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Summary for Lesson 1
In today’s class we began our work on Northern Lights, our first book of the 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 mystery, fantasy 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 in the novel before discussing some tips for worldbuilding and thinking about how to use Pullman as inspiration. The class worked well today and came up with some great ideas about the ways in which Pullman creates rules, systems and fantastical creatures within his novel. Well done everyone, see you next week 🙂
Website link of Pullman’s multiverse: https://fantasy.bnf.fr/en/understand/philip-pullman-where-worlds-meet/
Video we watched on worldbuilding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQTQSbjecLg
Another great video on worldbuilding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZcIT603zpI
Homework
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Homework: Write a short part of the story set in your Northen Light inspired world, including characters from the book.
The first light came from my window woke me up in the morning, it was a chilly day. My magic bracelet was not used for a day, I thought it would break into ice pieces, but it still stays there looks like it has been using a lot of time. And the time I was thinking Ms.Coutler came here: “Let me tell you a story, it was April now, and the god, which is your father, had no good on this month, so he had a big magic on holding the storm, he will hold on to the storm and made it in the April. But you are the daughter of the storm father, so you will have magic to make the storm into wind or snow.” “Is that true? Can I use this magic now with my bracelet?” “You can, but do not try it now, it will cause a lot of problems. You can use it when a widespread storm comes. “I half-heartedly go to eat breakfast.-
Wonderful work Annie- well done! The story you have woven here is intriguing and compelling; you have set the scene beautifully in the first few lines and I love how you have used themes of magic and prophecies to create a mysterious tone to the story. I love the foreshadowing you have used in suggesting that the bracelet is capable of causing many problems and your idea of Mrs Coulter telling the narrator that she is the daughter of the storm father in this way helps let the reader into this magical world, learning alongside the narrator what is going on. I also love how the final line leaves us in suspense, wondering what will happen next and using the anti-climax of her half-heartedly eating breakfast to suggest things are all going to change. To make this even better, just be careful with your sentence structure and word order i.e., the third sentence should read ‘As I was thinking this, Mrs Coulter came over to me’. Sometimes if you read it out loud it can help you to hear any small grammatical mistakes. Overall lovely writing well done 🙂
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It was the first light from the east that woke me up ,I found the token that was meant to break into pieces ,I don’t know why it didn’t break ,so I decided to ask Ms Coulter , after dressing,I went downstairs and told Ms Coulter the whole thing about the token ,then Ms Coulter told me:“actually,your father is a great explorer,he brought some dare minerals back when he went to China ,the token is made of it，after that he also injected some power of the bears ,and even some of it came from the bears king,Loken.But there is also a spell in the token.When you’re forty years old ，then you can use all of it’s power.now，you can just use seven bears power，but you still can destroy a house，and when you use all of its power now，you could destroy the whole milky-way，but if you break the spell and use its power，then you will never be reborn, and you will always be tortured in hell,so don’t use the power in it!”
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Fantastic work Jeffrey- well done! I love the opening line which sets the scene beautifully, giving the reader a powerful image of Lyra’s setting, and how you have included language that feels very appropriate for the book i.e., minerals. bears, tokens, illustrating for us the world-building of this novel. You’ve used dialogue really nicely to show Ms Coulter’s warning and give the reader insight into this world of magic and mystery. I also really like the notion of never being reborn and how this plays into a sense of a prophecy spiraling out of control, leaving it on a cliff-hanger with the reader wondering what will happen next- fab ideas! The thing to work on now is your punctuation- make sure you are putting full stops where they need to be, for example, the last sentence could do with being broken into several sentences to help clarify it a little. Try reading it out loud to hear where the pauses should be, and then think about whether a full stop or commas works better to split it up. Overall great ideas well done 🙂
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In a world called Northern Kingdom,the people there are all trapped in this boring world. No one except children has the curiosity to go to open the door to the other world, because it’s also dangerous. On a child’s eighteenth birthday, there will be a ceremony with witches, priests, and armored bears. They will perform some kind of operation to remove the child’s curiosity so that they will never want to go to the other world. One day Lyra and her brother Roger discovered this secret by overhearing the conversation of her parents. They also heard that the secret of how to escape this world is in an old book located in a desolated library. She and Roger decided to look for the book. They finally found that they need to collect the ultimate four elements———air, water, fire, and dust———so that they can use a magic spell to open the door to the other world. They also need to solve the mystery of the magic spell in the book. How can they overcome all the difficulties ahead of them? Will they succeed?
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Lovely ideas Anna- well done! I love how you have focused on the theme of curiosity and how crucial it is to our sense of place in the world, and really enjoy the way you have set the scene with reference to witches, priests and armoured bears which helps us imagine the world of the novel. You’ve used some excellent vocab i.e., desolated, and some fab rhetorical questions which create suspense for the reader, leaving them wondering what will happen next and intriguing them to read on. You have thought carefully about the world-building of Northern Lights and have included some great features from the book whilst also using your own ideas to shape the setting of this story. To make this even better, could you do some more showing instead of telling? i.e., can you describe Lyra and Roger overhearing the conversation between their parents in a narrative way like “they snuck into the library, stepping carefully around the piles of motheaten books. Suddenly, they heard voices…”. Overall some fab writing well done 🙂
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Summary for Lesson 2
In today’s class we continued our work on Northern Lights, thinking today about the concept of power 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 bad guy 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. We also spoke about daemons and the class each designed their own, thinking about the role they play in the story. Some fab work today- well done everyone and keep up the great ideas. See you soon 🙂
Homework
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I think lying is not always wrong. One-time Iofur captured Lyra in prison ang lied to Iofur:”I am Iorek’s daemon, but I want to be your Deamon. So, I came to tell you that if you kill Iorek, I can be your daemon. “That was a lie but it was correct, because if he didn’t do that, she might as well be locked up for her rest of her life. And Iorek wouldn’t have the chance to battle and kill Iofur or rule the bears kingdom so in this case she was correct.
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Excellent ideas Parker- well done! You have explored this idea beautifully and used a really interesting example from the novel. I love that you have used quotations to back up your ideas and have chosen a really good quote to prove your point about lying sometimes becoming necessary in the world of the book. You have also thought about the impact of this scene on the future plot of the book (i.e., Lyra being able to escape and continue on her quest) which is fantastic. I would love to see you explore why you think the author presents lying as sometimes okay in the book and how it fits into the ideas of Lyra as a character. Overall lovely work well done 🙂
Spelling:
*and lied
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I think that lying is not always wrong here with Lyra’s case, because sometimes her lies can help her defeat the villains. For example, when Mrs. Coulter wanted Lyra to give her the alethiometer, Lyra lied to her and handed her the old box that contained the “spying creatures” instead. If she didn’t lie and gave her the alethiometer, then Mrs. Coulter would use the alethiometer to do some more evil experiments on kid.
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Lovely thoughts Anna, well done! You have unpicked the moral compass of the book really nicely here, thinking about how Lyra uses lying to defeat the villains and trick her way out of situations. I really like your example about the alethiometer incident and love that you have used a quotation to back up your thoughts- excellent choice of quote! You have also weighed up the concept that Lyra’s lie is the lesser of two evils, demonstrating clearly that it stops Mrs. Coulter from doing her evil experiments and thinking about the way in which Lyra sometimes has to do unethical things to stop greater tragedies from occurring. I would love to see you explore some other examples of lying in the book to help you further prove your point about why Lyra lies. Overall wonderful work well done 🙂
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I think that lying is not always wrong here with Lyra’s case, because sometimes her lies can help her defeat the villains. For example, when Mrs. Coulter wanted Lyra to give her the alethiometer, Lyra lied to her and handed her the old box that contained the “spying creatures” instead. If she didn’t lie and gave her the alethiometer, then Mrs. Coulter would use the alethiometer to do some more evil experiments on kid.
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I think lie sometime is right, it depends on how you use it. If you use it in the wrong place, maybe you will get in a lot of problems, but if you know how to use it and control it. Like Lyra, she was a good protecter of lie, Because when Mrs.Coulter said she needs to give the alethiometer to her, Lyra didn’t give it, and she use an old box instead. If Lyra gives the alethiometer to Mrs.Coulter, then maybe Mrs.Coulter will do more things to give the children experience.
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Fab work Annie- well done! I really like your point that it is the motivation behind a lie that matters in this book in terms of whether it is right or wrong to do so, and how you have connected this wider moral point to Lyra’s journey in the book. You’ve used a great example of a time that Lyra’s lies do good in the scene with Mrs Coulter and the alethiometer and have thought about the terrible things that could have happened if Lyra had told the truth- lovely work! I really like the idea that Lyra protects herself using lies too. To make this even better, could you use a quotation from the book to back up your points, showing me the example scene you’ve discussed? Overall super ideas well done 🙂
Grammar:
*I think lying is sometimes right
* but if you know how to use it and control it, it can help save you (remember to finish your sentences)
* she was a good protector of the lies she told
*she used an old box
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Summary for Lesson 3
In today’s class we completed our work on Northern Lights. 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 read 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 debate task where the class gave advice to Lyra and Pan, having to give counterarguments to each others’ points. Amazing work today everyone, well done for your fantastic and creative contributions. See you next week 🙂
Homework
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Summary for Lesson 4
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 fantastically 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 the industrial revolution. We then learned about Wells’ books, predicting elements of his personality from his interest in science and extrapolated vision of the future. Lovely work today class, well done for all your hard work and see you next week 🙂
Homework
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I would think it was not possible and I will think it was funny that people could use time machine to go to the past. But when I read it again, I would think it was very magical and it could happened in the future and human have lot of things to explore. And the third time I read it again I thought of the things we could do now to help human tl explore future and past, I can have many invention, and maybe I will become the one that can go to explore!
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Great ideas Annie, well done! I really like your ideas about how the reader’s perception might change each time they re-read it and think your thoughts on the way it could inspire their own interest in science is a brilliant one. The way that they start by thinking the whole thing is very mysterious before finally realising they can become an inventor too is a lovely demonstration of how powerful books can be and I like that you’ve shown how Victorian-era people might think about this and how they would be open to changing their mind. To make this even better, could you include any particular scenes or moments in the book they might find particularly interesting? Overall some fab work well done 🙂
Spelling:
*I would think it was funny
*humans
*to help humans explore the future and past
*I can have many inventions
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I would think it was not possible and I will think it was funny that people could use time machine to go to the past. But when I read it again, I would think it was very magical and it could happened in the future and human have lot of things to explore. And the third time I read it again I thought of the things we could do now to help human to explore future and past, I can have many invention, and maybe I will become the one that can go to explore!
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H.G.Wells is so imaginative, he makes us think about what will happen in the future. Now, it seems like that we humans are working for the machines, rather than machines serving us. When the “Locomotion” was invented, we thought that the science can bring us many good things, which can save us from the hard working of the agriculture. But when I first read “The Time Machine”, I was shocked that maybe those machinery things might not be helping us eventually. Even though now we benefit a lot from the technology, I couldn’t help wondering about the future. What if we become slaves of the machines? What if the machines will pollute the earth and we will loose our home? What if we loose our freedom and we can just work and work for days?
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Amazing work Anna, well done! I absolutely love the way you have adopted the narrative voice of someone from the Victorian period, drawing on key themes such as locomotion and a fascination with machines. I really enjoyed your discussion of the future and how it shocked your narrator, with them realising the perils of technology for the first time and having their mind changed. I also love the rhetorical questions at the end where the narrator grapples with what they have learned from the book- fab use of narrative voice! To make this even better, could you think of a particular scene in the book they might comment on to show the dangers of technology? Overall excellent writing well done 🙂
Spelling:
*from the hard work of agriculture
*lose our home/ lose our freedom
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if I was in Victoria , I would think; oh! this is so dumb! How could he do that, and what the hell is the time traveller doing? I don’t think things will change so much going forward,and if I had this machine, I can travel to two hundred years ago and see what’s happened.
And if I was a reader in 1965 I will think,oh! That’s interesting. I should try to make a time machine, and travel to the age that the time traveler went, then I could take all of the interesting things back and then I will be famous, the Qween will also give me a bunch of money! but how could Ido it? How could my speed go over the speed of light ?
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Some great ideas Jeffrey, well done! I really like how you have split this into two, thinking about how a reader in Victorian times would interpret it differently from someone in 1965. I really enjoyed how the Victorian reader was very suspicious of the book and did not think things would possibly change to that extent, but that your later reader was much more fascinated by the idea. You’ve used narrative voice fantastically to show how these two narrators differ in their ideas and emotions and I really like your use of rhetorical questions. To make this even better, could you explain why they might have such different interpretations of the future at this moment? Overall lovely work well done 🙂
Spelling:
*If I was in the Victorian period
*If I had this machine I could travel to two hundred years ago
*in 1965 I would think
*traveller
*queen
*how could I do it
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Summary for Lesson 5
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 class 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. Lovely work today class, well done for all your contributions and ideas throughout. Keep up the great ideas 🙂
P.S. The homework story is attached below!
Homework
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It was always science fiction, and H.G. Wells seems don’t like to tell more about the main character, he tells more about the other characters, and then, he let the reader knows what the main character was doing and seeing. H.G. Wells was always starting a story in a kind of hook that someone was shouting or saying something, he maybe want the readers to get in to his story more and really dug into it, so then he has not given the main character information. And also, H.G Wells was using a lot of words to describe the story and he was always talking about the response of other characters. He likes the story to filled with imagination and special creatures.
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Brilliant comparative points Annie, I really like your ideas about how he keeps the identity of his main character veiled in some way. You’ve also focused on the genre really well and have dug into the way in which he uses imagined futures to explore his ideas about the world. We will discuss this in more detail in our lesson but these are some great ideas and I can’t wait to hear what you have to say about The Star tomorrow! Well done 🙂
Spelling:
*Both stories are science fiction
* H. G Wells doesn’t seem to like to tell us much about the main character
*he lets the reader know
*with a kind of hook
*maybe wanted the readers
*he likes the story to be filled with imagination
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Summary for Lesson 6
In today’s class we finished our work on The Time Machine, thinking about the core scientific principles 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 gave some fab answers to. Well done for today everyone, see you next week 🙂
Homework
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I think that if H.G.Wells chose a nearer future instead of the year 802701, it will be less real for the readers. Such an extremity of the setting will give the readers space to imagine and they will think that this can really happen in the long, distant future. According to our history, the future within a few thousand years are still predictable. But if the setting is in the year 802701, we can’t really predict the future and what will happen, so H.G.Wells made us really think about the current social society structure.
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Wonderful ideas Anna, well done! I think your idea about the unpredictability of a future so far away is a really important one and I really enjoyed your idea that the extremity of the setting, because it is so unknowable, forces us to reflect more on the modern day we live in. I love that you are referring to our collective history and what it teaches us about our relationship with the future and think it is a really interesting idea that in allowing the readers to find the setting more believable, Wells heightens our sense of horror towards current social inequalities. To make this even better, could you find a quotation from the book that backs up your idea about this being purposefully far away? Overall excellent writing well done 🙂
Grammar:
* it would be less real
*the future within a few thousand years is still predictable
*current social structure.
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I think H.G.wells didn’t choose any time closer is because readers might think that H.G.Wells is “telling” us that the future is bad or something so it is set in so far a future is because it is actually telling people that there is a chance to corect there mistakes since there is so much time until the time 802,7011. So if the story is set in 802711 the readers will think there will be still time for correction and can warn us.
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Correct:
I think H.G.Wells set the time in 802,701 because he didn’t want to say that the people are greedy, lazy , because in the book elois are so greedy and lazy. I think if H.G.Wells did set the time earlier it actually means that people now are really greedy and lazy already and that is bad so I think that is why H.G.Wells set the time in 802,701. But if H.G.Wells set the time to far away the people will be comftarble since they will think, oh, we still have billions of year unil that year so we don’t need to change it now. So the people will just think that and go on and on until the world really is the world in the time machine.
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Some fab ideas Parker, well done! I think it’s a great point that he needed to set it much further in the future because of how much the human race had to have evolved in the story- from the humans of today to the Elois and Morlocks of Wells’ world- and so it had to be far enough in the future to make that evolutionary process realistic. I also really like your point that if Wells set it too far away it may lead people to be complacent about the changes they need to make in order to protect society from the inequality in the book. To make this even better, could you consider why you think he did set it so far in the future if you believe that might make people too lazy to change anything? Overall lovely work well done 🙂
Grammar & spelling:
* it would actually mean that people already are really greedy
*set the time too far away
*comfortable
*until
*The Time Machine (remember to capitalise book titles)
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I think H.G wells wants us to think about the things that human does, he had a great example of the future, he wasn’t giving us the space to predict, it may happen if human don’t work or not doing things. H.G Wells want us to see, if the human was lazy and greedy, the year in the future will be like that, he knows that we can use electricity to predict the things in next year or three years later, so he was imagining very very far, so he knows that we couldn’t predict if it was true or not, so he let us know the hidden danger in this world.
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Some lovely thoughts Annie, well done! I think your point about humans not being given the space to predict the future if it is set so incredibly far in the future is an important one and it takes it away from how realistic the prediction is and makes it more about the social critique of our modern world. I like your point about how it shows us what could happen if humans continue to let inequality continue instead of saying specifically what will happen- also fab idea about the hidden danger of the world, that’s a great phrase! To make this even better, remember to answer the question specifically in the first sentence i.e., ‘H G Wells sets this book so far in the future because…’ Overall fab work well done 🙂
Grammar & spelling:
*Wells (capital letter at the beginning of his name)
*things that humans do // if humans don’t work
*Wells wants us to see
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I think that Wells set his story in 802, 701 because he could create a brand new environment so he is able to warn us about being lazy by creating the Morlocks and the Elois. I think that Wells also have other reason that he sets his story so far in the future, such as, maybe he wants us humans to learn from our history and respect every bit of them, Wells also showed that in the story by giving us an example of the Elois: the Elois defeated the Morlocks and began thinking that everything is good and perfect so they won’t need their history anymore.
I think the extremity of the setting made the novel more relevant as a work of social criticism; the setting that Wells created is filled with unknown creatures that are evolved from humans. Let’s look at one of them: the Elois, for example. The Elois were lazy and greedy, so readers could easily think that Wells is trying to criticize lazy human and predicting that lazy human will have bad future.
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Exceptional work Katie, well done! I absolutely love your point about how this is a book about respecting history, as exemplified by the Elois’ arrogance in allowing their history and knowledge to fall into ruin, and think you’ve used this example beautifully. You are spot on in thinking about how the extremity makes the social critique sharper and how the fact that the environment is so unknown and the extreme evolution of humanity so crucial makes the fact this is set so far in the future very important. You’ve tied this all to events in the book perfectly and have written with great sophistication and clarity (amazing use of advanced punctuation). To make this even better, could you include a quotation from the book to back up your ideas? Overall fabulous work well done 🙂
Grammar:
*also has other reasons
*criticize lazy humans and predict that lazy humans will have a bad future.
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Summary of Lesson 1
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 as he did) and, combining these ideas with the central ideas identified, wrote questions we would ask him in an interview. The powerpoint contains our discussions of the background of the novel, along with some historical facts and figures regarding the context of the First World War, and some comparative work involving a painting from 1914 of the battlefield. Lovely work today everyone, well done for all your fab ideas and inferences about the First World War & amazing historical knowledge too! See you next time 🙂
Homework
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I think it was very important to student if they know the background image of the book, which is War Horse. Maybe the first time student were just reading and get to knowing the normal story in the book, but with the knowledge of the back ground which is world war I, they will get to know what author was expecting the reader to know, and they will think more deeply to the book, not just seeing the hole story. Student will be more familiar to this book, they will know what author was expecting, and they will also have more interest on this book and the history from the book. And if student have more interest on it, they will dig more about the author, the facts about the war, and also the famous part in the war. All in all, it was so important to student to get to know the world war I.
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Fantastic ideas Annie, well done! I really enjoyed your idea that the normal story in the book is enhanced by learning the history, which helps the reader think more deeply about the themes and ideas (particularly when we learn it was based upon real events!). You have also written wonderfully on the way in which books can inspire students to learn more about history, and how it can make history itself feel more real and fascinating to people if they read a story set in the past. Lovely ideas about how it can help us understand the story better too. To make this even better, could you give a specific example from the book that teaches us something about World War One i.e., the time Joey ends up behind enemy lines? Overall lovely work well done 🙂
Grammar:
*important to students (remember that students is plural throughout so needs an s on the end)
*think more deeply about the book
*whole story
*Students will be more familiar with this book
*interest in this book
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I think that War Horse is very helpful to students learning about the World War I. Because this book tells you a story about the friendship between a boy and a horse. I was very interested by those two characters and I would like to know more about them as my friends. For example, if your best friend was in a football game, you would want to go and watch the game than going to a football game without anyone you know.
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Revised:
I think that War Horse is very helpful to students learning about the World War I. Because this book tells you a story about the friendship between a boy and a horse. The readers will be very interested by those two characters and they would like to know more about them as their friends. For example, if your best friend was in a football game, you would want to go and watch the game than going to a football game without anyone you know. As their friend, you will be more interested by World War I and you will spend more time on this topic.
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Lovely ideas Anna, well done! I really like how you have focused closely on the central relationship in this story between Joey and Albert and thought about the ways in which that friendship might captivate readers and make them want to learn more about the story and historical background. You’ve used a fab example (the football game one) to demonstrate the power of friendship and have also thought about how in the context of the book, learning about the theme of friendship can help people become more open to learning other parts of the history. To make this even better, could you write a bit about World War One specifically about what it is this book teaches us about it, i.e., it teaches us that war can tear friendships apart and therefore makes us reflect on how terrible war is. Overall super work well done 🙂
Grammar:
*learning about World War One (you don’t need ‘the’ before this phrase)
*You need a comma before ‘because’ instead of a full stop
*you would rather go and watch the game
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I think <war horse> told us the story at the First World War like what would you face ,and what could happen to you,and also tells us that how are the soldiers on the battlefield,and it can let the students know how cruel the war is .
As a horse standpoint,it’s not just be a book that telling us the facts of the First World War, it’s also a interesting fiction story book . There was a scene like this: both of us were recived like conquering heroes ,but we both know that the real heroes had not come to home ,they are lying out in France alongside captainNicholls ,topthorn,friedrich,David and little Emilie . This told us that the ones who died in the war will never come back ,it’s also telling us not to look forward to the war but love peace .
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Excellent Jeffrey, well done! You have thought beautifully here about the message Morpurgo is sending us about the horrors of war and what the story illustrates in terms of how cruel and brutal the war was for everyone involved. I also really enjoyed your ideas on the book being from the perspective of a horse and thought your use of an example scene from the book was a brilliant choice that demonstrated the message of the novel really well. You have examined the way in which death is tackled in the book fantastically, linking this to the peace-loving ideas at the heart of this story and thinking carefully about the toll takes on both those who die at war and those who return. To make this even better, could you use quotation marks to show where you are quoting from the book? Overall really great writing well done 🙂
Grammar:
*tells us the story of the First World War, showing us what you would face
*tells us what the soldiers were like on the battlefield
*As it is written from a horse’s standpoint,
*it is not just a book that tells us the facts
*Remember to capitalise the names of characters from the book
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I think War Horse this book tells us about the first world war by introdusing German and Britan to us. Further-wise, it tells how cruel wars are like familys being wrecked, worrying about soldier friends…… But in another way, the first world war actually helped a lot of people, like Joey making friends with Topthorn, the soldier and captain Nicholas making friends with Joey…… So I think this story is to tell you that wars are not JUST cruelity but also friendship. So that is why I think War Horse this book helps us to learn more about world war one.
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Lovely ideas here Parker, well done! You have thought wonderfully about the complexities of war, how it can bring out both the best and the worst in humanity whilst showing us moments of intense cruelty and moments of friendship and braver. I think the point you make about the emotional impact of war, families being wrecked, worrying about friends, is such a powerful one and I really enjoyed your use of examples from the book i.e., mentioning Joey’s friendships. To make this even better could you think of a specific moment in the book that teaches us about war, for example, Topthorn’s death, and then analyse what this teaches us about the First World War? Overall wonderful work well done 🙂
Spelling & grammar:
* introducing
* Germany and Britain
*Furthermore (not further-wise)
*families
*cruelty
*World War One is capitalised
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Summary of Lesson 8
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. Well done today class, you worked well particularly when coming up against some concepts that were maybe a little trickier to understand. Remember you can always ask me questions when you need to i.e., when thinking about what particular literary techniques are. Keep up the lovely work and see you next week 🙂
Homework
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I think if War Horse was wrote in a human perspective, the story won’t be very sad, or it will be more like angry. Because of Joey’s ignorance, the war seem like more cruel than we thought of it, and not just the angry of the humans and soldiers. And also, the human couldn’t hear a horse’s thoughts or voice. In the book, it said:’They were both gentle and kind, with not a shred of aggression in their courageous souls, and Topthorn and I came to love them dearly.‘ The humans don’t know Joey and Topthorn like them, and maybe they will think that the horses don’t like them, the humans can’t understand the feelings of other, Morpurgo made these seem like very miserable.
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it is different because if you told a story from a humans perspective,you would find out that a human wouldn’t have so much questions,because we can consider by ourselves,but a horse doesn’t know what is going on,so they could just obey their masters order and horses are not so clever so they can’t recount so clear but a human could narrate it clear and organized.This book extents a story of a horse in the First World War.
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Summary for Lesson 9
In our final lesson on War Horse, we focused on thinking about how literary analysis can be used to help us understand this story in a deeper way. The PowerPoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help plan and write the homework. The PowerPoint contains work on three main styles of literary analysis: comprehension questions, thematic essay questions and directed writing. We had a conversation about what literary analysis entails, learned about connotations and word choice, and shared some final reflections on the message and moral of the novel. Lovely work today everyone, particularly when thinking about word choice and what it suggests. Keep up the fab work everyone and see you next week for A Christmas Carol 🙂
Connotation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRt1N0sJJQo
Homework
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This year I remember the time where we had ELP(entertaining learning program) and our class lived in a small damp hotel next to the sea. We were in our rooms when I thought about my best friend. Without my best friend it felt different. It was like something was missing in my life. When we got back from the trip and met my best friend he was really eager to see me, and I was really joyful and exited to see him too. We hugged each other and chatted about the trip……
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I remember when a time me and my mom went to a museum with my friend and her mom, we were so exited to see each other even though we met everyday, we chatted all alone the way when my mom and her mom was talking with each other. We have gone to two museum in that afternoon, we where all reluctant to leave when our mom was dragging us towards the car.
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Summary of Lesson 10
In today’s lesson we began studying our final book: 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 the book, thinking about how the backdrop of Victorian England influences the themes, and considering what modern parallels can be drawn between society in the 1800s and society today. We also considered how to form well-evidenced and well-structured opinions critiquing literature, thinking about how the use of references to the text and quotations can be used to strengthen and affirm our arguments. We had a discussion on everyone’s favourite and least favourite parts of the book, and the class did some fab work thinking about how the history behind a book can influence our thinking about it. Lovely ideas today everyone, well done for all your thoughts on poverty and how it is presented in the book. Keep up the great work and see you soon 🙂
Why should you read Dickens video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5czA_L_eOp4&feature=youtu.be&themeRefresh=1
Homework
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Question A: Is it important to know about Victorian England in order to understand A Christmas Carol?
Answer: Yes, because if you know the background, then you will understand the authors purpose of writing this novel, and you will more understand what author is talking about. The author was written in Victory England, that was a very messy and not ruled time, and the author was living in the west, which is a very rich place, and the book was setting in the east, which is a very poor place. If the reader don’t know this, then they wouldn’t get the point that author was talking about, if they don’t know the ideas, then they won’t think deeper in the book either.
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Summary for Lesson 11
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 contains lots of ideas on the themes in the novel that the students identified, information on the genre of a morality drama and the dramatic convention of character arcs. We also had a fantastic discussion thinking about 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. The students also mapped out Scrooge’s change over time and finally we completed some extract analysis. Well done for today everyone, keep up the fantastic work and I’ll see you next week 🙂
Homework
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Summary of Lesson 12
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 the Haberdasher Aske’s 11+ paper, which I’ve attached to this post. 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 an exam context, 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. Wonderful work today everyone- you have all been fantastic over this course and it has been a pleasure working with you all. Well done for all your incredible hard work and ideas- have a lovely holiday season 🙂
Homework
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I think Dickens were using humor to bring out the fear and scary, the humor was very short, and you laugh at the first time, then when the second time you think about it, it became a fear ness of unknown. The humor always acting to be a lure of the story, and the fear came up next right away, the humor was appearing at first when the reader have the most curiosity of this novel, then the reader will realize that the background of humor was a scary setting. Dickens wrote the story in a very special way, the story was very humorous at first, and the story became sad, then the comedy part came. Dickens blend these two feeling with a sadness, so the story was very intresting.
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