Distinctively Visual -Douglas Stewart's Poetry

If you have never considered doing Douglas Stewart's poetry for this module elective, give it some thought. It is some years now since I first analysed the prescribed poems set for study but on re-examination, I am even more impressed by how beautifully written they are. Whereas at times, it seems a bit of a stretch to massage text study to fit the elective focus, these poems work brilliantly because Stewart really has such a distinctively visual focus.
Now working on the next round of Teacher Resource Books, I am once again impressed by the poet's language use. His stylistic genius and mastery of form enables him to capture the visual essence of what he is describing in each poem. The first reading may not amaze you but each subsequent reading draws you into the situational moment, revealing details previously missed. You will find yourself scribbling down annotations for nearly every phrase. Sensory detail is compressed and if set poems were long, this could pose a problem for students but it is their brevity, each one only 1-3 stanzas, that makes it very easy to teach students how to pick out their layered meaning.
When coupled with the sheer abundance and creativity of the poetic techniques he has used and his genuinely distinctive use of visual focussed content and language, it is an excellent prescribed text choice. The poems themselves have also been well selected (not always the case with other options) for each is unique in subject matter and style and yet clearly linked by the poet's ability to evoke a scene, mood or issue. He really does make his reader  'see' with the mind's eye and share his reactions to the visual stimulus he focuses on.
HSC text selection is dictated by the first text chosen but I recommend having a look at Douglas Stewart. I have spoken to some teaches who are considering  Kominos option as an easier 'Distinctive Voice' option, but there is so much students can discuss with regards to Stewart as a 'distinctively visual' poet.
Better get back to writing but wanted to fly a flag for giving this poet's work a second glance if you have not already finalised your text selection for 2015.

Distinctively Visual -Henry Lawson

Henry Lawson's prescribed stories are a popular choice for this Module Elective because they are so accessible. Problems exist however if they are not examined with sufficient focus on his distinctively visual use of language. Most students can readily identify his techniques and particular aspects of his prose style but they often do not build their thesis around how he visually prompts reader interpretation and response. Each story is built around a central experience be it a snake threat, bush courtship, a burning cartridge or a train trip.
This becomes the fulcrum for the author's exploration of character, place and situation. While similarities and contrasts exist across the four stories, Lawson's mastery of the 'show not tell' narrative rule is always evident. He sketches individuals, relationships and place, adding details through inference, commentary and dialogue in the same way that an artist adds brushstrokes. His incisive focus pinpoints traits and elements that prompt his readers to imagine who and what is being depicted.
He wrote about what he experienced first-hand and therefore there is strong feeling of authenticity of what we are shown. One of the other benefits of using Lawson is that studying his short stories can help prepare students for their Section II AOS response. By evaluating how Lawson uses language in a distinctively visual, cameramen like way, they can adopt some of his strategies in their own creative writing. He explores human experience and so this 'voice of the bush' also remains relevant to contemporary readers even though the world he conveys has long since disappeared.

Distinctively Visual Module A

Exploring Distinctively Visual Language Use

This elective involves far more recognising how experiences and relationships can be literally or metaphorically 'seen' within text. It encompasses a far deeper evaluating what, how and why, composers utilise language in distinctive ways to achieve a particular impact. The syllabus rubric must be properly 'understood' and conceptually unravelled if students are to grasp what to look for in both prescribed and related texts. 
The language choices made by composers can alter perspectives and trigger insight and this is what students need to be looking for. Textual study for many students remains on the identification level of comprehension and teachers need to explore and design T&L strategies that allows students to become far more sophisticated in their responses. Techniques are found but then treated as a checklist rather than reflecting on how such methods have been skilfully manipulated to achieve a specific interpretation. The 'distinctive' focus for both electives in this module is often underplayed during study but it should be the benchmark of textual examination. It is not just what techniques have been used but which ones are unique or unexpected and decidedly 'visual' in the way they direct an audience's focus or response. Examination of past HSC questions for this module, reaffirms that teaching themes or characterisation or plot will not equip students to properly address their texts.

Ways into the module need to be found that focus students squarely on appreciating how visual representational strategies can be used in written as well as media text types. This will help shape their subsequent learning for the HSC.

Brilliant photo essays or websites such as the following can be great starting points:
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/09/the-women-of-the-afghanistan-war/100585/

By incorporating a representation module into the Preliminary Course, many of the basic interpretive and compositional skills can already be in place before HSC prescribed study begins. Students need to become aware of the evocative impact of visual representation techniques within different textual mediums. Cartoons, iconic images or well-chosen advertisements  can get  students conceptually thinking through a distinctively visual lens, but most of our HSC class time needs to remain focused on developing the necessary writing skills they will need.  

Lawson's short stories work brilliantly but so too does the film 'Run Lola Run' and Douglas Stewart's poetry and Misto's play 'The Shoe-Horn Sonata'. The trick is to remain focused on how the composer makes use of distinctively visual imagery, symbolism and other visual cues  for specific effect and how effective as a result is the text's ability to elicit a powerful response.

Barbara

Henry Lawson as a Distinctively Visual writer

Am re-evaluating Lawson's stories for the 'Distinctively Visual' elective. I am amazed by how much I have learned about how to approach this module in the past four years. It has certainly involved a huge conceptual shift in the way we explore all HSC. This is evident is our T&L strategies as well as the quality of some student scripts which show a growing appreciation for the way Lawson captures people within their contextual situation with visual clarity, offering readers snapshots of human experience. By encouraging us to visualise what is being described, we are drawn into their world, despite its unfamiliarity. His blunt and largely non-emotive use of language, powerfully impacts on the senses and the imagination. Perceptions are vividly conveyed in markedly different ways and this helps explain why the prescribed stories are such an excellent elective choice. His insightful snapshots of the bush and its stoic inhabitants remains as fresh today as when first published in the Bulletin.

 

Fairy Tale Genre

Have started teaching the first section of our 11Ext1 'Fairy Tale' Appropriation unit which students seem to be really enjoying. As a topic, it effectively covers some of the course content and approach while developing a strong language skills focus. Looking at what students already tacitly understand about the fairytale genre, generated excellent class discussion.  Recurring plotlines, characterisation and moral underpinnings in the evil versus goodness message became the trigger for a real focus on genre conventions and how and why they are used.
As is often the case however, the verbal ability to express ideas and show understanding was not readily echoed in their written responses. This is the area that really needs to be addressed in any Preliminary course.
Setting up a class website with affiliated student websites is proving to be an effective classroom tool. It allows additional resources for homework study or research to be posted and accessed from home. Posting blog  writing challenges also tests student understanding and engagement with the course. Blogs are obviously a great way to post detailed teacher feedback for each post challenge. I would be interested is comparing ideas with other Preliminary Ext English teachers.
Back to trying to cope with the paperwork frenzy of first weeks of Term 1-whatever happened to the notion of a paperless office? Teachers at our school are being deluged with documentation. Barbara

Wikispace Re-opened

For those requesting renewed access to 'Goodnight Mr. Tom' and other resources, I have re-opened my wikispace site.

www.stannersenglishmatters.wikispaces.com

This was closed due to a hacking problem and then I forgot to re-open it until requested to do so.

This text, which is on the suggested BOS textbook list, remains a wonderful Stage 4 text although I realise that it is also popular in upper primary.

With High School students it becomes a useful close Text/Context study as well as a conceptual study for 'Changing Worlds' or 'Coping with Adversity'. Rather than just a theme unit that deals with historical background and basic narrative elements, when done in depth, it really enables students to empathise and explore experience in other times and places as well as explore different text-types. Historical documents, video footage, documentary evidence and so on make it a great novel choice to develop wide-ranging literary and non-fiction resources.

 

I also have a weebly site with a blog page that is more focused on senior texts.

www.stannersenglishresouces.weebly.com

 

Hope you find the resources useful.

Barbara

 

Rhetoric Skills

Rhetoric-The Power of Words

 

The 'Study of Rhetoric', rather than just a 'speech' oral focus,  is becoming a popular, Stage 5 unit in many schools. While preparing to teach it as the first unit to my Year 10 class this year, I thought it might make a useful blog topic. It has great potential for raising student awareness of the power of persuasive language on many levels, but most importantly for teaching how language is shaped for a given purpose. In a world bombarded by advertising, political campaigning and media editoralising, it has become more important in an educational context,to raise student understanding of rhetorical purpose, context and methodology. Critical thinking skills need to be taught and students should become familiar with the ways language can be explicitly used to mould an audience's interpretive response.

 

Current affairs and social issues are largely communicated via a mass media conduit. This unfortunately, often comprises only 30 second 'newsbites' on television or radio or online news updates. While many 'insight' websites offer coverage with greater depth and detail, these are not going to be frequented by a large adolescent audience. Media filtered news will be the way most teenagers will learn about the contemporary world. Mass media is manufactured for a readily accepting audience. As the satiric 'Frontline' TV series demonstrated, fact and truth have become commodified products, reworked to meet industry agendas. Teaching media literacy skills and  how 'rhetoric' works is an excellent way to begin a real engagement with the power of language.  Many so-called 'Advertising' or 'Propaganda' units in school programs lack sufficient substance; just touching the surface; much in the same way that news and politics is communicated.

 

Tackling how Rhetoric functions however, gets to the more nitty gritty functionality of language itself and the many ways in which it is manipulated to sway audiences. The Ancient Greeks looked at rhetoric in relation to spoken speech but the Romans extended it to include written language as well. When viewed in this broader way, rhetoric, written and spoken, is constantly bombarding our senses. Looking at movie speeches is an effective 'way in' for this sort of unit. It allows you look at the importance of context in shaping language. Purpose + audience = register is an easy equation to use when trying to explain the relationship between what is being communicated and how it is done. You can probably get no better single online resource than that given below. It looks at rheotircal history, techniques and also has links to 'Americanrhetoric' which is a brillaint site for famous speeches from history and the movies.

 



http://www.putlearningfirst.com/language/20rhet/20rhet.html 

 

There are also many sites that focus on explicit speeches by famous orators such as Winston Churchill or Martin Luther King showing analytical details and tasks. Some of the most enjoyable ways into a Rhetorical unit however is via short clips to trigger discussion about how ideas can be effectively communicated. The following ones usually engage students:

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qI

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKC5LsVO9k0&feature=related    

 

The following advertisement has also been a good way to begin a rhetorical unit in the past. Quick but effective ways to show the power of language highlights the validity of studying how it works.

If you are teaching rhetoric as a topic, I hope these suggestions and resources prove useful. If you are not currently including a rhetoric unit, give it some thought when you are re-evaluating your curriculum.

 

Barbara