Year 12 ATAR English
2017/18
Year 12 ATAR Description
Unit 3
Students explore representations of themes, issues, ideas and concepts through a comparison of texts. They analyse and compare the relationships between language, genre and contexts, comparing texts within and/or across different genres and modes. Students recognise and analyse the conventions of genre in texts and consider how those conventions may assist interpretation. Students compare and evaluate the effect of different media, forms and modes on the structure of texts and how audiences respond to them. Understanding of these concepts is demonstrated through the creation of imaginative, interpretive, persuasive and analytical responses.
Unit 4
Students examine different interpretations and perspectives to develop further their knowledge and analysis of purpose and style. They challenge perspectives, values and attitudes in texts, developing and testing their own interpretations through debate and argument. Through close study of texts, students explore relationships between content and structure, voice and perspectives and the text and context. This provides the opportunity for students to extend their experience of language and of texts and explore their ideas through their own reading and viewing. Students demonstrate understanding of the texts studied through creation of imaginative, interpretive, persuasive and analytical responses.
Year 12 Team
Mr Phillip Taylor (Head of Learning Area) Mr Rebecca Battersby Ms Eleanor Glacken
Year 12 ATAR Learning Outcomes
Through their study of Unit 3, students will:
· understand relationships between texts, audiences, purposes, genres and contexts
· investigate the effects of different conventions and media on responses
· create oral, written and multimodal texts in a range of media and styles.
Through their study of Unit 4, students will:
· understand how content, structure, voice and perspectives in texts shape responses and interpretations
· examine different interpretations of texts and how these resonate with, or challenge, their own responses
· create oral, written and multimodal texts in a range of forms, media and styles.
Course Aims
The English ATAR course aims to develop students’:
· skills in listening, speaking, reading, viewing and writing
· capacity to create texts for a range of purposes, audiences and contexts
· understanding and appreciation of different uses of language.
· understanding of the use of language for communication.
· skills in analysing, evaluating and creating sustained imaginative, interpretive and persuasive texts in a range of modes
· skills in critical analysis and evaluation.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION – READ CAREFULLY
! It is an expectation that students will have read and/or viewed all texts prior to the date they are due to be studied in class and that all secondary reading/viewing allocated to be completed at home will be completed in a timely manner.
! Students will be supplied with a Course and Assessment Outline and a copy of the relevant Syllabus and Glossary documents; in turn, all students are expected to familiarise themselves with these documents, paying particular attention to the key terms/concepts therein.
! Each unit of work is framed by an inquiry question, which guides thinking and study for that unit.
! Consequences for late assessments are guided by the St Stephen’s School Assessment Policy. Extensions for work will not be given unless students arrange one with their teacher prior to the due date. Extensions will be given only in exceptional circumstances.
! Please note that assessment tasks may be submitted prior to the due date at a time that best suits a student’s individual assessment loads.
! The design of the ATAR English course at St Stephens School Carramar allows for continual and regular revision of and engagement with exam writing, contemporary issues and ideas, and a variety of different texts. Breadth and depth of engagement with different texts and ideas continues to be a vital part of this course and is key to a student’s success. In this regard, students are expected to manage a range of information, instruction and activities that, at times, overlap. Organisation is a vital prerequisite.
! The Knowledge, Understanding and Skills that guide each unit of work in this program represent the core learning of the unit, learning that builds one unit from the last, cumulatively through the entire course. If students are struggling with their learning at any stage, we encourage and invite them to come forward and address this with their teacher. Each student implies, by entering this course, that they are motivated to learn and willing to do the reading and writing vital to success.
! The English Department reserves the right to alter this course if required due to unforeseen circumstances or because of the particular needs of the students.
Term One
Weeks 2 – 9 / Syllabus Content / AssessmentFocus
The teenager in fiction.
A new era in fiction begins?
Text as cultural voice.
Framing Statement:
The world was here before you were! / Unit Three / Task and Due Date
Compare texts from similar or different genres and contexts by:
· analysing and evaluating how similar themes, issues, ideas and concepts are treated in different texts
· analysing language, structural and stylistic choices
· explaining how each text conforms to or challenges the conventions of particular genres / Task One
In class essay (7.5%)
Week 5
60 minutes
Documentary Comparison
Task Two
In class essay (7.5%)
Week 9
60 minutes
Novel Analysis
Compare and contrast distinctive features of genres by:
· analysing the techniques and conventions used in different genres
· examining how genres and their conventions have changed and been adapted over time.
Analyse and critically appraise how the conventions of texts influence responses, including:
· how responses to texts and genres may change over time and in different cultural contexts
· the role of the audience in making meaning
Create a range of texts:
· transforming and adapting texts for different purposes, contexts and audiences
· making innovative and imaginative use of language features
· sustaining analysis and argument
· using strategies for planning, drafting, editing and proofreading
Reflect on their own and others’ texts by:
· analysing and evaluating how different texts represent similar ideas in different ways.
KEY TEACHING POINTS / RESOURCES
NOTE: There is a high viewing and reading expectation for this unit (including a number of secondary readings). It is the responsibility of students to manage this load. In this regard, we expect an average of 30 minutes per night of English reading, viewing and writing.
NOTE: Students should begin reading The Catcher in the Rye immediately; it should be completed by the start of Week 6.
NOTE: Students will be given a study package to complete in preparation for their Semester, Mock and WACE Exams.
Weeks 2 – 5 Documentary and Expository Readings
1. Understand the importance of secondary reading and how it works to deepen and evidence understanding of primary texts.
2. Define the concept of identity; debating whether identity is static or malleable; discussing whether there is such a thing as a true identity and whether someone can ‘find’ their identity; whether there is a sense of developmental identity – an identity commonly shared that arises from a particular developmental stage.
3. Explore identity as something that is developed, shaped, created and nurtured. Consider the factors that may influence this development.
4. Read “The Invention of Teenagers: LIFE and the Triumph of Youth Culture” and excerpts from Teenage: The Prehistory of Youth Culture: 1875-1945.
5. Discuss the notion of a universal teenage identity.
6. Evaluate and discuss the Teenage Bill of Rights (January 7 1945) – does this apply to today’s youth? How does contemporary cultural context influence the answer to this question? How would students change the Teenage Bill of Rights to ‘fit’ todays cultural context in Australia?
7. Compare whether current-day ideas, customs, and social behaviours of youth culture are fundamentally inspired by the same wants and desires despite the changing contexts that influence cultural expression in the past.
8. View and analyse the documentary Teenage (2013) with an emphasis on the genesis and cultural evolution of the teenager, of the adolescent.
9. Explore the intersection between context and teen culture, accounting for contrasting manifestations of similar motivations.
10. Examine how the documentary rewrites the history of the adolescent to argue that the notion of the “teenager” did not begin in the 1940s, as is widely believed.
11. Explore advertising images aimed at teenagers over time to explore the connection between the rise of the teenager and consumerism.
12. Examine how advertisements today continue to target and construct teen culture – in Western societies such as ours, what values and attitudes motivate the development of teen culture.
13. View and discuss the documentary American Teen (2008). Close analysis of each of the five protagonists – debate the authenticity of each perspective and how each person is represented as archetypal, as individual, and as part of a group.
14. Explore the concepts of voice and perspective and how they might be related.
15. Examine the different voices and perspectives offered by the documentary, both implied (of the documentarian) and explicit.
16. Examine how each documentary fulfils its purpose through a close analysis of generic conventions, structure and form.
Weeks 6 – 9 Novel Study: The Catcher in the Rye
NOTE: It is an expectation that students will have read the novel prior to the commencement of Week 6
1. Cultural context – burgeoning American industrial economy and prosperity; entrenched social rules as a code of conformity for the younger generation.
2. Countercultural revolution and the 1950s and 1960s: Caulfield as a symbol of young people everywhere, pressured to grow up and live their lives according to the rules, to disengage from meaningful human connection, and to restrict their own personalities and conform to a bland cultural norm.
3. To whom and for whom does the novel speak? Investigate the voice of Caulfield as icon of teenage rebellion, nihilism and angst.
4. Caulfield as a symbol of pure, unfettered individuality in the face of cultural oppression.
5. The novel as bildungsroman (genre) – Caulfield’s fear of change and the process of maturation.
6. Caulfield as unreliable narrator – lies, truth and assumption.
7. Caulfield’s alienation as root of his pain, as source of his strength and his problems.
8. Phoniness – adulthood as superficial, hypocritical and shallow.
9. Adulthood v childhood – symbolism and the fantasy about catcher in the rye
10. Slang, profanity and adolescent sexuality: provoking/challenging embedded conservatism.
11. The first of its type – teenager as protagonist. The start of a new genre or a specific manifestation of the coming of age story? / Documentary
Teenage (2013)
American Teen (2008)
Novel
The Catcher in the Rye 1951
Website
http://www.teenagefilm.com
Expository Excerpts
“The Invention of Teenagers: LIFE and the Triumph of Youth Culture”
Teenage: The Prehistory of Youth Culture: 1875-1945
Term Two
Weeks 1 – 11 / Syllabus Content / AssessmentFocus
Genre over time – adaptation, evolution and change.
The teenager – authentic voice, shared perspectives.
Framing Statement:
Your voice, your time is important. / UNIT THREE / Task and Due Date
Compare texts from similar or different genres and contexts by:
· analysing language, structural and stylistic choices / Task Three
Tutorial Presentation (10%)
Weekly over the course of the term 2.
Students will individually deliver a tutorial of one period in length (50 minutes) that focuses on film texts given by the teacher.
Task Four
In class essay (7.5%)
Week 7
In class 60 minutes
On Hughes’ body of work (80s films).
Task Five
Composing narrative (5%)
Week 10
In class 60 minutes
Series of 3 narrative entries written from the perspective of Sam or Mary-Elizabeth.
Task Six
In class essay (7.5%)
Week 11
In class 60 minutes
Comparative film and novel.
Compare and contrast distinctive features of genres by:
· not the focus of this unit
Analyse and critically appraise how the conventions of texts influence responses, including:
· the ways language patterns can create shades of meaning
· how expectations of genres have developed and the effect when those expectations are met or not met, extended or subverted
Create a range of texts:
· transforming and adapting texts for different purposes, contexts and audiences
· using and experimenting with text structures and language features related to specific genres for particular effects
· using strategies for planning, drafting, editing and proofreading.
Reflect on their own and others’ texts by:
· analysing and evaluating how different texts represent similar ideas in different ways
KEY TEACHING POINTS / RESOURCES
NOTE: Students need to have finished reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by the beginning of Week 8.
NOTE: The viewing expectations of this unit require each student to view at least one film per week. Some films are categorised as compulsory (Comp.) others as recommended (Rec.).
NOTE: It is an expectation that all students will view the compulsory film texts – of which there are six. Opportunities will be made available after school as part of a regular film club to accommodate this request. If students cannot attend, it is their responsibility to catch up at home.
NOTE: Introduce and discuss documentary task due next term and examine best examples and processes from 2017.
Weeks 1 – 3: Golden Era Teen Films
1. Examine and evaluate early examples of the teenager through golden era films such as Rebel Without a Cause, Black Board Jungle, and Gidget – refer to specific scenes for analysis.
2. Close analysis of selected scenes from these films and the visual language used to construct particular ideas and themes.
3. Close analysis of one golden era film completed in class – Cornell note taking and film deconstruction.
4. Compare how these films offer particular perspectives on identity, rebellion, innocence, sexuality, conformity, defiance and alienation.
5. Compare and discuss influences on adolescent characters in these films, accounting for similarities and differences.
6. Apply the information gleaned from this discussion to the framing statement, with a particular focus on cultural and situational context.