Lockdown Literature 14

Hello Y12,

Well, we made it to the final blogpost of Y12! A big well done to all of you for the way you’ve handled this lockdown period. I can honestly say that, despite everything that’s happened and all the time lost, we’ve still managed to cover everything that I wanted to get done this year. We’re on schedule, and we should be able to get the coursework and Death of a Salesman done before the end of January, one more poem in February, before a good few months of solid revision and exam practice.

Today, I’ll be asking you to make a reading pledge and I’ll offer you a few revision tips. I also have a few more coursework-related links for you. Here goes:

1) Make the summer reading pledge. I know that many of you have told me what you’re thinking about reading, but I need a record of what you intend to read over the summer as a starting point for our coursework discussions in September.

So, I’d like you to copy and paste the following pledge into an email, add the texts that you’re going to read, and then send it to me before the end of the week:

I solemnly declare that I will undertake the following reading over the summer break in preparation for my A Level English Literature coursework:

1)

2)

3)

4)

I understand that failure to do independent reading will mean that I am not ready to recommence the course in Year 13.

(Your name)

As I receive your emails, I’ll paste them into one document, which I’ll bring to the first lesson in September. Have a look at my tips for your summer of coursework reading:

2) Fight that forgetting curve by doing some Othello and Keats revision.

Don’t forget, Paper 1 is closed book. If you put these texts to the back of your mind and don’t revise them until February, a lot of your hard work from Y12 will be gone.

A few of you have asked for revision tips, so here are my suggestions:

• Revise your key quotes on Quizlet.
• Learn the stuff on this Keats Knowledge Organiser.
• Brainstorm revision topics for each text (see my suggestions on the images below).
• For each revision topic, create notes pages or revision cards, with key quotations.
• Test your knowledge of aspects of tragedy by randomly selecting one from the star sheet (use this!), putting it in the middle of a blank piece of paper and brainstorming how that idea relates to Keats and Othello (with quotations). Start by doing it from memory, then add more ideas using your texts/notes.
• Make sure you’ve annotated the Othello extracts in Lockdown Lit 13 (ask me if you want more!)

You can also find a load of resources than we’ve used recently (including pdf versions of the above images, a past paper, model answers and all my Keats notes) in this folder.

Optional extras:

3) Want more great short stories? Try some Ernest Hemingway.

Here is a collection of his short stories. Make sure you’ve read Hills Like White Elephants, a short masterpiece of ambiguity and narrative gaps. If you get to the end of it and are not sure what you just read, read about it here.

If you like Hemingway’s short stories, check out his novella, The Old Man and the Sea. It’s amazing.

4) Prep for September by watching the 1985 movie adaptation of Death of a Salesman, starring Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich. It’s brilliant.

That’s it. We’re done. After you’ve sent me your email, you are free to go into holiday mode. But don’t forget to keep dipping your toe into the sea of revision every now and again to keep all that hard-earned knowledge fresh in your brain. If you are still catching up on lockdown work, make sure you get through it step-by-step — and let me know if you need anything.

Thanks for all your hard work.

Have a fantastic and well-earned summer holiday!

Mr M

Lockdown Literature 13.2

Oh hi,

Thanks for the coursework questionnaire responses last time. There are lots of interesting ideas and it’s pleasing to see that many of you are already reading with the coursework in mind. It’s still here if you haven’t done it yet. At the bottom of this blog, I’ve answered a couple of your recent questions.

Remember, next time I’m going to be asking for you to make a solemn pledge and confirm to me what you will read over the summer. This is an important step as you MUST have done some coursework-related reading by September as we’ll be having one-to-one meetings to plan coursework. It’ll be too late by then for you to start reading.

 

Anyway, here’s your work (for Monday):

1) Do this short tragedy recap.

2) Do the Othello extract annotation task from last time. I’m still waiting for quite a few of them. If you want another one, here’s one!

Just follow these steps:

1. Click the link above and make your own copy of the extract doc.
2. Without your copy of the text, annotate the extract as you would in the first 10 minutes of the exam.
3. In particular, you need to make notes on a) aspects of tragedy; and b) Shakespeare’s methods
4. When you’ve done what you can, open up your text and see if you’ve missed anything important.
5. Send me a link to your annotated doc.
6. Optional extra task: have a go at the question!

3) Continue to do some research, reading and thinking about coursework options. All the info and docs you need can be found in Lockdown Lit 11.

Optional extras:

4) Want another great short story? Let’s try The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.

You can read the story here:

5) Prep for September by watching the 1985 movie adaptation of Death of a Salesman, starring Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich. It’s brilliant.

That’s all for today. We’ll probably just do one final post next week before the summer. Apart from that, I’ll just be chasing up a few of you who have gone quiet! In the meantime, let me know if you need anything.

Mr M

Your questions answered:

Q) If a second spike occurs what will happen closer to exam season?

A) We don’t know yet, but contingency planning is under way.

Q) What proportion, if any, of next year will be set aside for revision?

A) In the first term, we have to do Death of a Salesman and coursework. There will probably be a bit of finishing of off these after Christmas, but hopefully not much. From late Jan/early Feb, we’ll do Lamia and revision. So we should have a good three months of revision and exam prep in class.

Q) Should we get a copy of Death of a Salesman?

A) Yes. We’ll be starting Salesman in September. The best thing to do is annotate your copy as we read, so you’ll need one if you want to do this.

Q) When should we start writing the coursework?

A) NOT YET. At the moment, all you have to do is read, read, read. In September, we’ll do task-setting and we’ll talk about the planning process. The writing will be done in focused stages to ensure that you are in control of your word count. We’ll have mini-deadlines for the intro, the first 500 words and a first full draft so that I can see that you’re on the right lines. Please don’t take it upon yourself to write a draft before September. Someone did this last year and had to a) write it again, and then b) start from scratch with a new text, task and question.

Q) How does the re-creative task work?

A) Good question. Here’s AQA’s explanation, with an example task:

And here are two exemplar student responses to have a look at:

Ulysses

Pride and Prejudice

I’ve only had a handful of re-creative pieces over the years, but they usually work quite well. If you’re a bit essayed out, why not give it some thought?

That’s all. Hit me with questions if any more occur.

Lockdown Literature 13.1

Oh hi,

Thanks for the survey responses last week. It seems that you lot are loving the Keats and Kite. Who knew? Most respondents also feel that lockdown learning is going okay and most are feeling on top of the Lit work. If you haven’t done the survey yet and have a different story to tell, it’s still here.

In a week’s time, I’m going to be asking for you to make a solemn pledge and confirm to me what you will read over the summer. This is an important step as you MUST have done some coursework-related reading by September as we’ll be having one-to-one meetings to plan coursework. It’ll be too late by then for you to start reading.

 

Anyway, here’s your work (for Thursday):

1) Do this coursework questionnaire. This will help me to help you with suggestions, resources, links etc. You don’t need to have made any major decisions; I’m just interested in the ideas that are starting to form in your minds.

2) Do this Othello extract annotation task. This is a great revision exercise. Just follow these steps:

1. Click the link above and make your own copy of the extract doc.
2. Without your copy of the text, annotate the extract as you would in the first 10 minutes of the exam.
3. In particular, you need to make notes on a) aspects of tragedy; and b) Shakespeare’s methods
4. When you’ve done what you can, open up your text and see if you’ve missed anything important.
5. Send me a link to your annotated doc.
6. Optional extra task: have a go at the question!

3) Continue to do some research, reading and thinking about coursework options. All the info and docs you need can be found in Lockdown Lit 11.

Optional extras:

4) Want more great short stories? Let’s try some Ray Bradbury. If you went to BHS, you’ve probably already read ‘There Will Come Soft Rains’ from The Martian Chronicles. If you haven’t read it, you really should. It’s great!

Another famous collection by Bradbury is The Illustrated Man. Like The Martian Chronicles, these stories are short, fast-paced, dystopian and weird; some of them are like mini-episodes of Black Mirror.

Check out Zero Hour or Marionettes, Inc. below. There’s also a pdf copy of the whole book here. I’d also recommend The Veldt, The Long Rain and The Fox and the Forest. Many of Bradbury’s short stories, including these ones, were adapted for TV on a show called Ray Bradbury Theater in the late 80s/early 90s. I watched Zero Hour last night. If you like creepy, weird, retro TV in the mould of The Twilight Zone, check them out here.

Here are some very short stories to get you started with Bradbury. (Click the links above if you can’t see the full-screen/download buttons on these embedded docs):

 

Read an article about Bradbury’s short stories here.

5) If you haven’t already, listen to this lecture/podcast by Emma Smith at the University of Oxford. It's excellent revision material for Othello. It’s also available to download on iTunes (search ‘Approaching Shakespeare’). It’ll give you a little insight into life as an undergrad Lit student!

That’s all for today. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be back with another blogpost at the usual time on Thursday.

Mr M