[English] suggestions needed for context teaching
mccurryj at netspace.net.au
mccurryj at netspace.net.au
Sun Jun 12 19:54:29 EST 2011
... in the exam it's pretty clear who the audience is.
Quoting Sharon Gardiner <sharmick at tpg.com.au>:
> Writing for an audience is an important thing for me. I am correcting SACs
> and the mid-year exam at the moment and I think, if students have a clear
> idea of the audience to whom they are writing, then their writing is better.
> In the SAC, with the written explanation, this is clear as they state their
> audience, but the exam is a more difficult.
>
> Just thinking as I correct..
>
>
>
> From: english-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:english-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Caruso, Greta
> Sent: Sunday, 12 June 2011 6:37 PM
> To: VCE English Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [English] suggestions needed for context teaching
>
>
>
> Hi,
>
>
>
> I think that the text that discusses hybrid writing is the Oxford book. It
> is a good book, but I warn people that text books are the interpretation of
> a few teachers. The publishers are not the authority. VCAA is the authority
> and the Study Design is the document to refer to.
>
>
>
> Many of us have faced the same problem with the styles of writing in Writing
> in Context. I ask myself : of all the possible styles of writing in the
> world (EVERYTHING: fairy tales, limerick, beat poems, newspaper articles,
> instructional writing, diaries whatever) which forms could not be considered
> either expository, persuasive or imaginative. If you remember that
> expository just means to expose, persuasive to persuade and imaginative to
> imagine, then it follows that they are not even really forms of wriiting.
> They are general purposes of writing and encompass many forms Thus, my
> answer is that ANY form of writing is allowable.
>
>
>
> Next question is: which are we going to recommend. And for me the answer is:
> It depends on the student, the text, the context and the prompt.
>
>
>
> Next question is: are there any styles to steer kids away from. My answer is
> that there are some forms that would be really hard to produce in a SAC or
> exam whilst showing sophisticated development of ideas. It is possible that
> an extremely clever writer could produce an acroustic poem that was
> brilliant, but I have not yet met that student. Also we know that an strict
> analytical exposition writing in the same manner as a Text Response ie part
> one of the exam, is not going to be the best idea.
>
>
>
> I tell my students and staff to forget entirely about the style or form,
> just write well, keep the idea of the prompt at the heart of the piece, keep
> the context in mind.
>
>
>
> Sometimes people need to hear the message from someone outside their work
> context. VATE maybe able to help with someone who could do some on-line
> mentoring.
>
>
>
>
>
> Yours,
>
> Greta Caruso
>
> English Faculty Head
>
> Kingswood College
>
> _____
>
> From: english-bounces at edulists.com.au [english-bounces at edulists.com.au] On
> Behalf Of Jenny Gilbert [nenifoofer at gmail.com]
> Sent: Sunday, 12 June 2011 3:13 PM
> To: 'VCE English Teachers' Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [English] suggestions needed for context teaching
>
> Hi Gail - and thankyou - this is VERY affirmingJ. Thankyou for taking the
> time for such a detailed response. I hope you follow up with that text book
> and I sincerely appreciate the ideas for writing PD you are suggesting. We
> are, for all intents and purposes, on the same page with our approach to
> marking context. I hope to mark it this year in exam marking. I believe we
> have to do some PD as a staff on teaching writing - it is an area of
> weakness IMO across the board and I am looking into ways of doing this.
> Maybe I will start with a plate of Jelly lol.
>
>
>
> Have a good weekend (off to benchmark context pieces lol)
>
>
>
> Jen
>
>
>
>
>
> From: english-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:english-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Reynolds, Gail G
> Sent: Sunday, 12 June 2011 2:22 PM
> To: VCE English Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [English] suggestions needed for context teaching
>
>
>
> HI Jenny,
>
>
>
> I think it helps to think of those descriptions as an opening out of what
> can be done rather than a prescription for what must be done. I challenge
> you to nominate any piece of writing that cannot be fitted to one of the
> modes or a hybrid of these. I did this exercise with my staff and we
> couldn't find anything which could not be seen as fitting; because of this,
> we have somewhat ( but not completely) de-emphasised the categories and have
> increased focus on ways of producing "good" writing.
>
>
>
> Note that in the exam the students are not allowed to nominate any style and
> in fact last time I marked this section, we were told to disregard any
> Explanations which might accompany the Context. This in effect means that
> the only place the students need to be able to identify how their piece fits
> into the nominated formats is in their SACs in their "explanation of
> authorial choices". Our Y12 teachers agreed that we were doing holistic
> marking and as we marked the SACs we would place the emphasis of our marking
> on the actual piece of writing more than the Explanation (although we still
> took this into account). I personally would not overly-penalise students
> who mix up the various categories, especially in view of the contradictory
> information which the students may be accessing. It is interesting that my
> best students can all provide an excellent Explanation and those who mix up
> the information sit in the mid to lower range in any case... ( I may be bad,
> but I do not lose too much sleep over this)
>
>
>
> One of our major difficulties with this section is that the Design itself is
> unclear as to the task and our approach is always going to be like juggling
> jelly... you have to find your own way to succeed and some of it will end up
> on the floor. I do understand the feelings of the teacher who wants
> something to cling to -- in its first year everyone was playing safe and
> Assessors had SOOOOO many boring formulaic expository pieces to mark. I also
> know that variety and freshness and engagement with the writing are things
> the Assessors look for. I am afraid we have to lead our staff and our
> students into more open fields when it comes to this section... and it 'aint
> easy!'
>
>
>
> The awful how much text question -- answer: between one word and all of it.
> I have seen excellent pieces which have used a text as a springboard to dive
> into new ideas -- for example a student who used the film Witness as the
> basis, writing about the Amish practice of Rumspinga. There is a clear
> relationship to the film, a sound platform for discussing Identity and
> Belonging and scope to incorporate the prompt, but it did not draw directly
> upon the text. On the other hand there is an occasionally successful
> strategy which views the plot of a text through the eyes of another
> character (so this one is nearly all text). The thing to remember is that
> this is not a text response (50% text is likely to be way over the top in an
> expository for example). We don't need mention of the text every paragraph
> or use a formulaic paragraph about the student's experience followed by a
> paragraph about the text (few writers are able to make this interesting and
> engaging) I try to get my students to think about the big ideas, how do we
> explore these, what will capture the young writers' imaginations/ interest
> the potential audience?
>
>
>
> As for your staff member, I wish you luck (she says, her mind crowded with
> bitter memories). One of the text books has an excellent section on hybrid
> writing (It is on my desk at school and I can't remember which one off hand,
> but I'll let you know if I remember) you could try giving that to the
> teacher concerned. For the students at her mercy, how about offering the
> whole 12 Eng cohort an afternoon of Context-focused writing workshop with
> the English teachers in attendance (Is there a local writer you could get to
> facilitate the workshop? Mildura is a relatively big place, there has to be
> someone who would do it ... or someone prepared to come in from elsewhere.
> VATE may have some ideas for people to approach???) This one has the value
> of acting as PD for your staff without singling out or confronting ... and
> it could bring new ideas for everyone.
>
>
>
> I don't have many more suggestions and believe me, I can empathise with your
> predicament. I am not sure that I ever completely succeeded with my guy, but
> I tried to give oblique gentle shoves and increased exposure to a range of
> sample responses/sample lessons (Could you do this in an English faculty
> meeting?) I have just had a meeting with my staff where I asked everyone to
> bring a sample writing lesson. It was actually a lot of fun and some of that
> will translate into teaching our Context...
>
>
>
> (Hope I haven't done that grandma and egg sucking thing..)
>
>
>
> Gail Reynolds
>
> English and Literacy Co-ordinator
>
> Box Hill High School
>
> 9877 1177
>
> _____
>
> From: english-bounces at edulists.com.au [english-bounces at edulists.com.au] on
> behalf of Jenny Gilbert [nenifoofer at gmail.com]
> Sent: Sunday, 12 June 2011 11:23 AM
> To: 'VCE English Teachers' Mailing List'
> Subject: [English] suggestions needed for context teaching
>
> Hi Everyone
>
> I have a need for some help in leadership J I have an English teacher that
> is being quite prescriptive ( she is quite presecriptive with most things)
> with the writing forms 'expository, persuasive and imaginative'. She is not
> dealing well with the combination of possible forms and voices in written
> texts. She see them as three completely separate entities. Our teaching of
> this area of study has evolved over time - and we now see the students as
> having to 'create' as writers using what they know about the Context, text
> and their understanding of the concepts in a given prompt. This means we
> have moved away from strict structural controls for a 5 paragraph essay,
> although we do teach it for those students who need something to hang their
> work on as they cling to something of a model. In yr 11 we do focus on the
> three modes - in Unit one we focus on expository and persuasive, in Unit two
> creative. (We used to try and do all 3 in semester 1 but it became a
> workload nightmare) . In Units 3-4 students choose freely.
>
> When we first started with context there evolved an understanding of the
> expository essay form and that wretched formula of third person formal style
> with 50% use of the text, 25% world and 25% self as a guide for students to
> structure their writing as informed by the ideas and issues of the set
> Context and text. While I have not said do not do this I have encouraged the
> flexibility and creativity of both students and teachers to see that the
> limits here are on the boundaries of the text and context not the 'rules' of
> a specific writing genre. I wonder if there are 'rules'. The way I see it
> there are typical features of writing depending on purpose, audience and
> form and we need to teach those over the years so that in Yr 12 students are
> able to use this knowledge and their skills to write a response they feel
> comfortable with. In expository writing students can explore ideas, look at
> them from a number of angles, and draw conclusions. We are still
> experiencing confusion with this - students explaining their work as
> expository when it clearly argues a view, or vice versa, claiming they have
> done a persuasive piece that in fact has not clear line of argument and is
> even lacking a clear contention. The pick 'persuasive' simply because in the
> end they express an opinion.
>
> Then there is that awful question - how much from outside the text has to be
> included? It seems the struggle with the grey continues with that 50/25/25
> formula. I have - after PD recognised this is not the way to encouraged good
> creation of texts. Last years examiners report confirms this
>
> On the other hand, it should be noted that:
>
> . there still seems to be a dependence on formulaic responses, which
> suggests that some students believe that
>
> rote-learning is sufficient. The study of English is concerned with
> developing students' understanding and
>
> confidence in responding to the specific topics and prompts that are offered
> in the examination. Active
>
> engagement with texts enables students to develop language awareness,
> articulate ideas and develop
>
> communication skills
>
> . some students did not fully engage with the actual elements of the topics
> and prompts. Greater care needs to be
>
> taken in analysing and recognising the specific expectations of each topic
> or prompt - often this comes down
>
> to a precise understanding of the words which comprise the task
>
> In section B the commentary is quite clear
>
> The most successful responses drew thoughtfully from the text; however, the
> least successful only used a scene or a
>
> feature of character in a superficial way or retold the plot of the text.
> This approach was not always relevant to the
>
> prompt. There can be no definitive advice on the success of relying on a
> single text or employing both (or more). Some
>
> students used the two texts expertly to demonstrate exceptions and
> qualifications, while others did little more than use
>
> the second text to add yet more of the same examples. While students writing
> using an expository approach tended to
>
> employ both texts, a number of students explored only one text. Students who
> used more than one source to illustrate
>
> their ideas often produced pieces with a strong sense of unity and purpose.
> This cohesiveness was contrasted by pieces
>
> where one idea followed the next as students went through their list of
> examples. The product was more a plan for an
>
> essay than a thoughtful, finished piece.
>
> The transference of ideas from the texts is critical. Students who
> understood and could convey sophisticated ideas from
>
> their texts were the most successful, regardless of the approach to writing
> selected.
>
>
>
>
> <http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/studies/english/englishassess/2010/engl
> ish_assessrep_10.pdf>
> http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcaa/vce/studies/english/englishassess/2010/engli
> sh_assessrep_10.pdf
>
>
>
> Our focus has been much more on the concepts and ideas in the prompt and
> text than in writing to a specific formula. Our returning prescriptive
> teacher is more focussed on the required form and wanting rigorous specific
> supplementary texts included in the study. I will refer her to this
> examiners report and others have provided her with documentation from
> inservices- but can anyone offer useful definitions of the 'three explicit'
> forms because I can't. I prefer to paint the grey lines and encourage
> students to create with the focus much more on the connection of the
> concepts and texts. In this instance the labelling of expository, persuasive
> or imaginative is squishing the potential to write from the heart and mind
> if it is done as this teacher is suggesting. SO...
>
> What suggestions do you have about what I should say to her other than to
> send her on PD to meet the examiners -I have not yet marked this section so
> I am at a bit of a loss and relying very much on my experience teaching it,
> PD and examiners reports.
>
> Thanks
>
> PS..to add to confusion some publications are now using the word exposition
> for persuasive writing - how do we deal with that?
>
>
>
> Jenny Gilbert
>
>
>
> English Coordinator, St Joseph's College Mildura
>
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