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The time machine by H G Wells
War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman -
Summary for Lesson 1
In today’s class we began our study of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells, thinking about the context and history of the book and what it can tell us about the ideas in the novel. We began with a class review of the book, where the students shared their ideas beautifully on what they did and didn’t enjoy in the novel. We then moved on to discussing the science fiction genre, analysing the key conventions of the genre and thinking about why it may have arisen from the 19th century and industrial revolution. We then learned about Wells’ life, discussing what impact his childhood poverty may have had on his writing and predicting elements of his personality from his interest in science and vision of the future. Finally the class thought about the themes of the book, using themes such as class, love, technology and evolution to help inspire their own ideas for a modern version of the novel, which they did fantastically. Excellent work everyone- I really enjoyed hearing all your creative and sophisticated ideas and thought every one of you worked diligently and passionately. Well done, keep up the great work and see you next lesson! 🙂
Themes video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS_RPRKyaLY
Homework
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Hi, Beth, please find my homework attached. Thanks for your teaching! Really enjoyed it.
-Yichen Zhang
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1895 October 3rd Queen Victoria (Chris Wu)
The Time Machine
It was October the 3rd when I first read the book ’Time Machine’ written by H. G Wells and to me it had its ups and downs. The main character was simply called ‘The Time Traveller’ and was called this through the book. The man was a philosopher and created a time machine to go back into time where he meets another character called Weena. He saves her from drowning and she becomes very attached to him. This is where my first dislike happens. Weena becomes attached to the main character and behaves in a child like manner. This is most displeasing since children are insolent creatures who walk the slums. On the topic of Weena, I dislike the fact that H. G Wells decided to eliminate her during the fire. In my opinion she should have continued through the story
I do not like the fact that the monsters ’The Morlocks’ were afraid of the light. This is childish behaviour and shouldn’t happen. The only thing that is scared of light are vampires and they are allergic to it. The writer portrays all modern-day people in a smart philosophical light whereas he places the Eloi or ‘the future people’ in a bad and stupid light. He suggests that in the future that we will become idiotic senile beings. This idea is preposterous. We are evolved genius being the rulers of the world. Although I will give him credit for writing the first Sci-Fi book. I believe that the book is centred around basic philosophy which is good to have as we are deep thinkers.
As a conclusion I think this an ok book with a lot of plot twists. It is one of the first Sci-fi books andH. G Wells made a great show of it. He will influence others and continue to even after his passing. I dislike how he posed humans in a bad and good light but altogether it was a great novel.
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sorry for the lateness beth.
The Time Machine is an amazing book written by HG Wells. It talks about a man who one day, creates a fantastic piece of machinery called a time machine and uses it to travel in the past and future. He meets some unintelligent, childish, happy creatures called Eloi and realise they are scared of the dark. One day, he went out to explore but when he came back, he noticed that his time machine was missing. Eventually he found it and with it, he discovered the nasty, nauseatingly inhuman Morlocks who were afraid of the light.
I really enjoyed this book as it is one of the first sci-fi books and involves traveling in time. I love the creativity and the inspiration in this book. I also like how the people in the future would act and that the time traveller found his machine again . However, what I don’t like is that the Morlocks ate the Elio. Who would want to read about a creature eating another harmless creature. The Elio certainly wasn’t tickety-boo.
In conclusion, this is a great novel for all children with lots of twists and turns. I think this will be an inspiration for lots of other people. Out of a 10 I would rate it a 10.
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Summary for Lesson 2
In today’s class we continued our work on The Time Machine, focusing on character, narration and style. We began with a discussion of the trope of the dinner party, questioning the purpose of this literary concept and thinking about what effect it has in this novel. We then moved on to discussing the character of the Time Traveller, thinking about what we are told and not told about who he is and where he is from, linking this to ideas of narration and perspective in the book. We considered the two different narrators and how this is utilised through the setting of the dinner party and the clsss then wrote a passage from the perspective of characters in the future to counteract the limited view of their society that the Time Traveller offers. We spoke about the origin of these future species’ names (eloi and morlock) discussing the importance of word sounds, before finally finishing up with a creative task where the class designed a final guest to add to the dinner party and thought about what their perspective on the Time Traveller’s story may be. Fantastic work from the class today- they were engaged, thoughtful and creative throughout, coming up with great ideas and pieces of writing. Great job everyone- keep up the amazing work 🙂
P.S. The homework story is attached below!
Homework
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Hi Beth,
Please find my homework attached. Sorry for my lateness as we were traveling in the past few days. Thanks.
Yichen Zhang
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Summary for Lesson 3
In today’s class we finished our work on The Time Machine, thinking about the core scientific principals at the heart of the book, such as evolution, and analysing Wells’ vision of the future. We began with a brief discussion of his short story The Star, discussing what it tells us about Wells’ approach to futurism and warnings for humanity. We then spoke about the symbolic significance of the Palace of Green Porcelain and the ‘sunset of mankind’ in the novel, linking this to Wells’ theories on evolution and devolution. We read an article that outlined these ideas and used an extract from the novel to help us identify Wells’ main points. Finally we had a brief debate on whether the novel is meant to make us hopeful for the future or not, which the class offered some excellent and very moving ideas on. Fantastic work today everyone- you all contributed some brilliant thoughts throughout and dealt with some advanced ideas in an energetic and impressive way. Fab work and I’ll see you next week for War Horse! 🙂
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 4
In this week’s lesson we began with an introduction and overview of the central ideas and historical context of War Horse. We also looked at author intent (why did Morpurgo choose to write the novel like he did) and, combining these ideas with the central themes identified, thought about the meaning at the core of the novel. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the homework. The powerpoint contains our discussions of background of the novel, along with some historical facts and figures on the context of the First World War, and some comparative work involving a painting from 1914 of the battlefield. We also had a great discussion about how Morpurgo shows the horrors of war and the class all shared excellent thematic and semantic fields! Well done everyone- you all had some fantastic ideas to share throughout and completed some excellent work thinking about the history and core ideas running through the heart of this novel. Fab work- see you next week 🙂
Morpurgo interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS3aVkz_uVw
Homework
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Hi Beth, I’m so sorry for the 6-hour delay. I loved the class on War horse, it was amazing! My homework is attached below.
Thanks so much-Yichen
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Summary for Lesson 5
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 paragraphs 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 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 fantastically, offering lots of great interpretations of the choices made by Morpurgo in this novel. They also wrote some wonderful creative accounts of a battle from Trooper Warren’s perspective and shared some lovely thoughts on how this alters the tone of the story. Great work everyone- keep up the amazing job and I’ll see you next week! 🙂
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 6
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 fab discussion about the concept of word choice, thinking about how to understand books as constructions and analyse the author’s language choices in that vein. Today’s lesson was really content-heavy with loads of ideas, debates and exercises packed into the hour and everyone fantastically on all counts. Fantastic work today everyone- you all came up with some wonderful discussion points. Keep up the great work and I’ll see you next week 🙂
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 7
In today’s lesson we began studying A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the paragraphs assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains loads of information on the context of A Christmas Carol, thinking about how the backdrop of Victorian England influences the themes in the book, and considering what modern parallels can be drawn between society in the 1800s and society today. We had a great discussion on everyone’s favourite and least favourite parts of the book, and the class did some wonderful work thinking about how the history behind a book can influence our thinking about it. Lovely work from the class today who dealt with some big historical concepts beautifully. I was really impressed by the way they linked this to examples from the novel, and really enjoyed hearing their ideas about modern social issues too. Amazing work everyone- well done and see you next week 🙂
Video on 1800s London: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJbTWDNYIck
Video on Dickens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5czA_L_eOp4
Homework
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Hi Beth,
Attached is my homework, sorry for the delay, I did not see the time changed.
Many thanks,
Lynn
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Summary for Lesson 8
In today’s lesson we continued our study of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, this time delving deeper into the core of the book itself to think about themes. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the paragraphs assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains lots of ideas on the themes in the novel which the students had identified, analysis of that thematic material, thinking about how to fit this into Point, Evidence, Explain essay paragraphs, and information on the genre of a morality drama and the dramatic convention of character arcs. We also had a fantastic talk at the beginning of the lesson recapping on last week’s ideas of context and relevance in the modern world, and the students engaged in some wonderful discussions regarding the theme of ghosts in the novel, linking this theme to others such as religion and coming up with many different interpretations and ideas for what the ghosts in A Christmas Carol could communicate or symbolise. Fab work today class, well done for all your hard work and I’ll see you next week! 🙂
Homework
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I think the third ghost had the most impact on Scrooge because after Scrooge saw the first two ghosts, he didn’t want to be nice but after visiting the third one, he wanted to be nice. After visiting the first ghost, he wanted to go to his bed and extinguish the ghost and he kept saying humbugs. After meeting the second ghost, I feel like he was too kind because when I think of ghosts, I think of a really mean and scary ghost. Also, when he met the second ghost, he showed him that Tiny Tim was dead. I don’t like that because Tiny Tim is a nice character and he shouldn’t die.
That is why I thought the third ghost had the most influence.
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`Hi Beth,
So sorry for the delay. Attached is the homework and thank you for your lesson.
Kind Regards,
Yichen
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Summary for Lesson 9
In today’s lesson we completed our study of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, finishing up with a lesson on close textual analysis using several interesting passages from the text to do so. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help write the exam questions assigned for homework. The powerpoint contains lots of ideas on how to use literary analysis in a creative and compelling way, focusing on concepts of word choice, literary techniques, structure and thinking about author intent. It also includes a mark scheme for close textual analysis P.E.E. paragraphs completed in the lesson, and some thoughts on how to self-evaluate. The class spoke wonderfully about the effect of Dickens’ language and I was particularly impressed with the class’s brilliant and creative ideas for what would have happened to Scrooge if he hadn’t changed by the end which were great fun to hear. Wonderful work class- see you next week! 🙂
Homework
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The way that Dickens writes about the way a character speaks and expresses the words makes the audience feel like they are there in a spooky and creepy atmosphere. For example, if the narrator speaks in a quiet and deadly voice, it can symbolise that the character is a very dangerous character and is probably talking about something secretive. Or, it could be some warning to somebody else like when the ghosts warn Scrooge about his past, present or future.
Humour comes in mainly when Scrooge says “Bah Humbug”. This is funny because a humbug is a type of sweet. Another example is when Bob finds out that Scrooge is raising his salary. This shows that Scrooge has really changed. Instead of feeling grumpy at him, he gave him a rise in salary and a turkey.
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Hi Beth,
I am traveling therefore sorry for submitting the homework so late. Thanks for your teaching.
Best,
Yichen
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Summary for Lesson 10
In today’s class we began our work on Northern Lights, our final book of the winter course. We worked today on the background of the book, considering Philip Pullman, the author, and his motivations in writing this novel. We touched on genre, thinking about genres such as magical realism, fantasy, mystery, overcoming the monster, quests and adventure, and spoke about the process of worldbuilding. The students then connected this idea to the world within the novel, questioning the rules and structures of Pullman’s world and thinking about how he shows this to the reader. We spoke about the similarities and differences between our world and the one of the novel before discussing some tips for worldbuilding and thinking about how to use Pullman as inspiration. Really great work today class- well done for all your creative ideas on worldbuilding and how Pullman’s life may have influenced his novel. I also loved hearing all your interesting and well-supported thoughts on genre! Keep up the amazing ideas and see you soon! 🙂
Video on worldbuilding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZcIT603zpI
Homework
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Dear Beth,
Thanks so much for the class and so sorry for the delay. Hope you have a lovely Christmas! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Christmasy wishes,
Yichen
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Summary for Lesson 11
In today’s class we continued our work on Northern Lights, thinking today about the concept of power in the novel. We began with reading a BBC article arguing that this book is particularly relevant in the modern day before discussing the notion of power and corruption in the novel. The class discussed the concept of hierarchy in the book and thought about which characters have power and why. We then moved on to thinking about Milton’s Paradise Lost and how it relates to the novel, focusing on the concept of rooting for the devil that Milton and Pullman were both inspired by. The class analysed Pullman’s use of Paradise Lost and came up with some fab ideas of how he presents villany in the story. Finally, we spoke about daemons and the class each designed their own, thinking about the role they play in the story. Lovely work today everyone- really well done for working so well with some big and complex ideas. Very impressive work! Have a lovely Christmas and see you next week 🙂
BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20191025-why-his-dark-materials-is-the-fantasy-epic-for-our-times
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 12
In today’s class we completed our work on Northern Lights, concluding our autumn course. We spoke today about the inspiration we could take from Pullman’s writing- thinking about his characterisation, setting, themes and plot. We began with a discussion of character, with the class inventing their own Pullman-esque characters and thinking about their reactions to his characters. Moving on we spoke about setting, before reading an article written by someone whose life was changed by Northern Lights, and discussing what the class felt they could take forward from this novel. They then wrote a paragraph imagining what might happen next after the end of the story, using Pullman’s style to inspire them. Finally we did a fun dramatic task where the class gave advice to Lyra and Pan, with one class member acting as saboteur and the others having to catch them out. Wonderful work today class- well done! I really enjoyed seeing your enthusiasm and hearing all your creative and intriguing ideas, along with your excellent writing. You should all be very proud of your work, you’ve been a joy to teach these past twelve weeks and I hope to see you all soon in the new course ! Well done 🙂
Homework
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