Patterns of Study in HSC English - Reflections and Ideas

If there's one part of the English syllabus that attracts my attention more than others, it's the Prescriptions List. I'm endlessly fascinated by the way in which this list interacts with the Literary Canon, intensely curious about how these texts are selected by NESA, and highly interested in what combinations of texts teachers select for their classes. It's the what and the why that I want to know. 

When I invariably ask someone what text they've chosen, and why was it chosen, I never get quite the same response. I think this is great and I'd love to see a big enough sample size to identify specific trends. Of course, this is complicated somewhat by the changeover between Prescribed Text lists, which occurs every 5 years or so.

The last Prescribed Text list released by NESA applied to 2015-2020. This essentially meant that a HSC Pattern of Study could be run for 5 consecutive times before a new text list would get released. The syllabus document from this time (released in 2014) indicated that the Area of Study module (which has now been replaced by the Common Module) would be reviewed in 2018 for updating in 2019. I'm not sure what the reasoning for this was if the rest of the syllabus was scheduled to run until 2020... seems a little needlessly complicated, would love to hear an explanation if anyone knows!

Anyway, I'm not sure what happened, but the Prescriptions List was reviewed prematurely in 2017 and the changeover of the entire syllabus was brought forward to 2019. This is our current syllabus, which was initially scheduled to run from 2019-2023. The unforeseen circumstances of the Covid pandemic, however, means that it's likely to be extended to 2024. I say 'likely' as, even though there's been some communication that this is what's happening, our experience of the 2015-2020 syllabus indicates that we can't plan that far ahead.

We can reflect, however, on what we've taught and what's worked. And perhaps also what hasn't worked, and what we'd do if we had another run at it.

The current Advanced English syllabus for Year 12 specifies that we teach:

• FOUR texts from the main prescriptions list.
• ONE of which must be PROSE fiction (in other words, a novel).
• ONE of which must be SHAKESPEARE.
• And ONE of which must be either POETRY or DRAMA (this would be in addition to Shakespearean drama).
• The FOURTH text can be an additional text from any of the above options OR one of the non-fiction or film/media options.
• TWO texts from the Craft of Writing prescriptions list.
• This can be any two texts from the list, and you're free to teach more than two if you like, though be aware that this particular part of the syllabus remains contentious among teachers due to inconsistent assessment at the HSC Examination level.
• This year's exam (2022), for example, did not require students to call upon any knowledge of their prescribed Craft of Writing texts.
• It's also been embedded in the syllabus that students learn about Imaginative, Persuasive, or Discursive writing forms - but the prescribed list does not delineate which texts are which. The Imaginative texts are the fictional ones, obviously, but the non-fictional texts often combine Persuasive and Discursive elements. It's probably fair to say, though, that there aren't really any strictly Persuasive-only texts included in the list. I mean, let's be honest here, these terms are inventions of the syllabus and are being retroactively applied to texts that didn't set out to be 'Discursive' or 'Persuasive', so the whole thing is problematic unless we're told how we should categorise each text according to the module descriptor. It feels like there's some awareness that Craft of Writing has become unstable due to contradictory interpretations by teachers, and this is perhaps best evidenced by the fact that the 2022 HSC exam question ignored the 'Persuasive' option and instead specified that students write only in the Imaginative or Discursive genre. 
• Let's not even mention the inclusion of poetry in Craft of Writing and how this fits in.
  

The current Standard English syllabus for Year 12 specifies:

• THREE texts from the main prescriptions list.
• ONE of which must be PROSE fiction (a novel).
• ONE of which must be POETRY or DRAMA.
• ONE of which must be FILM/MEDIA or NON-FICTION.
• TWO texts from the Craft of Writing prescriptions list.
• The same rules (and issues) apply as seen in Advanced English.
  

The above specifications allow teachers to design their 'Pattern of Study' for Year 12 in accordance with what will be assessed in the HSC Examination. There are some additional mandated elements in both the Advanced and Standard syllabuses too:

• The range of text types must be 'inclusive' of prose fiction, drama, poetry, nonfiction, film, media, and digital texts. This seems to reinforce the specific choice of texts from the Prescribed List though, in the case of Advanced English in particular, you can choose a pattern of study that does NOT include Film/Media or Non-Fiction, so it seems like this additional caveat is asking for some supplementary material to be included at some point that allows for these text types to be included.
• The texts studied must also include Australian authors, specifically Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander authors. Given that there are no Torres Strait Islander authors represented in any of the Prescribed Texts, this could potentially be seen as confirmation that these authors might be represented in the form of supplementary texts rather than Prescribed ones. I'm not sure how many Advanced English teachers would spend any significant time looking at supplementary texts though.
• The texts studied should also be representative of a range of cultural, social, and gender perspectives. I would interpret this as meaning that, among other things, there should be a mix of male and female authors represented in your pattern of study. As indicated by the dot point above, this is wholly interpretative and I doubt that all teachers approach this in the same way. Incidentally, there is only one non-binary author represented in the entirety of the NSW Prescriptions List (Kae Tempest, who has a performance included as one of the Advanced English Craft of Writing options).

Reflecting on Patterns of Study

I've had the opportunity to teach the Advanced English HSC year three times within this current syllabus. My pattern of choice for two of these times was:

1. The Common Module: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (Prose).
2. Module A: The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood (Shakespeare).
   
3. Module B: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas (this covers the Poetry/Drama requirement rather neatly as it's sort of both. It's also technically a Media text as it originated as a radio play [the only text of its sort in the Prescriptions List] and can be played to students in this form). 
4. Module C: I tend to focus on 'Love and Honour and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice' by Nam Le (an imaginative text) and 'Eight Days in a Corset' by Siri Hustvedt (one of the purest examples of discursive writing in the list). I also introduce some others if there's time so students have an opportunity to look at a variety of texts and independently study one that works better for them - these are 'How to Marry Your Daughters' by Helen Garner, 'That Crafty Feeling' by Zadie Smith, and 'Eulogy for Gough Whitlam' by Noel Pearson.
   

For Standard English, which I've taught less, my pattern of choice at the moment is:

1. The Common Module: Billy Elliot directed by Stephen Daldry (Film/Media/Non-Fiction requirement).
2. Module A: Inside My Mother by Ali Cobby Eckermann (Poetry / Drama requirement).
3. Module B: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Prose requirement).
   
4. Module C: 'The Pedestrian' by Ray Bradbury and the 'Funeral Service of the Unknown Soldier' by Paul Keating.
   

Other Patterns

I'm not completely attached to any particular pattern of study as I actually like most of the Prescribed Texts. So, from a personal perspective, I can see the merit in most combinations of texts. That said, I would tend to design a pattern of study based on whatever my school and/or classroom context requires. If I was someone else who did NOT enjoy the vast majority of texts in the Prescriptions list, I would also factor in my enjoyment and/or appreciation of certain texts.

(DISCLAIMER: I'll also mention here that there are a lot of really cool patterns of study that just aren't possible due to the frustration of both a mandated Shakespeare and poetry/drama requirement. If Shakespeare could at least count as Drama then this would solve a lot of problems. More on this in a bit.)

Here are some examples of patterns of study and potential contextual reasons (I'll leave out the Craft of Writing as it doesn't impact on the rest of the pattern).

Advanced English

Example A.

1. The Common Module: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (Prose)
   
2. Module A: Richard III by William Shakespeare and Looking for Richard directed by Al Pacino (Shakespeare).
3. Module B: Selected Poems by T.S. Eliot (Poetry/Drama).
   

Reasoning: This is a 'traditional' approach that sheers pretty close to the Literary Canon. For students and teachers who aren't afraid of the Classics (capitalisation intended), this combination would also be potentially useful if you're strapped for resources and ideas - they've all been taught so much and so widely that it should be relatively easy to find collegial support and resources both online and printed.

Example B.

1. The Common Module: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Prose).
2. Module A: The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood (Shakespeare).
   
3. Module B: A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (Poetry/Drama)
   

Reasoning: This is a 'heavy readers' combination that allows for contemporary connections to be made to big concepts with lots of discussion points. For students who have the time or inclination to read (All the Light... is a very large text to ask busy students to read, so I would keep this in mind and watch how students approach texts in the lead-up to Year 12).  

Example C.

1. The Common Module: The Crucible by Arthur Miller (Poetry / Drama).
2. Module A: The Tempest by William Shakespeare and Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood (Shakespeare AND Prose).
3. Module B: Good Night and Good Luck directed by George Clooney (Film option) 

Reasoning: It's really difficult to make some combinations work and, invariably, this will mean one of the two Module A Shakespeare options need to be used just to meet requirements. This pattern of study could yield some fantastically deep thinking if you have a cohort of students who are interested in or already studying Modern History - the combination of The Crucible and Good Night and Good Luck makes use of a shared contextual understanding of McCarthyism and the Cold War. 

Some problems... I don't want to get too bogged down in patterns of study that don't work but I'll outline one example just so it's clear why some things can't happen, and this is purely down to the mandatory Shakespeare/Drama issue:

EG. If you wanted to do an Art/Classical/European approach that makes use of The Hare with the Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal (Module B) then you'd have to sacrifice a lot of other texts that would potentially support its study - if there was a Module A combination that uses a Poetry/Drama text with a Prose text then you could at least do The Merchant of Venice for the Common Module. 

Standard English

Example A.

1. The Common Module: Go Back to Where You Came From directed by Ivan O'Mahoney OR Waste Land directed by Lucy Walker (Media).
2. Module A: Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah by Alana Valentine (Poetry/Drama).
   
3. Module B: Feed by M.T. Anderson (Prose). 

Reasoning: If you're looking to challenge the thinking of your class without relying too much on the cohort having developed literacy skills, then this pattern could work well. There's lots to talk about in connection to our modern global context across all of these texts.

Example B.

1. The Common Module: Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett (Prose).
2. Module A: The Castle directed by Rob Sitch (Film) OR One Night the Moon (Media).
3. Module B: Coast Road by Robert Gray OR Oodgeroo Noonuccal (Drama/Poetry).

Reasoning: This pattern allows for a broad look at Australian culture and could work well for regional or suburban classroom contexts where student cohorts have a strong preference for this sort of thing. You could potential present this pattern to students alongside some others so they feel like they have some agency and input into their HSC. 

Example C.

1. The Common Module: Rainbow's End by Jane Harrison (Poetry/Drama).
2. Module A: Reindeer in My Saami Heart directed by Janet Merewether OR Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung (Media/Non-Fiction).
3. Module B: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Prose).
   

Reasoning: This approach has a strong focus on identity and advocacy, with students able to examine the challenges surrounding issues such as the Indigenous experience, multiculturalism, and disability. There are strong links in particular that could be made between Rainbow's End and Reindeer... as both deal with indigenous peoples and explore a common global context. 

Some problems... as above for Advanced, I don't want to dwell on the negative, but the biggest problem across the Prescriptions list for Standard English is the lack of Prose fiction options in Modules A and B.

EG. In order to make use of non-Prose options in the Common Module, teachers only have four options across the other two modules to choose from. This will most likely end up being The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which (oddly) is the most accessible text of the four options. The other straightforward option is Feed by M.T. Anderson, but it will depend on the level of interest and patience your class has for quirky science fiction as to whether this would work. The other two options are Henry Lawson's short stories (again, there may be engagement issues with some classrooms) and Small Island by Andrea Levy (a staggeringly long novel of more than 500 pages). 

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If you're a teacher reading this, or a student who's just finished looking at each of the modules, let me know below what pattern of study worked or didn't work for you. Have you come across an unusual pattern that works? I'm very interested in knowing!

Aurora College - Advanced English HSC Seminar Day

Hi students (and teachers), you will find links to my two presentations for the Aurora College HSC Seminar here.

Go here for presentation on Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences - The Merchant of Venice

• The Merchant of Venice - 2023 Presentation
  

Go here for presentation on Module A: Textual Conversations - Tempest and Hag-Seed

• Tempest and Hag-Seed - 2023 Presentation

Happy studying!

A Path of Light and Joy

Even back in the mid-90s, when I was a bristling tadpole in a high school pond, I remember a class discussion that started quiet and then rose to a challenging crescendo. We were reading Came Back to Show You I Could Fly by Robin Klein, a YA novel about an unlikely friendship between an 11 year-old boy and a young drug-addicted pregnant woman. A girl in class took umbrage with the depressing nature of the story and asked the teacher, "Why do we have to do all these books about sad and depressing things?"

Several other students in the class, especially those who typically avoided reading at every opportunity, also piped up at this point, "Yeah, all these books have people die in them!"

As a class, we began to list each of the books we had read (this was the '90s, when English classes read anywhere between 4 to 8 books a year, rather than the more customary 1 that classes now cover just once each year). It transpired that, yes, every single book we had read involved a character dying or something else similarly tragic happening, like child abuse (So Much to Tell You, Goodnight Mr. Tom) or drug addiction (the aforementioned Came Back to Show You I Could Fly). 

A recent online discussion led by the always-insightful Clairie Ormiston on the NSW English Teachers Resourcing Sharing Facebook group posed a question that opened up a similar discussion - why are so many of the Prescribed Texts for Year 12 English in NSW focused on issues that could be quite triggering for people? Another valued colleague, Paula Madigan, asked what would work as more uplifting or joyous options for HSC study.

There are obviously lots of great unexplored options out there that would fit this brief, however, the process that leads to selection of Prescribed HSC texts for future syllabuses is well beyond this discussion. 

Instead, I've looked closely at the current NSW Prescriptions to ascertain the options that would work best for students and teachers seeking to avoid dark or emotionally distressing subject matter. Whatever one's opinion might be on resilience, development, or the challenges of literary study, it must be acknowledged that there are often specific teaching contexts that preclude the teaching of certain subjects or titles for a whole range of reasons that don't need going into. 

So here are the options available if one wants to find a pattern of study for Year 12 that focuses on texts that are more uplifting, joyful, or fun. Before I list them I would like to add one disclaimer - it is admittedly quite slim pickings as a great deal of texts at this level do indeed deal with subject matter that could be seen by some as distressing. The list below is one interpretation that seeks to find a path around this but I am sure there will be contrary opinions of which texts best fit this brief and I am always happy to hear these.

Common Module - Texts and Human Experiences

• Collected Poems by Rosemary Dobson - observational poetry that focuses more on the artistic and aesthetic. 
• Billy Elliot, directed by Stephen Daldry - the class-based themes are a little depressing but the message of this film (and its ending) make it ultimately quite uplifting. 

Standard Module A - Language, Identity and Culture

• Contemporary Asian Australian Poets, edited by Adam Aitken, Kim Cheng Boey, and Michelle Chahill - some of the poetry touches on the impact of past trauma and present prejudices but, overall, these poems aren't excessively negative or emotionally challenging. 
• Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw - there are a few comic elements in this famous play but be warned about some of the now-outdated language that may prompt awkward conversations (such as its use of the word 'slut'). 
• The Castle, directed by Rob Sitch - easily the most pleasant text within this module. Funny and with a feel-good ending that resonates with a lot of Australians. 

Standard Module B - Close Study of a Text

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon - some aspects of this novel, such as the strained familial relationships and the fate of the dog in the title, might be challenging for some students. That said, this is a fun text in the way that it plays with language, structure, etc., and this may be enough to keep things light if you approach it in a structuralist fashion.
• Coast Road by Robert Gray - focuses on landscape related to coastal Australia.
• A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare - I left The Merchant of Venice out of the Common Module above due to its themes of racism and retribution. I do think that Midsummer definitely fits the bill for 'joyous' though in its exploration of love, the fairy realm, and the presence of the ass-like tradesman Bottom. 
• The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir - fun and quirky and ultimately uplifting in the way its protagonist triumphs over his environment.

Standard Module C - The Craft of Writing

• 'Popcorn' by Carol Chan - a fun piece of poetry that doesn't ask anything too emotionally-demanding of the reader.
• 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by Robert Frost - the poet's exploration of nature is fairly uncontroversial and shows a certain admiration that's hard to fault.
• 'May Your Pen Grace the Page' by Luka Lesson - a beautiful and engaging piece that explores a writer's love of writing. 

Advanced Module A - Textual Conversations

All of the options in this module have some varying degrees of darkness in them. If I was pressed to pick the least distressing pairing of texts, I would have to go with either: 

• Richard III / Looking for Richard - which admittedly features its fair share of murder but, hopefully, the passage of time dims the negative impact of this. 
• The Tempest / Hag-Seed - which features more comedy than any of the other options. 

Advanced Module B - Critical Study of Literature

• Emma by Jane Austen - romance and Georgian comedy.
• Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas - a quirky and left-field text that, if the teacher is brave in exploring its many eccentricities, can be quite rewarding for students in a range of ways not dependent on emotional challenges.
• Earth Hour by David Malouf - poetry focused on the aesthetics of life. Not particularly controversial.
• Henry IV Part 1 by William Shakespeare - there is the battle near the end that leaves some of the characters dead or sentenced to death but, other than this, Henry IV provides lots of opportunity for laughter with Falstaff. There's also a lot of room for the sort of intellectual discussion that doesn't necessarily plumb the darker corners of Shakespeare's tragedies.

Advanced Module C - Craft of Writing

• 'How to Marry Your Daughters' by Helen Garner - a sassy review / discursive piece that would go well alongside a study of Emma.
• 'Eight Days in a Corset' by Siri Hustvedt - an interesting and playful essay that focuses on fashion and gender.

Extension Elective 1 - Literary Homelands

• Burning Rice by Eileen Chong - there's enough within this suite of poetry to allow for some brighter discussion of culture and identity.

Extension Elective 2 - Worlds of Upheaval

• Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett - this famously absurdist piece of drama is as close to 'fun' as this elective option gets.

Extension Elective 3 - Reimagined Worlds

• If on a Winter's Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino - a playful, irreverent, complicated and challenging text that manages to spellbind and engage without delving too much into distressing subject matter.
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin - this feminist sci-fi novel is the quintessential example of creating an engaging drama that isn't reliant on traditional modes of conflict or brutality. Le Guin's text operates on several layers.
• Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift - satirical without being particularly savage. The passage of time has perhaps dimmed any controversy that once surrounded this novel. 
• Life on Mars by Tracy K. Smith - award-winning sci-fi poetry. 

Extension Elective 4 - Literary Mindscapes

I'm struggling to find any texts within this option that fit our bill of 'light and joy'. The closest is probably the film Lost in Translation but even that is quite downbeat and in a minor key, plus it raises awkward questions related to the age and power gap within its 'romance' plot. 

Extension Elective 5 - Intersecting Worlds

• Clay by Melissa Harrison - a gently descriptive novel that contrasts the wonders of nature with a very British cityscape.
• The Major Works by William Wordsworth - romantic poetry focused on the beauty and wonders of God's earth.
• Island Home by Tim Winton - focused on environmental issues rather than individualistic human ones. 

The Truman Show: Analysing Shots

The Truman Show is a Prescribed Text that currently features as an option in Module B: Close Study of a Text for HSC Standard English. 

 

Prior to the the current syllabus options, while reflecting and thinking about ideas, I put together a resource for previous curriculum where the text could be looked at in combination with Reality TV shows. It covers things like representation of ideas, visually constructing meaning, creating a narrative through editing, and examining the relationship between composer and responder. You know, the usual stuff! If you remember the Distinctively Visual elective then you'll know what I'm on about. 

What follows is an assessment / class activity idea. It focuses on the way in which meaning is constructed on the screen as part of a wider unit that could be used to look at Reality TV. I love Reality TV and the way in which it crafts narratives out of footage that is ostensibly meant to be a fly-on-the-wall documentary. It's so blatantly without grace or scruples that I find it endlessly entertaining in a throw-your-popcorn-at-the-TV kind of way. 

 

We know, of course, that there is nothing remotely real about Reality TV but this is also part of why it's such fertile ground for students to study. I would argue that it's part and parcel of the same need to teach our students today about fake news and the way in which the media manipulates imagery to impose their own narratives. 

 

Anyway, I've digressed enough. 

The attached task involves students taking three screenshots from The Truman Show and writing 250-300 words on each one, describing how the composer has used visual techniques to create meaning, the wider context of the shot and how it fits into an edited sequence, and generally conveying an understanding of how the composer has represented ideas and themes related to the text. 

I've had to remove the outcomes as they were from an older syllabus but I'm sure it could be adapted to the current syllabus easily enough. You'll note also that there is an 'Example of a Full Mark Response' included at the end of the task... this has been taken from My Kitchen Rules (one of the related texts we looked at - the dinner party scenes are great for demonstrating to students how 'frankenbites' are used to impose invented narratives). I was going to delete it before I uploaded it here but I figured there was no harm in including it - it shows some of the things students can talk about it and is useful for modelling what a good response could look like. 

Here's the task - Task Idea.

I also gathered a whole bunch of screenshots together from The Truman Show. Even if you don't care about the task idea, you might at least find these screenshots useful - Truman Show Screenshots. The beauty of screenshots is that they come under free usage in terms of copyright. 

Disclaimer: The above resources have been created or adapted specifically for this blog in my own spare time.

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. 

Using Schemas with Related Texts

The drive for senior NSW students to locate and select their own related texts has diminished somewhat since the days of Belonging and Discovery. The 2019 syllabus de-emphasised it across the entire Standard and Advanced curriculum, relegating it as a single Common Module element that doesn't require external assessment (meaning there is no requirement for students to recall their related text in the HSC exam... make of that what you will!) 

All that said, Extension English 1 still requires students to find some related texts for their elective module. In total, the elective module involves the study of three prescribed texts (selected from a pool of six) and two related texts - with students expected to (most likely) draw upon their knowledge of two prescribed and one related text for the HSC question. 

In a 1 hour exam context, it's quite a feat to be able to tie together that many texts and tailor a response to a previously unseen essay question.

I found myself grappling with this challenge when I first picked up an Extension class a few years ago, thinking to myself: 

How does one prepare Year 12 students to be adaptable while managing sophisticated and interlocking knowledge of that many texts?

A schema works. This is a way to guide students in pulling out specific textual examples from their texts. The examples are collected in connection to the module descriptor, which can be a highly effective way to organise thinking if the student is made to do it over and over again with in the following ways:

1. Use the schema with multiple texts at the same time in a single lesson
   
2. Use the schema with the same texts at different times throughout the year
   

My schema was developed for the Literary Homelands elective but versions could be easily made for any of the other electives. I was heavily influenced by Paul Kiem's excellent video on the Question 1 segment of the History Extension exam. I recommend watching it even if you have no connection at all to the teaching of History as it's a really valuable approach to teaching adaptable critical thinking and the synthesis of ideas at a more academic level. 

Download schema here.

Once students have used the schema a bunch of times they can then try out some paragraph or essay responses. I start them out with the instruction to come up with a thesis in response to the question (a whole other exercise) and then to tie this thesis to one of the themes in the schema. The notes the student has made on each of their texts (both prescribed and related) in relation to this specific theme can then be pulled from each schema to construct a single thematically-driven essay paragraph that ties together two, three or even four texts. 

It's not the only way to do things but my students found it helpful so maybe yours will too :)

Conversations about Hag-Seed

Epigraphs

The Advanced English Textual Conversations module provides an option to study the pairing of Shakespeare's The Tempest and Margaret Atwood's Hag-Seed. It's an accessible and popular option, and there's an ever-increasing amount of material becoming available to assist teachers and students. I usually approach the pairing by having students read The Tempest in one go, and then looking at Shakespeare's text through the lens of Hag-Seed. 

One of the literary structural conceits used by Atwood in her novel is the epigraph. In this context, an epigraph is the use of a quote or phrase at the beginning of a text to 'prime' the reader. This is a form of textual allusion, which is fitting when we consider that Hag-Seed itself is a giant piece of textual allusion. Atwood isn't shy in this regard, she uses not one epigraph but three.

Here's a sheet that invites students to analyse the epigraphs: The Art of the Epigraph in Hag-Seed

In this activity, students:

• Look at what an epigraph is and how it functions.
• Consider what each epigraph specifically says about Hag-Seed and/or why Atwood has chosen this particular quote to use. 
• Take the intertextuality a step further by using a quote from either The Tempest or Hag-Seed as an epigraph for their own piece of writing.

Epigraphs are important for Advanced students to learn about because they exist as a higher order form of comprehension. They are a sophisticated (and potentially obscure) way for writers to experiment with abstraction, a way to distil the essence or thematic core of a piece of writing, or to even ironically write against the idea of a piece. 

Socratic Discussion

Another way of getting Advanced students to better comprehend the textual conversation between The Tempest and Hag-Seed is the use of Socratic circles. This allows for the generation of discussion about the texts without focusing too much on lower order skills like grammar and sentence construction. 

I've already written about this approach a while back if you're interested (Socratic circles) and, for the purposes of this blog entry, I've included some useful discussion questions below. I like to use these questions around the halfway mark in the module - they're intended to push quieter students into forming and voicing opinions, and can also give struggling writers an opportunity to demonstrate their advanced thinking. The beauty of Socratic discussion is in sparking a single comment from a more forthright student and then watching other students build on this or react to it. 

Anyway, here are the questions:

• Does Prospero have the right to enslave Caliban?
• Prospero's most prized possession is his books and he arranges to take these with him to the island, along with his daughter. What two items would you take?
• Should Prospero have forgiven Antonio? Does he have a right to revenge?
• Felix tells himself to 'trust the play' but then questions himself with 'but is the play trustworthy?' What do you think is meant by this?
• Thinking of Caliban and the inmates in Hag-Seed, which is more influential - nature or nurture?
• In what way is Miranda a product of her time?
• Prospero was overthrown by his own brother, which is indicative of a familiar thread in Shakespeare's plays. What is this theme and is it still relevant today?
• Who is more justified in his methods - Prospero or Felix?
• In what way is the theme of 'performance' relevant to our everyday lives?
• Who is 'the Other' in our society? Are they fairly represented in the media? Fairly represented in Shakespeare's time? Is Caliban a racist stereotype?
• Would The Tempest as a play be better off without the characters of Stephano and Trinculo?
• If Prospero were an allegory for Shakespeare himself, who would be the closest equivalent for Margaret Atwood in Hag-Seed?
• In what way does Hag-Seed succeed in updating The Tempest for a modern day audience?
• In what way does it fail?
• Should any text be fair game for adaptation or sequelising? 

I've asked these questions to a range of students and it's genuinely fascinating to hear the discussions that emerge, to see the way in which conversations fold over the top of each other, and the ideas that are extended through Socratic discussion. 

They could probably even work as a writing activity for individual students who need further extension.

HSC English - Prescribed Texts 2019-2023

Regular readers of this blog will have seen various overviews of electives and modules from the Standard, Advanced and Extension syllabuses. It's been a fun journey (or a bit of a mission) to read each of the Prescribed Texts and write a summary of how they might work as texts in the classroom. 

Now I can present it all together for easy perusal. Hopefully this is useful in providing some information on the various options, assisting in planning a potential pattern of study, or illuminates some of those more obscure texts hanging out alongside the tried-and-true favourites. 

Here is a PDF that collects together every Standard, Advanced, and Extension Prescribed Text.

Download: HSC Prescribed Texts - 2019-2023.

And here are links to each of the individual modules and electives:

• The Common Module: Texts and Human Experiences
• Standard Module A: Language, Identity and Culture
• Standard Module B: Close Study of Literature
• Standard Module C: The Craft of Writing
• Advanced Module A: Textual Conversations
• Advanced Module B: Critical Study of Literature
• Advanced Module C: The Craft of Writing
• Extension Elective 1: Literary Homelands
• Extension Elective 2: Worlds of Upheaval
• Extension Elective 3: Reimagined Worlds
• Extension Elective 4: Literary Mindscapes
• Extension Elective 5: Intersecting Worlds

One omission from the above is an overview of the EAL/D Prescribed Texts. If I do decide to undertaken reading these then it will obviously take some more time - and in that case I'd prefer to just do the EAL/D one as an appendix at a later date.

Now let's see if these Prescriptions remain valid until 2023!

Extension English: Elective 4 - Literary Mindscapes

Before looking at each of the texts in close-up, here is a quick breakdown of representation:

• 2 novels, 1 short story suite, 1 suite of poetry, 1 play, 1 film.
• 4 female composers, 2 male composers.
• 3 American composers, 1 Australian, 1 English, and 1 New Zealander.
• Breakdown of eras: 1 text from the 1600s, 1 text written in the 1860s-1880s (but published much later), 1 text from the 1910s, 1 text from the 1930s, and 2 texts from the 2000s.
  

Prose Fiction Options

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
What is it: Addie Bundren, mother of five children and wife to Anse Bundren, lies on her deathbed as her family prepares to fulfill her final wish: to be buried in her birthplace of Jefferson, Mississippi. After Addie's death the family begins a long and arduous nine-day trek by wagon to deliver her to her grave. During this journey the children contend with their own crippling poverty, unwanted pregnancy, life-threatening injury, the class-based prejudices of those they meet, and the slowly increasing stench of their mother's corpse as it rots within her coffin in the subtropical heat of the Mississippi summer.

Scope for Study: Faulkner's groundbreaking multi-perspective rural odyssey is a seminal work in the 'Southern Gothic' genre and pioneered the use of stream-of-consciousness within American fiction. As I Lay Dying features no less than fifteen separate first-person perspectives of events, and uses unreliable narration and careful use of omission to deal with subject matter considered taboo at its time of publication (such as abortion, extramarital affairs, and flawed humanity within the church). Students will be able to examine how Faulkner has utilised each of the aforementioned narrative techniques to structure his writing and how he constructs characterisation through the lenses of multiple narrators.

NESA Annotations: Notes for As I Lay Dying can be found in the 2019-2023 Annotations document. These highlight the novel's cultural significance as a groundbreaking work from an author who won the prestigious Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes. Mention is also made of the text's subversion of the 'romantic quest' trope through the use of farce, black humour, irony and tragedy, the use of interior monologue to provide an insight into the psychology of the marginalised, and multiple narration as a means to present conflicting perceptions and invite students "to participate in the novel in the construction of meaning."

Verdict: I'd never read this before now and I absolutely loved it. It's dark and quirky, moving and evocative, and all of the characters are so finely crafted that their voices cut loud and clear through Faulkner's Gothic rendering of the Mississippi. As part of the Literary Mindscapes elective, I think this novel would provide a perfect segue-way into exploring psychological landscapes afforded by sophisticated characterisation and other deliberately-crafted narrative conceits.

Sixty Lights by Gail Jones
What is it: The reader peers into the life of Lucy Strange, a forthright and confident orphan from 19th century Australia with a love for the emerging new technology of photography. Lucy's relatively short life is revealed in sixty vignettes as she first sails to Victorian England to live with her ne'er-do-will uncle and then on to colonial India to meet a potential husband. Lucy's experiences are textured by light and observation, tragedy and innovation, and a relentless desire to capture the ephemeral and fleeting.

Scope for Study: There's so much to unpack in this relatively brief novel. First and foremost is the text's use of the motif of light and the way this metaphorically and literally links into its themes of memory and what the protagonist terms 'the maculate'. Students will also be able to view the text as a representation of an era on the cusp of change, with Lucy presciently remarking, "Everything that is seen... will one day somewhere be registered". Indeed, it is Lucy's obsession with photography that comes to work as sort of synecdoche for the Victorian world - a realm on the borderlands of the past, where the shadows of history open up to this new technology that captures and prompts and reinvents memory.

NESA Annotations: The 2009-2014 Annotation documents includes notes on Sixty Lights from when it was previously prescribed for Advanced English Module B: Critical Study of Text. Mention is made of the novel's use of metaphors and imagery and the cumulative fashion in which it builds an insight into photography and life in the Victorian era. The bildungsroman genre is also highlighted as a point of discussion in regard to its narrative structure.

Verdict: A wonderful and endearingly enigmatic work of literary beauty, Sixty Lights evokes both modernist and post-modernist sensibilities to tell a story at once tragic and uplifting. I think it functions perfectly as an English Extension text in that it's both sophisticated enough to cue intellectual discussion and short enough not to overwhelm Year 12 students who are already overworked. It's also a masterclass in the way that an author can use motif to reinforce and illuminate theme.

Collected Stories by Katherine Mansfield

• Prelude
• Je ne Parle pas Francais
• Bliss
• Pyschology
• The Daughters of the Late Colonel

What is it: In this prescribed collection of short stories, Katherine Mansfield's enigmatic eye is cast over a range of scenarios. 'Prelude' presents a slice of life for a family in New Zealand, conveying the interactions of individuals, the role of women and servants, and the child's view of the world. 'Je ne Parle pas Francais' features a Parisian narrator who recounts a brief friendship with an English man and his almost-wife. In 'Bliss' a seemingly happy middle-class woman becomes increasingly aware of the bisexuality or homosexuality of others in her close circle and confronts (or fails to confront) the implications this has for her own existence and identity. 'Psychology' depicts two writers as they discuss the recent trend of the psychological novel. And finally, 'The Daughters of the Late Colonel' features two sisters in the aftermath of their father's death.

Scope for Study: This would be quite the rabbit hole for students. One key element necessary to understanding this suite would be an introduction to modernism in literature - the idea of a mode of storytelling that can eschew setting, closed-off-explanations, contextualisation, traditional concepts of plotting, the passage of time, etc., will be challenging for many students. An effective way of dealing with this is to undertake guided group reading; asking students what parts of the story the author is allowing the reader to focus on, what this says about the reading/writing process, what subtexts may be at play in this approach, and what might be suggested by particular motifs (EG. The pear tree in 'Bliss', or the interplay of what is said versus what isn't said in 'Psychology').

NESA Annotations: Thankfully there are some notes on this prescribed suite included in the recent 2019-2023 Annotations document. Attention is directed towards Mansfield's innovation as a writer in the 1910s and 1920s, particularly her use of stream-of-consciousness to explore the 'movement' in the minds of her characters, and the way in which she provided a much-needed counterpoint to male-dominated literature at the time. Other identified discussion points include the author's tendency to open her stories in media res, the motif of 'facades and role-playing' across the entire suite, and the use of the epiphany as a stream-of-consciousness device.

Verdict: I think modernism can be one of the most challenging genres of literature for a newcomer to adjust to. With that in mind, the success of this text will depend especially on the teacher's interest and passion regarding Mansfield. I think this particular quintet of stories provides a suitable range of ideas and themes for engagement and, although it would be challenging, I could see this text choice being rewarding if students are open-minded enough. There is a lot to discuss with Mansfield, whether it be her personal context, the reflexivity of the modernist genre, the intellectual construction of her ambiguous stories, or the author's relationship with bowdlerisation in her discussion of taboo topics such as sexuality.  

Poetry Options

The Complete Poems by Emily Dickinson

• I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
• This is my letter to the World
• I died for Beauty - but was scarce
• I had been hungry, all the Years
• Because I could not stop for Death
• My Life has stood - a Loaded Gun
• A word dropped careless on a Page

What is it: These seven poems chosen from Dickinson's rather large body of work are difficult to unify via genre or authorial intention (for Dickinson defies such categorisation). We have, however, the elective descriptor from the syllabus as a thesis from which to explore the prescribed text, and upon reading the poetry there are certain themes that emerge in relation to this. This is much existential angst in 'I died for Beauty...', 'I had been hungry...', and 'My Life has stood', and the use of extended metaphor in 'I felt a Funeral...' allows Dickinson to explore the pains and abstractions that pass within the mind. Some of the poetry selected here, such as 'This is my letter...', is among the shortest to be found in all the Prescribed Texts.

Scope for Study: Dickinson is a 19th century poet but, unlike the Romantic poets featured in the Advanced and Extension text lists, she has two key differences - geography and gender. Students will be able to use these differences to explore Dickinson's context, and to build connections to the obsessions evident within Dickinson's poetry; her preoccupations with death and anxiety and the obstacles of the mindscape. The poetry itself, while brief and of relatively accessible structure, deals with deceptively complex ideas that will need repeated reading and discussion. In terms of language and punctuation, Dickinson's ever-present use of the dash can be examined as a representation of the thinking process.

NESA Annotations: Alas, there are no annotations for Dickinson in any of the last three NESA Annotation documents.

Verdict: It's great. There's a lot to look at in Dickinson's poetry and the comparatively short length of each individual poem allows for discrete deconstruction and analysis without overwhelming the students. There should be ample scope for students to use this text to engage with the overall elective as well. I think this would be a very useful suite that would allow students to create connections with the other texts in a larger exploration of mortality, obsession, mental illness, and more.

Drama Options

Hamlet by William Shakespeare
What is it: Hamlet is the mopey son of the recently deceased Danish king. He is upset that his uncle, Claudius, has married his mother and usurped his father's place in both his family and the kingdom of Denmark. One chilly night, Hamlet investigates reports of a strange apparition on the castle's ramparts, and meets the ghost of his father. This ghost tells him that he was actually murdered by Claudius, setting into motion a series of events that will lead to a lot more moping from Hamlet and untold tragedy for the royal family and Denmark.

Scope for Study: Where do I start? Hamlet represents a major turning point in both Shakespeare's oeuvre and the wider trajectory of modern literature, presenting the inner life of a character in a way that no other text had ever done before. Hamlet's soliloquies (and, really, the entire play) convey a landscape of the mind - a literal literary mindscape, if such a thing can exist. From the protracted and extensive use of the obscure rhetorical device hendiadys, to the use of three distinct foils to refract and reflect the protagonist in subtly different ways, Shakespeare's Hamlet is a masterclass in textual integrity: a single-minded representation of the state of being human. 

NESA Annotations: There are no annotations for Hamlet found in the last three Annotations documents. 

Verdict: I reckon you'd be crazy to pass up an opportunity to teach Hamlet - arguably one of the greatest texts (if not THE greatest) composed in the English language. Doing Hamlet with an Advanced English class was one of the most rewarding and intellectually joyful experiences in my teaching career. Relegating it to the Extension syllabus is almost a crime, but I can imagine there would at least be some fantastic discussions with the smaller, more concentrated cohorts typical of the English Extension course.

Film Options

Lost in Translation, directed by Sofia Coppola
What is it: Bob, an American film star in his waning years, comes to Japan to film a whiskey commercial. While there he observes a culture of disconnection and, as he struggles with his own insomnia and boredom, he strikes up a friendship with Charlotte, a disillusioned young college graduate. The two connect over their shared discontent in life and their relationship begins to develop into something deeper, like two drifting entities that have fleetingly found one another in a strange and alien landscape. 

Scope for Study: Coppola's work as a filmmaker is characterised by a lot of silence, a motif that students will be able to examine in connection to the perspectives and themes offered by the film. Other elements to examine include the theme of communication and the ways in which characters do (or don't) connect, Coppola's decision to film in an analog format (rather than a digital one) to create a minimalist colour palette, and the co-opting of the 'male gaze' by a young female director to explore gender and identity. There's a lot of material floating around online in the film criticism blogosphere that covers a wide range of perspectives on the film, many of which will be useful to both the students and the teacher.

NESA Annotations: Lost in Translation can be found in the 2009-2014 Annotations document from when the text was part of English Extension 1 Module B: Texts and Ways of Thinking. Mention is made of connections between the narrative and themes of companionship, loneliness, consumerism, and cultural differences. Owing to the framing of the text within the 'Navigating the Global' Elective, the annotations hone in on Tokyo's cultural and technological differences and the efforts made by the filmmaker to highlight 'cultural dislocation' and alienation. 

Verdict: It seems kind of odd that a young female auteur like Sofia Coppola would choose to position her audience from the perspective of the older male character rather than the aloof young female object of his affections. It's a film that's perhaps very much of its time and now in the process of dating quite quickly. I suspect that Lost in Translation won't soon appear again on a Prescriptions List; it actually attracted quite a negative reception in Japan due to the way in which Japanese society was represented. It's a pretty film with an impressive body of paratext but, despite how nice it looks, I'm sure there's other films that would work much more effectively as part of the Literary Mindscapes Elective.

Discursive Writing

 

Since the arrival of the 2019-2023 NSW Senior English syllabus, the biggest point of contention (or confusion) has perhaps been the introduction of the 'discursive' writing genre for Module C: The Craft of Writing. There's a whole bunch of advice floating around on discursive writing and just about all of it is worth following, such is the flexibility of the term, and this is because the term has been partially invented to fill a 'gap' in the syllabus. I don't want to get too far into defining it but will say that it exists primarily as a useful label to cover a range of creative non-fiction writing styles. 

Getting students to understand this flexibility is one of the keys to building their level of comfort with writing in the discursive mode. In the case of my own classes, once we shook off the fear of tackling an unfamiliar term it became a preferred way of writing for quite a few students. It's really quite a freeing genre to write in.

Here's an activity that can be used for Year 11 Reading to Write or Year 12 Craft of Writing. 

Step 1: Read an example of discursive writing. I like to use a short extract from Judith Lucy's The Lucy Family Alphabet called 'B is for Bullshit' because it's funny, accessible, and can be used for either Standard or Advanced English. Lucy's book is out of print now but, honestly, it can be any piece of general non-fiction writing that fits our purpose - it doesn't have to be this particular extract. 

Step 2: Students annotate the text after reading and discussing briefly. This involves collecting together examples that reflect specific elements that are common to discursive writing. By doing this students will build up knowledge of the required metalanguage for analysing discursive texts and practise judicious selection of textual evidence. Students should look for the following:

• A thesis - what is the singular topic that the piece of writing focuses on?
• Conversational tone - give an example that reveals the author's personality.
• Use of humour.
• Evidence that wide reading or background knowledge has been called upon - find examples of allusions to other texts or historical events.
• Personal anecdotes - find an example that illustrates or adds detail to the thesis.
• Orientation - examine the opening sentence and explain how it encourages the reader to want to know more.
• Conclusion - is the ending reflective, open-ended, posing a question, or circular ('calling back' to an earlier joke, thread, or idea)?

An annotation sheet can be downloaded here.

Step 3: The best way for students to get an inside-out knowledge of discursive writing is to pen their own discursive pieces. After completing the above steps, students can practise writing their own discursive articles with the following thematic engagement activity. 

1. Select and highlight a line from 'B is for Bullshit' that stands out to you.
2. Use this line as the prompt for your own discursive piece of writing about dishonesty.
3. After you are finished, annotate your own piece in the same way that you annotated 'B is for Bullshit'.

Extension English: Elective 3 - Reimagined Worlds

The Reimagined Worlds Elective features an eclectic range of text options, some of which are potentially the most 'out there' in the entire Year 12 Prescriptions list. That said, it also has a much narrower range of text types to select from - there are no non-fiction options, no plays, no short stories. Here is a quick breakdown of representation:

• 3 novels, 2 suites of poetry, 1 film.
  
• 4 male composers, 2 female composers.
• 4 texts written in English, 2 in other languages (Calvino's text was originally in Italian, del Toro's film is in Spanish)
• 1 Italian composer, 1 American, 2 English, 1 African-American, and 1 Mexican.
  
• Breakdown of eras: 1 text from the 1720s, 1 text from the 1790s, 2 texts from the 1970s, 1 text from the 2000s, and 1 text from the 2010s.
  

Prose Fiction Options

If on a Winter's Night a Traveller... by Italo Calvino
What is it: Ha! Where do I start with this one? One of the most slippery texts to pin down in the entire syllabus due to its extreme metatextuality, Calvino's novel features (checks book) no less than eleven separate narratives. The main narrative follows a reader who picks up a book in a bookstore, the reader (both the character and you) then read the opening chapter of a thriller novel but - just as it starts to get really good - a printing error breaks the spell and the reader is forced to return the book to the store. He picks up a new copy, meets another reader who has run into the same problem, and then goes home to read the new copy only to find it is a completely different book...

Scope for Study: The entire text, every sentence, every word, has a near-infinite scope for study. The first person and second person points of view play games with the reader - are we, the reader, also the reader in the novel? Questions like this will allow for discussions of metatextuality and reflexivity, the potential for postmodernism to break down all meaning beyond repair, and the way that each framing chapter works as a synecdoche for a different part of the reading process, EG. The role of the bookstore, the act of reading in the home, the act of reading as an academic activity, the act of reading from a publication standpoint, a translation standpoint, the writer's standpoint, a government's standpoint. And the constant starting of new narratives as deliberate disruptions designed to pull the responder out of the passivity of reading. And then there's the other characters in the framing narrative, each one symbolising a different kind of reader. There's a lot to unpack, even in a book that is constantly unpacking itself before out eyes.

NESA Annotations: Infuriatingly, there aren't any notes for this text in any of the last three annotation documents. It's a shame because I am intensely curious as to what would be the best approach in teaching If on a winter's night a traveller...

Verdict: Wow. What a mind-blowing, intellectually stimulating, exhausting, maddening read. I got a lot of this and I imagine it would be exponentially rewarding on a second, third, or fifteenth reading. But I don't know if I would want to teach it to students. It's suited to the Literary Worlds Common Module more than anything... I think I would want to see which students were in aclass and how their tastes and minds work before I tried to put this book in front of them. I think it could go either way, depending on the nature of your class.

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin

What is it: Genly Ai is in the second year of his diplomatic mission to the cold, inhabited planet of Winter, where he has worked slowly to establish contact with the king of one of the world's nations. Winter, like the other eighty-six known inhabited worlds, is populated by a human society who have long since forgotten their connection to Earth. It is Ai's goal to encourage the inhabitants of this world to join the Ekumen, a confederation of cooperating planets, but first he must gain an audience with one of their leaders. Ai's journey across Winter is not simple, however, as he finds himself fundamentally unable to fully grasp the nature of this alien society - a culture unique among all the worlds in that the people there are biologically androgynous.

Scope for Study: A perfect text for the Reimagined Worlds Elective in that it presents a literary world designed to challenge the way the reader thinks about gender and biological sex, especially the ways in which gendered identity can be constructed. Le Guin's work can be examined by students in terms of its use of the science fiction genre, the way it refracts through a prism of second-wave feminism, and the author's intensive world-building. Students will be able to analyse Le Guin's combination of a first-person perspective with an invented lexicon, in particular the way that it shifts from italicised usage, denoting unfamiliar words, to unitalicised, which reveals the enculturation of Ai. The use of first-person narration to reveal characterisation and to explore theme can also be examined, one example being the initial inability of Ai to trust some of the other characters.

NESA Annotations: You'll find annotations for The Left Hand of Darkness in the 2015-2020 Annotations document, from when the text was included as part of the Module A: Genre 'Science Fiction' Elective. The dot points help to contextualise Le Guin's classic as a 'landmark' for both the science fiction genre and modern feminist literature. Highlighted elements also include the interrelationship between the setting and the narrative, the use of multiple points of view, and the novel's 'anthropological and sociological' exploration of gender, sexuality, politics, pacifism, loyalty, sacrifice, mythology, and morality.

Verdict: A wonderful science fiction classic that manages to avoid many of the genre's cliches (laser battles, bug-eyed aliens, glitzy technology) whilst maturely examining complex ideas. Students may need to have some patience and an open mind when they start reading as Le Guin isn't one to weigh her text down with unnecessary exposition - in this case she prefers to start the novel in media res and let the reader's learning happen more gradually and gently. I think I'd love the chance to develop some resources for this text and would probably teach it if the opportunity arose.

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift

What is it: In the great age of British sail, one Lemuel Gulliver sets out travelling and is shipwrecked in lands hitherto unknown. He becomes caught up in the wars between the miniature Lilliputians and Blefuscudians and becomes a kind of pet in a land of giants known as Brobdingnag. Upon escaping these disproportionate realms, Gulliver visits Laputa, an island in the sky, and the Grand Academy of Lagado, where bizarre forms of research are being undertaken. In other lands he encounters immortals and ghosts and - finally - he spends time in the strangest land of all, the country of the Houyhnhnms, a nation of intelligent talking horses and devolved brutish humans.

Scope for Study: A strong understanding of Gulliver's Travels will need to be heavily framed by context. Coming at the dawning of the Age of Enlightenment, when the intellectuals of Europe were increasingly gripped by a desire to know all that could be known, Swift's novel works as a satirical travelogue. Students should examine the historical, social, and political context of the times in order to better understand the objects of mockery that the narrative takes aim at. In many ways, Swift's novel can be viewed as ahead of its time - a humanist work that critiques the unkind nature of European society. Students will also be able increase their understanding of Swift's context through the way in which he represents his own world through the imaginary realms to which Gulliver travels.  

NESA Annotations: Annotations for Gulliver's Travels can be found in the 2015-2020 document, where it appears as part of the now retired Extension English Genre study. In these notes the focus is on the way the text functions as a comedy. Mention is made of the way in which Swift examines various aspects of human nature and how humour can be used as a tool for social criticism. Opportunities for challenging teaching and learning include: comparing the structure and language of the novel to modern-day comedies, the use of irony and parody, and the other genres this early text can be read as fitting into (science fiction, fantasy, early travel literature, the modern narrative novel, etc.)

Verdict: I love Gulliver's Travels. It's such a hugely influential work on so many texts that it's hard not to read it and join up the dots as you go. That said, it still stands on its own as an entertaining 18th century adventure full of wonder and sharp humour. It's a wonderful view into another time, and hopefully Extension students will appreciate Swift's lively imagination and ability to create a seemingly endless series of curiosities. 

Poetry Options

The Complete Poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• The Eolian Harp
• Kubla Khan
• Christabel

What is it: Whilst only comprising of four texts, this suite of selected poetry includes two of the  longest poems to be found in the entire list of Prescribed Texts. Coleridge was instrumental in the popularising of the Romantic genre, with this poetry reimagining his world through a prism of belief in what he called 'One Life' - the idea that all humanity and nature is connected through a relationship with God. The poetry covers such disparate visions as fantastic fever dreams induced by opium ('Kubla Khan'), an unfinished proto-Gothic tale of a mysterious, supernatural woman ('Christabel'), an upcoming marriage as a catalyst for re-assessing one's connection with the world around them ('The Eolian Harp'), and a caution against the folly of man in violating the natural world ('The Rime of the Ancient Mariner').

Scope for Study: Students will need to make extensive consideration of Coleridge's context - his history of anxiety, depression, and drug addiction, and his role as a poet within the Romantic movement. Each of the individual poems will need to be looked at also in terms of how they fit within the poetry genres and subgenres of the era, with texts such as 'The Eolian Harp' figuring as part of a themed series created by Coleridge, 'Kubla Khan' attracting an 'outlier' status of sorts through virtue of its difference within Coleridge's body of work, and 'Christabel' eventually becoming known as one of the poet's greatest works despite its unfinished nature. Students will also benefit from examining the complicated rhyming schemes of the era, the way in which canonical responses to the poetry have been shaped through criticism over time, and Coleridge's choice to frame his thematic explorations through the use of symbolism or deliberately archaic language.

NESA Annotations: Like several of the older texts in the Prescriptions list, Coleridge is not featured in any of the annotations documents. The Wordsworth entry in the 2015-2020 Annotations features a few cursory mentions of the poet for his part in the growth of the Romantic genre.

Verdict: Coleridge is cool. I remember being a 16 year-old student studying him in Advanced English back in the 1990s and thinking, wow, this old guy smoked heroin and wrote massive poems about cursed albatrosses so Iron Maiden could turn them into epic metal songs... what a rock star! I guess I'm biased as Coleridge is one of the few poets I enjoyed reading back in high school but, that said, I get even more out of his work now that I'm an adult so I think this suite still has a lot of merit. It's placement within the Extension syllabus works fairly well as part of the Reimagined Worlds Elective.

Life on Mars by Tracy K Smith

• Sci-Fi
• My God, It's Full of Stars
• Don't You Wonder, Sometimes?
• The Universe: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
• The Universe as Primal Scream

What is it: Tracy K Smith's poetry defies easy definition... it explores so much; the legacy of a parent, the stars as metaphor for our need and/or inability to understand, the divisions and connections between each of us, and the future shape that humanity will take as a collective. It's hard to do justice to Smith's work in a summary (or any poet, for that matter) while trying to remain objective. There are some long poems that take a multiplicity of forms and tones on their journey from start to finish, and there are some shorter poems that are economic and precise.

Scope for Study: Students will be able to engage with Smith's poetry by drawing out the intertextual and philosophical connections prompted by each piece. Breaking each poem down into its component elements will allow for structural understanding and the identification of theme but, perhaps, it will be discussion afterwards as a group that provides a more rewarding experience for students. Smith is also a useful focal point for discussing the context of now, being that the poetry is both of our current times and also looks forward to the times that are yet to come.

NESA Annotations: As one of the newer texts on the syllabus, annotations for this suite can be found in the 2019-2023 version of the document. Attention is called to the diversity of form and tone found throughout the selected poetry. There is also, perhaps to the relief of many a teacher looking at teaching this text, an articulation of a potential synthesis behind the selected poetry - with the annotations connecting the five poems together as a body of work that 'addresses universal questions' regarding the meaning of life. There are some other useful pointers too, making these annotations particularly essential. 

Verdict: Sci-fi poetry! How could you not be interested in that? The problem with reading through all these texts for the Extension English electives is that it makes me want to teach more of them then I could ever possibly manage. I'd love to explore this poetry with a class of curious students. I think if I were to undertake the Reimagined Worlds Elective it would very difficult to narrow my choices down to just three texts.

Film Options

Pan's Labyrinth, directed by Guillermo del Toro
What is it: It is 1944, in the the dark days of post-Civil War Spain, and a young girl named Ofelia finds herself living with a new stepfather. This man, Vidal, is revealed to be a brutal fanatic in opposition to the rebels in the area who still fight on for freedom. Ofelia finds herself navigating a world increasingly filled with tragedy while she is simultaneously drawn into another, more fantastical world by a mythical faun. The Faun charges Ofelia with three magical quests, the reward for which will be immortality and passage to a magical kingdom, and the two worlds begin to bleed into one another.

Scope for Study: There's so much to get stuck into with this film in terms of director Guillermo del Toro's auteur status, with Pan's Labyrinth both functioning as an ongoing exploration of the fantasy and horror genres and as a serious artistic meditation on issues relating to Spanish history, nationalism, and identity politics. Students will be able to examine the use of dual narratives, advanced editing techniques, and the often devastating juxtaposition of reality and fantasy throughout the film. If paired with, say The Left Hand of Darkness, there is also suitable scope for the exploration of gender and the use of speculative fiction to examine divisions between the masculine and feminine.

NESA Annotations: Found in the latest version of the Annotations for the 2019-2023 syllabus. Space is given to the text's function as a parable, its exploration of fascism and the human condition in the face of hardship, and del Toro's highly textured allusions to fairytales. Identified challenges include the way the film fits and reflects the magical realism genre, and its use of allusion and intertextuality. 

Verdict: A wonderfully dark and evocative fantasy firmly grounded in a piece of history generally unknown to most people outside of Spain. I think this would be a rewarding film to teach, especially in connection to any of the other texts prescribed here - either as supporting material or a counterpoint. It's also the sort of film that will challenge students in a variety of welcome ways, be it the use of subtitles, its foreign context, or the adult treatment of the fantasy genre by one of its cinematic masters (I know this is off-topic, but if you're interested in this sort of thing then check out one of del Toro's earliest films, Cronos, for its unusual depiction of the vampire myth). Caution though - Pan's Labyrinth is rated MA15+ in Australia, which can be tricky in relation to the Code of Conduct and individual schooling contexts.