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Summary for Lesson 1: Genre
In today’s lesson we began our work on studying creative writing, focusing particularly on the notion of genre and how it can be used as both a template and an inspiration for narrative writing. We considered how to look at genre in different lights, thinking about how multiple genres can be combined to play with the reader’s expectations of the text, and also considered how genre can be analysed and utilised through many different elements, such as story structure, literary techniques and writing style. We discussed some new literary techniques such as pathetic fallacy, and also analysed the use of genre in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. The class also completed some advanced vocab exercises fantastically as a lesson starter. The students all worked beautifully today- I was really impressed by their adept use of the conventions and tropes of their chosen genres and the quality of their discussion and writing. They used genre very creatively to come up with some of their own literary techniques and story arc structures in a quick-fire story planning session, and showed a gorgeous awareness of how to both mould and confound the reader’s expectations through playing with genre expectations. Well done class, it was a pleasure to meet and work with you all today & I really look forward to reading the writing you produce; keep up the amazing work 🙂
The Titles for Homework: Sleeping, The Garden, The Choice, Twins
‘What is a Genre?’ video that we watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go0Mto2fOXY&vl=en
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Summary for Lesson 2: Continuing a Story
In today’s lesson we continued our work on creative writing, considering the a question which asks students to write the next scene for a story, continuing another author’s work through mirroring their style, language and structure. We considered the concept of a semantic field, a group of words related by a common meaning or theme, and how it can be helpful in understanding the core essence of a story and used to help extrapolate an author’s tone and themes into their own writing. We also discussed the key literary concepts of symbolism & imagery and spoke about the importance of word choice in adding layers and depth to a narrative. Finally, we consolidated our work on genre from last week, considering why a firm understanding of genre and its conventions is crucial in ‘writing the next scene’, to ensure continuity and allow the students to play around with different forms of story writing. The class worked excellently today and I was particularly impressed by their use of symbols and imagery in the context of the story and by the way in which they grasped the concept of a semantic field and utilised this in their work. Amazing work today everyone- really well done! Have fun with the homework and I’ll see you next week 🙂
Imagery video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uX413tALG7Q&vl=en
Symbolism video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR9VbSXxouM
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Summary for Lesson 3: Persuasive Essay Writing
In today’s lesson we looked at persuasive essay writing, thinking in particular how to build up the fundamentals of an argument from scratch. We began with the idea of perspective and character creation in order to build passionate and strong opinions about persuasive subjects, working on playing around with the idea of narration to help the students be creative in their writing. We studied the conventions and structure of persuasive essays thinking about how to use P.E.E. paragraphs to form a well evidenced argument. We also completed work on persuasive techniques, considering some more advanced forms that persuasive devices can take. We discussed why an awareness of audience is important to how the language and message of a persuasive essay is communicated and how to structure a counterargument. The students identified and practiced some really great ideas for how to discredit the opposite side of an argument, and used a range of techniques such as rhetoric, expert opinions and pointing out flaws in the other side’s reasoning to help build an effective counterargument passage. Excellent work today class, I really enjoyed all of the different perspectives and ideas you conjured up. Keep up the amazing energy and work- really well done 🙂
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hi ms. Beth, I’m sorry for the late submission, since I had ballet performances throughout these days from morning to night, and didn’t have enough time to complete 🙁
my mom already informed the teacher in our WeChat group, and sorry again -
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Summary for Lesson 4: Creating a Balanced Argument
In today’s lesson we continued our work on essay writing, broadening our work on persuasive writing, which privileges one view-point over another, to consider how to write a balanced argument. We looked at the art of constructing an objective, unbiased argument through the lens of article writing, thinking about the language techniques, structure and conventions of this form of writing and why it lends itself to this topic. We discussed as a class how to create eye-catching, effective headlines to draw the reader in, what the importance of the lead of a story was, and how facts and statistics are particularly helpful to rely on when weighing up both sides of a story. We then moved on to discussing our subject matter, debating the question: is it fair for some people to have more money than others? We considered multiple different types of source material, looking at videos about Universal Basic Income, articles arguing both for and against the proposition, and headlines that gave an opinion on the subject. The class worked fantastically today, coming up with some beautifully powerful, compassionate and well-informed arguments on the subject. Incredible work today everyone- I am really impressed with you all. See you next week 🙂
Universal basic income video: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/31/what-billionaires-said-about-wealth-inequality-and-capitalism-in-2019.html
Newspaper writing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flq29zwRrZA&t=59s
P.S. The helpful links are on the second to last slide on the PowerPoint. Remember to check those out to give you a sense of the scope of the debate, particularly the one titled “why rich people don’t deserve their wealth” as that one is a very good example of opinion writing. You can use some of these arguments in your articles, and even quote the authors!
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Summary for Lesson 5: Grammar and Structure
In today’s lesson we continued our deconstruction of some of the key components of writing, focusing on grammar and structure with particular reference to creative writing. We considered how to use different structural devices to create interest for the reader, thinking about seeing structure in the same light as language in terms of importance. The class all considered the purpose and effect of different grammatical and structural features, completing some really excellent work using more complex grammatical forms of writing. They also learnt about some more unusual and interesting structural devices such as temporal references, contrast, repetition, and shifts in focus and perspective. They took on this information very well and produced some excellent examples of these advanced features being used. Finally we considered some overarching tips for good grammar, such as consistent tenses and avoiding contractions, and analysed a piece of writing by Samuel Pepys, focusing on how his structure mimicked the Great Fire of London he was writing about. Amazing work today class, you all produced some excellent writing and remained very focused and engaged throughout- keep up the great work and I look forward to seeing you next 🙂
Here is the video from class on the top 10 structural devices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mod08aLaFNA
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Summary for Lesson 6: Advanced Vocab
In today’s lesson we placed our focus on advanced vocab, considering both utilising and understanding it, learning multiple different techniques and strategies to help the students expand their lexical range. We looked why the connotations of language are important and how it can help to understand the precise meaning and imagery of a passage if you analyse the connotations of the language used. We then considered the discipline of etymology, discussing how and why it is useful to understand the origins of language in order to expand our knowledge and use of sophisticated vocab. Finally, we looked at a piece written by Virginia Woolf to unpick how she uses language to emphasise its beauty, thinking about the importance of the way words relate to one another. Everyone worked well today and wrote and analysed some excellent free-writing pieces, thinking about the way they use language. Great work class, keep it up and I’ll see you all next week 🙂
Video on language development we watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ytr28t5VzAs
Delineating meaning of words through context video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm5d7c0xGt0
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Summary for Lesson 7
In today’s lesson the students were introduced to a new type of essay writing: analytical essay writing. The class were expected to use the three key components of language analysis- word choice, language techniques and structure- to help them in analysing a passage from Lord of the Flies by William Golding at the end of the lesson. We focused a lot on the central concepts of author intent and word choice, thinking about how to analyse the connotations of words and appreciating the author’s active role in choosing the language used. The class looked at the role of imagery in shaping this, thinking about how metaphor is about painting very specific pictures in the reader’s mind, and closely analysed some examples of this being used. Everyone worked nicely today, and were able to be very analytical with their treatment of language and imagery which was fantastic! They understood the notion of connotations well, and went on to apply this fantastically to their writing. Well done class, keep up the hard work, and remember to revise for your mini mock next lesson (you can just look over some of the PowerPoints and summaries above to remind you of the content we’ve covered so far). See you then 🙂
Connotation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRt1N0sJJQo
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Summary for Lesson 8: Mock Exam
In today’s lesson we completed our first writing mock exam, spending the first thirty minutes of the
lesson to revise the core components of the previous seven lessons, focusing on both the different forms of
writing we have studied and the techniques we had covered. We also looked at some top tips for exam practice, and thought a bit about planning and time management. The class then spent thirty-five minutes completing their writing, using an additional five minutes to plan. They all worked in a really engaged, focused and mature
way today and all seemed to have prepared wonderfully for the exam. They also then self-evaluated
their work beautifully, thinking about what went wells and even better ifs and then thinking more
deeply about whether they had included all the necessary elements such as literary techniques and
advanced vocab. Today’s class was fantastic- really well done everyone and I look forward to reading your work! 🙂Homework
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Words to revise for next week’s vocab test:
Ghastly
Infinitesimal
Nauseate
Induce
Mores
Condone
Masquerade
Punitive
Latent
Condemn
Construe
Indubitable
Tremulous
Frugal
Festering
Industrious
Repose
Deify
Abhor
Quintessential
Furtive
Ominous
Convoluted
Perturbed
Pittance
Intrinsic
Diligent
Avarice
Impetuous
Pulchritudinous
Melancholy
Arcane
Insatiable
Rescind
Visceral
Cajole
Despotic
Winsome
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Summary for Lesson 9: Descriptive Writing
In our lesson today we focused on descriptive writing, thinking about its three fundamental building blocks: word choice, literary techniques and sensory language. The PowerPoint with all of the resources is attached, which should be used to help write the descriptive pieces assigned for homework. It also contains some really important and helpful links such as the online thesaurus and vocab lists, the inspiration for the gorgeous work the class did on up-levelling their vocab to an even more vivid and sophisticated level, and finally our discussions on sensory language, creating atmosphere, avoiding cliche and using unique and original literary techniques to grab the reader’s attention. The vocab and language being used in today’s class was outstanding, and the unique and unusual examples of figurative language the students came up with were fantastically creative, thinking about creating collisions that could open up new and vivid associations in the reader’s mind. They demonstrated a very adept grasp of the concept of cliches and why they are important to avoid in writing. Well done class I was really impressed by your work today- keep up all the amazing ideas! 🙂
Video on descriptive writing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSoRzTtwgP4&t=3s
Video about avoiding cliché: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wrq6AnYuxI&feature=youtu.beHomework
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Hi, sorry for the late upload. It was a bit busy this week in school, and my homework might not meet the word count.
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Summary for Lesson 10: Advanced Literary Techniques
In our lesson today we focused on using advanced literary techniques, thinking about how to understand the effect of literary techniques and practicing using them in the right context. I was really impressed by the class’s knowledge of a range of literary techniques, all of which they brainstormed fantastically at the beginning of the lesson, defining the techniques beautifully and came up with some excellent advanced examples. We completed some work on unusual metaphors and how to form them and then moved on to thinking about literary techniques in context, acknowledging that not every technique is appropriate for every situation, using the genre of suspense writing to demonstrate that fact. The class then mapped out suspense plots, using techniques to help guide them and coming up with some fantastic examples. Finally, we completed a short exercise on identifying different techniques and the purpose they serve. Excellent work on advanced techniques today guys- I really enjoyed hearing your ideas on how to use these techniques in context. Keep up the great work and I’ll see you soon! 🙂
Here is the more in-depth video on foreshadowing in literature, watch it if possible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc-2Jg6b0Dw&t=38s
Here are the videos from the lesson:
Suspense in writing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKruwAfZWk
Foreshadowing intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE0ISlj8wo8Homework
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Summary for Lesson 11: Mystery & Suspense Writing
In today’s lesson, we began our first ten-lesson course on genres of both creative and non-fiction writing, beginning with a focus on the genres of mystery and suspense. We began by thinking about the word ‘conventions’ and how it relates to genre, and the class then brainstormed several conventions of mystery. We studied a classic example of a suspenseful short-story, Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter, and the class identified fantastically the features that fulfilled the conventions of suspense and those that subverted them. They then analysed this story for how well it embodied the central ingredients of the genre. Finally, we began to look at using literary techniques to create tension and suspense. The class came up with some amazing examples of suspenseful techniques, imagining up examples of foreshadowing, flashback, cliff-hangers and dramatic irony that played beautifully into the genre of suspense. Wonderful work today, everyone, really well done for all your focus and contributions. Remember to read the full version of Lamb to the Slaughter if you would like- and have fun with your writing! 🙂
Lamb to the Slaughter video summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LA17kEdzoE
Lamb to the Slaughter full story: https://lewebpedagogique.com/anglais/wp-content/blogs.dir/16/files/lamb-to-the-slaughter.pdf
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Hi, sorry I cannot complete the homework this week. I’m injured for a few days, so I didn’t have time to do it.
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Summary for Lesson 12: Autobiographical Writing
In today’s lesson, we studied the genre of literary non-fiction, focusing specifically on autobiographical writing. We considered the central conventions of the genre, comparing two author’s takes on autobiographical writing and considering how to play around with conventions from within the framework, experimenting with different ways of accomplishing the same task. We looked at the concept of pacing and how important it is for telling a story that stretches over a large period of time, and the students completed an exercise experimenting with pacing, working with their own autobiographical accounts. We considered the importance of emotive writing, looked at structural tips to help create a powerful account of a memory, and thought about what makes a moment in someone’s life ‘important’. There was some gorgeous work going on today, the class’s ideas and analyses of the Roald Dahl and Marianne Farningham autobiographies were outstanding and demonstrated a wonderfully mature understanding of the conventions and purposes of the genre. Excellent work everyone, I look forward to seeing you all next week 🙂
Here is the video on effective pacing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krpMNLRhM_4&feature=emb_logo
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Summary for Lesson 13: Historical Writing
In our lesson today we focused on historical writing, thinking about how to translate historical sources and stimuli into something literary. We considered how to conjure up images of the past and create whole different, and unfamiliar worlds against the backdrop of the end of the Second World War. We looked at inferring various pieces of information based on source material, other pieces of historical writing, video footage and our background knowledge of history, and considered how to put ourselves in the shoes of people from the past and write descriptively about it, particularly thinking about how a character behaves vs how they think, the way perspective can shift the narrative and sensory language. Excellent work today class, I really enjoyed hearing about the ways in which you were going to fictionalise real world events, and thought you chose some brilliant pieces of source material to help you give your writing a historical edge. Fantastic work from everyone & I really look forward to reading what you come up with! 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 14: Script Writing
In today’s lesson we looked at a new branch of writing following our work on prose: playwriting. This lesson was designed to introduce the class to the genre of drama and the format of playwriting, in preparation for work on Shakespeare and other playwrights we will be conducting in future months. We spoke about the ways in which drama differs from prose, both structurally and stylistically, and considered an extract from Romeo and Juliet in order to analyse the features of a script. In today’s lesson the students also analysed an extract from a Harold Pinter play, reconfiguring the script in creative ways in order to change the tone and content of the action onstage. They created their own character descriptions, setting and stage directions to this end, working from The Great Gatsby, and were able to understand and effectively utilise the importance of intonation and motivation. They all worked beautifully today, thinking in very creative ways about the differences between playwriting and novelistic forms of writing and how they could harness this to their advantage. Overall really impressive work class- I loved hearing all your unique and imaginative ideas and hope you enjoyed our class today! See you next week 🙂
Playwriting tips video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O_ISCHsaUw&t=77s
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Summary for Lesson 15: Poetry Writing
In today’s lesson we looked at the third of the three main categories of literature: poetry. This lesson was designed to introduce the class to the conventions, forms and peculiarities of the genre of poetry, thinking about what makes a poem a poem and why. We spoke about the ways in which poems use metre, rhythm and rhyme to communicate layers of meaning, thinking about the quotation “poetry is an exercise in concision”. The class analysed this fantastically, thinking in a sophisticated way about how to define what makes a poem, and about the role of figurative language, imagery and emotion in poetic writing. The class also had some great ideas on why poetry is like ‘literature with all the water squeezed out’, thinking about how poems use metaphor, symbolism and figurative language to imply deep, intense meaning. Amazing work today everyone, remember to have a look at the PowerPoints for the last five lessons in preparation for our mini mock next week if you get a chance, and give the vocab lists a revise too- I would love to see you using some high-level vocab in your test, especially some of the words we have learnt! Beautiful poetry writing & fantastic contributions today, well done 🙂
What makes a poem a poem video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhouCNq-Fc&feature=emb_logo
Rhythm video for homework: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URuMb15CWJs&feature=emb_logo
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Summary for Lesson 16: Mock Exam
In today’s lesson we completed our writing mock exam, spending the first section of the lesson to revise the core components of the previous lessons and the different forms & genres of creative and literary writing we have studied, focusing on being able to condense the essence of each genre into a few, salient points. The class then spent twenty-five minutes completing their writing, using an additional five minutes to plan, responding to a choice of four different literary and creative prompts. They also completed a short, 15-minute poetry section of the
exam, where they were asked to either respond creatively to the poem ‘City Jungle’, writing a poem using this as inspiration, or to analyse the structure and language of the original poem. They then self-evaluated their work beautifully, thinking about what went wells and even better ifs and then discussing about whether they had included all the necessary elements such as literary techniques and advanced vocab. I was really impressed by the dedicated and focus exhibited today- amazing work class, I really look forward to reading your exams and you should all be super proud of yourselves! Keep up the brilliant job you’ve all been doing and I’ll see you next week 🙂Homework
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Summary for Lesson 17: Op-Ed Writing
In today’s lesson we studied op-ed writing, thinking about how important op-eds are in enabling people to learn skills of argument. We began the lesson with a vocab test, which the class completed beautifully- everyone scored really highly and exhibited impressive recall skills. We then moved on to discussing the definition of an op-ed, watching a video from a New York Times columnist and considering the notion of journalists creating heat and light- i.e., eliciting emotion and illuminating important issues. The class then discussed the subjects they felt they were knowledgeable on, thinking about how to weave personal experience into the hook in order to personalise the story and how to offer ideas on what must be done to help fix the issues they were writing about. Finally we considered the conventions of an op-ed, with the class applying these ideas to their own work, and the students wrote some fantastic interviews based on their subject of choice. Outstanding work today guys, I was blown away by the power and passion behind your opinions and the depth of your knowledge on your chosen subjects. Really excellent work and I look forward to reading your op-eds! Remember to consider heat and light 🙂
P.S. An example op-ed is attached below
Summary video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TN89KNTPQI
Video from the New York Times journalist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD3eHClpnI0
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Summary for Lesson 18
In our lesson today we focused on digging deeper into the subject and conventions of letter writing, looking at a variety of different tones, purposes, audiences and styles that letters can be framed in and considering both the structural, conventional and creative frameworks through which to view letter writing.We completed work on workshopping a letter exam question, prompts for the students to create their own exam style questions, sharing their thoughts on letter writing characterisation and giving examples of a formal letter. The class completed some really brilliant character profiles and background stories to help creatively root their letters, and were also able to engage with and identify the many different purposes that are important to bear in mind with this type of writing. Fantastic work today everyone, you all did really well in producing lots of quick-fire, well-written work. Keep up the fab ideas and have a lovely week 🙂
Letter writing GCSE video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7TM6qmRqus
Mock paper with Martian question on it: https://spgs.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Sample-English-Paper-2.pdf
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Hi Beth! Sorry for missing last class because of school’s activity. Here’s my homework for lesson 18:)
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Summary for Lesson 19
In our lesson together, we focused on review writing, looking at the variety and range of things that review writing can be used to help elucidate. We completed work on brainstorming the range of subjects of a review, thought about the structure of a review, the elements that a review must include, and discussed how the thing that the review is reviewing (i.e., book, film, restaurant, life, piece of music, product) influences the elements the review should touch on. Everyone worked wonderfully today, they were able to deftly switch between different types of review and develop their critical thinking skills, using some fab analysis and evaluation. They also then came up with some fun, outrageous and gripping examples of things that could lead to a bad review of a fictional restaurant, alongside their non-fiction work on evaluating a film clip we watched. Lovely work class- well done! Remember to revise for our mini mock next week, just have a look over the lesson summaries and PowerPoints for the last nine lessons. Good luck! 😊
The A. A. Gill review you can use for inspiration: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/08/nouveau-chinese-200308
Book review writing video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhYF3v3zTeo
Topics to Revise for our Mock Exam:
Lesson 1: Suspense Writing
Lesson 2: Autobiographical and Biographical Writing
Lesson 3: Historical Writing
Lesson 4: Script Writing
Lesson 5: Poetry Writing
Lesson 7: Op-Ed Writing
Lesson 8: Letter Writing
Lesson 9: Review WritingHomework
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Summary for Lesson 20: Mock Exam
In today’s lesson we completed our genre in writing mock exam, spending the first thirty minutes of the lesson to quickly revise the core components of the previous lessons and the different forms & genres of creative and literary writing we have studied, focusing on being able to condense the essence of each genre into a few, salient points. The class then spent thirty minutes completing their writing, using an additional five minutes to plan, responding to a choice of five different literary and creative prompts. They also completed a short, 10 minute free-writing exercise where they had to come up with a review as concisely as possible. They then self-evaluated their work , thinking about what went wells and even better ifs and considering whether they had included all the necessary elements such as literary techniques and advanced vocab. Gorgeous work today everyone, I really look forward to reading your exams and have been super impressed by your work over the past weeks. You have all completed wonderful writing and should be very proud of yourselves! well done 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 21: Shakespeare
In today’s lesson we began our new set of lessons which will focus on a different famous author every week, starting with William Shakespeare. We considered Shakespeare’s history, thinking about where he stands in the literary cannon and his continuing influence on English literature and language today. The class identified the ‘kinds’ of stories Shakespeare was interested in beautifully, thinking carefully about the themes and genres he wrote in and how he communicated this through characterisation and plot. We studied the genres of tragedy and comedy, focusing particularly on the notion of a tragic hero and the device of a hamartia (fatal flaw), and the class came up with their own Shakespearean plays in each genre, thinking about the outlines of a plot for their own original tragedies and comedies. Finally, we focused on one particular Shakespearean play, Macbeth, looking at two particularly famous scenes and analysing the imagery, techniques and language used. They also completed a vocab test which they all did really well on and were able to use vocab in context fantastically. Excellent work from the class today- they all came to the end of the lesson with some great ideas about how to use Shakespeare as an inspiration and with some great ideas for Shakespeare inspired storylines. I look forward to reading their speeches. Fab work everyone 🙂
Video to watch on ‘Why you should read Macbeth’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD5goS69LT4
Video of Macbeth’s final speech (optional watch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZnaXDRwu84&t=27s
Video of witches’ curse (optional watch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vuFsseC-m8
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Summary for Lesson 22: Dickens
In today’s lesson we continued our set of lessons which focus on a different famous author every week, today studying Charles Dickens. We considered the things that the students already knew about Dickens, thinking carefully about his morality and the way in which he gave a voice to the voiceless of Victorian England. The class thought about Dickens’ own childhood and how it imprinted itself onto his later work, and we studied the themes and ideas he was preoccupied with in his work. Following on from this, we began to focus on characterisation, using the presentation of Scrooge, the protagonist of A Christmas Carol to help shape our understanding of the way in which Dickens constructed his characters. The class analysed the description of Scrooge very well, interpreting the meaning of images Dickens created such as that of the oyster, and how this foreshadows Scrooge’s development. They then created their own vivid, Dickensian characters using what we had learnt to inspire them before discussing how to ‘modernise’ the social concerns that Dickens wrote about. We thought about how COVID and its effect on global poverty is something Dickens would have been very concerned about and how this could provide a good backdrop for a new Dickensian story. Really good work today class- well done! Have fun writing your Dickensian passages and I’ll see you next week 🙂
Video to watch the rest of on Dickens’ life and work that we started in the lesson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9dB9BZWDBU&feature=emb_logo
Video we watched on ‘why you should read Dickens’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5czA_L_eOp4&feature=emb_logo
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Summary for Lesson 28: Fitzgerald
In today’s lesson we continued our set of lessons which focus on a different famous author every week, today studying the 20th century American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. We began by thinking about the life of Fitzgerald himself, given that much of his writing was semi-autobiographical, and considered how the themes he covered in his work fit into the story of his life. We looked at the historical context of the 1920s, thinking about how the economic boom left a stark chasm between rich and poor and created a whole new cultural scene known as the ‘Jazz Age’. We then focused on his most famous work, The Great Gatsby, to get a sense of the kinds of stories Fitzgerald was interested in telling, i.e., those to do with excessive wealth, wasted hopes and crushed dreams. We considered the similarities and differences between the three authors we have studied so far, discussing how Shakespeare and Fitzgerald shared a love of tragedy whereas Dickens and Fitzgerald aimed to shed light on the unfavourable aspects of their contemporary societies. Finally we completed some work on writing style, reading extracts from Fitzgerald’s novels and linking his use of symbolism to his wider concerns about the falsity of the American Dream and his distrust of the upper echelons of society. The class came up with some fantastic Fitzgerald inspired symbolism and characterisation which I enjoyed hearing about greatly! Fab work today everyone- you all dealt with some really tricky concepts beautifully and worked super hard. I am really pleased with all of your work and contributions! Keep up the wonderful work 🙂
Video biography of Fitzgerald: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PL05VV040Ls
Video on the 1920s context of his work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XM30FUke5U
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Summary for Lesson 24: Austen
In today’s lesson we continued our set of lessons which focus on a different famous author every week, today studying Jane Austen for today’s class. We began by thinking about the historical context that Austen existed within, learning the biography of her life, and considering what the Regency period was all about. We then moved on to thinking about the parts of Austen’s writing that would have shocked contemporary observers, such as Emma’s refusal in Emma to marry or the frankness with which she discussed money. We then learnt about the different types of satire, considering how Austen used satire and parody to gently mock the society she was living in. We discussed the differences between Horatian and Juvenalian satire and thought about the way Austen built humour through her subversion of the presentation of woman that was popular at the time. We read a passage from Pride and Prejudice that illustrated how Austen satirised marriage and courtship, before the class came up with some brilliant ideas of what they could make fun of in modern society, such as the way people spend their money, or the way social media influences people. Great work from everyone today- you all worked brilliantly at decoding the historical norms of Austen’s world. Keep up the fab work and see you next week 🙂
Jane Austen biography video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIYiThAyY8s
Satire video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io58hl1Z0TY
Video clip from Emma about marriage: https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/mastem14-ela-lit-emma2/emma-2-love-and-marriage/
Jane Austen’s wit video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSL55lOwznU
How to write like Jane Austen link (good for revision): https://howtowritelike.com/2019/04/04/how-to-write-like-jane-austen/Homework
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Hi Beth, this is Joanna. I am not able to access my account so I used Muyi’s account to hand in my homework. Thanks for understanding:)
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Summary for Lesson 25: Hemingway
In today’s lesson we returned to our work on famous authors, focusing this week on Ernest Hemingway. We began by learning a little about Hemingway’s life, which was characterised by adventure, machismo and, eventually, depression. We spoke about the kinds of stories we might expect a man like Hemingway to have written, looking at his connection to Cuba and the way he thought people should live their lives. We then discussed the iceberg effect in Hemingway’s writing, where he used an economy of language to conceal hidden depths of meaning below a very simple writing style. The class analysed a passage from Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, thinking about what they could infer from the passage and how they could examine the deeper meaning. Finally, the class learnt about Hemingway’s shortest story, the six-word sentence ‘For sale: baby shoes. Never worn’. They wrote their own six-word stories, coming up with some brilliant ideas to create suspense, sadness, mystery and some really intriguing plotlines twisted up into one small phrase. Fab work everyone, you all contributed beautifully to our class today- keep it up and I’ll see you next week 🙂
Hemingway biography video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=0JQDe0GCNHg&feature=emb_logo
Hemingway interview video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=VXdoedQSQuo&feature=emb_logo
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 26: Zusak
In today’s lesson we studied our sixth author of the series and our first 21st century author: Markus Zusak. We considered how unusual his writing style is and thought about the ways in which he makes his author’s voice truly original, considering his narrative perspective and the way he twists the reader’s expectations. We looked at his use of foreshadowing, often in order to ‘ruin’ the ending for the reader and considered how he shuns the notion of suspense. The class analysed an extract from a piece of his work and then considered his use of figurative language, focusing on several particularly beautiful quotations from his most famous book The Book Thief, told from the perspective of Death. Finally, we thought about narrative devices, what they are and how to use them, and the class experimented with using some more unusual devices in their own writing. Everyone worked really hard today, the class’s diligence and enthusiasm was fantastic! I particularly enjoyed hearing their thoughts on the narrative devices Zusak uses and their own creative interpretations of these- fab work everyone, see you next week 🙂
Markus Zusak interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=22&v=m7B8ioiZz7M&feature=emb_logo
Book Thief summary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CR7AKnH1tMY&feature=emb_logo
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 27: Rowling
In today’s lesson we completed work on our penultimate author: J. K. Rowling, one of the most famous and successful authors of the modern day. The class began by thinking about what may have made her writing so successful and well-known, thinking about what they particularly respond to in her work. We spoke about the genre of fantasy and looked at the skills surrounding the creation of a fictional world. The class completed their own versions of fantastical worlds, using tips giving by Rowling as writing inspiration, and considering the conflict driven nature of her work. Finally, we looked at some of Rowling’s later work, her crime novels for adults, discussing why she may have used a pseudonym to publish under and thinking about whether there was any particular consistency in her writing style between her Harry Potter books and her later work. Everyone worked really well today- I particularly loved hearing the social rules, norms and frameworks they developed for their world-building and that they had expertly woven together. Amazing work class, well done and I’ll see you next week 🙂
Building a fictional world video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQTQSbjecLg&feature=emb_logo
J. K. Rowling writing tips video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iATd3W7JQWY&t=35s
Robert Galbraith video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PItOoMjdoI
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 28: Christie
In today’s lesson we completed our work on our final author: Agatha Christie. We spoke about the genre of detective novels and where Christie’s work falls within the literary world, considering what her greatest strengths were as a writer. We discussed her process for writing novels, thinking about the way she used her day-to-day experiences to help her think of plot starters, and using the “what if” format to help us think of our own unique situations to start a mystery story with. We spoke about the role of deception in Christie’s books, focusing on elements such as red herrings, foreshadowing and character backstories which can help to create the twists and turns in the narrative necessary for this genre. Finally, the class created their own fictional detectives, focusing on the eccentricities and flaws common to Christie’s work, looking at different types of plot clues and how they can be planted throughout to hook the reader. Fab work from the class today- well done everyone, keep up the great work and I’ll see you next week 🙂
<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Here are some interesting links:</span>
Christie’s writing process video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuIZD6N-3tI
Christie interview in 1955: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r_mZQj-mJ8
Christie biography: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRsQwGR-4XQ&feature=emb_logo
A selection of her most famous books: https://bookriot.com/best-agatha-christie-books/Homework
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Summary for Lesson 29: Writer’s Workshop
In today’s lesson we consolidated our work over the last eight weeks, completing a writer’s workshop in which the students got to test out and practice the skills they have been honing for the first half of our famous authors course. The class began with a vocab test which they completed brilliantly- with each student scoring highly and coming up with impressive answers. We then moved on to revising the core components of our eight authors, with the students beautifully identifying the most important themes and forms of their writing. Each student then chose one author to emulate and wrote some really fantastic pieces in the style of their chosen author, working with character creation and plot twists. Fantastic work today everyone- I was impressed by the creativity and inspiration you demonstrated throughout our class today. Keep up the amazing work! 🙂
How to write like… (to help with revision)
Shakespeare: https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2016/mar/14/how-to-write-like-william-shakespeare
Dickens: https://www.writersdigest.com/there-are-no-rules/write-like-charles-dickens
Fitzgerald: https://nicolebianchi.com/3-tips-fitzgerald-for-writing-masterful-dialogue/
Austen: https://howtowritelike.com/2019/04/04/how-to-write-like-jane-austen/
Hemingway: https://getfreewrite.com/blogs/writing-success/how-to-write-like-hemingway
Zusak: https://www.ignitedinkwriting.com/ignite-your-ink-blog-for-writers/read-the-book-thief-by-markus-zusak/2017
Rowling: https://www.nownovel.com/blog/five-great-writing-tips-from-j-k-rowling/
Christie: https://www.writerswrite.co.za/7-excellent-plotting-tips-from-agatha-christie/#:~:text=Agatha%20Christie%20found%20her%20ideas,to%20develop%2C%20and%20take%20notes.
Video from the lesson on writing tips: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flthk8SNiiE&list=PLJicmE8fK0Eib5y-bh4RVFvg492OIwpg8&index=20
Video on plot twists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SPcBeLZmiQ
Homework attached .
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Summary for Lesson 30: Mock Exam
In today’s lesson we completed our writing mock exam, spending the first thirty minutes of the lesson for metaphor work and to revise the core components of the previous lessons and the important features of each of the eight authors we have studied in this section of the course. The class then spent the rest of the class completing their exams based on the work of an author of their choice from the eight. Finally, they self-evaluated their work at the very end, thinking about what went wells and even better ifs in the immediate aftermath of the writing exam. Fabulous work today everyone; you were all hardworking, focused and engaged throughout our lesson. I really look forward to reading your exams and am hugely impressed by the steps each and every one of you has made over the past nine weeks in terms of writing, discussion, creativity, analysis and vocab. Well done and congratulations on your work today! 🙂
Homework
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