Wednesday/Friday's lesson

What are your first impressions of Paul as an adolescent? What is his relationship with his parents like? What aspects of Paul's life are affecting his development to adulthood? How do other relationships affect his development or demonstrate aspects of his growth. Justify your answers with evidence from particular sections of the novel. Discuss in a group and take notes. For the last question, each group  is to focus on one relationship – Keller, Rosie, Bennie, Megan, The Band. Write up your answers and email to me.

Friday's lesson

Read the story “My Father’s Axe” by Tim Winton. It is on the blog page below this blog.

Choose a point in the story and write a monologue in which the mother talks to her husband about watching her son grow up and what that means to both him and his father. In other words, what does the boy think it means to grow up or to be grown up? What does the father think it means? Are there differences in their views?

What does the mother think it means to grow up? What would she say about their relationship?

She gives a new (perhaps female) perspective. Try to give her an authentic voice. This may vary from person to person according to your view of the character but try to make it clear and consistent.

Thursday's lesson

Look at the advertisement picture again - plan and write an imaginative response which involves the girl as a character and which challenges the representation of growing up constructed in the advertisement. Your choice of genre and your choice of point of view. You could write as the girl or as one of her friends or as her parent. You could narrate an event, write a letter, write a journal entry or a news report. Post to your blog at the end of the lesson. 

Week 2 - Reflecting on Growing Up

Write a personal reflection on what it is like to grow up on the Gold Coast in 2015. What are the positives? What are the negatives? Try to let your own voice emerge. Do you want to write in a serious way? Do you want to put a humorous slant on the topic? Allow some your own concerns/ideas to come through. For example, if you have strong feelings about the place of women in society, this might affect your thoughts on the topic of growing up on the Gold Coast. Be careful about your use of tense and remember to check your last post for consistent use of tense as well.  Post to your blog by Monday's lesson.

Week 1 Homework

Growing Up

 

Think of an incident you remember from childhood or from your Middle School years. It should be a memory which involves other people who were present. Tell the story of this from the point of view of someone else who was present. Before you begin, think about how they might have viewed the incident, what feelings it might have evoked in them and how they would express this. Try to get the voice right. If the other person is an adult, bear this in mind. Post to your blog before 8.20 Tuesday morning.





GUILT

PART 1

 

 1. Who feels guilty?

 2. Why do they feel guilty?

 3. What actions did the characters perform to bring on their feelings of guilt?

 4. Did the feeling of guilt cause a change in the character’s personality or actions?

 5. How is their guilt viewed by other characters?

 6. What are the consequences of guilt?

You might find that questions two and three overlap a little but they are worth considering separately.

 You will need to consider your definition of the word first. Then decide on a thesis with regard to the way guilt is represented and three or four major points which would support your thesis.

 PART 2

Now consider which new context might allow you present guilt in a similar way.

Choose one of your main points and write a paragraph in which you analyse how the play positions the audience to view this aspect of guilt and then persuade the reader that your re-contextualising is appropriate. This will involve justifying your choice of context as well as using persuasive language.

 

 

Analysing what the play says about ambition

In order to anlayse what the play says about ambition, consider the following questions:

What is ambition? Give a general definition.

In Macbeth, Who is ambitious?
How do they put their ambition into action?
What are the consequences of their ambition? Rewards/punishment?

What does this say to us about ambition? Consider its relation to the important ideas, attitudes and values in the play.

 

Now try the following practice task:

 

Persuasive Letter Task

The Queensland School’s Association is considering the removal of Shakespeare’s Macbeth as a compulsory text on the Senior English syllabus.

Write a letter in which you persuade the Queensland Schools Association (QSA) that Macbeth is a valuable play for continued study as it explores a number of important ideas, attitudes and values.

Your letter should focus on the concept of ambition.

In your response, you should analyse what the play says about this concept and how this representation is constructed.

Remember to be persuasive.

The name and address of the person you are writing to is: Ms Helen Smith, Queensland Schools Association, 100 Stanley Street, Brisbane, 4000.