9-11B2

Summary of Lesson 1:

In this week’s lesson we began with an introduction and overview of the central themes and context of War Horse. We also looked at author intent (why did Morpurgo do X, Y or Z) and, combining these ideas with the central themes identified, wrote P.E.E. paragraphs about the novel’s message. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our discussions of the main themes and the semantic field of the novel, along with some historical facts and figures on the context of the First World War, and some comparative work involving a poem about horses in battle and a painting from 1914 of the battlefield. I was super impressed by the work done in this class, there was so much amazing energy and input from everyone in the lesson and we had some really constructive and lively debates. The sophistication and maturity of the discussions and contributions in this class were exceptional, absolutely everyone did really brilliantly today- well done!

Homework:

I think that R.J.Palacio didn’t turn Julian into a good guy is probably, because he was a bad boy in general and his mother was the counselor in the school and they had no right to control over him. Another reason is because, this a very simple decision, but she wanted to do that, and that could help learn other kids that if they do something wrong and they were trying to be popular, they would be in a risk and just be a nice kid will make you more popular. She might also not make him change, because he was lonely and some people are lonely they could get quite angry to be more popular, though it is the opposite. Finally, if she did want to make Julian learn the lesson, she might thought that it will teach kids what happen if you carried on and the consequences about carrying on.

Is war horse helpful to children learning about world war I ?

In my opinion I think that war horse is really helpful to students learning about the world war one and horses.

War horse tells them that people from the world war used horses to ride in war and it tells facts about the horses like many thousands and millions of horses didn’t come back. Also it tells you that some horses even died of exhaustion because they had travelled to many different countries. It also tells you that England and Germany was in the war. Even regular farm horses had to do a lot of jobs like pulling carts with injured men, pulling carts with gun, pulling supply carts and also help the soldiers at war. Did you know that 136,000 horses went in the war but only one horse (Sandy) came back! The book war horse also tells you about the people who were just having a normal life like being a butcher but in the end they had to be soldiers to help there country. Even the most kindest and humblest soldiers lost their lives to a war. There were even horses that switched from side to side like an English horse that the Germans got hold of. The war lasted for about 3 years and it stopped on November the 11th so that is why we have remembrance day.

As war horse tells you all these stuff about horses, soldiers and war so people studying about the world war I so they should definitely read this book.

Summary of Lesson 2:

In this week’s lesson we dug deeper into War Horse, considering in  particular the style and narrative voice of the novel. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our discussions of the effect of the style of narration on how the book is told along with some textual analysis of a battle scene, work on literary techniques and how to identify them and some guidelines for writing P.E.E. paragraphs about the themes in Joey’s narration. This lesson was very debate centred and everyone did really well, offering lots of brilliant, well-thought through and interesting contributions. Today’s lesson was jam-packed full of lots of different information and everyone kept concentration at all times, and did really well in applying the ideas explored at the beginning of the lesson to the discussions we had later on. Well done everyone, keep up the good work! I’m very happy with this class, they always demonstrate a lot of maturity and wisdom beyond their years 🙂

Homework:

Ray’s homework #1

War horse is helpful for students learning World War One. It gives a mass amount of description about the war and how it looks from a perspective of a German horse and an English horse. This mean he can talk about struggles about the war from each side {Germany and England}. The book tells us a lot of key facts about World War One. Did you know that in 1918, England had 475,000 horses! Also, the main strategy for England was to bombard the Germans and fight in close combat. Joey also describes the diversity between the two countries {one was high tech by using guns and the other are just using horses}. Kind and nice people were forced to fight for their country. What they deserved were the entire opposite of what was happening. They did not deserve to have harsh rations and be stuck in trenches. The war ended in Nov 11, 1918 after 4 years of shooting and war.  Joey is a horse and always sits on the fence. He can describe the what happens since he can see from both sides. Joey can also describe whether war makes the worse of people or the best.

I believe that people should read War Horse since it teaches them a lot about World War One.

Summary of Lesson 3

In this final lesson on War Horse, we delved a bit deeper into close textual analysis and how to write about word choice and literary techniques in a literary context. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our discussions of essay structure, guidelines for writing P.E.E. paragraphs on analysing quotations, and lots of important information in terms of what to include in the homework essays. We had a particularly lovely discussion at the end of today’s lesson about what everyone had learned from War Horse, and what themes and messages they found most powerful and were most likely to take away from having read the book. We spoke about warfare, bravery, friendship, determination and much more. Today’s lesson was really content-heavy with loads of ideas, debates and exercises packed into the hour and everyone did amazingly well at churning out idea after idea and consistently contributing to the lesson. I was really impressed by the knowledge displayed by the class of literary techniques, wider thematic elements to the text and how to structure essays. Well done everyone and I look forward to our next lesson together! 🙂

Homework:

Ray homework

https://1drv.ms/w/s!ApZHKeljp-KzcH-Y6ib87PsCPUU

What is the moral of war horse ?

In my opinion I think that the moral of war horse is that the war is like an endless gulf or pit so when it starts it makes everyone’s lives more difficult. War horse also tells you are how brave some people are about being a soldier or a horse going to war. It is also about friendship like Joey and Albert at first met Albert instantly wanted Joey as his horse that means there is great friendship between them. It also tells you when Joey got injured in no mans land and a welsh person found him and when Albert didn’t know him at first but when Joey heard Albert’s name being called out Joey used his last strength to try and call him. That means that they love each other and they show friendship and made it out of the war together. It is about bravery because to get out of the war they had to be brave and get out of it together as Joey wouldn’t have been able to get out of war but all the courage that was given to him so he could face all them battles. I also think that without the bravery none of them could have gotten out of the war. It is also about confidence and courage because if they weren’t as confident there country would have been taken over by another country. And if they weren’t as courage none of them could have made it through the war as it is all about encouraging each other like the way Albert sat next to Joey when he wasn’t well and after that Joey felt better and was back.

Summary of Lesson 4

In today’s lesson we began looking at a new book: Holes by Louis Sachar. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains loads of information on the context of Holes, along with our notes from discussing the semantic field and themes of the book, and an example P.E.E. paragraph on the theme of ‘fate’ within the book. We had a great discussion on everyone’s favourite and least favourite parts of the book, and everyone did some great work on coming up with words they associated with Holes in order to form a wider semantic field. Everyone did really well in today’s lesson, there was so really lovely and thoughtful comments, questions and ideas on the book as a whole and everyone did really well with learning the context of the story. It was a complex lesson today, with loads of information to take in and some tricky concepts to unpick, and I was really impressed by everyone’s attitude to class today, as well as with their contributions. Well done and keep up the good work 🙂

Homework

Ray’s homework

Hi Beth,

Please check my homework for this week’s lesson.
Thanks!
Shaopan

Dear Beth,

Please check my homework for lesson 5 as attached below(Can Holes be considered as a modern fairy tale?).

Thanks!

Alvin

Hi Beth, please tell me where is homework for yesterday lesson. Thanks

 

Dear Beth,

Please check my homework for lesson 5 as attached below(Can Holes be considered as a modern fairy tale?).

Thanks!

Huayi

Summary for Lesson 5

In this week’s today we looked at narrative style and genre. The powerpoint with all the resources is attached below, and considers things such as how to identify genre, close textual analysis of excerpts and ideas on symbolism and narrative voice. We discussed and debated the use of literary techniques and the importance of names in terms of both symbolism and in relation to Holes as a modern fairy-tale. Everyone did brilliantly today, it was a very enjoyable and vibrant lesson and I loved everyone’s fantastic energy and their really thoughtful and interesting contributions. I look forward to our next lesson 🙂

 

Homework:

 

Summary for Lesson 6

In this final lesson on Holes, we looked more closely at how to conduct close textual analysis and how to write about thematic and symbolic material in a literary context using quotational evidence. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our work on analysising a poem from Holes, essay structure, how to include themes when analysising the text, and some more general discussion about the moral and message of Holes. We had an amazing discussion at the end of today’s lesson about what everyone had learned from Holes, and what themes and messages they found most powerful. Everyone did really brilliantly today, I was particularly impressed by their re-imagining of Sachar’s poem and how they wrote their own verses. I loved all the passion and enthusiasm the class displayed when we were discussing Holes at the end of the lesson, and the fact that everyone was super engaged and gave some amazing contributions. Well done guys, I look forward to studying our next book together! 🙂

Homework

Hi Beth,

Please check my homework for lesson 6 as attached below. I chose the first question (What does the title Holes mean?).

Thanks!

Alvin

Why is the book called Holes?
Well, in my opinion, I think that holes mean a bunch of things. Like if you weren’t paying enough attention to anything you could walk into a hole and get stuck. That is a bit like what happens to Stanley as he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going so he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. People in camp green lake have to dig holes because it is to believe that if you dig a hole 5ft across and 5ft deep you would become a better person. If you think about a hole you would think of something dark because when you look inside a hole all you can see in the darkness. If you ruin your life you can imagine the life ahead of you won’t be bright it would be all dark. But I think that they actually dig holes because the warden actually wants to find valuable things like that time when Stanley found a sign with a heart that said K.B and it stood for Kate Barlow. But Stanley gave it to X-Ray and they were digging the wrong place. I think that Louis Sachar chose this book because if you make the wrong decisions in life your life ahead of you will be a dark and miserable life so he wrote this book as Stanley stole the shoes which isn’t true Zero did. That is why I thought Louis Sachar wrote this book.

 

Ray’s homework

Dear Beth,
This is my attached homework for Lesson 3 on “Holes”

Shaopan

Summary for Lesson 7

In today’s lesson we began looking at a new book: Wonder by R. J Palacio. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains loads of information on the context of Wonder, information and things to consider about people with disabilities and their lives, along with our notes from discussing the semantic field and themes of the book, and an example P.E.E. paragraph on the theme of ‘otherness’ within the book. We had a great discussion on everyone’s favourite and least favourite parts of the book, and everyone did some great work on linking a poem written by a disabled poet with the wider themes and message in Wonder. I was really impressed by everyone’s work today, you all worked extremely hard and came up with some lovely ideas about the moral of Wonder, the way in which themes are explored and the importance of kindness and friendship in the book. I was also really impressed by the maturity with which topics such as disability were handled, and how sensitive and thoughtful everyone was in discussing them. I loved teaching today’s lesson, everyone was amazing today so really well done guys, we had some fantastic contributions and ideas floating around today! I will see you soon🙂

Homework

 

Does August Pullman think he is an ordinary boy or extraordinary?
In my opinion I  think that August thinks he is a bit of both because in the first chapter it says that I know I am not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. That means that he knows he is not an ordinary kid like everyone else. But it also says that ‘I mean, sure I do ordinary thing that most kids would do’ I think what August is saying is that he does normal things like ordinary people do but he isn’t treated normally or looks normally. I also think that everyone treats him differently as Augusts’s mum treats him very special, Julian and Eddie treated him very unkindly as Julian put rude notes in Augusts’s locker and Eddie got into a physical fight with August and his friends. Daisy treats August just as she treats everyone else because out of a dog’s eyes humans all look the same. But if I had to choose one I would say August thinks of himself as extraordinary as in the blurb it says ‘I won’t describe to you how I look like. Whatever you are thinking it is probably worse.’ This means that he thinks he is extraordinary because it means that he thinks of himself as being very ugly. It also says in the first chapter ‘Via doesn’t see me as ordinary. She says she does, but if I were ordinary, she wouldn’t feel like she needs to protect me as much.’ As it says, but if I were ordinary, so that means he doesn’t find himself as ordinary as the other kids because Via is protecting her.

 

 

Sorry I mean Via is always protecting him

Dear Beth,
This is my homework for Lesson 1 on Wonder.
Please check it and give feedback.
Thanks!
Shaopan

Hi Beth,

Attached below is the homework for Lesson 7, Wonder. Please check my homework!

Thanks

Alvin

Hi Beth,

Attached below is the homework for Lesson 7, Wonder, first lesson. Please check my homework!

Thanks

Huayi

https://1drv.ms/w/s!ApZHKeljp-KzeJXfw8cjfVht0LI

My homework

Hi Beth,

Attached below is my homework for lesson 8, Wonder. Please check my homework!

Thanks

Alvin

Summary for Lesson 8

In today’s lesson we continued our work on Wonder, considering the significance of character development in the story, along with ideas of narrative. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains lots of thoughts about the skill set needed for inference, how to analyse characterisation, thoughts on Palacio’s use of narrative voice and how different perspectives may change that, and finally, some quick-fire questions to help the students think more deeply about the style and nature of Palacio’s writing. The quick-fire questions in the powerpoint can also be chosen as the homework question if anyone would rather discuss characterisation than narrative for their homework mini-essay (the students already know about this). Today’s lesson was really fab, I was really impressed by the contributions but particularly by everyone’s thoughtfulness and excellent acting skills in the hot-seating exercise that was designed to help everyone put their character inferences into practice. Everyone today was really engaged and on the ball and I really enjoyed teaching this class, we had some lovely discussions and debates on all aspects of the narration in Wonder and I felt like this was one of our most productive, interesting and sparky lessons yet! Amazing work everyone, really well done and I look forward to our next class together 🙂

Homework

 

 

 

https://1drv.ms/w/s!ApZHKeljp-Kzft9CIc0Idz9oexE

Hi Beth,

Attached below is my homework for lesson 8, Wonder. Please check my homework!

Thanks

Alvin

 

Improvement of Ray’s writing mock

Why do you think R.J. Palacio chooses to tell the story through so many different narrators and from so many different points of view?

In my opinion, I think that R.J Palacio chooses different narrators to tell the story because it makes it more interesting as you can learn a bit from that narrator from the past that the reader didn’t know. Like when it said that Jack had already see August when he was eating ice-cream with his brother, the readers didn’t know that they had met before but if you told it in just Auggie’s point of view you wouldn’t know that because August didn’t see Jack although Jack saw him. It also says how Via felt like in her life because August is just guessing that Via hates it when people stare at him and is so protective but, in the part about Via it says that she is used to how the universe works and she has always understood that August needs special need. This means that she has understood about August and is used to how people stare at him or their family all the time. Also with friends (like Summer and Jack), it tells you how they feel about August. Like that time it said that Summer just felt sorry for August that is why she sat next to him. Also, Jack went to see August when it was still the summer but at first, he was very reluctant and said no to his mother but when he saw Jamie get out the juice box and made fun of August it made Jack also feel sorry for him.

 

Ray’s  homework

Dear Beth,
This is my homework for Lesson 2 on the book,  Wonder.

Please check it and give the feedback.
Thanks!
Shaopan

In my opinion, I think that R.J. Palacio wrote the book Wonder in so many different views is because you get more of an idea what is happening between the two characters. Like the time Summer told Jack Will: “Bleeding Scream” With out August knowing. and that Jack Will figured out what Bleeding Scream means in a science lesson. you wouldn’t know all that if the book Wonder was only written in August Pullman’s point of view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary for Lesson 9

In this final lesson on Holes, we looked more closely at how to conduct close textual analysis and how to write about thematic and symbolic material in a literary context using quotational evidence. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our work on considering and then creating our own ‘precepts’ in the same style as Palacio’s precepts in Wonder, a book review of Wonder, lots of ideas on what role symbols and motifs play in the book and how they support the central themes, and some more general discussion about the moral and message of Wonder. We also had a really illuminating, exciting and lively debate on one of the key quotations from Wonder, which absolutely everyone contributed to brilliantly and in a really passionate, thoughtful way. The students in this class were absolutely fantastic today, I was so so impressed with their ideas, their knowledge and their enthusiasm. Every single person in the lesson worked really hard and spoke loads about how Wonder made them feel, what it had taught them, and how they related to the main themes of the text. It was such a fun and interesting lesson to teach today, I really enjoyed teaching them all. Really well done guys, you should all be very proud of yourselves for the variety and quality of work you completed today. See you soon! 🙂

Homework

Hi Beth,
This is my homework for Lesson 3 on Wonder.

Please check it and give some feedback. I would like to hear from you.

Thanks!
Shaopan

Ray”s homework

Ray’s wonder homework

https://1drv.ms/w/s!ApZHKeljp-KzgQTURE0rauNL6Lc7

What role do masks play throughout the story and does it help or hurt Auggie?
I think that the masks play a very important role in the book Wonder because August always wears the space helmet that Miranda gave him. When he wears it he feels more protective and ordinary because other people don’t see his face. It says in the book ‘We have looked everywhere in the house but still can’t find the astronaut helmet. This means that they were looking for the helmet as it meant so much to Auggie. It does help August a lot because once he wears it he feels like he is in a world of his own. Masks also play a very important role for August because he can hide and people don’t know it is him behind the mask, like the time when Jack and Julian were talking about what they would do if the were Auggie and Jack didn’t know that August was listening because he didn’t know that it was August behind the Bleeding Scream mask. So masks do hurt and help August because if August didn’t wear the mask Jack wouldn’t have said nasty things about August and when he put the mask on it hurt Augusts’s feelings as Jack didn’t know that he was there. But mainly it helps August so people don’t stare at his face. So in conclusion, I think that masks play a very important role in the book as without the mask I think that August won’t have as much courage. I also think that that masks help him 4/5ths on the way and hurts in 1/5.

 

Summary for Lesson 10

In today’s lesson we began looking at a new book: Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains loads of information on the context of Tom’s Midnight Garden, a poem based on the idea of the passage of time and aging in Tom’s Midnight Garden and ideas on symbols and motifs in the book, along with our notes from discussing the semantic field and themes of the book, and an example P.E.E. paragraph on the theme of ‘loneliness’ within the book. We had a great discussion on everyone’s favourite and least favourite parts of the book, and also on life in the 1950s as a child and why it can be hard to pin down the moral of the story given how the book is 70 years old.  Everyone worked really well today, and we had some amazing P.E.E. paragraphs written complete with quotations and an exploration of thematic material. Everyone in the class is becoming really adept at writing in a concise and powerful way, and is able to link ideas about the context of a novel very neatly with the themes and ideas in the novel itself. I love teaching this class, and this was yet another fab lesson with some great contributions from everyone involved. Well done guys- see you soon 🙂

Homework

Hi Beth,
This is the Homework for Lesson 1 on Tom’s Midnight Garden
I did both questions.
Please check it and give some feedback. I would like to hear from you.
Thanks!
Shaopan

Ray’s Tom’s Midnight garden homework

A:

Pearce wrote Tom’s midnight garden to remember the Mill house because Pearce loved the Mill house and was very concerned about the house’s fate. Pearce was afraid that: after the sale, neither the house nor the garden would survive. Tom’s midnight garden grew from this fear. An example of this is putting your favourite toy some where and then forget about it. The toy gets dirt all over it and some times gets rusty if the toy is made out of metal. then you suddently remember where it is. the toy getting dirty is like a person getting old and the you suddently remember where it is bit is basicly saying: even though you can’t see or remember some thing, it is still there.

What does Tom’s midnight garden say about time?
In my opinion, I think that Tom’s midnight garden tells a lot about time and there are various ones, but I think that the most important one is that ‘The past has already gone but it doesn’t go away that easily. This means that even though the past has gone and faded away and it is now the present. The memories don’t fade that easily. These memories could be good and bad. For example: When Hatty always had to be the person catching her cousins and how her cousins bullied her, that could be a bad memory to have. She probably can still remember that as even though she is old. Whereas, Tom travels between the past and the present. It is like when he is in the day time he is in the present, helping his Aunt cook, reading some girl books and staying in bed when he had a cold. But then when it is midnight he is in the past by going through a grandfather clock. It is almost like the clock is waiting for him. Tom is the most important character in the book because he can almost, like time travel. But all of the others were either in the past or in the present.

 

Summary for Lesson 11

In today’s lesson we continued our work on Tom’s Midnight Garden, considering ideas of perspective and how that translates into the narrative voice of the story. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains lots of thoughts about word choice, how other writers have translated Pearce’s themes and messages in the novel, language analysis, the ways in which emotive language facilitates a re-framing of the story in 1st person, poetry analysis, ideas of how to use quotations to infer author intent with regards to character development, and the different relationship the characters of Tom and Hatty have to the Midnight Garden, and how that affects the novel. Everyone did well in today’s lesson, particularly considering it was quite a challenging one, and they are beginning to think much more deeply about the skill of inference and how use of quotations is central to it. I was particularly impressed by the class’s ability to articulate how themes, characters and word choice amalgamate in influencing perspective in the novel, and in understanding how central issues of perspective and narrative voice are in Tom’s Midnight Garden. Really well done today guys, I will see you all soon 😊

Homework

https://1drv.ms/w/s!ApZHKeljp-KzgQjLa6bcsDKw6uR1

Hi Beth,

Attached below is my homework for Lesson 11, Tom’s Midnight Garden. Please check it!

Thanks,

Alvin

Ray’s Homework of Tom’s midnight garden and why it is written in 3rd person.

 

Why is Tom’s midnight garden written in 3rd person?
In my opinion, I think that Tom’s midnight garden is written in 3rd person because it is easier to comprehend everyone else’s feelings.
If it was in 1st person, it will just tell you how that person feels. Like if the book was written in Hatty’s perspective, you would only know how Tom feels like and not how: Tom, Aunt Gwen, and Uncle Allan would feel. But as it is written in 3rd person you can understand everybody around her and she wouldn’t know how Tom felt being invisible.
Also, it can tell you what is happening on both sides like what happened to Hatty and also what had happened to Tom. It would be less interesting if Pearce was saying: I did this and then I did that. It would be very boring, whereas it says: ‘Aunt Gwen was most upset because if Tom slipped into the larder at night that meant he was hungry.’ This means that Aunt Gwen was upset when she found Tom sneaking in the larder at night. This was in Aunt Gwen’s perspective because she was upset and angry with herself for not feeding Tom properly. Also, it says’ He could find the grandfather clock-a tall ancient figure of black in the lesser blackness.’ This is saying how Tom thought how the clock looked like. But if it was Uncle Allan, he would probably say: He looked up at the most annoying clock in the world that keeps everyone awake at midnight by the longest chime in the world. This means that Uncle Allan doesn’t think it is as curious as Tom.
In conclusion, it is better to write it in 3rd person than in first person because it also creates a bigger atmosphere

 

 

Hi Beth,

Attached below is my homework for (Lesson 2 )Tom’s Midnight Garden and lesson 1 which I didn’t attach it successfully, I put all together.Please check it!

Thanks,

Huayi

Hi Beth,

Attached below is my homework for (Lesson 2 )Tom’s Midnight Garden and lesson 1 which I didn’t attach it successfully, I put all together.Please check it!

Tom’s midnight garden lesson 1 Homework: ‘What does Tom’s Midnight Garden say about the process of growing up?’ OR ‘What does Tom’s Midnight Garden say about the passage of time?’. Explain your answer with reference to the text and the wider context of the book, remember to use quotations and language analysis.

Hatty says that she like and wants to grow up in the story because she wanted to be like all of her cousins to be able to climb tricksy, to be able to swarm and learn to do things that her cousins can do. She couldn’t do it because her cousins mentioned that Hatty was too young and she she isn’t strong enough so she longed to grow up so she could climb those trees and learn to swamp
(Which Tom taught her before she grew up) and be strong like them. To me personally,I do agree about the book because she actually long to grow up but because of Tom’s kindness, she did learn to do the things she wanted to learn when she got older so Hatty told him lots of secrets about the garden and things that happened to her for payback.

Tom’s midnight garden lesson 2 Homework: ‘How important is perspective in Tom’s Midnight Garden’ OR ‘Is Tom ever really travelling through time?’. Explain your answer with reference to the text and the wider context of the book, remember to use quotations and language analysis.

No because at the end of the story Mrs Bartholomew told Tom that all of the adventures that Tom has gone through was Mrs Bartholomew’s dreams and admiration of the past. Also in the book they did mention that at the end Tom suddenly realised that it was all a magical dream that was linked with what Mrs Barthomew was dreaming about when she was a little girl. Even though it did sound that he was travelling through time but he actually isn’t. Let’s say that some books don’t tell you the actual secret about the book till you get to the end of the story. I personally  think that he did kind of   travel through time because he did go through to when Mrs Barthomew was a little girl and discovered a lot about the Victorians. It included in the book that when Hatty was a young lady, she made a promise to Tom that she will keep her skates in her secret hideout underneath the floorboards in her bedroom and left a letter there where she had dated the letter and said “18..” which means it’s the 18th century and that is 200 years ago from 2020! Victorians were ages ago when queen Victoria was queen! Since that was a loooooong time ago, that was made me think that he did travel through time to an another amazing time of world.

Thanks,

Huayi

Hi Bath,

I don’t know what’s matter I couldn’t attach my work. I have to put into message box.

Thanks,

Huayi

Summary for Lesson 12

In this final lesson on Tom’s Midnight Garden, we delved a bit deeper into close textual analysis, particularly thinking about the symbolic elements of the novel and how to identify and then write about important literary techniques. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the book reviews assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our discussions of the role of the story of Rip Van Winkle in the book, a debate on whether the book presents aging in an uplifting or depressing way, ideas on the role of personification in Tom’s Midnight Garden and lots of important information in terms of what to include in their book review alongside a model example of a review. Everyone did really well in today’s class and we had some excellent discussions wrapping up our thoughts about themes, morals and ideas of wrinkles in time within Tom’s Midnight Garden. Everyone also wrote some very impressive P.E.E. paragraphs which were really well thought out and beautifully evidenced with quotations! We then had an interesting debate at the end of the class about people’s overall thoughts and feelings about the book, considering both the bittersweet nature of the ending and the fact that the book is nearly seventy years old. Lovely work today guys, really well done, I will see you all soon and remember to use lots of beautiful figurative and persuasive language and devices in your reviews. Most importantly- have fun writing them! 🙂

Homework 

Ray’s homework book review

Hi Beth,

please find Huayi attached home work.

thanks,

Huayi

Write a book review of Tom’s Midnight Garden.
In my opinion, I think that Tom’s midnight garden wasn’t that good. It was really weird how grandfather clocks are so mysterious and have something that nobody knew. It was really weird how a disease started an adventure.

My favourite <span style=”font-size: calc(var(–rem) * 1px * 1.0625); letter-spacing: 0px;”>character was Tom it was very mysterious how he could travel back and forth in time. The story was written well in a mystery scene because it was very mysterious how an old grandfather clock was so special. It was a bit weird how Peter kind of started this adventure by having measles. I think that this book was all about time, and how the time changes fast. As Hatty is now Ms Bartholomew. It was mysterious w how Tom went through a grandfather clock you appear into a very odd garden. I liked how the end was really surprising how Ms Bartholomew turned out to be Hatty. As it says in the beginning of the book Ms Bartholomew didn’t like children. Also, the way Tom’s Aunt was even surprised saying that the way Tom hugged Ms Bartholomew was like him hugging a little girl.</span>

The reason why I didn’t like the book was the way it was written it was old fashioned. It was hard to understand the way it was written. It was boring in the beginning where Tom had to leave his parents and go to his Aunt Gwen and Uncle Alan’s house. It was dull
Overall, I think that this book was boring and wasn’t my cup of tea. But, it was mysterious and surprising.

 

Summary for Lesson 13

In today’s lesson we began looking at a new book: Once by Morris Gleitzman. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains loads of information on the context of Once, a poem written by a Holocaust survivor about the long term effects of the Holocaust on his life, and ideas on themes and motifs in the book, along with our notes from discussing the semantic field and moral of the book. I was particularly impressed by everybody’s work on the semantic field of Once, as we filled up an entire slide of the powerpoint with everyone’s ideas, and thought the way the students dealt with some very difficult themes was really mature. Our lesson today was mainly discussion based, and revolved around familiarising the class with the concept of the Holocaust, and what happened to Jewish people under Nazi rule. Everyone asked a lot of very perceptive and compassionate questions, and some very upsetting and difficult themes and parts of history were treated with the utmost respect by every student in today’s class. Really well done guys, I was blown away by the maturity you all displayed when discussing what is a really tough subject to talk about and understand. I also thought you all interpreted the poem by Primo Levi in a very thoughtful and engaged way, and were incredibly inquisitive and curious, always wanting to know more, which is absolutely fab! Here is the link to a BBC bitesize resource on the Holocaust which is age-appropriate (https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/16690175) if you felt that you wanted to know more about what happened, as it is particularly crucial to understand the context of Once in order to understand what happens in the book. Well done everyone for treating a very heavy and emotional subject with such grace and respect, see you soon 🙂

Homework

Why do you think that Gleitzman chose to tell the story Once?

In my opinion, I think that Gleitzman chose to write this book because he wants to tell people that the Jews were treated very differently from any other people.

Gleitzman wants to tell you that loads of people have hard times. He wanted someone to be like Adolf Hitler the person who looked after lots of Jews in the hard time with the Nazis. This was like Barney, he looked after loads of kids and hid them in a cellar including Felix and Zelda. He also had to put up with mending some Nazi soldiers’ teeth. Even though they were enemies.

I also think that he told the story Once because he wanted people to know how even children had to face a really hard time. Like they had to walk miles and miles to get to a place where the Nazis kept Jews and how roughly they were treated. It was like they didn’t even care about whether they were children. It was just like how Felix and Zelda were treated when they had to walk so far to reach a place. Gleitzman even wrote it in a child’s perspective because it is telling you how Felix felt as a child and how loads of children had to lose family even though they didn’t do anything wrong.

So in conclusion, I think that the reason why Gleitzman wrote the book Once was because he wanted to tell people how roughly Jews were treated and he wanted to change the way they were treated by writing something to try and make people change the way people look at Jews. Because people think that Jews are dangerous. But, when it is written in a Jew’s perspective it tells you that some didn’t do any harm and still had to suffer.

 

 

 

 

Ray’s homework (why did he write Once)

https://1drv.ms/w/s!ApZHKeljp-KzgQ2Ax9Zs_-t6Yya0

Hi Beth,

Please find my attached Home work for Once First lesson.

many thanks,

Huayi

Hi Beth,

Please find my attached Home work for Once First lesson. ( I don’t know what  reason hasn’t been attached)

many thanks,

Huayi

Hi Beth,

I still can’t attached my work. I have to put here.

Homework: Why did Gleitzman choose to tell this story? OR Why is it still important that we learn and talk about the Holocaust? Explain your answer with reference to the text and the wider context of the book, remember to use quotations and language analysis.

We learn about holocaust because we need to know how miserable and how pitiful it is to be in the holocaust. It can also teach us a lesson that we have to take care of what we have right now and not in the olden times. It tells us the importance of our lives and that we should pray to the people who has gone through these things and hope them to survive because some children haven’t gone through many things like having ample education and going to nature like their parents. It teaches us what things can kill you and what things don’t so we can protect ourselves. If you are really lazy and does literally nothing you don’t learn you don’t know how to do anything and suddenly there was a war in were you live, you won’t know what to do and how to defend yourself.
So that is why you have to talk and learn about holocaust!
Many thanks,

Huayi

Summary for Lesson 14

In today’s lesson we continued our work on Once, considering ideas of symbolism, themes, perspective and character development. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the mini-essays assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains lots of thoughts about the importance of story-telling in Once, particularly in the context of the Nazi book burnings, our analysis of Felix’s character as a class and ideas on how this might link to the perspective of the book, examples of a P.E.E. paragraph, a list of different themes we identified and thoughts on how Gleitzman constructs his narrative as a comment on human nature, using Felix as a lens with which to view the Holocaust. The students in this class were absolutely fantastic today, they all came with so many amazing ideas and with a lot to contribute to the lesson. I was particularly impressed with everyone’s use of P.E.E. to analyse the book, and their use of quotations. I also found our discussion of book burning and the importance of story-telling for purposes of rememberance really enlightening and exciting due to the high standard of ideas and energy that everyone was contributing. Tthe class’s analysis of the Heine quote (“where they burn books they will ultimately burn people”) was incredibly mature and very moving and I was really impressed with all of their work today. They are such an engaged and inquisitive class which is wonderful, and they are always a joy to teach! Well done everyone, keep up the fantastic work! 🙂

Homework

Here is the video of Gleitzman talking about optimism in the face of adversity in his books, and how he channels that through Felix (the one we watched at the end of class) This will be super helpful for your homework, and you should watch it for two minutes between 1.40-3.40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vov8Tyephk

 

What does Once tell us about the importance of storytelling?
Once tells us a lot about storytelling because it tells us a lot of books. Like the time when Felix went to see if his mum and dad was there, but instead, he found Nazis burning Jewish books.
It also tells you that there is an importance of storytelling because Felix likes telling stories. Like when they were going to the place where they kept the Jewish people on the way there to keep Zelda distracted, he was telling her stories so she doesn’t see what was going on like when a Nazi shot the guy who doesn’t like books. Felix had to make a story so she doesn’t see the violence.
Lots of stories are passed on. If it wasn’t for stories, loads of the facts would be wrong because if you were learning about history you wouldn’t know the real facts nearly all your facts would be made up.
The book once started with the word once every chapter which I found very interesting because in lots of fairy tales it starts with the word once. Once upon a time.
In once it tells that stories bring you out of the world and into your own world. Like the time Felix was telling a story to Bernie’s patients to release the pain so they can come into a world of their own and not worry about the pain. Also, the time when Felix and Zelda were making up a story so they were in a world of their own and not worrying about how much longer they needed to walk.

 

 

 

Hi beth,

please check my home work. thank you.

Jihan

Summary for Lesson 15

In our final lesson today we zoomed out from our work over the past couple of months and began to think about how to compare and contrast all of the texts we have studied so far. We considered many different comparisons, ranging from those centred on themes, to genre, to narrative and perspective- and began to think about the different ways we can think analytically about the fundamental elements that make up literature. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help fill out the big comparison grid assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains our discussion of the effectiveness of the themes and messages in Once, a comparison of the five texts and their portrayal of friendship, thoughts on the genre and context of each book, work on similarities and differences and the prompts for the presentations the students gave to the class comparing and contrasting themes in the texts. The students evaluated author intent, the effectiveness of the themes explored in each book, and decided which book was their favourite overall and why. As ever, this class today was a joy to teach and I am really sad to be saying goodbye to everyone for the time being! The work completed in today’s class was fantastic, the students were as engaged, motivated and thoughtful as they are in every lesson and came up with some dazzling work, especially based on ideas surrounding themes and genre. Really well done everyone, I hope these lessons have been helpful to you in teaching you how to explore literature and think analytically and metaphorically about the hidden meanings behind things. I am very proud of all the work all of you have achieved and at how much you have all flourished when discussing, writing and thinking about books. I hope to work with all of you again soon, keep enjoying literature and remember to keep asking questions whenever you read a new book. It was a pleasure to work with you all and you should be very proud of all you have achieved in these lessons 😊

Homework 

Hi Beth,

Thanks for teaching me, I really enjoyed the books that we were studying. please check the last asignment that I am going to submit, thank you! \”( T – T )

Hi Beth,

thank you for teaching us here is my homework.

Hi Beth,

Thank you for teaching us! Please check my Comparison Grid Homework. Thank you. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)