Author Mentors: Kurt Vonnegut and Context

One of the more interesting developments that occurred in Stage 6 NSW English these last few years was an increased and specialised focus on writing craft. This is encapsulated within the Year 12 Craft of Writing and Year 11 Reading to Write modules, which encourage students to use quality texts as models for their own writing. When we look at these modules closely we can see the way in which they build upon previous wisdom about student writing whilst adding some new parameters. In particular, the idea of providing a focus on creative writing has re-arranged itself around a need to include the disciplines of persuasive and discursive writing, which prompts further reflection when it comes to backward mapping some core skills and ideas into earlier years of high school.

Like many others, I've had to think about the idea of using Stage 5 as a formative ground for considering authors in this same way. I've summarised this as the somewhat dorky term 'Author Mentors', which can be extended into a short unit of work. This approach takes students through four different authors, with each one used to explore and model writing in relation to one of four stages of approaching texts:

1. Context
2. Structure
3. Discussion
4. Create

Context

The author used for the context lesson is Kurt Vonnegut (from whose work I took the title of this website, funnily enough!). The purpose of this lesson is to explore what context is, how it works, and how students can use their understanding of this concept to approach a text (the text in question being an extract from Vonnegut's famed science-fiction/war novel Slaughterhouse-Five).

Context is a tricky beast because it can sometimes feel like it pulls time away from studying the actual text. With this in mind, it's useful to frame context in general terms and to also approach it (in this case) in a way that Year 9 and 10 students will understand. This means communicating to students the way in which the 'background' of a text can help the reader understand what a text is about. The reader can draw useful conclusions about a novel by connecting the text to the life and times of the author. Examining context will typically involve the following four elements:

• When: When was the text written and/or published?
• Where: What society was the author living in when they wrote the text?
• Who: What sort of person was the author and what were the key events that shaped who they were?
• Why: What reasons or events prompted the author to write the text?

After considering the above, students should then be asked to read an extract from Slaughterhouse-Five. I like to use a small part of the text that comes about 15-20 pages before the end of the novel. This is accompanied by some straightforward comprehension questions to help orientate the reader and ensure they have a general understanding of the extract, as well as priming them for more in-depth discussion of context afterwards. Questions are as follows:

1. What is happening in this text?
2. What is the setting?
3. What is the backstory for the protagonist (main character)?
4. What elements of the story let you know these things?

The next step is to look at some contextual information about Kurt Vonnegut. Students read a brief overview of the context of Vonnegut and Slaughterhouse-Five and then rewrite/summarise some information using a basic schema. This means they read the overview and then gather together information that corresponds to the following:

• When?
• Where?
• Who?
• Why?

The final part of the lesson asks students to reflect upon and consider Vonnegut's context more specifically in relation to the novel. It also requires them to make some connections from text to self and text to the wider world. Ask students to respond to these questions:

Reflect: Look back to your answers to the questions of 'When, Where, Who, Why'. How do they stack up in comparison to what you learned from the novel's context?

Considering Context:

1. Why do you think this novel is considered by some to be a classic?
2. Do you think American schools are right to ban it?
3. What did the extract from Slaughterhouse-Five have to say about war?
4. What do you think about war? Write 400 words explaining your thoughts.

The above lesson can be found here in these resources:

• PowerPoint on Context (this walks students through the lesson step by step).
• Suggested extract.
• Context overview.

Acknowledgement: The following material has been adapted and modified specifically for this blog. I would like to acknowledge some of my colleagues (who I no longer get to work alongside but miss all the same!) - Lauren Hage, Ashleigh Galea, and Amra Winter - who also developed some additional material not included here. Hi! :)

Stage 6 Writing Craft 1: Reading to Write

I'm not teaching Stage 6 English in any form this year. Since I moved schools I've switched over to History for a bit, which has been a nice sea change. This has given me time to pause, take stock, and reflect on my approaches to Preliminary and Advanced English. Today I thought I'd outline my approach to Craft of Writing and Reading to Write.

Since the implementation of the 'new' syllabus in 2019 (maybe I should stop calling it new, it's been nearly 3 years now and I'm sure another syllabus is already being worked on in some form, somewhere) one of the bigger shifts has been the inclusion of Module C: Craft of Writing. This Year 12 module shares strong blood ties with the new Year 11 Common Module Reading to Write. 

Before I lay everything out and demonstrate how I approach Craft of Writing / Reading to Write, there are two sticky elements of the syllabus that I'd like to acknowledge. 

The first of these are the Prescribed Texts.

In all of the Stage 6 English syllabuses, aside from possibly the ATAR option for Studies, there is nothing quite as murky and confusing as the existence of Prescribed Texts for Craft of Writing. For teachers who are new to teaching English, this is what it looks like:

• Teachers are required to cover at least TWO of the texts prescribed within the syllabus for the Craft of Writing. There is a Standard English list, and an Advanced English list.
• When this current iteration of the syllabus was first launched, it wasn't clear exactly how these Prescribed Texts would consistently fit into the HSC examination. To be honest, this still isn't clear after a couple of years.
• Students are required to study these Prescribed Texts in class but there is no mandate for them to be internally assessed. Students may need to call upon knowledge of a Prescribed Text in some form for the HSC examination but this is not guaranteed (the 2019 paper asked students to compare their own piece of writing to a Prescribed Text they studied, but the 2020 paper made no mention of Prescribed Texts at all). 

The other major element is the concept of writing discursive, persuasive, imaginative and informative texts. There are some confusing aspects to the introduction of these genres of writing.

• Students are required to explore and create their own texts using these approaches. It has been indicated, however, that informative texts won't be assessed and this is why no 'informative'-styled texts have been included in the Prescribed Texts list. Considering that a lot of teachers don't get to Craft of Writing until the end of their class's Year 12 year, I would suspect that informative texts just aren't covered as there is little reason to make space for them at the 11th hour before a student's HSC examinations.
• The coverage of imaginative, discursive and persuasive writing seems intended to allow students to play to their own strengths - there is no single sample NESA HSC question or past HSC question that requires students to write in ONE of these specific modes only. The logic therefore follows that a student could potentially not be taught about discursive writing and would still be able to do the HSC examination. That said, I would be loathe to rely upon this implication for the inevitable one time that NESA decides to throw a curveball in a future HSC exam.

Reading to Write

Before tucking into Craft of Writing, it makes sense to prepare students as much as possible by backward mapping into its precursor, Reading to Write.

Considering that Craft of Writing focuses on a few shorter texts rather than a single large one (unless you're brave and you went for Metamorphosis, The Awakening or the massive Colum McCann 'short' story), I decided to approach Reading to Write in a similar fashion by using a collection of shorter texts (a few short stories and some poetry) to model techniques and look at the conscious writing choices made by writers.

After a few weeks of this, students then had to pick from a list of selected texts (drawn from what they've studied in class) and create their own piece of writing in a similar style. 

On a sidenote, I've heard some experienced teachers disparage the Craft of Writing concept of getting 16 year olds to emulate the writing styles of 'great' authors... that it's a near-impossible feat and beyond the practicality of what students are capable of, or what would be in their zone of proximal development. I can only speak for my own context but I found that every single student in my Year 11 Advanced English class either enjoyed the idea of experimenting with different writing styles or was able to engage with the idea in a valuable way - the key is finding accessible texts with a diverse range of clearly defined authorial styles. I think this could work for Standard English too, it's just a matter of finding model texts that suit their ability. 

Below you will find my unit outline, some links to resources or previous blogs that support it, and the assessment task that I use. There will be a couple of gaps where you may need to source copyrighted texts if you want to use my approach.

Weeks 1-2: Okay, so it's Day 1 of Year 11. You might have a range of students in your class who aren't even sure if they want to do Advanced English. Some might be there because they've been told by someone that just by doing the course they're assured to get a better ATAR. It's important at this point to start building the right kind of class culture that encourages a love for reading and writing, constructive student collaboration, and a willingness to try things outside of one's comfort zone. Reading to Write is perfect for this. Things that I like to cover in this introductory period:

• An overview of the Advanced English course, and an overview of Reading to Write in particular.
• Some writing activities where students reflect on their own relationship with reading, why people read, why writers write, etc. 
• An examination of notions of author, authorship and authority - resource can be found here.
• Students look at poem 'Introduction to Poetry' by Billy Collins and use annotation prompts to analyse and reflect on the relationship between reading and writing.
• Students then take a deeper dive into another poem, 'Brooklyn Snow' by Omar Musa (found in his collection Millefiori [2017]) and engage in some writing exercises in response to it. These exercises also offer a good opportunity to introduce some poetry metalanguage, EG. Persona, point of view, etc., in support of further modules throughout both Year 11 and Year 12. 

Weeks 3-4: Continue 'building the field' by looking at what makes good writing and what makes bad writing. At this point students will start to engage with some short texts to explore writing style, narrative voice, etc. 

• Examine the concept of narrative voice. Some students will already be familiar with things like tense and narrative point of view, but I've found it's always best to assume nothing when you have a fresh class of Year 11 students. Work through this PPT on Narrative Voice, and follow up with some guided analysis of two extracts from longer texts (Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey and The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard).
• Read 'Sticks' by George Saunders together as a class. Students then select their three favourite or the three most significant parts of the story and justify why they chose accordingly.
• Look at paratext around 'Sticks' - introducing concept of shorter short stories (flash fiction, microfiction, etc.) to get students comfortable with the length of text they should be writing by the time they do Craft of Writing in HSC. Really short but effective texts are best in this context because, let's face it, students have all of 45 minutes to write an imaginative response during the HSC examination. Resource here.
• Students read examples of flash fiction written by their classmates and complete peer reflection scaffolds - this is designed to continue building the classroom environment as a collaborative writing space, and to get students thinking reflectively. Resource here.
• Read Tim Winton's short story 'Wake' and complete associated activities - resources can be found here.
• Introduce concept of discursive writing with extract from Judith Lucy's memoir The Lucy Family Alphabet - resources can be found here. 
• As this is the beginning of Year 11, it's also useful to introduce the concept of thesis nice and early. Look at what thesis statements are, how a strong thesis can underpin any piece of writing, etc. Typically we might talk about a thesis as being something students need in order to write a strong essay, but a strong thesis is just as useful for any piece of writing - discursive, imaginative, and so on. This PPT outlines what a thesis is, why it's important, and how students can apply this concept to the texts they've already looked at in this unit.

Weeks 5-6: These lessons form the last part of the 'studying / comprehending' section of the unit before the students start to engage with the assessment task. 

• Students read Hemingway's famous short story 'A Clean Well-Lighted Place'. Have students record their initial thoughts on the text before engaging with some paratextual information (this can be easily found online with Spark Notes guides and the like). After this additional reading, students then come back to their recorded thoughts and revise their opinion in light of what they've learned - further building their capacity to articulate their thinking in reflective writing forms.
• Students build on their understanding of Hemingway's story by completing associated activities.
• Look at some of Lydia Davis's short fiction, which you can find in The Collected Short Stories of Lydia Davis (2014). I have to admit, this has probably been the least successful of the all the texts I introduced to my students as part of Reading to Write. I still think it's important to expose students to these sorts of challenging texts nonetheless, though, and Lydia Davis is well-known for her witty, post-modernist flash fiction approach to writing short stories. I use the 1-2 page story 'Our Trip' but, really, you could probably use any of her stories. Get the students to annotate the story by using this schema.
• Spend some time examining the importance of orientations. Discuss the idea that the opening sentences of a text work in orientating the reader in numerous ways, and that the opening sentences of a short story typically work as a purposeful and concerted effort on the part of the author to set up a specific relationship between the reader and the text. Use this range of extracts from Lydia Davis to demonstrate a range of possible orientations, with students using this proforma to analyse the impact of each approach.
• Have students examine some rules for writing from well-known authors. This overview includes 'rules' put forth by Kurt Vonnegut, William Faulkner, George Orwell, Roddy Doyle, and Annie Proulx. Students read through and then come up with their own guide by selecting five rules they will adopt, five rules they will ignore, and three rules of their own.
• If you have time, students could also look at one more model text, '2BR02B' by Kurt Vonnegut, and do some of their own independent analysis by using a combination of approaches taught to them in the prior 5 or so weeks (examining the orientation, annotating the text, using schemas, etc.)

Week 7-8: I like the keep the final two weeks clear so students can work on the assessment task in class. This allows the task to be run as assessment for learning, with lots of discussion around what's working and what isn't as the students write and reflect on their own imaginative pieces. 

• The task itself requires students to draw upon one of the model texts they've looked at in the unit and use it to inspire their own piece of imaginative writing that explores individuality.
• Students also write a reflection on their writing to explain how they drew upon the style of their selected model text.
• The marking criteria demonstrates how major discrete skills and understandings taught throughout the unit of work are linked to the syllabus outcomes. Students can use this marking criteria to guide them, and teachers can use it to indicate what students need to work on.

Assessment Task here.

I really enjoy teaching this assessment task, it's interesting to see which texts each student chooses as their inspiration. Those who like Vonnegut create their own miniature explorations of dystopian ideas, those who engaged with Hemingway try their hand at sparse modernist prose, and some use the days-of-the-week structure of Tim Winton's 'Wake' as a starting point for a piece. So many different approaches!

I'll post the follow-up Craft of Writing module unit soon.

DISCLAIMER: It should go without saying, but all of the above is just my way of approaching the syllabus. It's not the 'right' way to do it, it's just one way to do it.