Why students struggle with essay writing. Effective essay writing has been on the decline for the past fifteen years in schools. Students struggle with their interpretation of questions, the harnessing of powerful evidence and structure and expression. As schools and teachers are increasingly time poor, essay writing is left until students have major assessment tasks and trial examinations thrust upon …
Problems Of Pragmatic Teaching
While I consider what aspect of educational reform I should submit for my application to do a doctorate in education, my year 12 student tells me that her school does not require the reading of a set text for the advanced English syllabus. The text in question is a beautifully crafted play by Edson known as “WIT”. This poignant play …
Module B: Close Study of Literature – Othello
YEAR 11 – Module B 2018 How meaning is shaped and conveyed through characterisation and the nature of language. Characterisation How do we work out who characters really are? The first thing Shakespeare does with his characters is that he places them in a world and gives us insight into their values, attitudes and their …
Teaching and The Advanced English syllabus.
The performance of my year twelve students was exceptionally rewarding. Not just because they engaged in the joy of learning and discovered the power of communication but because they owned all of their achievements. I did not write their essays nor did I dictate notes that could be effortlessly slotted into an essay. I rather encouraged them, and provided them …
My perspective on the 2016 HSC English Advanced
I prepared my year 12 students for the following electives and texts this year. Section 1 –Intertextual Connections PROSE FICTION AND FILM Virginia Woolf , Mrs Dalloway and Stephen Daldry The Hours POETRY AND DRAMA John Donne, Sonnets and Margret Edson ,Wit SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA AND NON FICTION William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar and Niccolo Machiavelli PROSE FICTION …
My perspective on the 2014 HSC English Advanced
I prepared students for the following texts this year: Module A A room of one’s own / Whose afraid of Virginia Woolf Blade Runner/ Frankenstein Module B Hamlet Gwen Harwood Yeats Cloud Street Board of Studies Speeches Module C Julius Caesar History and Memory Area of Study The Namesake Immigrant chronicle Romulus My Father Emily Dickenson I was …
Discovery, Advanced and Standard HSC – Shakespeare’s Tempest and Frost’s Poetry
By now many of you will have completed your first assessment task on the unit of Discovery. There are still some schools that will have decided to start with the Discovery unit in term 1 of 2015. All of you will be required to revisit the Discovery unit in your pre-trial examinations and certainly again in your trials and HSC. …
What To Expect And How To Prepare for Discovery
The new Area of Study for the 2015 syllabus is Discovery. It is an important module as English Paper one of the HSC is entirely devoted to the student’s conceptual understanding of how discovery impacts on human identity and of course one’s understanding of the world at large. Students will need to be able to speak about the ideas of …
For Your Hsc English Advanced: What Kind Of Questions Can One Expect For Hamlet?
HSC ENGLISH ADVANCED: What Kind of questions can one expect for… Hamlet questions in the past few years have been quite wide ranging; including questions on the nature of love, duty and responsibility, and questions relating to the very heart and nature of revenge tragedy. Hamlet among other things is a play about ideas. The ideas are given weight when …
How to achieve a Band 6 in the HSC Exam 2018
There are several areas that are necessary to master in order to perform a high score in your HSC exam. Let’s see them one by one. Area of Study for Standard and Advanced Comprehension Reading time Use your 10-minute reading time effectively. Consider how each text relates to your Area of Study Belonging. What are the underlining assumptions about Belonging? Do the …