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