Karen Yager NSR Professional Learning and Leadership Coordinator & UNSW
MODULE B: Close Study of Text
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Rubric from Prescriptions
MODULE B: Close Study of Text
Prescriptions Document
This module requires students to engage in detailed analysis of a text. It develops students’ understanding of how the ideas, forms and language of a text interact within the text and may affect those responding to it.
English Stage 6 Syllabus
This module requires students to engage in detailed analysis of a text. It develops students’ understanding of how the ideas, forms and language of a text interact within the text and may affect those responding to it. Each elective in this module involves close study of a single text from a list of prescribed texts.
Students engage with the text to respond imaginatively, affectively and critically. They explore and analyse particular characteristics of the text, considering how these shape meaning. They also consider the ways in which these characteristics establish the text’s distinctive qualities. Composition focuses on meaning shaped in and through the text. These compositions may be realised in a variety of forms and media.
Analysis of rubric for key ideas
As Module B requires you to study closely the novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in The Night Time, you need to ensure that you have a thorough understanding of all aspects of the novel. The rubric suggests the following key ideas, which represent Deep Learning:
§ Construction: How meaning is shaped and conveyed through the interaction in the novel of:
- Ideas: The personal and intellectual connection we have with a novel through the thoughts and conceptual understanding that are provoked.
- Form: The genre and structure of the novel.
- Language: The words, images, dialogue and conventions that communicate meaning.
§ Positioning: How a reader is affected by the novel’s textual details and features and positioned to respond
§ Textual Integrity: How the unified characteristics of a text establish its distinctive features
Assessment
Assessment for learning in this unit includes:
1. Paper 2 Section 2 of the HSC English exam for Standard:
§ A formal response to a set question.
2. One HSC assessment task:
§ Oral Task:
3. A variety of opportunities for formal and informal classroom assessment, including writing based on the novel and a range of tasks from detailed analysis of the novel using mind maps and group presentations to facilitate the process of responding imaginatively, affectively and critically to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
Syllabus outcomes
In Paper 1 of the HSC exam for the Standard and Advanced courses the examiners can vary the outcomes that are assessed. In 2007 the HSC exam addressed the following outcomes:
§ H1, H3, H4, H6, H10, H12
The assessment task in this unit addresses the following outcomes:
§ Oral Task:
Outcomes to be assessed:
1. A student demonstrates understanding of how relationships between composer, responder, text and context shape meaning.
4. A student describes and analyses the ways that language forms and features, and structures of texts shape meaning and influence responses.
6. A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally.
7. A student selects appropriate language forms and features, and structures of texts to explore and express ideas and values.
10. A student analyses and synthesises information and ideas into sustained and logical argument for a range of purposes and audiences.
Rationale for approach used in this teaching program
This module requires you to have a close, detailed knowledge and understanding of the novel and Mark Haddon’s craft. The 2007 Notes from the Marking Centre stated that ‘Better responses demonstrated a deep understanding of an idea or related ideas, drawing on detailed textual knowledge.’ Thus, the unit of work focuses on engaging you personally and deeply with the prescribed text The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time through a range of activities on all aspects of the novel such as: setting, characterisation, themes, key incidents, the main ideas, the structure and the language of the novel.
The assessment task is an oral task that requires close personal engagement with the novel and the main character Christopher Boone.
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Karen Yager NSR Professional Learning and Leadership Coordinator & UNSW
Week 1: Introduction to Module B and Novel – ‘I better make the plot good. I wanted to make it grip people on the first page and have a big turning point in the middle, as there is, and construct the whole thing like a roller coaster ride’ Mark Haddon.
Syllabus content / Quality Teaching / Learning and teaching activities4.1 / Background knowledge: Connecting prior knowledge to novel / Lesson 1: Roller Coaster Ride on a Good Book
‘I remember a picture from an encyclopedia in my junior science library. It was a medieval woodcut of a man who had climbed a long ladder and found himself touching the sphere on which the stars revolved. He'd removed a panel from the sphere and was staring through the hole into the outer darkness. This is what I now want from a good book. I want to be taken to the very edge. I want a glimpse into that outer darkness’ Mark Haddon. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/apr/11/booksforchildrenandteenagers.features3
Class Discussion
After viewing the slideshow of images and quotes from the novel and the short film clip from Youtube discuss the following questions:
1. Have the images and words gripped you and made you want to read the novel? Why or why not?
2. What do the quotes from the syllabus rubric and the 2007 Notes from the Marking Centre tell you about what you are expected to do when you study this novel and respond to the question in Paper 2 of the HSC?
3. What genre is this novel? How do you know?
4. What is your impression of the narrator Christopher Boone?
6.3 / Narrative: Linking the telling of a good story to the novel / Lesson 2: Establishing Voice and a Gripping Plot
Haddon has established a strong, believable voice for 15-year old Christopher. This unusual voice with its honesty and simplicity captures our interest and adds to the intrigue and mystery in the story. Read the first page and note how his voice has been created through his simple sentences, honest observations, emoticons (symbols used to convey emotional content), relaying of dialogue and seemingly unrelated observations of things such as the Milky Way. He has grabbed our attention by engaging us in the mystery of who killed Wellington the dog next door with his matter of fact observations.
‘To take a life that seemed horribly constrained, to write about it in the kind of book that the hero would read - a murder mystery - and hopefully show that if you viewed this life with sufficient imagination it would seem infinite’ Mark Haddon. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/apr/11/booksforchildrenandteenagers.features3
Imagine that like Haddon you wanted to construct a novel like a roller coaster ride with the main character as the narrator. Before you start consider the following:
§ Think of how you would start the novel: Would you begin with an unusual event or a mystery? Think about the length of your sentences and the choice of words such as striking verbs.
§ Select the character you will use to tell the story and the voice that you will give the character. How old is the character, how do they see the world and how do they get on with others? When you create his or her voice read your work aloud to check if the voice sounds authentic and establishes their personality and view of the world.
Write the opening four to five paragraphs of the novel. When it is completed get another person to read it and evaluate whether the story engages them and if the voice of the character is convincing and appealing.
NB
Make sure that you are reading the novel!
4.1
4.2 / Background knowledge: Employing questions on extracts from the novel to ascertain knowledge of analysing text
Metalanguage: Analysing the textual features of the novel using the correct terms / Lesson 3: First Impressions
Read the extracts from the novel on Activity Sheet 1, complete the questions and share your responses with the class. Alternatively attempt the Extension activity.
Extension
Instead of completing the questions, compose a personal response to the following:
What impression do you have after reading this extract of the character/s, the setting, the theme/s and the language of the novel?
In your response, describe how the textual details and features shaped this impression.
Assessment Task
You will have one assessment task for Module B:
§ An oral task with a range of topics to select
The task requires a thorough understanding of how the novel’s textual features and details convey meaning and impact on you as a reader.
1.1
1.2
1.4
6.2
7.1
10.1 / Substantive communication: students to respond to and discuss at length the key concept of contextualisation
Connectedness: Connecting concept of contextualisation with students’ contexts / Lesson 4: The importance of Context
§ The son of an architect, Haddon excelled at maths but went on to read English at Oxford, and then became a carer for disabled people in Scotland before becoming a children’s writer and illustrator in London.
§ Haddon's knowledge of aspergers comes from his work with autistic people as a young man – ‘If you're going to write something dark and funny about disability, you have to feel comfortable with your subject.’ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/mark-haddon-first-he-tackled-aspergers-now-the-writer-is-putting-downs-syndrome-in-the-spotlight-with-a-new-drama-463565.html
§ ‘I am atheist in a very religious mould’
§ Excelled in Mathematics
Record and then share your responses to the following questions:
How could the following factors influence the way you see the world and respond to others?
a. Personal context: Christopher is autistic and his mother is supposedly dead. How could an individual’s family, age, life experiences, gender, ethnicity, etc shape his or her perspectives, attitudes and values?
b. Geographical location: Christopher lives in the suburbs where most people know each other. Does where you live have an impact on your attitudes and the way you respond to others?
c. Social context: Christopher’s autism means that he cannot read people’s emotions; therefore, his social interaction with others is challenging. List a range of different social contexts and describe the possible consequences of these contexts.
d. Values: What do you value in others and in life? Christopher is angered by people who are not truthful. Identify four values that are evident in the novel such as honesty and integrity.
Homework Research
Visit the following two websites to read about Haddon’s context and make some brief notes:
§ Author Profile, http://www.jubileebooks.co.uk/jubilee/magazine/authors/mark_haddon/haddon_profile.asp
§ Biography and critical discussion of the novel, http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth3e38026813f8c194e5nnw1cf3087
Activity Sheet 1:
Opening of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Activity Sheet 2a:
Extracts from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
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The policeman looked at me for a while without speaking. Then he said, 'I am arresting you for assaulting a police officer.'
This made me feel a lot calmer because it is what policeman say on television and in films.
Then he said, 'I strongly advise you to get into the back of the police car because if you try any of that monkey-business again, you little shit, I will seriously lose my rag. Is that understood?'
I walked over to the police car which was parked just outside the gate. He opened the back door and I got inside. He climbed into the driver's seat and made a call on his radio to the policewoman who was still inside the house. He said, 'The little bugger just had a pop at me, Kate. Can you hang on with Mrs S while I drop him off at the station? I'll get Tony to swing by and pick you up.'
And she said, 'Sure. I'll catch you later.'
The policeman said, 'Okey-doke,' and we drove off.
The police car smelt of hot plastic and aftershave and take-away chips.
I watched the sky as we drove towards the town centre. It was a clear night and you could see the Milky Way.
Some people think the Milky Way is a long line of stars, but it isn't. Our galaxy is a huge disc of stars millions of light years across and the solar system is somewhere near the outside edge of the disc.
When you look in direction A, at 90º to the disc, you don't see many stars. But when you look in direction B, you see lots more stars because you are looking into the main body of the galaxy, and because the galaxy is a disc you see a stripe of stars.
And then I thought about how, for a long time scientists were puzzled by the fact that the sky is dark at night, even though there are billions of stars in the universe and there must be stars in every direction you look, so that the sky should be full of starlight because there is very little in the way to stop the light reaching earth.
Then they worked out that the universe was expanding, that the stars were all rushing away from one another after the Big Bang, and the further the stars were away from us the faster they were moving, some of them nearly as fast as the speed of light, which was why their light never reached us.
I like this fact. It is something you can work out in your own mind just by looking at the sky above your head at night and thinking without having to ask anyone.
And when the universe has finished exploding all the stars will slow down, like a ball that has been thrown into the air, and they will come to a halt and they will all begin to fall towards the centre of the universe again. And then there will be nothing to stop us seeing all the stars in the world because they will all be moving towards us, gradually faster and faster, and we will know that the world is going to end soon because when we look up into the sky at night there will be no darkness, just the blazing light of billions and billions of stars, all falling.
Except that no one will see this because there will be no people left on the earth to see it. They will probably have become extinct by then. And even if there are people still in existence they will not see it because the light will be so bright and hot that everyone will be burnt to death, even if they live in tunnels.