Craft of Writing: Hyperbaton

Hi there! Here's another mini-lesson to support an integrated approach to Module C: Craft of Writing, this time focusing on the literary device of hyperbaton. 

Hyperbaton

What is it: Meaning to 'transpose', hyperbaton refers to the rearrangement of words into the less expected order. Writers move words around or reverse the clauses in a sentence.

Examples:

• "When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not" - Return of the Jedi, directed by George Lucas.
• "As you from crimes would pardoned be, / Let your indulgence set me free" - The Tempest, William Shakespeare

Why use it:

• Can deliberately startle or confuse the reader, forcing them to consciously reorder the words and build the meaning in their own head.
• Used in poetry to reorder the words so that rhyme and rhythm can be maintained.
• Refocuses the reader on specific phrases and words.
• Can be symbolic in upsetting the expected order of things.
• In the right hands it can add a sense of literary weight.   

Quick Activity:

Create a conversation between two characters in which one uses hyperbaton. Consider the kind of person this would be and describe them. 

The Tempest Annotated

Hello!

One of the challenges of tackling Shakespeare in the English classroom is finding the time to have your students read it. Assigning the text as a reading will work for some students but, owing to the nature of drama itself as a narrative genre best experienced live, this isn't going to work for the majority of the class. 

Ideally, you would have your students watch the play but this also isn't always practical. And, when we get to Year 11 and 12, the idea of setting aside entire periods to read through Shakespeare inspires a special kind of anxiety related to covering course content, outcomes, unpacking metalanguage, etc., ad nauseum, whatevs. 

There's also that kid in each class who also tells you that they've read the text, honest guv'nor, and then will write a paragraph about the way Prospero takes revenge by tricking Othello into feeling jealous towards his mother Gertrude. You want to snap, "You aint read nuthin'!" but the calm veneer of professionalism instead has it emerge as a polite "Hmmm, not quite."

The structuring of the new Advanced English syllabus now means, for better or worse, that a lot of us will be teaching Shakespeare through The Tempest as part of Module A: Textual Conversations. This means that there is also a novel to read alongside it, Margaret Atwood's vibrantly metatextual Hag-Seed, which adds an extra dimension to the logistics of fitting the module into the space of approximately 10 weeks. 

Something that seems to have worked with my current class was squeezing the reading of The Tempest into the end of the previous term. The best approach I've found for doing Shakespeare with Year 12 is to have the play read in one big go. In the past I've run this on a Saturday or on a day in the school holidays but, as my students had schedules that didn't fit with this at the end of last year, I organised it as an incursion on the next-to-last day of the term instead. With one of the less-used rooms in the school booked, we met as a class first thing in the morning with some breakfast, assigned roles, and read the text all the way through with a 20 minute intermission break. This approximately took us about 3 or 3.5 hours and now the entire class can say that they've read the entire text. And, most importantly, I believe them!

Even Advanced English students will have a varied response to the idea of reading Shakespeare - not all of them are fans. Some level of support therefore needs to be supplied in helping to translate the language while they read. I don't think we should have them initially read the No Fear version (as helpful as this can be as a supplementary study text) as it's important that Advanced students engage with Shakespeare's language to gain a complete understanding of how the text is constructed. 

Luckily Shakespeare is well beyond the constraints of copyright law, so there was nothing stopping me from creating a new edition of the text that would include annotations in support of our context. The link below includes an unabridged presentation of The Tempest with a series of annotations alongside the original text. 

The Tempest Annotated - full text.

Hopefully this helps get the students through the play, which is imperative as a base level of engagement before they read Atwood's novel. Students can come back to this version throughout the module to analyse examples and tie them to Hag-Seed.

Craft of Writing: Parentheses

Last week I outlined a mini-lesson approach to The Craft of Writing and highlighted asyndeton as a literary device that could improve student writing craft. This approach involves giving students a sheet that outlines writing mechanics/devices and having them complete a six minute activity that targets said activity.

The first 'issue' of this Writology activity includes write-ups on using Tricolon (covered here), Asyndeton, and Parentheses. Here are the details for the last of these, parentheses:

Parentheses

What is it: Commonly known as brackets, parentheses are used to convey additional or supplementary information in a text. The Greek work parenthesis means "to place alongside."

Example:

• "Her voice, her laugh, her dress (something floating, white, crimson), her spirit, her adventurousness." - Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf.

Why use it: 

• Parentheses are used to add supplementary detail to an idea without making it an essential part of the text. A section of text in parenthesis should be removable without changing the meaning of the sentence.
• Can work in the same way as an embedded clause or a footnote, the choice of which one to use can be determined by the length of the information included.
• Can be used to explain (or to clarify).
• Can be used to indicate the way something will be abbreviated in The Rest of The Text (TRTT).
• Also has a more mechanical purpose in academic contexts where it is used to include sources for quotes, indicate where text has been 'snipped out', or in plays in regards to stage directions/instructions for performance on the stage.

Quick Activity:
Write a paragraph where you imagine you are a snail facing an obstacle. Include the use of brackets (parentheses) at least twice. 

Tricolon

Below is the activity to go with tricolon. The activity for asyndeton was covered in the blog entry that was mentioned at the top of this article.

Quick Activity:  

Write an informative paragraph about your favourite meal. Include one example of tricolon. 

And here's all three writing elements on one sheet for student use:

• Writology Issue 1

Happy writing!

Craft of Writing: Asydenton

Module C: The Craft of Writing is undoubtedly the most different element of the new HSC syllabus and, as such, has understandably provoked the most anxiety. As we (the teachers) hurtle towards our first HSC exams based on said new syllabus there are a whole range of questions that are circling around the way Craft of Writing should be taught. 

One such question is: parallel to the other modules or as a module of its own?

Our school has opted to do it as a module of its own in Term 3, however, in preparing for this there's still a lot of room for building student efficacy in regards to their writing ability. One idea that I've taken to heart was Karen Yager's suggestion at the 2018 ETA Conference that we focus on short writing activities as a settling routine at the start of lessons. 

I love the idea of mini-lessons so I think this will work well or is at least an interesting approach to trial for 2019. I'm thinking the following routine will be a great starting point:

1. Introduce students to a writing device/element - this can be something they're already familiar with, or something that they're not. The important thing is that it's treated like something completely new and is explained in detail. I try not to assume anything when it comes to prior student knowledge.
2. Students read over how the writing device works and are then given a fairly open-ended 6 minute activity in which they must test it out. 

I try to match up the device with texts that the students are exploring in the other modules but this isn't absolutely necessary every time. I'm also not expecting the students to memorise these devices - what's important is that they test out using it in their own writing and see if it's a good fit for them. Not every student is a literary sophisticate; they aren't all reading voraciously (even if we yearn for them to!) so they won't have a subconscious command of literary and rhetorical devices at their disposal when writing. What we can do instead is expose students to a range of these devices in isolation and then let them apply them in the context of activities that will build their craft. This will stretch them as writers, regardless of whether they can memorise the obscure names that a lot of these devices go by.  

Here's one example of the information students would get:

Asyndeton

What is it: Essentially, this Greek word means "unconnected", and refers here to the removal of connective conjunctions from a sentence. Phrases are no longer joined by terms such as "and", "or", etc. 

Examples: 

• A character describing the nature of some families - "a Drinking Streak, a Gambling Streak, a Mean Streak, a Funny Streak" - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
• "We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans" - Winston Churchill's 'We shall fight on the beaches' speech from WWII.

Why use it:

• Removing conjunctions such as 'and', 'for', 'or', and 'but' leads to increased emphasis/attention on particular verbs and nouns.
• It can give the impression of speed, or create an erratic and hurried rhythm.
• Often used in speeches and rhetoric to control the rhythm of words, and to force increased attention from the reader/listener as they are forced to consciously or subconsciously fill in the gaps with their own connectives.

Quick Activity:

Write a reflective paragraph about your morning that incorporates asyndeton.