Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde assessment

June 18, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Year 9,

I know you found some of the questions on the novella difficult today – I suggest that you go on-line to reread the chapter called Incident of the Letter again (this is chapter 5.) You will be retelling the chapter from the point of view of Mr Guest, Mr Utterson’s clerk. Remember that Mr Utterson is a quiet, private and discrete person who would not share his thoughts with just anyone and Mr Guest will be aware of it. Write it as a diary entry that Mr Guest would write after his conversation with Mr Utterson. Remember Mr Utterson shows him the letter written by Hyde as well as a dinner invitation from Dr Jekyll. Mr Guest is something of a handwriting expert – so what does he notice? Would he speculate about something in his diary that he may not say to anybody else, not even to Mr Utterson?

And for those of you who say you have lost the thread of the plot – use your initiative and read a summary on-line!

Copies of the worksheet and the story board for your own Gothic film are pinned up in the classroom – please collect any of these resources if you need them.

The analytical essay – Fate in ‘Romeo and Juliet’

March 20, 2013 / / 1 Comment

During these last two weeks of term you will be writing your analytical essay. Our title is ‘How does William Shakespeare explore the idea of fate in his play ‘Romeo and Juliet’?. The finished essay needs to be handed in on the last day of term, Thursday 28th March. This will be your homework for this week and next and we will use lesson time, in which I will give you some oral feedback on your writing so far. Good luck!

Romeo and Juliet – Oxymorons

January 29, 2013 / / 0 Comments

The class looked closely at Romeo’s early speech in which he speaks in oxymorons in order to express his unrequited love for Rosaline.  Many of the tableaux created by the boys were really effective at showing the tension in the images. Well done!

Romeo and Juliet – The Prologue and its purpose.

January 29, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Last week we translated the prologue as a class and considered the question ‘Why does Shakespeare tell us the ending at the beginning?’ Ebeneezer made the well-observed comment that it forces the audience to react differently to the play. We discussed how ‘pageturners’ are all about how the plot advances, yet here we focus on the motivations and consider what could have happened if events had been different. We will return to this often as we read the play as it is central to our focus on fate.

Romeo and Juliet – Initial discussions

January 15, 2013 / / 0 Comments

This week we have started to delve into Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’.  The first task you approached with gusto was galloping around the classroom to the rhythm of iambic pentameter.  We established the natural rhythm and then went on to read the prologue.  Today we began to ask questions about why Shakespeare decided to write in iambic pentameter and Kai asked if this was used all the time in his plays.  We will see as we read the play. The second question we considered was how a playwright protected his ideas and writing in Elizabethan times. Akira suggested that the writer weave his name into the text at regular intervals (an interesting version of a trademark!) while Jonathan suggested a successful performance would secure recognition of the work. Lots of interesting discussion. Tomorrow we will look at your translations of the prologue.

Extended reading – Short Stories

October 24, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Your stories will be allocated to you on Thursday 25th October. Please read the following so that you are clear about your task.

Extended reading – Short Story Reading and Research project  – 2 weeks

How will we be working?

›  You will work in pairs – to choose somebody to work with you need to be sure that you will both contribute and that you will enjoy working collaboratively.

›  Good communication with each other will be important – email addresses, texting or if you live close to each other.

›  You need to be able to trust each other, share the work and feel comfortable working together.

›  You will be allocated a short story, each of you will have your own copy. You may annotate your copy.

›  You will have to read the story and then discuss it as partners and decide how you will present your story to the rest of the class. There is guidance on how to prepare for this.

›  You will also have to research the author of the story and present some information to the class about the author – it may be hard to find the information about some lesser known authors.

Outcome of the task:

›  You will present your story and your research on the author to the rest of the class.

›  Your teachers will assess your READING of the story and your PRESENTATION skills as well as the evidence of your COLLABORATION.

›  The rest of the class will be asked to peer assess your presentation and to give feedback to you about how well you have succeeded in presenting the story and author information to them.

How will we go about preparing?

›  You will use the skills you have developed during our short story unit this half term to inform your presentation.

›  Reading the story (2/3 times) and annotating it as you read will be important.

›  Discuss with your partner the story, what you wish to highlight in your presentation and HOW.

›  A short summary of the story may be useful.

›  You should also decide when is the most appropriate point at which to include the author information.

›  Openings – how does it start?

›  Characters and setting.

›  What developments, twists or unexpected events caught your attention?

›  How does it end? OR do you want to encourage the audience to read the story for themselves?

›  Anything particular to the story that stands out?

›  What can the reader infer?

›  What can you read out to the class to show us how language is used in the story?

›  Did any part of the story cause you problems?

›  Did you have any questions you would like to ask the author?

›  How successful is the story? Would you recommend it to other readers?

Researching the author:

›  Who is the author?

›  Any dates relevant e.g. born/died/first published/won an award?

›  What type of writing is this person known for?

›  Any other work we should know about/read?

›  Anything important about the setting or time the story was written?

›  Do we have a picture or portrait of the author?

How can we present our work?

›  You can incorporate film, PowerPoint, drama, hand-outs, pictures anything that will help to engage the audience’s attention during your presentation.

›  You can use props to help illustrate the story.

›  You should aim to read some extracts to the audience (this need not be long) or you can act out a part of the story.

›  You presentation can be from 5 to 15 minutes long.

 

Comparing Short Stories

October 18, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Year 9 we are looking forward to marking your essays comparing Vendetta and The Schoolteacher’s Guest. We will set you a reading  task linked to short stories next week – if you have a favourite short story author you would like to research this is your chance to make a suggestion. You will be asked to read a short story, prepare a presentation for the class on the story and the author. You will be able to do this in pairs – if you have any suggestions why not leave a comment on this blog? We will be setting it up for Tuesday so please feel free to make suggestions!

Ms L & Dr O