evaluate one of the Prescribed Texts by writing some guided dot points outlining their ideas on the text's context, a summary of the text, what they see as the text's thematic core (thesis), how effective the text is in using writing craft to get the author's thesis across, and what their final verdict on the piece is and why.
• Getting 'Up-Close' with Noel Pearson's Eulogy for Gough Whitlam - resource here.

The Assessment Task should also be introduced by this point so students can start working on it:

Assessment Portfolio

It's not a complicated assessment task. I didn't want students to get bogged down asking about assessment specifications and getting stuck on passing individual sections of the task before moving on to the next one. The idea is for students to just write! They create three drafts and then turn ONE of these into a polished piece with a reflection. Get them started as soon as possible. 

Weeks 3-5: Students continue analysing the Prescribed Texts and working on their portfolio. Part of the drafting process in any of my classes is for students to show their work to their peers and give/get feedback. Now, this can be a very difficult hurdle to overcome - you have to create a culture of peer feedback, which I mentioned back in the Reading to Write blog. 

Peer assessment is valuable because it: 

1. Helps students articulate their thinking with appropriate metalanguage while giving feedback to their peers (this helps with their reflective writing).
2. Helps break down the kind of competitive culture that can occasionally make high-achieving classes a little toxic. 
3. Helps students learn how to draft their work by using feedback. 

Once a student has picked which of their three pieces they want to revise, they're required to show it to a peer for feedback before I'll give them my teacher feedback. Teacher feedback can be used as a 'carrot' to reward students who have shared with their peers first. Peers use this scaffold to help make the process less confronting.

To break things up, a lesson can also be spent engaging in Socratic discussion. This approach is outlined here. And some questions relevant to Craft of Writing for Socratic discussion can be found here.

I don't mandate the incorporation of material from the Prescribed Texts into the assessable writing pieces but I found that nearly all my students drew inspiration from the pieces anyway due to the recency of examining them, plus they incorporated material they had gathered from the Writology mini-lessons. 

It's a wonderful experience to read reflections where students explicitly referred to what they had learned and explained what inspired the craft and technicality of their own writing processes. It builds confidence for students in regard to their own writing ability, and it's a reassuring process for teachers to be involved in too.

Revision: At the end of it all, students can revise the entire module, using the HSC Seminar below:

• Craft of Writing PPT
• A booklet of material that goes with the above PPT.