Orals, appropriations, journals and exam
The staff has talked about the orals. None of the marks will change, but there is important feedback I need to give you about the importance of quotes. This will apply, too, to the Journals: frequent quoting (as I have been telling you, and modelling in my own journal) is a necessary part of showing 'clear and detailed evidence' [quoted from the rubric] of engagement, knowledge and understanding.

I'll return appropriations next week. What a pleasure these orals and appropriations have been!
It was pointed out to me that the published deadline for the appropriations mentioned the date but not the time. So there will be no penalty for those who handed in their work before midnight on Tuesday.
Do keep working on your journals this week. I know that many of you found the appropriations stimulating (both doing your own and listening to others). Write about your continuing insights over the coming days.
And remember that the journals need to be printed off and handed in next Wednesday. Read the rubric carefully and attend to missing elements before you hand it in.
The staff are currently working on the details of the exam. More information on this in our lessons next week...





Derek's journal on sex and violence
I hope everyone will read Derek's Post 11 in his journal - it touches on themes that almost all of you have found yourselves thinking about - hedonism, sexualisation and violence. It has been splendid, hasn't it, the way the students in this class have discovered that their texts (original and appropriations) have led them to think about both human nature and our own 21st century values and culture. And the way so many very different texts have led to similar connections and insights.



The latest journals ... and tomorrow's lesson
For those of you hoping for some feedback on appropriation drafts included in your journals, I'm going to have a look at them during the day (Monday).
In our lesson tomorrow, there will be an opportunity (not compulsory, and not part of the formal assessment) for you to present your appropriation to the class. I look forward to it!

Don't forget that your appropriations need to be accompanied by a brief statement (150-200 words). This statement should

• describe what you set out to do, ie your purpose.
• include a brief self-evaluation of the extent to which you thought you achieved your purpose.
• describe any insights (into the original text, into our course themes, or into the nature of an appropriation) which you gained as a result of working on your appropriation.

If you don't bring your statement to class, it must be on my desk by 9am on Wednesday morning. (It's also highly recommended reproduce it in your journal, but that's not compulsory.)








Tuesday note
I'm going through the latest postings today, and will have responses to you by the end of school.

How strict is the time limit for the orals?

After 4 mins 30 secs you'll be given an indication that you've got 30 secs to go.
At 5 mins I'll let you know that you've had your time.
At 5 mins 30 you'll be stopped.

Sunday afternoon

I'm going through your journals at the moment, and have just read Felix's, where he talks about 'text-culture-values and the Opening Ceremony'. Interesting thoughts.

Felix has also been writing about how much he's enjoying his reading, and that's raised those questions that Will Haines and Rob Selth talked to us about, the purpose of literature. I'm written a short paragraph about my current enjoyment of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

There are interesting threads emerging about postmodernism - Peter, Phil, Chris, Felix, and James C have all discussed it in recent Journal entries.

Saturday morning

1. Your journal

Between now and Monday lunchtime, I'll be going through everyone's journal & will write a response.

Please make sure that you have backed up your journal. DON'T RUN THE RISK OF LOSING EVERYTHING, IF WETPAINT GOES DOWN OR IT IS ACCIDENTLY WIPED!

2. The orals in Week 5

I've just picked names out of a hat to establish the order for the orals. It is as follows:
1. Tom M
2. James C
3. Peter
4. Phil
5. Derek
6. Felix
7. Sandy
8. Tom W
9. James B
10. George
11. Daniel
12. Chris

Connections between journal, oral and appropriation

If, like George, you're concerned about keeping the journal going while at the same time preparing for the oral and creating your appropriation, you might like to read my response to George.

Thursday lesson in Resource Centre

We begin with a short meeting with Mrs Oates in the Resource Centre, talking about Extension in Yr 12. Then there will be time to talk about orals, write in journals, discuss work etc.

Mrs Bardwell's Macbeth lecture

On Tuesday Mrs Bardwell gave a lecture to the Year 10s about the political background to Macbeth. She talked about conditions in England in the early years of the 17th Century, and how political and social events in England influenced - even shaped - the way Shakespeare appropriated an old story about the an early king of Scotland. As I listened, I found myself again thinking about links between culture, values and text. You can read Mrs Bardwell's lecture.

The Batman barometer

'... his character is a barometer of his times, a reflection of what any given age expects of its heroes'.
This is a quote from a recent review of The Dark Knight.
Text-culture-value(s)?
In what way does this author think the character of Batman has changed to reflect the culture and its values?

Danger signs!!

The Journals have gone quiet. There are danger signs.

I understand the difficulties; I'm experiencing them myself as I struggle to find the time to finish my own journal. I've got a fair bit I still want to write (Marx, Dickens, Schopenhauer, Tolstoy and Darwin texts are strewn around my study floor), but other class's demands are getting in the way. Writing a journal takes concentrated effort and quality thinking time, and there isn't a lot of this kind of time available.

But you've got to find the time! It's Week 3 now, and your oral is due in Week 5, the appropriation in Week 6 and the final Journal in Week 7. The Journal is the foundation of the oral & appropriation. A well-done Journal will support the others; an adequately-built journal will lead to an insecure oral & appropriation.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) I do the Year 11 Approaches to Study Profiles. At the moment, there are only two students for whom I can confidently tick every box.

Please give this your urgent (and unrushed) attention. Don't just dash off a journal entry or two to get them under your belt. The exercise (as you'll see from the rubric) demands concentrated thought and engagement.





"find through indirection, direction"

from Shakespeare's Hamlet

There's a terrific example of this finding direction through indirection in Chris's journal, where recent fury at CGS computer problems have led to some thoughts about his texts, the cultures they come out of, and what is valued about emotion.

1. A thought ....

I've just read Felix's journal (entry Journal 4: 24 July) , where he talks about postmodern playfulness.
It's sparked a thought about schools and classrooms - the culture in which you and I spend much of our time - which I thought I'd share.
Let's imagine it's true that a part of the spirit of our age is what we've been calling 'postmodern playfulness'. Could it be that classrooms and learning are still organised along modernist (or enlightenment) lines, with a certain kind of order and rationality the determining values from the organisation's point of view, but that the classrooms are populated by students filled with, and hankering to express, a quite different spirit?
If so, it perhaps adds to our thinking about at least one aspect of the connection between texts, culture and value[s].

2. Mrs Langford's journal

3. Editing this page

Feel free, any of you, to add to (or modify) this homepage. If you want to draw everyone's attention to something, this is a good place to do it.

It's a good place to add links, too, so that your readers can be taken directly to whatever it is you're describing to them. (Adding links is easy; explore the EasyEdit tool to find out how to do it.)

For example, I want to draw your attention to (and ask for some feedback on) the way I respond to your journals. Up until now, I've been creating discussion threads at the bottom of your pages, and writing my ongoing comments there. One advantage of this is that you can respond in the discussion, and the discussion can take on a life of its own, without disturbing the flow of the journal itself. But with Felix's journal I've taken a different approach; there I've included my comments in the text, in red. There are pros and cons with this approach. Which would you rather? If you have an opinion, the post a comment in the discussion called 'Dr Shann's comments'.

4. Linking directly to discussions

One of my Year 10 students has just shown me how to create links directly to discussions. I've therefore changed the links below, so you don't have to scroll anywhere to join the discussion: just click the link.
Chris Hingee has started a discussion about Postmodernism which perhaps you'd like to take part in.
Is Dr Shann's choice of The Simpsons a legitimate appropriation? Tom Melville has challenged Dr Shann's choice: you might want to read what Tom says in the discussion called The Simpsons.
Or perhaps you'd like to take part in a discussion about the nature of an appropriation. Does The Fight Club (see film trailer below) qualify as an appropriation?

5. What's New

If you're a regular visitor to this wiki, you will find the What's New page particularly useful. It's a way of going directly to whatever you haven't seen before, without having to trail through every page. You'll see, for example, that Sandy has begun his journal in the last day or so, and that Daniel, Phil and Felix have recent entries.

Dr S