Making Stronger Arguments (Stage 4)

Two years ago I had a Year 8 class who were doing a unit of work on Conservation. The framework was all about endangered animals and themes of sustainability (Cross-Curriculum Priorities ahoy!), with the driving English focus being 'Text Types'*. It was basically an opportunity to teach a range of writing modes that didn't fit elsewhere in our Year 8 curriculum - early forays into discursive writing (IE. Feature articles), poetry, a range of informational texts, and persuasive writing. 

(* I put 'Text Types' in inverted commas as I prefer to use the term 'genre'. The above are all different genres of writing. But more on that another time.)

Today I'll show you an idea for a lesson that I wrote later in my spare time. It marries together two of my favourite things - the mechanics of persuasive writing and Marsupial Moles. 

Now, I know what you're thinking... Why haven't these two things been put together before? My answer to this is - I don't know, I was just as baffled as you are as they seem such an obvious pairing. But, as they say, "there's no opportunity quite as golden as a Marsupial Mole" (okay, no one says this, but they definitely should).

Incidentally, this lesson would come after introducing what a Marsupial Mole is. I would do this in a separate lesson that looks at the differences in perspective between European and Aboriginal viewpoints of this amazing and seldom-seen creature. If you haven't heard of the Marsupial Mole, here's the crib notes:

• It's not a mole. It's a marsupial creature that lives in Central Australia - it's closest relative is the Bilby. 
• It basically has no eyes and doesn't need them - it spends the majority of its time swimming through sand under the surface of the desert.
• The Marsupial Mole has only been photographed a handful of times and Australian scientists have no idea how many of them are even in existence. 

Okay, now that's out of the way - here's what I would do with a class.

Firstly, we would look at four ways in which writers attempt to craft stronger arguments when writing persuasively. I picked just four so it would suit a mixed ability class and I don't want to overwhelm students. I want them to be able to identify what these things are so they could start experimenting in their own writing. Here are the techniques:

1. Synonyms
2. High Modality
3. Second Person Language
4. Rhetorical Questions

Notes on this can be found here - Making Stronger Arguments.

Students would then use these notes while reading two persuasive pieces about the Marsupial Mole and annotating them accordingly. This can be done individually or as a whole class activity, depending on the class. I would then project the pieces onto the board and read through them while making notes / highlighting certain sections with contributions from the students. The students would then copy the annotations onto their own copies. 

Model pieces here - Why the Marsupial Mole is the Coolest.

Things we would annotate:

• A text chain showing different terms for the Marsupial Mole (this allowed students to see how synonyms were used).
• Examples of second person language.
• Rhetorical questions and why they were asked.
• Modal terms - this involved comparing the two pieces to identify which one had higher modality.

At the end, I would then asked the students to identify which of the two pieces was more persuasive and why (the pieces differ in quality quite deliberately for this reason; they provide set standards for the students to work off). Students would then write their justification for which one is more persuasive using the metalanguage they've now learned.

In terms of backward mapping skills from Year 12 to 7, this services the need for students to build their familiarity with persuasive writing (think Craft of Writing in Year 12). It also works to support the NAPLAN writing task for Year 7 and 9 - which can be either persuasive or imaginative. 

Disclaimer: All the above resources have been created specifically for this blog in my own spare time.

Critical Study of a Text: Hamlet (Revision)

These are the end days! As the old syllabus hurtles towards its inevitable demise a new one waits just over the hill for its moment of dawning. English faculties all over NSW are busy securing class sets of new prescribed texts and creatively funneling old prescriptions into the junior years to cut down on expenses. As our bookrooms shift and re-arrange themselves like cities collapsing into new shapes under the exertion of tectonics, the dust begins to clear and a single, lone gem can be seen shining in the rubble.  

Hamlet.

The most discussed text ever written, the ur-character piece, the most coveted stage role of the 19th and 20th centuries, the single greatest play by the single greatest playwright. The very text that gives credence to the idea of a literary canon.

It has floated from syllabus to syllabus, ever-present but sometimes less obviously so than at other times. Most recently it was one of the cornerstones of Advanced English Module B: Critical Study of a Text, but as of next year this will no longer be the case. In 2019, Hamlet will move to one of the Extension English 1 electives.

It's a move that will mean two things:

• Recent PL sessions run by the ETA (and associated discussions online) suggest that the most popular English Extension 1 elective will be 'Worlds of Upheaval'. Very few seem interested in teaching Literary Mindscapes (the Hamlet option) so Shakespeare's relegation to this section of the Extension syllabus means that its probably not a text we'll be seeing in Year 12 much.
• The rules around Prescribed texts prohibit any of the Year 12 texts from being taught at a Year 11 level, so Hamlet's inclusion in this obscure part of the Senior English syllabuses means that it also can't even be used in Preliminary as a preparatory text.

I think this is a little sad. The vast majority of NSW senior students won't get to experience Hamlet over the course of the next five years (at least). Ah, Hamlet, I knew him well...

Anyway! Attached here are the revision notes that I used with my Year 12 Advanced English class last year. This follows the same format as other Year 12 Advanced English revisions notes I've previously uploaded (Discovery, Metropolis and Nineteen Eighty-Four, and W.H. Auden). Notable quotes are accompanied by some general analysis designed to model different ways of interpreting and connecting textual examples to themes and context.

Here it is: Module B: Critical Study of a Text - Hamlet

In addition to the above analysis here is an overview of techniques and aspects of the text related to themes / the rubric / context. These are as follows:

Techniques

• Foreshadowing
• Characterisation - particularly in reference to Shakespeare's use of foils (there are two in Hamlet!)
• Antithesis
• Hendiadys (if there was ever a time to talk about this literary device it's with Hamlet, which probably uses this technique more than any other text).
• Metaphor
• Motif
• Mockery
• Repetition
• Rhythm - Iambic Pentameter, and disruption to.
• Imagery
• Zoomorphia
• Hyperbole
• Bombast and bombastic language
• Puns, alliteration, and other forms of wordplay
• Rhetoric
• Soliloquy
• Verse vs. Prose
• Dramatic Irony 

Aspects of the Text / Context

• Gender - perspectives of the masculine and feminine
• The Great Chain of Being
• Elizabethan anxieties/concerns related to succession, corruption, etc. 
• Appearance vs. reality
• The old world of chivalry vs. the new world of subterfuge
• Protestantism
• Existentialism and Mortality
• Purgatory and its relevance in Shakespeare's society
• The Renaissance
• Tyrannicide - philosophical arguments for and against in regards to Hamlet
• Universalism
• Sovereignty 
• Humanism
• The influence of the new 16th genre 'the essay' on Shakespeare's Hamlet
• Hamlet's adherence to the tragedy genre
• The role of consanguinity in regards to character dynamics in the play

Further reading:

Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet

Text and Representation: W. H. Auden - Revision

Teaching HSC Advanced English last year was an absolute joy and whilst this was helped in no small part by a fantastic class of intelligent, funny, and hard-working students, it was also due to the great sequence of modules that my Head Teacher Kira Bryant had put together. As we enter the final year that such a progression of texts is possible (next year will see the debut of the new prescribed texts and modules for the HSC) I've been using the opportunity to share some modelled analysis that my students used in their study and revision for the Big Show. 

Here's the sequence:

• Area of Study: Discovery - Go Back to Where You Came From
• Module A: Intertextual Perspectives - Metropolis and Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Module B: Critical Study of a Text - Hamlet
• Module C: Text and Representation (Representing People and Politics) - The poetry of W. H. Auden

I loved teaching Auden as part of the People and Politics elective. Far better people than me have attempted to define Auden and failed, and his poetry is so diverse in both content and delivery that I think nearly all Advanced English students should find at least one piece of interest in the prescribed suite from the HSC. Auden's mastery of a variety of genres in conjunction with using poetry to explore the political concerns of his time is perhaps unparalleled, and this is something that makes him perfect for our students in exploring the way public concerns interact with the private sphere.   

Here's the analysis sheet: Auden.

The table in the above document lists a collection of pertinent quotes from each of the prescribed W. H. Auden poems for Module C:

• O What is the Sound which so Thrills the Ear?
• Epitaph on a Tyrant
• Spain
• The Unknown Citizen
• September 1, 1939
• The Shield of Achilles
• In Memory of W. B. Yeats

The quotes are paired up with some loosely paragraphed modelled analysis next to each one. On reflection I'd probably rewrite some of these paragraphs a little more formally but I was recall being a bit under the pump last year as my students hurtled towards the HSC exams. Nonetheless, the idea is to show students how to connect their ideas and quotes up so I feel like it still gets the job done.

Intertextual Perspectives: Revision

This image from 1934 shows a depiction of the Italian dictator Mussolini surrounded by the word 'Yes'. Once I saw this image, I found it hard not to think of Orwell's Big Brother as an echo of it.

A little while back I posted a revision resource for Go Back to Where You Came From that I used with my Year 12 Advanced English class for the Discovery AOS. In this post I explained my thinking in providing modelled analysis to support students. In the spirit of this approach, here is a similar resource that can be used for the Metropolis and Nineteen Eighty-Four option for the Intertextual Perspectives Module.

Click here for the resource.

Here are some additional notes I also used with my students in revising the texts. Again, I'd like to stress that these are just summarised dot points designed to provide a jumping off point for students while they prepare for the HSC.

Ways of Approaching the Rubric / Thematic Concerns of the Text/s

• Surveillance
• Indoctrination
• Orthodoxy
• Sex as a political act
• The role of language
• Gender
• Class and Marxist ideology (the bourgeoisie and the proletariat)
• Dystopia
• Dehumanisation
• Cognitive dissonance
• Values of the 1920s vs. Values of the 1940s
• Historical and Cultural context (Stalin / The Soviet Union, the Weimar Republic)
• Governance (Oligarchy, Totalitarianism, Capitalism)
• Methods of Control
• Apotheosis
• Omnipresence / Ubiquity 
• Power

Techniques / Devices Used

1984

• Historical Allusion
• Allegory
• Euphemism
• Newspeak
• Invented Lexicon
• Connotation
• Rhetorical Question
• Embedded Clauses
• Truncated sentences
• Tricolon sentences
• Visceral language
• Olfactory imagery
• Metaphor
• Symbolism
• Slogans
• Personification
• Contrast, juxtaposition
• Motif
• Irony
• Antimetabole

Metropolis

• Metonymy 
• Matte Painting
• Dutch angle
• Montage
• Collage / Double-exposure
• Close-ups
• Antithesis
• Generic conventions
• Mise en scene 
• Intertitles
• Cross-cutting 
• Foreshadowing
• Set design
• Body language
• Vignetting
• Salience
• Costume
• Long shot
• Choreography
• Contrast / Juxtaposition
• Symbolism
• Religious allusion
• Establishing shot
• Expressionism

Something to consider when revising Module A is to ask each student which of the two texts they prefer or feel more comfortable with. It won't always be the text you expect, and this can help you guide specific students in concentrating more on the text they don't feel so comfortable with. 2018 is the last year we'll see this combination of texts in the HSC (at least for a while)... it's a great pairing so enjoy it while it's still here!

Discovery: Go Back to Where You Came From

One of the more memorable examples of mise en scene from Go Back to Where You Came From. Note the use of shallow focus, framing, gaze, and slight high angle to keep the sky out of frame (hence dampening any chance of symbolic 'openness' or optimism)

Last year, on the recommendation of the excellent folks at Into English, I taught Go Back to Where You Came From as my Discovery text with Year 12 Advanced English. As we gear up for the last year of the Area of Study I thought I'd share the revision notes I made for my Advanced English class last year. 

These notes consist of a tabulated approach to analysing the three episodes and the reunion special. In the left hand column you'll find a screenshot from the episode, and on the right are some rough paragraphs that model appropriate ideas and approaches that can be used by students. As I mentioned just over a week ago in my Dracula post, providing exemplar responses is a really important part of opening up the learning process for students. 

Click the link for modelled responses for HSC Area of Study 'Discovery': Go Back to Where You Came From.

Here are some additional notes I also used with my students last year when revising the Area of Study and the text. I'd like to stress that these are just summarised dot points designed to prompt students when preparing for the HSC.

Ways of Approaching the Area of Study / Rubric Terms

• Influence of context on discovery
• Nature of discovery
• Impact of discovery
• The responder's discovery
• Representation of discovery
• Positive vs. Negative discoveries
• Meaningful, emotional, creative, intellectual, physical or spiritual ways of discovering
• New worlds and values revealed through discovery
• Speculation about future possibilities due to discovery
• New perceptions of self and others afforded by discovery
• Transformation
• Confrontation 
• Significant Experience (also known as Impetus)
• Anagnorisis (also known as Epiphany, Revelation, or Realisation)
• Departure Point
• The influence and reflection of metanarratives  

Raquel discovers that she doesn't actually much like being a participant on Go Back to Where You Came From.

Techniques / Devices Used

• Editing - jump cuts, crash zooms, montage
• Subtitles
• Direct-to-camera interviews (also known as: talking heads)
• B-roll (also referred to as: cross-cutting during interviews)
• Font
• Voice-over (narration and exposition)
• Pathetic fallacy
• Symbolism
• Close-ups, Extreme close-ups
• Mise-en-scene
• Handheld camera
• Ambient sound
• Cinema verite genre
• Archival footage
• Diegetic sound
• Sensationalism
• Characterisation through editing choices
• Rhetoric - logos, ethos, pathos, kairos
• Slogans
• Facial blurring
• Labelling
• Repetition
• Truncated dialogue
• Emphasis
• High modality in language
• Colloquialism
• Connotation
• Euphemism
• Word associations
• Blunt language
• Profanity
• Emotive language 
• Jargon

I tend to teach in a way where I provide students with more than they can possibly use. The thinking behind this is that students will then have a selection of things that they can pick from when formulating their own paradigm for understanding the text and rubric. There are so many different ways to approach Go Back to Where You Came From in terms of identifying techniques, and the modelled paragraphs are intended to demonstrate this breadth and depth.

If I had another run at this Area of Study I would try to include some paragraphs that continue to broaden the diversity of potential approaches. The hope is that this promotes critical thinking and independence, and allows for differentiation even at the higher end of the spectrum with Year 12 Advanced English. Students can look at these 'orphaned' paragraphs (IE. Paragraphs of analysis that aren't written in specific response to any essay question) and then attempt to write their own. By doing this they will be practising and implementing their own approach that can then hopefully be adapted for any number of HSC questions.

Dracula: Texts, Culture and Value

1902 edition of Dracula

Hello and Happy New Year!

This year I find myself teaching Extension English 1 for the first time, and it's quite an exciting prospect. The Preliminary Module 'Texts, Culture and Value' pertains to the study of a core text and its replication across the ages in various manifestations. These manifestations are defined further in the syllabus as texts that have been 'carried forward', 'borrowed from', or 'appropriated into more recent culture'.

After a brief dalliance with Jane Eyre, I've jumped on board wholeheartedly with Dracula (which seems to be the popular option as we move into the new syllabus for the first time).

The way I see it, the reasons for choosing Dracula are:

• It's a good practice run for Frankenstein, which is one of the texts in the Elective I'm looking at doing for the HSC.
• There is a near-infinite variety of texts to look at that reinterpret, reinvent, and 'borrow from' from Dracula.
• The Victorian context of Bram Stoker's seminal horror novel is more than ripe for the sort of analysis needed to look at the 'values' part of the module. 
• Lots of other teachers in NSW are doing this option, which is very helpful for purposes of collegiality - which is not to be underestimated when tackling a brand new syllabus!

Over the last week or so I've been reading the novel to start off my programming. I finished it a couple of days ago, and I've made a chapter-by-chapter table of my annotations, which can be found here:

Dracula Notes - PDF

I've arranged the notes into three columns;

1. Example / Quote
2. A brief summary or identification of the techniques and what is happening in said example
3. Further notes explaining the author's purpose and/or the context and/or anything else that I thought was interesting

Reflection

I think it's important to model this sort of stuff for the students straight off the bat so they can see what they should or could be aiming for, especially when they're entering into a subject like Extension English 1. The table also assists with giving the students reference points for their own reading... I don't want the reading of Dracula to be unnecessarily difficult, I want it to be an illuminating experience that will serve as a jumping off point for wider reading and analysis. At this point, in a public system Western Sydney context, I see the name of the game as primarily being one of engagement and encouragement.

I saw American educator Ron Berger speak at the iOnTheFuture conference in 2016, and something he spoke about that was really inspirational was models of excellence. I mean, he spoke about a lot that I found inspirational (including feedback and the growth mindset - check out 'Austin's Butterfly' on Youtube to see what I mean) but his ideas around modelling helped me to better articulate one of the key parts of my practice as a teacher. 

I'd been submitting student assignments under fake names for a couple of years by that point and then using them as samples with classes, but that's a story for another day. The point is: in order to get students delivering work of high quality we first need to show them we expect.

The idea of making all the answers 'secret' flies in the face of everything we know about creating excellence in students. If we want someone to be good at something, we show them a model. For example, to be a good musician you need to see and listen to musicians performing. To be a good illustrator you need to look at drawings. Athletes study other athletes. So why is it, in English and other school subjects, that we often hold back on showing students what the 'answers' looks like? It's been great to see the idea of exposing students to exemplars become more and more predominant in education throughout the 21st Century, and it's something that's continuing to develop in some interesting ways. 

Anyway. In short, I want students to look at the attached table and the core text of Dracula and use it as an example of the level I want to see them working at. It's not intended as perfection, and I hope to show them other models as I find more of them, but, hopefully it's a good starting point. Students will be able to take this information and then use it to practise skills in constructing extended responses and other higher order forms of expression.