Author Mentors: Ellen Van Neerven and Theme

This is Part 3 in a series on 'Author Mentors'. In a nutshell, these lessons are about using short extracts to scaffold student engagement; a way of backward mapping from the NSW Year 12 Craft of Writing module and the Year 11 Reading to Write module before that. 

After looking at context and structure, today's sample lesson moves into more conceptual territory - what an English teacher might traditionally call 'theme'. You will need a copy of Ellen Van Neerven's Young Adult anthology Heat and Light for the extract that forms the crux of these activities.

1. Extract. Start by reading a selected extract from Heat and Light as a class. The extract in question is from the first page of the short story 'Hot Stones'. It starts with 'Thirteen is the age that makes you,' and ends with 'Go easy. I have to see if we're related, first.'

Students then do a think-pair-share activity, discussing each of the following questions before responding in their books:

1. Tell me what you liked best about this extract.
2. Tell me about the main character in the extract.
3. Tell me how you would feel if you had been kicked out of English.
4. Tell me about the Grandmother.
5. Tell me why the main character is so interested in Mia. 

These are fairly straightforward questions designed to gauge comprehension and provoke a personal response. Comprehension is a key part of thematic engagement because the skill of summarising is the very core of what a 'theme' or 'concept' is. If a student is able to summarise something, then they are identifying the most significant aspects of the text. There is some degree of subjectivity in this, which is what we (the teachers) want because identifying or responding to a theme in a text is a highly subjective process. The more that a student is able to take a firm and individual position, the more they will find success in crafting a thesis for an extended response. 

In some Gifted and Talented/High Potential and Gifted Education circles, summarising leads to the higher order skill of abstraction; the ability to think of things in terms of concepts rather than plot points. 

2. Connecting. Once students have begun grappling with the text at a surface comprehension level (and perhaps deeper), move on to looking at the connections that can be made with the text. Again, this should be a subjective experience for each student. It doesn't matter how an outsider may judge the 'quality' of the student's answers, what's important is said student's ability to create their own connections when reading. The process of generating ideas of how to connect the text to other things is an entire step on its own before we look at guiding students in calling upon more judicious examples. Some students may struggle to make what the teacher sees as an effective connection, but this is why we look at doing this in Stage 5 or earlier... it's part of that backward mapping process that fosters skills needed for Year 11 and 12.

Anyway, ask students to connect: 

1. To Self - What is something you have in common with or something that makes you different from Colin?
2. To Text - What is a similarity that this extract shares with another text?
3. To World - What is something from the wider world or history that you can relate to this extract?

3. Considering Theme. Now we're ready for the final part of the activity. After thinking about the text in a few different ways, students are then asked to reflect and develop on their ideas. This starts with a prompt to concentrate the extract into a single-word abstraction. Students are then asked to develop this into a statement of theme, which is essentially a scaffolded way of getting students to develop a mini-thesis, or a conceptual understanding of the extract. Concept, idea, abstraction, or theme - it doesn't matter what you call it, it all supports the process of writing an essay.

1. If you had to summarise this extract as being about something in a single word, what would it be?
2. What opinion do you think the author might have about the single word you just wrote?
3. What do you think the extract is saying about this word?
4. You've now developed a thematic understanding of the extract. Find three quotes that support this theme.
5. Explain exactly how each quote supports your thematic understanding.

It is entirely possible to take this further by delving into structural territory and looking at techniques used, etc., but I would personally keep the focus tightly on theme. This reinforces the cognitive purity of the lesson in teaching one key thing. 

The above lesson can be found as a PowerPoint here. 

Acknowledgment: The following material has been adapted and modified specifically for this blog. I would like to acknowledge some of my colleagues - Ashleigh Galea, Lauren Hage, Amra Winter - who helped develop some additional material not included here.

Akira Kurosawa: Filmography

Akira Kurosawa with Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas, two American filmmakers who were both heavily influenced by Kurosawa. 

This blog generally focuses on the teaching of English and History but, as I look at Twitter and attempt to calculate exactly how long it might take collapse in on itself, I thought I would also use this space to preserve a retrospective I'd posted there. This filmography reflects my longstanding interest in the masters of the medium, which is something I previously explored in a past life as a part-time film reviewer. It also links into my ongoing interest in the film canon, as previously seen with overviews of 'Best Films' at the Academy Awards and the wider Film Canon.

Below is a chronological filmography of the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998), one of the most acclaimed and influential cinematic artists of the 20th century.

Sanshiro Sugata (1943). It's quite amazing that this sport/martial-arts underdog story is really Kurosawa's first film as director. From the ambitious opening tracking shot to the use of vertical wipes and revolutionary slow motion, he creates a dynamic and memorable classic that still holds up today. Parts of the film feel quite modern - such as an inventive transition in which a sudden dramatic wipe jumps to a scene in which a man crashes through a wall. Definitely a must-see in Kurosawa's body of work. 

The Most Beautiful (1944). Kurosawa resisted requests from the Japanese navy to make propaganda about fighter planes during WWII. As a compromise, he instead made this semi-documentary film about the efforts of the country's female factory workers. As a State-funded war film it's quite historically interesting. It's also, from a modern viewpoint, evidently problematic as it presents several falsehoods about a society that was under a lot of strain. 

Sanshiro Sugata Part II (1945). Despite popular cineaste wisdom often claiming The Godfather Part II (1972) to be the first major film with a 'II' in the title, or that the British sci-fi/horror film Quatermass 2 to be the first numbered sequel, it is most likely Akira Kurosawa's Sanshiro Sugata sequel that is the first film to have 'Part II' in the title (one of its Japanese titles literally translates to Judo Saga 2). Like many sequels, this isn't as good as the first one. And as a government-sanctioned sequel intended to demonstrate Japanese superiority to white foreigners, it doesn't quite hold the same integrity as most other Kurosawa films - indeed, Kurosawa didn't particularly want to make this film but, being in the final year of the war, it was his only chance to make a film and was also one of the few movies actually made in Japan at all in this time. 

One point of interest... the presence of about twenty 'American' characters/extras in a Japanese WWII-era film raises certain uncomfortable (and unanswered) questions from historians, namely whether or not these are POWs who had been captured and brought back to Japan. Some film historians have suggested that these are most likely not POWs but it has always seemed odd that so many white actors were able to be assembled for a Japanese film at this point in history. At least two actors have been confirmed as Turkish-Russian, but the rest? No one is yet to definitively provide this information.   

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tale (1945). Like the first Sanshiro Sugata film, this is a standout amongst Kurosawa's earliest work. It's also the first of many samurai films made by Kurosawa. This film was initially banned by the U.S. occupation forces in 1940s Japan due to its depiction of a feudal society, with the fear being that it might encourage warlike values. Eventually released in 1952, the film itself is a terrifically tense adventure about a fugitive commander and his six loyal samurai. Kurosawa crafts some great characters (specifically the comedic Porter, who provides a low class counterpoint to the noble samurai) and memorably suspenseful set pieces. 

No Regrets For Our Youth (1946). A romance that focuses on the true story of radical anti-military activists in the 1930s. This is the sort of film that could never have been made in WWII-era Japan and was a sign of a new filmmaking atmosphere in postwar Japanese society, revealing Kurosawa's true humanist leanings (which were politically at odds with the previous Imperial government) No Regrets For Our Youth is also one of the few Kurosawa films to have a female protagonist. Like Sanshiro Sugata Part II, but for completely different reasons, this is another historically-fascinating film.

Those Who Make Tomorrow (1946). Kurosawa's 'lost' film remains largely unseen and unreleased. It was a union-promoting propaganda piece that the occupying U.S. forces encouraged the director to make, with the hope that it would help push postwar Japan towards democracy. Kurosawa felt that he had little input and used his growing influence to have the film quickly buried. Subsequently, it's the only film on this list that I haven't seen. 

One Wonderful Sunday (1947). A young couple attempts to make the most of their day together with only 35 yen to their name. Another underrated gem within the director's early output, this is the first Kurosawa film to take a more unvarnished look at postwar Japan, with the couple's misadventures acting as a tour of a society in quiet trauma. 

Drunken Angel (1948). An alcoholic doctor (Takashi Shimura) becomes embroiled in the life of a yakuza gangster (Toshiro Mifune) in this tortured film noir classic. Great performances from Kurosawa's frequent collaborators Shimura and Mifune make this crime drama very watchable. This is the first of several famous Mifune roles directed by Kurosawa, and the young Mifune creates a complex character that holds his own against an experienced and unforgettable performance from Shimura. This is also the first of Kurosawa's many memorable forays into the crime genre. 

The Quiet Duel (1949). Kurosawa looks at another compromised doctor in a very different scenario, with Mifune playing an idealistic young GP who harbours a secret burden that twists the path of his life Kurosawa's exploration of postwar Japan's troubled psychological landscape features a lot of devastatingly effective symbolism, and also allows Mifune to demonstrate his incredible range as an actor. A fantastic film. 

Stray Dog (1949). The director takes a small scenario (a cop loses his gun and attempts to track it down before anyone can find out) and opens it up to reveal the trauma and suffering of postwar Japan in this heatwave-imbued film noir. It's also a powerful crime drama that shines a light on a devastated economy and the desperation and shame this bred throughout Japanese society.

Scandal (1950). An artist and an actress are ensnared in a fabricated news story by Japan's new American-influenced tabloid culture. On one level, it's a melodrama that entertains through the stakes felt by its characters, but, on another level, it's a thoughtful indictment of Japan's cultural and social degradation under U.S. occupation. It also features some powerful performances from its leads (Toshiro Mifune, Shirley Yamaguchi, Takashi Shimura).

Rashomon (1950). A murder involving a samurai, his wife, a bandit, and a woodcutter is shown to the audience from multiple conflicting perspectives. This film caused such a stir that it became the first Japanese film seen by many people around the world, and it catapulted Kurosawa onto the international stage as a director to watch. Rashomon is truly one of the greatest and most groundbreaking films of all time, influencing everything from The Usual Suspects to Star Trek. 

The Idiot (1951). Kurosawa's three-hour adaptation of the Dostoevsky novel of the same name. I found it a little hard to get invested in this one - I possibly would have appreciated it more if I'd read the source material! I don't know, I just found it a little meandering and patience-testing.

Ikiru (1952). Recently remade in 2022 as Living (in which Bill Nighy gave an Oscar-nominated performance), this is one of Kurosawa's many acclaimed social dramas. Takashi Shimura gives one of the greatest performances in cinema as a bland, no-nonsense businessman suddenly faced with terminal cancer. Ikiru is a thought-provoking look at the meaning of life, priorities, and Japanese society.

Seven Samurai (1954). What can be said about this iconic and wildly entertaining adventure classic that hasn't already been said? Even if you haven't seen it, you've seen its children in many permutations across film and TV and literature. This samurai action movie still holds up and features another great lead performance from Toshiro Mifune. 

I Live in Fear (1955). Toshiro Mifune once again demonstrates his versatility as he plays an elderly patriarch suffering from a form of PTSD that resulted from the dropping of the A-bombs on Japan in 1945. One of only three films in Kurosawa's body of work (the other two he would not make until the 1990s) to deal directly with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. I Live in Fear is a biting satire of modern priorities in post-bomb Japan.

Throne of Blood (1957). This samurai-retelling of Macbeth is the first of three Shakespeare plays that Kurosawa would adapt (Hamlet and King Lear being the other two). Mifune seems born for the role of the paranoid general-turned-king, named here as Washizu. It's possibly my favourite screen version of Macbeth; the supernatural elements feel extra creepy and the feudal setting is very effective. 

The Lower Depths (1957). An adaptation of Maxim Gorky's 1902 play of the same name, Kurosawa's static look at the desperate dregs of society is slow and lacks the energy of French director Jean Renoir's superior 1936 version. The Lower Depths has some good performances and a memorable ending but it's ultimately just a little too plodding and insular. 

The Hidden Fortress (1958). A key influence on the first Star Wars film (feisty princess, story told from the point of view of two lowly characters, a samurai 'knight' character) and also a great action-adventure film in its own right. 

The Bad Sleep Well (1960). Kurosawa transposes Hamlet into the ruthless world of postwar corporate Japan, creating a memorable thriller and taut character study. The opening wedding scene served as inspiration for Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather. Kurosawa's film has a weak ending but is overall a mesmerising modern reinterpretation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy.

Yojimbo (1961). A wry samurai retelling of Dashiell Hammett's classic 1930s American gangster novel Red Harvest. Kurosawa's use of Western tropes and Mifune's humorous anti-hero characterisation served as inspiration for the 1964 star-making Clint Eastwood remake A Fistful of Dollars. 

Sanjuro (1962). Such was the popularity of Kurosawa's previous film that this samurai adventure was hastily rewritten to act as a sequel to Yojimbo, with Mifune reprising his role as the laconic and streetwise swordsman. Not as great as Yojimbo but still a good film.

High and Low (1963). Starting as a devastatingly cynical commentary on class, this kidnap-and-ransom thriller segues into a highly-engaging police procedural drama. One of the first films of its kind, and another influential cinematic classic. Its power can be felt decades later in meticulous police procedurals such as the Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder and David Fincher's Zodiac.

Kurosawa's source material for High and Low was an American pulp crime novel by Ed McBain. As you may have noticed from his filmography, Kurosawa was quite happy to draw upon European sources - often taking the core of a narrative (and its universal drama) and using this to explore Japanese society and themes. 

Red Beard (1965). An arrogant young 19th century doctor is upset at being placed in a highly disadvantaged community and finds himself clashing with his mentor, 'Red Beard' (Toshiro Mifune). Kurosawa worked so hard at achieving a certain kind of historical authenticity in this epic drama that it permanently broke his relationship with lead actor Mifune and they would never work together again. Red Beard is a fine film that has attained critical acclaim in the years since but, at the time, it demonstrated a faltering step in Kurosawa's career. It would be his last black and white film. 

Dodes'kaden(1970). Kurosawa offsets his vibrant first-time use of colour with a depressing/hopeful ensemble story about the poor and the desperate trying to survive in their garbage dump community. The film features some indelible imagery but can feel a little unfocused at times. The title is an onomatopoeic Japanese representation of the sound of a train (say it aloud a couple of times in a row).

Sadly, even though Dodes'kaden has come to be critically re-appraised as a worthy film, its lack of success in 1970 led Kurosawa to almost give up on cinema altogether. The critical and commercial failure of Dodes'kaden (and his unsuccessful attempt to collaborate on the international war film Tora! Tora! Tora!) was so devastating to the director that he attempted to take his own life. He would only make one other film over the next 10 years.

Dersu Uzala (1975). This is a grand yet delicate examination of an unlikely true life friendship between a Russian explorer and an indigenous Nanai hunter from northern China. It was evidently the soothing nature-centric balm for the soul that Kurosawa needed. Dersu Uzala is a beautiful film that brims with genuine wisdom.  

Kagemusha (1980). A petty criminal is set up as a look-alike stand-in for a dying feudal lord. It's a sweet deal for the thief... until war comes calling! Kagemusha is a visually spectacular epic that helped to rejuvenate Kurosawa's career on the international stage. As if paying Kurosawa back for his stylistic influence on Star Wars, George Lucas helped finance this film alongside Francis Ford Coppola (who had also drawn upon the work of Kurosawa for his own hit films). Kagemusha was a triumphant comeback for the Japanese director. This film and its distinctive use of the colour red would go on to influence Star Wars again, with director Rian Johnson borrowing its visuals for Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). 

Ran (1985). For some this samurai retelling of King Lear is Kurosawa's last true masterpiece. Epic in every sense, perfectly performed, and a nuanced statement from a master director at the height of his powers - Ran (meaning 'chaos') is one of the greatest Shakespeare adaptations.

Akira Kurosawa's Dreams (1990). It might be the most indulgent film in Kurosawa's oeuvre but this collection of short films is well-earned and feels essential to his filmography. Dreams is full of memorable images and moments that could only exist in the fantasy realm of the dreamscape. Look out for Martin Scorsese in a rare acting role as Vincent Van Gogh (pictured above).

Rhapsody in August (1991). An elderly matriarch is begged by her grandchildren to travel overseas to see her dying brother one last time. For me, this is probably the only Kurosawa film that feels contemporary to my own lifetime - it's a mature and introspective work that reflects on the legacy of the Nagasaki bombing but also features characters who very much reflect the early '90s. It's also the only Kurosawa film to feature an American movie star, with Richard Gere appearing in a supporting role. 

Madadayo (1993). Translating as 'not yet', the resounding cry of 'madadayo' is heard numerous times throughout this tale of an ageing teacher who forges a new identity for himself during retirement. Art imitates life for Kurosawa in his irreverent and reflective final film. 

Akira Kurosawa worked right up until his death - his dream was to die while directing a film but this wasn't to be. He had an accident in 1995 that left him in a wheelchair, which made it too difficult for him to direct again. Undaunted by this, he still kept working and wrote two more screenplays before his death in 1998. 

He was a true giant of cinema. 

Practising the Craft of Writing

Some useful resources to assist you with practising the Craft of Writing on your journey towards the HSC Examination. 

Copy of the 2025 Version of the PPT: The Craft of Writing.

Example of a longer discursive piece - Grand Final Fever.

Prescribed Texts:

• The complete list of Standard English Craft of Writing Prescribed Texts with some brief summaries and analysis of each text. Please note that this was originally written for English teachers to read - it should still be useful in giving students some ideas for critically engaging with their Prescribed Texts.
• The complete list of Advanced English Craft of Writing Prescribed Texts with brief summaries and analysis. Also originally written for English teachers but still useful for students.

Writing techniques - ideas, examples, explanations.

• 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 

A schematic scaffold that can be used to revise and analyse a text:

• Scaffold for revising Prescribed Texts

Rights and Freedoms - Core Study Timeline

Below you will find a Chronology of Rights and Freedoms that I built while researching some material for the Cambridge History Transformed Stage 5 textbook that was released 3 years ago. 

This timeline covers 1901 to the present day and is still a draft. Let's face it, anyone working with History will know that any reconstruction of past events is technically always a draft that's open for revision. I find myself adding and revising aspects of this timeline all the time - historical events sometimes come into focus, and then cause and effect can become clearer as a result... or sometimes even less clear.

The timeline also reflects the needs of the Rights and Freedoms Core Study in Stage 5 NSW History, hence the inclusion of some USA and World (United Nations) details which add context to the bigger picture of Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander rights and freedoms. This timeline is mostly for my own understanding rather than a resource I'd necessarily give to students - I've found it useful as a reference tool, especially when looking for things like a sequence of events relating to the Stolen Generations or the influence of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement on the Aboriginal peoples. 

It's also been useful for providing context for a range of English topics - Year 9-10 study of Rabbit Proof Fence or The Sapphires, or Year 12 modules focused on prescribed texts such as Inside My Mother by Ali Cobby Eckermann, Rainbow's End by Jane Harrison, or Namatjira by Scott Rankin.

1901. Federation of six colonies into one nation. 

1902. Commonwealth Franchise Act disenfranchises 'native' people in all Commonwealth countries (with the exception of NZ)

1903-1913. Pastoral settlement of the Kimberley region and 'pacification' of the Aboriginal people there.

1904-1908. Removal of all Aboriginal men from the Derby settlement in Western Australia.

1905. Roth Royal Commission into the treatment of Aboriginal people.

1907. Relations between Aboriginal and Macassan peoples formerly banned by Australian government.   

1909. Federal Aborigines Protection Act 1909 established on a national scale, following on from pre-Federation colonial legislation. The 'Aborigines Protection Board' is given power over the custody, maintenance, and education of Aboriginal children.

1910. Australian Board of Missions petitions Federal and State Governments to agree to a scheme for human and civil rights to be safeguarded for Aboriginal people.

1912-1932. Records indicate that at least 1500 children were removed from Aboriginal families across Australia in this time.

1912. Cootamundra Girls' Home created to train Aboriginal girls for domestic service.

1914. C.F. Gale, Chief Protector of the Aborigines, inspects the Kimberley region and gathers up as many 'half-caste' children as possible, placing them at the Roman Catholic Mission in Beagle Bay.

1915. Amendment to the Aborigines Protection Act allows the government to remove Aboriginal children from families. 

1916. Punitive expedition to Lizard Island results in the deaths of several Aboriginal men.

1918. Northern Territory passes the Aborigines Ordinance to forbid mining on Aboriginal Reserve Land.

1920 (world). U.S. President Woodrow Wilson creates the League of Nations

1924. Kinchela Boys' Home is created to train Aboriginal boys to be farm labourers.

1925. Colonel J.C. Genders spearheads a campaign to form a Black State in northern QLD.

1925. The Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association is formed in opposition to the Aborigines Protection Board.

1926. Forrest River Massacre takes place. Somewhere between 30 to 300 Aboriginal people killed.

1926. Disastrous year for bushfires. A pattern would emerge after this wherein bushfire epidemics would regularly strike in the absence of widescale Aboriginal firestick farming (controlled burning).

1928. William Harris leads a delegation of Aboriginal people to meet the Premier of WA to talk about possible exemptions from the Aborigines Act for 'half-castes', suburban Aboriginal peoples, and those who live in the southern portion of Australia.

1928. Rev. William Morley calls for a Royal Commission on the Constitution that would subsequently allow the Federal Government to have complete control of all Aboriginal people. The Royal Commission takes place, with the outcome being that the States should continue to retain control of police, lands, and industry and therefore a Commonwealth authority would not be qualified to deal with the Aboriginal peoples. 

1930. British Commonwealth League Conference accuses Australia of breaking the League of Nations slavery conventions through the use of forced Aboriginal labour, removal of children from families, and the withholding of wages. 

1930s. NT and WA practise an extreme form of assimilation through forced state marriages of 'lighter caste' Aboriginal peoples.

1931. Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve established.

1933. 129 Aboriginal people die from poor health conditions in the Kimberley region. There are only 3 doctors in the area at the time, none of whom would leave white communities to treat Aboriginal people in remote areas. A leprosy outbreak also occurs in an Aboriginal community in the same area at this time, with 80 lepers discovered in the northern part of WA over a 9 month period.

1933. A punitive expedition led against the Yolngu people in the NT ends in the arrest of local leader Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda.

1934. WA 'Royal Commission on Aborigines' proposes miscegenation as the solution to the problem of Aborigines in Australia, a policy of biological assimilation to be achieved by "breeding out the black" (quote from Dr Cyril Bryan). Some whites are outraged at the idea of white women marrying Aboriginal men. 

1934. The total amount of stolen children accumulated at the Beagle Bay Mission over the least 20 years now equals 68.

1935 (world). Italian dictator Mussolini invades and occupies Abyssinia without provocation. The League of Nations fails to make a decisive response.

1937. The Australian Aborigines' League publishes 'The Abo Call', the first Aboriginal-authored newspaper.

1937. Aboriginal activist William Cooper writes a petition letter to King George V asking for better conditions for Aboriginal people.

1937. Chief Protector A.O. Neville speaks at a conference in Canberra about the superiority of having Aboriginal children live in white-run institutions rather than in traditional 'blacks' camps'. A policy of Assimilation is outlined and adopted throughout each of the States.  

1938. First 'Day of Mourning' held by Aboriginal protestors William Cooper and Bill Ferguson from the Australian Aborigines' League on the 150th anniversary of white Australian settlement. They demand a national policy for Aboriginal peoples and that the Commonwealth take control of Aboriginal affairs away from the States. 

1938. The Cummeragungja Walk-Off takes place - the first strike by Aboriginal workers.

1940-1942. Mass migration of Aboriginal people to Alice Springs; restrictions put on Aboriginal people arriving in the town. 

1942. Prime Minister John Curtin proposes amendments to the Australian constitution to be made once the war ends, including increased Commonwealth power over Aboriginal affairs. The States oppose this and a referendum goes ahead in response (and fails).

1942. The Torres Strait Infantry Battalion, an all-Indigenous unit established in the Torres Strait during World War II, patrols New Guinea on behalf of the Allied Forces.

1943. Thousands of Aboriginal people are hired by the army in World War II for labouring and other services in the Northern Territory.

1944. Recognition from some commentators that retribalisation of Aboriginal people is now impossible after most have undergone a significant period of urbanisation.

1945 (world). End of World War II.

1945 (world). The United Nations is first proposed as a replacement for the League of Nations. A UN Charter is signed by all participating nations, providing the Security Council with the power to create international laws. Little mention is made in the charter at this point about human rights.

1945 (USA). Rosa Parks is thrown off a bus for the first time after refusing to enter via the back door (as per local law in Montgomery, Alabama).

1946. The Australian government allows British testing of nuclear weapons at the Aboriginal-populated region of Maralinga in South Australia.

1946 (world). The League of Nations formally ceases operation. 

1946 (world). The Nuremberg Trials bring to light many shocking details about the Holocaust. Eleanor Roosevelt spearheads an international committee to create a Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

1947 (world). Australian representative Dr Herbert Vere Evatt assists with the final writing of the UN Human Rights charter.

1948. Dr Evatt becomes President of the UN General Assembly and guides in the adoption of the Universal Declaration by the UN. 

1950s. The Council for Aboriginal Rights begins to push for the rewriting of any domestic Australia laws that contradict the UN Human Rights charter.

1951. Some states, such as Victoria, opt not to have a Minister for Aboriginal Affairs as they "do not differentiate between Aborigines and other Australians."

1952. Aboriginal activist Ted Noffs visit Wilcannia and observes living conditions among the Aboriginal people there.

1952-1957. Anglo-Australian nuclear testing takes place at bomb sites in Maralinga, Monte Bello, and Emu Field. 

1953. Charles Perkins takes politician Donald Dunstan to see Aboriginal reserves.

1953. Northern Territory gives citizenship rights to any Aboriginal people not in state care.

1954. Arrernte painter Albert Namatjira is given Australian citizenship as a special case.

1954 (USA). Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka overturns segregationist laws regarding African-Americans and which schools they can attend.

1955 (USA). Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People) decides not to politicise the event.

1955 (USA). Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery. This time NAACP decides to politicise the event.

1955-1960 (USA). Malcolm X advocates for African-American separation from white society, articulating a need for self-determination within America. His co-leadership of the Nation of Islam increases membership numbers from 1200 to 50 000.

1956 (USA). African-Americans boycott buses in Montgomery, a campaign that eventually results in the desegregation of Montgomery buses. 

1956. Harry Penrith (also known as Burnum Burnum) and the Aboriginal-Australian Fellowship both launch referendum campaigns to change the Australian Constitution so that full citizenship rights are granted to Aboriginal peoples.

1957. Charles Perkins joins the South Australian branch of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines. 

1957-1967. Faith Bandler campaigns and petitions for a referendum on equal rights for Aboriginal people. 

1958. Albert Namitjira is arrested and gaoled for supplying alcohol to his family.

1958. Creation of the first organisation focused on Aboriginal rights - the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. They begin campaigning for constitutional reform and by 1963 their petitions have gained 100 000 signatures. 

1960 (USA). The Greensboro Counter Sit-ins take place.

1960 (USA). John F. Kennedy is elected President of the U.S. As part of his election campaign aimed at African-Americans in the South, the Democrat Party issues 'the Blue Bomb' - two millions copies of a pamphlet highlighting JFK's willingness to work with Martin Luther King Jr.. 

1960. The entire Yanyuwa Aboriginal community is removed from the township of Borroloola and taken to a reserve at Dangana. They all simply walk back to Borroloola.

1961. The federal government's Assimilation policy is reinforced at the Commonwealth conference on Aboriginal issues.

1961 (USA). The Freedom Rides take place throughout the American South.

1962 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. leads demonstrations in Albany against segregation.

1962. Legislation is passed by the Commonwealth to allow all Aboriginal adults to vote in federal elections. Registration to vote remains not compulsory for Aboriginal people.

1962. The South Australian government repeals the Aborigines Act.

1963 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. leads demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, against segregation. Business leaders are brought to their knees via a powerful boycott from the African-American community, and they decide to negotiate with Martin Luther King to begin desegregation.

1963 (USA). The KKK conducts bombing attacks aimed at the African-American community in Birmingham.

1963 (USA). The Nation of Islam, led by Malcolm X, gains attention in the media through their advocating of violence against segregationists.

1963 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. leads the March on Washington.

1963. The Yirrkala Bark Petition for land rights is presented by the Yolngu people to Queensland Parliament.  

1964. First legal disputes between mining companies and Aboriginal communities.

1964. The Labor Party puts forward a bill to repeal parts of the constitution pertaining to Aboriginal citizenship. This bill challenged the discriminatory nature of the constitution but ultimately failed to gain any traction when presented to Parliament.

1964 (USA). The Civil Rights Act is passed by Lyndon B. Johnson after JFK's assassination.

1964 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

1965 (USA). Demonstrations take place in Selma against restrictions on voting for African-Americans in Alabama. Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested, and Civil Rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson is murdered. The marches intensity and Martin Luther King Jr. gains support from the President. The Voting Rights Bill overturns discriminatory voting laws in Alabama.

1965 (USA). Malcolm X is assassinated. 

1965. Charles Perkins leads an Australian 'Freedom Ride' against racial discrimination, modelled after the American one. In response to the Freedom Ride, the Menzies government begins to debate whether a referendum on Aboriginal citizenship should take place.

1965. The Assimilation policy is replaced by an Integrationist policy after the Commonwealth-State Conference.

1965. An Arbitration Commission rules that Aboriginal people will get paid full basic wages, however, a period of 3 years is given for it come into effect so that farming stations have time to adjust. 

1965. Charles Perkins is appointed as manager of the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs.

1966. Walgett desegregates their cinema and Moree desegregates their pools, both in response to the Aboriginal activism of the Freedom Rides. 

1966. Charles Perkins visits African-American civil rights activist Jesse Jackson in Chicago, USA. 

1966. Vincent Lingiari leads the Wattie Creek Gurundji Strike in the Northern Territory. The Gurundji Aboriginal workers walk off Wave Hill Station and return to their traditional land in Wattie Creek, refusing to wait 3 years for equal payment. 

1966 (USA). The Black Panther Party is founded in Oakland, California, by Bobby Seal and Huey Newton. 

1967 (USA). The Black Panthers hold rallies in Richmond, California, and disrupt a legislative hearing on the Mulford Act. The Black Panthers also release their Ten-Point Program - a declaration of their ideals and intentions.

1967 (USA). Huey Newton kills a police officer. The FBI also creates COINTELPRO to investigate and neutralise Black Power threats at this time.

1967. The Holt Government agrees to a National Referendum on Aboriginal citizenship. 90% of people vote 'yes'. A 'No' campaign is not mounted by anyone. The result of the referendum is the repeal of a part of Section 127 of the Constitution - meaning that Aboriginal people would now be counted in the next national census. The only other change is the giving of power to the Commonwealth to enact 'special laws' for Aboriginal people - meaning that the States no longer had the ability to create their own discriminatory legislation concerning Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

1967. Gary Foley, Paul Coe, and Michael Anderson lead the Aboriginal Black Power Movement in Redfern.

1968. W.E.H. Stanner delivers his landmark lectures on the 'Great Australian Silence', concerning Aboriginal history. 

1968 (USA). Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis. Nationwide riots occur, some led by the Black Panthers.

1968 (USA). Fighting between the Black Panthers and police officers ends in the death of Black Panther leader Bobby Hutton. 

1968. Many young Aboriginal people are inspired by Tommie Smith and John Carlos's iconic 'Black Power' salutes at the Mexico Olympics.

1969. The Aborigines Welfare Board is abolished due to increased media attention on the mistreatment of Aboriginal peoples in reserves. 

1969. Full basic wages are finally awarded to Aboriginal workers on cattle stations.

1970. Sol Bellear and other Aboriginal activists travel to the U.S. and live with the Black Panthers for some time. The Aboriginal Black Panther Party is created in Brisbane by Denis Walker and Sam Watson.

1970. Aboriginal protest takes place against a re-enactment of Captain Cook's landing at Botany Bay.

1970-1975. Collapse of pastoralism in the Kimberley region leads to a mass migration of Aboriginal people to Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Derby, Turkey Creek, and Wyndham. The Western Australian government launches an enquiry into their mass migration to determine causes.

1971. Court case of Milirrpum and others vs. Nabalco and the Commonwealth Government - otherwise known as the Gove dispute between the Yolngu people and the Nabalco mining company.

1971. United Nations Year Against Racism - contrasts with Australian commentators questioning whether the government's goals of assimilating the Aboriginal peoples had been met. 

1971. Luritja Aboriginal man Harold Thomas designs the Aboriginal flag. 

1972. Prime Minister Billy McMahon rejects proposed land rights for Aboriginal peoples.

1972. Links forged between the Aboriginal Black Power movement and the Polynesian Panthers. 

1972. A Moratorium for Black Rights takes place on National Aborigines Day, 14 July. Many of the people who would go on to form the Tent Embassy are mobilised by the event.

1972. Activist Kevin Gilbert mounts a campaign against the McMahon Government over land rights. Aboriginal Tent Embassy created by Michael Anderson, Billy Craigie, Bert Williams, and Tony Coorey.

1972-75. Gough Whitlam becomes Prime Minister - the White Australian policy is official ended and a Department of Aboriginal Affairs is created.

1975. Creation of the Racial Discrimination Act. 

1975. Senator Neville Bonner puts forth a resolution for parliament to acknowledge prior ownership of Australia by the Aboriginal people. This is unanimously endorsed. 

1976. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act is legislated.

1979. D.H.C. Coombs proposes a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.

1980. The Yuin Aboriginal people are restricted from harvesting abalone by traditional means.

1981. Pintjantjatjara Land Rights Act legislated. The Justice for Aboriginal Australians Report is also released at this time. 

1982. Stamp controversy - an Australia Day stamp depicting an Aboriginal face alongside a First Fleeter and a 20th century migrant draws criticism.

1982. Three Murray Islanders - including Eddie Mabo - begin proceedings against the State of Queensland, and then in the High Court of Australia, regarding their land right claim.

1983. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act is amended and updated.

1984 (world). A committee starts work on the United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples.

1986. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act is created.

1986. Aboriginal riot takes place in Bourke.

1987. Aboriginal man Lloyd Boney dies in custody, leading to the Brewarrina Funeral Riot on the 15th of August.

1988. Bicentennial celebrations of white settlement take place. Burnum Burnum travels to England and plants the Aboriginal flag on British soil to commemorate the event. He also begins a campaign for the return of Aboriginal remains still held in a British cemetery. 

1988. A Tactical Response Group is sent to Brewarrina to pre-emptively prepare against 'anti-police' Aboriginal activists on Australia Day.

1988. The National Museum of Australia comes under fire for having a frontier conflict display.

1988. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) is created.  

1990. Protests against amendments to the Aboriginal Land Rights Act at NSW Parliament House. Eleven demonstrators are arrested. 

1991. Pat Dodson releases Report on Underlying Issues in Western Australia for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, prompted by the deaths of Mark Quayle, Eddy Murray, Clarence Alec Nean, and Lloyd Boney, among others.

1991. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation is established.

1992. Paul Keating delivers his Redfern Speech, marking the first time a Prime Minister acknowledges the dispossession and pain visited upon the Aboriginal peoples.

1992. Mabo 'Native Title' high court judgement issued in case of Mabo vs. Queensland, legal precedent set for the overturning of the historical concept of terra nullius.

1993 (world). International Year of the World's Indigenous People.

1993. Commonwealth Native Title Act created.

1994. Creation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Land Fund to assist in the purchasing of land for Indigenous Australians.

1996. High Court rules on Wik case that pastoral leases do not overrule pre-existing native title.

1996. Prime Minister John Howard rejects proposal for government-led Aboriginal rights and services.

1996. Aboriginal survivors such as Doris and Doreen Katinyeri speak as part of the government's inquiry into the Stolen Generations, forming the basis of the Bringing Them Home report.

1996. John Howard responds to the Bringing Them Homer report by labelling recommendations for compensation as 'inappropriate and unacceptable'. He also goes on to label Aboriginal rallying at this time as 'un-Australian'. 

1997. Kruger vs. Commonwealth case challenges the right of the Northern Territory to remove Aboriginal children from families (established in 1918) and is overruled. N.T. powers (allowing removal of children) remain in place.

1997-2001. Each of the state and territory governments make formal apologies for the Stolen Generations. John Howard refuses to do the same from a Federal perspective.

1998. National Advisor Council for Youth Suicide releases figures that show suicide is 40% higher among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

1999. Australian Federal Parliament commits to Reconciliation.

2000. National Sorry Day March - 250 000 people walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge to show support for a federal Apology to acknowledge the Stolen Generations. Across the remainder of the year up to 1 million Australians march for Reconciliation.

2000. Spinifex Native Title case determines that the Pila Nguru Aboriginal Corporation will hold 50 000 square kilometres of traditional lands on behalf of the Pila Nguru (also known as the Spinifex People).

2003. A Wukidi Ceremony is held outside of the Supreme Court to symbolically lay to rest Aboriginal elder Dhakiyaa Wirrpanda, who mysteriously 'disappeared' after Northern Territory authorities released him from custody in 1933. 

2004. Aboriginal activist Michael Long takes the 'Long Walk' from Melbourne to Canberra to meet with John Howard and ask for an apology for the Stolen Generations. 

2004 (world). A draft for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is created by a committee made up of 7 nations.

2006 (world). The United Nations vote on the draft for the UNDRIP. Australia votes against it.

2007 (world). The United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples is passed by a large majority in the UN.

2007. The Little Children are Sacred report, which collects together information on abuse in the remote Aboriginal communities, is released. This prompts the Australian govt to suspend the Racial Discrimination Act so that the Northern Territory National Emergency Response (AKA 'the Intervention') can be launched, restricting the rights of Aboriginal peoples throughout regional areas of the territory.

2008. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a formal apology to the Stolen Generations shortly after getting elected.

2010s. The Australian War Memorial rejects calls for the inclusion of the Frontier Wars in the memorial.

2010. The Intervention is amended and the Racial Discrimination Act is partially reinstated.

2010-2012. Prime Minister Julia Gillard announces plans to recognise Aboriginal people in the constitution. This plan is abandoned in 2012 due to public reaction against it.

2013. The Government commits funding to the Yolngu people on the 50th anniversary of the Yirrkala Bark Petitions.

2017. The 'Uluru Statement from the Heart' petition is launched by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, requesting increased constitutional acknowledgement of the First Nations peoples.

2019. In accordance with longstanding traditional Aboriginal beliefs, walking on Uluru is banned.

2023. Referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament to take place, partially in response to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. 

Author Mentors: Yuri Herrara and Structure

English in the 21st century is a strange beast. For older generations, there will be an awareness that the current subject of English taught in Australia is not the English that was taught 50 (or even 25) years ago. The rise of the new version of English in 1960s and '70s academia, with its focus on culture, contextual elements, and new media, would really only truly be felt in the NSW syllabus circa 2000. 

As someone who finished school in 1997 and then didn't come to teaching until 2010, this shift in the English discipline was a bit of a shock. The English essays I had written in Years 11 and 12 were decidedly formalist - focused on the structural purposes of the text, with the idea that the text was 'closed' and that everything you needed to know could be found within the text alone. Come 2010, The History teacher and Postmodernist in me loved that English had developed into something much more wild - that we can trace contextual elements and examine their impact on the text and audience, and that we can also look at the endless ways in which the same text can be read, or the ways in which the reader brings themselves to the text and reads it differently to their peers. 

But, that said, the English of the 20th century hasn't been replaced by this newer English. The two Englishes live alongside one another in our syllabus; you can see elements of both within the outcomes. You can also see them both within the diverse teaching methods of a powerful workforce of English teachers with their own myriad experience and wisdom. Some English teachers thrive on the idea of alternative readings and context, others prefer examining how a text is constructed and what this means. If you're teaching the bulk of the secondary English syllabus you'd be hard-pressed to completely avoid one side in favour of the other. 

Anyway, my point is that, while Part 1 of this series focused on the author and the role of context in shaping a text, today's entry (Part 2) focuses on the structure of the text. I think it's important that we teach students (without necessarily using fancy words like postmodernism and formalism) that reading and writing is a complex process with different 'ways in'. It works as a form of differentiated practice because some students will react better to a contextual study, whereas others will prefer looking at structural elements.

Structure

The author used for this structure lesson is Yuri Herrera, a really interesting Mexican writer who gained some attention in the 2010s for his novellas. Before looking at an extract from his Romeo & Juliet-inspired text The Transmigration of Bodies, it's useful to prime students by giving them an overview of some of the structures we use when writing. This can be done by checking for understanding with the following activities:

Mechanics. Write a bad example of each of the following:

• Punctuation
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Sentence Structure
• Paragraphs

Techniques. Also called 'literary devices', these are figurative, persuasive, and sound-based techniques used to make an impact on the treader.

• List some examples.

Conventions. The motifs or recurring elements that help the reader identify the type or genre of text.

• Give an example.

Writing Choices. Pick one below and discuss why it's important.

• Word Choice
• Point of View
• Tense
• Themes
• Being conscious of controlling how the reader sees your text

Editing. Pick one of your previous answers and re-write it using one of the methods below.

• Re-reading
• Drafting
• Sharing for feedback
• Using criteria
• Polishing

After these opening activities, have students read an extract from The Transmigration of Bodies and then consider some of the elements that have been used. In particular, ask students to look at its 'mechanics' and techniques by answering the following:

1. Find and highlight the following punctuation: comma, dash, colon, capitalisation of a proper noun. 
2. What reason is each one used for?
3. Explain the impact of the following techniques used by the writer:
1. Repetition of the word 'everyday' three times in one sentence.
2. The irony/dark humour of the line "Occasionally, his teeth fell out."
3. The metaphor "Eyeing (...) with venom."

Authors also used various conventions when writing in their chosen genre. A reader's familiarity with these conventions (also called motifs) allows them to better understand the ideas or style of the story. Have students make notes on three of the motifs featured in the extract (a depressing setting, blood, and a less-than-heroic lead character) and then ask them to identify which of the following genres the text fits into:

• Comedy
• Crime
• Romance
• Science Fiction

The lesson then focuses on writing choices. Herrera has a talent for using verbs in fascinating and memorable ways - ask students to locate the following verbs in the extract:

• Trickled, scamper, cricked, dreaming, managed, fell, buzzing, tethering, attempting, rammed, leaned, sucking, blew. 

Students can then answer the following questions. Some of these break away from a strictly formalist approach but we'll keep that to ourselves.

1. What is the impact of using particular verbs?
2. Whose point of view is the text written from?
3. How does the writer want the reader to think of the main character?
4. How does the writer want the reader to think of the setting?
5. What would you change if you wanted to introduce some more drama in the first paragraph?

The above lesson can be found here in these resources:

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

Acknowledgement: The following material has been adapted and modified specifically for this blog. I would like to acknowledge some of my colleagues - Ashleigh Galea, Lauren Hage, Amra Winter - who also developed some additional material not included here

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! :)

Oddments: Five unique texts on the current NSW HSC Prescriptions List

I've been working a bit on researching NSW's Prescribed Texts these past few years and, as we approach the current list's long journey into the night before the next round, I thought this might be a good time to look at some of the more unusual texts on the list.  I say 'unusual texts' but I should clarify that, when I say this, I'm not speaking about a text's subject matter or themes or genre as that's a little too subjective. I want to instead highlight the more textually-distinct outliers - the solitary text types and unusually-originated texts that stand out with a hard and firm point of difference. 

Go Back to Where You Came From

Oddity: The only television series option featured across Standard, Advanced, EAL/D, and Extension English.

Description: Go Back to Where You Came From is a carryover text from the previous 'Discovery' Prescriptions List. The television format presents a challenge to teachers as its runtime is essentially twice that of the average film - this can make it difficult to cover within a busy timeframe that also involves student selection of a related text and coverage of the 'Texts and Human Experiences' module. I taught this when it was part of 'Discovery' and, while I did find that students were able to easily engage with it, it felt like quite a slog to cover it properly alongside a related text and an Area of Study. This meant that I did not opt to explore the text as part of 'Texts and Human Experiences' when the opportunity later presented itself.

Contemporary Asian Australian Poets

Oddity: The only multi-poet anthology - between its presence in the Standard and EAL/D English syllabuses this selection includes works from eight different poets.

Description: Whilst the idea of covering so many different poets seems to pose a significant challenge in covering just as many differing contexts, it can actually force a synthesis of ideas as the teacher finds themselves bringing the texts together in service of the module 'Language, Identity, and Culture'. This conceptual underpinning can be a guiding light for students who might overwise struggle to unite separate poems together to support a thesis. It also helps that the poetry is accessible and provides a wide scope for students to make many different kinds of connections.

One Night the Moon

Oddity: A double oddity. One Night the Moon is the only prescribed text across Standard, Advanced, EAL/D, and Extension English that features characters breaking into song. It's also the only non-feature film (too long to be a short film, too short to be a feature film). 

Description: Rachel Perkins' collaboration with Paul Kelly is an achingly poignant depiction of the colonial violence and contradiction in Australia's past. It's also an unusual text outside of the English-teaching context because it's the only time singer-songwriter Paul Kelly has acted on screen. I haven't taught this text but I think it's relatively short length would allow for some useful drilling down into its finer aspects. 

'May the Pen Grace Your Page' by Luka Lesson, and 'Picture a Vacuum' by Kae Tempest

Oddity: Okay, so I'm cheating a little here as this is two texts, but I want to highlight these two as the only poetry performances to be found anywhere in the NSW Prescriptions List. 

Description: The inclusion of these slam poems carries an implication that they should be examined as multimodal performances rather than as written pieces. This is supported by the coding of each text as '(PP)' in the syllabus, meaning 'Performance Poetry' rather than 'Poetry'. The Craft of Writing supporting document from NESA also carries some textual information that suggests this too. This raises some uncomfortable questions about Craft of Writing - specifically the question of how students could be expected to model performance aspects of such a text when writing a piece under HSC examination conditions. 

Actually, I've been puzzled by the inclusion of poetry in Craft of Writing in general as the HSC Module C questions don't seem to allow students the option of composing poetry. But that's perhaps a discussion for another time.

Under Milk Wood

Oddity: The syllabus lists Under Milk Wood as a 'Drama' text but this is a reductive simplification. Over the years the text has been adapted for film, television, and as a stage drama, but its origins are as a radio play. The colour and shape of the text make the most sense in the audio-only format that it was written for. One suspects that the dwindling existence of radio drama led NESA to retroactively reclassify it as just 'Drama', but this does a disservice to the proud tradition of the radio play. 

Description: If you couldn't already tell from my championing of its radio play credentials, I am a big fan of this text. I first taught it because I needed it to make a pattern of study work and I wanted a text that wouldn't be too demanding in terms of having Advanced English students carve off more of their study time for reading. I taught it for these reasons and was very nervous because it is such an odd text and it's so far outside of the natural field of reference for most students in terms of the sorts of texts we usually look at it in English. Anyway, this class engaged with it as intended - by listening to the original Richard Burton-narrated radio dramatisation. We listened to it track-by-track, a few minutes per lesson, and broke the language down, enjoying Thomas's quirky turns of phrase and the games he plays with words. It ended up being one of my favourite thing to teach and quite a few students singled it out at the end of the year as their favorite of the texts we covered.