Year 9 Semester 1 Exam

Posted on May 17, 2012 by offner

Resources for your viva voce:

1. Planning Diagram:

If you are new to making planning diagrams or would like some tutorials to get you started, try these first:

A. Mind maps:

B. Creating tables in Word:

“Computer Help: How To Make a Table in Word”

YouTube Preview Image

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/demo-make-documents-look-great-in-word-2007-HA010201953.aspx  (“Demo: Make documents look great in Word 2007”)

2. Watch the following clips for tips on speaking and presenting yourself for the viva voce:

YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image

 

Don’t forget to come along to lunchtime tutoring offered to all on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Room 14 if you require assistance.

 

 

 

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Yr 12 Ext 2 #2 2012: report

Posted on May 17, 2012 by rintoul

Click here to download a copy of the Report task:

Yr 12 Ext 2 #2 2012

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Catcher: Chapters 1-5

Posted on May 15, 2012 by admin

Every week you are required to contribute 250-300 words to the online discussion.

I will be following your progress.

You will be required to post at least three responses on The Catcher in the Rye.

Choose one topic from the three that have been listed below. 

1.      “What is the relationship between rebellion and avoidance?”

Use the extracts printed below as your starting point.

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” Chapter 1

“What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by.  I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them.  I hate that.  I don’t care if it’s a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it.  If you don’t, you feel even worse. “Chapter 1

“I don’t even know what I was running for – I guess I just felt like it”. Chapter 1

“I’m the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life.  It’s awful.  If I’m on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I’m going, I’m liable to say I’m going to the opera.  It’s terrible.”  Chapter 3

2.       Holden is retelling events that happened a year ago. How effective is the retrospective narrative voice? Make specific reference to Allie’s death p 34-35.

3.        Explore one of the research areas from the REBELS WEBQUEST: Popular Culture & Sport,  Modern Life” & Technology, Communism & The Cold War,  Music & The Visual Arts,  Literature & Poetry. Write up and post your findings.

Posted in Year 11, Year 11 Discussion Space | 13 Comments

Catcher in the Rye Intro

Posted on May 14, 2012 by admin

 Introducing the Novel

Posted in ADVANCED ENGLISH, Rebels, STANDARD ENGLISH, Year 11 | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Year 7 – The Hero’s Journey – Cool Websites!

Posted on May 3, 2012 by offner

(Source: www.comicbooked.com)

Hello Year 7,

As we start our new unit of work on Percy Jackson and The Monomyth (Hero’s Journey), why not check out these amazing hero websites?

The Gallery of Heroes:  http://www.thegalleryofheroes.com/

The Hero Handbook (Do you have what it takes to be a hero?):  http://www.theherohandbook.com/

 

 

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Analysing Rebel Without a Cause

Posted on May 1, 2012 by admin

Looking Closer at the Film

The following activities and links support your understanding of the film Rebel Without a Cause.  Use them in class and access this site and OPLS to support online learning (find out how to register?).

  1. Go to the EtherPad for Rebel Without a Cause.
  2. Respond to the video clips as directed (large files! – right_mouse-click to download – don’t stream) Knife Fight Scene and Confrontation with Parents)
  3. Draw ideas from the those generated through collaboration.
  4. On your own computer apply items from #3 to an  outline answering a “To What Extent” question.  Write this as one sentence followed by bullet points.
  5. Paste your first draft outline response back into the EtherPad.
  6. Survey others’ drafts so you can improve your own.
  7. As homework, tackle the “To What Extent” essay based on one of the prompts in the Comments link at the end of this post.

Here is the word cloud generated from the EtherPad on Rebel Without a Cause:

Example for Analysis:

Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without a Cause (1955), shows the close association between rebellion and harmful behaviours. Jim both willingly and unwillingly engages with behaviours that may be considered harmful, with the knife fight between Jim and The Kids an obvious example. The scene begins with Buzz and his crowd of silent and nameless supporters, sitting on Jim’s car. At first Jim tries to remain uninvolved. When Buzz stabs the car tyre Jim comes down to their level, and he is goaded into the fight when Buzz insults him: “Is that meaning me?  Chicken?  You shouldn’t call me that.”
Despite his reluctance to engage in harmful behaviours he enters the knife fight. Ray uses low angle shots of Buzz and The Kids to show their power.  These shots are juxtaposed with the solitary figure of Jim emphasising his isolation from the group. The non-diegetic jazz soundtrack intensifies as the fight progresses, accompanied by the exaggerated diegetic sounds of the blades cutting through the air. The use of mid-shots and close ups allows the audience to engage with the heightened emotions of this life and death battle. In my two texts, rebellion is closely associated with harmful behaviours. The knife fight does not solve anything, but fuels even more dangerous behaviours:  “We’ll have some kicks tonight. … We’ll have a little chickie run.” In these texts harmful behaviours are the source of “kicks” pursued relentlessly despite the risks.

Additional Resources

Posted in Rebels, Year 11 | 8 Comments

Rebels: Alternate Texts & Interpretation

Posted on May 1, 2012 by admin

Challenge: Given a text, write a deep interpretive thesis inspired by an artist’s work.

(If you can do this, do it now.  Struggle.  Contemplate. Draft. Re-write.  Do it now.)

Here’s the text: an image from Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing (Click to see a larger version).

If not…  here’s a process you can use (download the full process with examples?)

1)    Main impression: What’s it “about?”

2)    State the answer to #1 as an abstract idea or emotion.

3)    Find and opposite pair (dichotomy) related to the abstraction.

4)    State the author’s opinion on the dichotomy as an interpretive thesis.

Here are more possible alternative texts

Take a look and add your ideas about specific examples in comments link below.

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Year 11 Extension English “American Dreams” Research Task

Posted on April 30, 2012 by offner
 

(Source: Wikipedia - http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Statueofliberty.JPG/400px-Statueofliberty.JPG)

1. READ the writing task question (Qu. 6) at the bottom of this post.

2. SKIM read the following articles:

- Rethinking the American Dream, April 2009, By David Kamp:

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/04/american-dream200904

- Pres. Barack Obama’s November 7, 2007 speech on the American Dream:

http://articles.cnn.com/2007-12-21/politics/obama.trans.americandream_1_american-dream-food-stamps-home-state?_s=PM:POLITICS

- Commentary: Race and the American dream, July 23, 2009, By Roland S. Martin, CNN:

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-23/politics/martin.american.dream_1_african-americans-american-dream-whites?_s=PM:POLITICS

- Your emails: Chasing the American dream, October 18, 2006, CNN:

http://articles.cnn.com/2006-10-18/politics/dream.feedback_1_american-dream-dream-of-home-ownership-person?_s=PM:POLITICS

- American dream is about equality, not wealth, July 08, 2011, By Nicolaus Mills, CNN:

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-08/opinion/mills.debt.dream_1_american-dream-james-truslow-adams-puritans/3?_s=PM:OPINION

- What Happens to the American Dream in a Recession?, May 7, 2009, By Katharine Q. Seelye, The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/us/08dreampoll.html?_r=1

3. VIEW the following clips:

YouTube Preview Image YouTube Preview Image
YouTube Preview Image

4. EXPLORE the following websites:

http://www.theamericandreamfilm.com/

http://www.savingthedream.org/

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

5. TYPE “American dream” in to Google Images & VIEW the first page.

6. Then, WRITE one paragraph for each of the following subheadings, summarising what you have read from this research. Include at least one specific example of a dream in each paragraph.

What is the American Dream?

Historically:

Politically:

Economically:

Socially:

Culturally:

 

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Year 9 “Teenagers in Conflict” Web Site Evaluation Task

Posted on April 17, 2012 by offner

(Image from: http://understandingteenagers.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/teen-hates-you)

Examine the following ‘self help’ web sites about teenagers in conflict. Choose TWO sites and write THREE paragraphs for EACH of your chosen sites.

You are also required to read the two additional web pages and write ONE paragraph.

That means you are required to write a total of SEVEN paragraphs!

Web Sites:

1. Living with teens:

http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=114&np=99&id=1672

2. Communicating with your teenager:

http://abcdparenting.org/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=8&task=view.download&cid=23

3. Relationship Conflict: Being a Parent & Dealing with Teenagers:

http://www.couplecounselling.com.au/RelationshipInformation/TeenagersRelationshipConflict/tabid/216/Default.aspx

4. Parent & Teen Conflict: Choosing How to Respond:

http://understandingteenagers.com.au/blog/2010/07/parent-teen-conflict-choosing-how-to-respond/

Additional Web Pages:

- Why Your Teenager Hates You:

http://understandingteenagers.com.au/blog/2010/10/why-your-teenager-hates-you/

- 10 Ways To Alienate Your Teenager:

http://understandingteenagers.com.au/blog/2010/09/10-ways-to-alienate-your-teenager/

Below are questions you are required to answer in your paragraphs. There are also sentence starters to guide you in your writing if you are stuck…

Paragraph One:

- How does the site define teenagers in conflict?

This web site entitled ……………….. seems to define teenagers in conflict as ……………………..

OR

According to this web site, conflict with teenagers can be seen as ……………………….

- What suggestions does the site make about conflict resolution?

Firstly, this site suggests that one should ………………………

Secondly, ……………………………..

Furthermore, ……………………………..

Paragraph Two:

- Is the site reliable and valid?

To answer this you need to consider who wrote the site and if it contains facts and research from experts or merely opinions of unqualified people. Is the site mostly objective or subjective?

This site is reliable and valid because it is written by ……………………….. who is ………………….

The site contains   ……………….. and references …………………………………..

Paragraph Three:

- Analyse the visual AND language techniques of the site.

To answer this question you need to think of reasons why certain images, fonts, layouts and colours are used . You also need to describe the tone and register of the writing and other writing features such as emotive language, imagery and exaggeration. Remember, the purpose of a ‘self help’ web site is to persuade, inform and advise an intended audience. Who is the intended audience of your site? From whose point of view it is written?

Firstly, an image of …………………… and a ………………….. font have been used to create a ………………….. mood and persuade the viewer, a parent, to believe ……………………………..

Also, the layout is ……………………….. and features …………………………………., which …………………………….

Furthermore, ……………………………….

ADDITIONAL WEB PAGES:

Paragraph:

- Do you agree with the content on these pages? Why/why not?

- In your opinion, what kind of information or advice needs to be added or changed?

I agree with most of the content on these pages because ……………………………..

However, I think  …………………………………. should be added.

 

 

 

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Year 7 English Assessment #1: Picture Book

Posted on April 5, 2012 by offner

Click below.

Yr 7 #1 2012

Try the following website when choosing your mythological character and writing your story:

http://greekmythology.com/

And try these for story telling techniques:

http://www.marisamontes.com/writing_picture_books.htm

YouTube Preview Image

 

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