1. Sometimes Gladness Section B: Writing in Context Identity and Belonging Tuesday October 26, 2010

2. Exam Requirements  Read and digest the prompt VERY carefully  Answer this section last  Possibly an image  Definitely NOT under 2 pages, aim for 3-4.

3. How to score a 9 or 10  Demonstrates an insightful grasp of the implications of the prompt, and perceptively explores its conceptual complexity using an appropriate strategy for dealing with it.  Achieves an assured, cohesively structured piece of writing in an appropriate form, successfully integrating, in a sophisticated way, ideas suggested by the selected text/s.  Makes fluent and effective use of language appropriate to the purpose and audience specified in the task.

4. The Prompt  Is the overall message of your piece, what the piece is REALLY about.  Is worth approx 1/3 of your mark  Should determine what happens in your piece – should control the action, dialogue, discussion topic, investigation, etc.  Should be examined closely for opportunities – cannot all be pre-planned content  You may be given an image alongside your prompt. Use it as an example of interpretation.

5. What can I pre-plan?  You might have a pre-considered tone, voice, character or setting  Your form and expression is worth approx 1/3 of your mark  Develop a sophisticated vocabulary list that compliments any of the above that you have pre- planned  Practise your chosen form – pay close attention to specific conventions

6. What do I need to know?  Conventions of your chosen form  How to pull apart a prompt and address it in full  The IDEAS regarding Identity and Belonging that are evident in ‘Sometimes Gladness’

7. Form  Be as clear as possible. Make it as easy for the assessor to see your form as possible. Eg. essay of any description – give it a title and tell us where it’s published  Use language appropriate to your form. Always show don’t tell. Make it clear you know how to write in your chosen form  Keep it real. Dawe writes about real life.

8. Complexity  Your piece needs to show complex ideas. Try to reduce your connection to I & B to one or 2 sentences. Are you saying something interesting? Can I take your message home and think about it/apply it to my life?  It can be helpful to think about your piece in terms of change. If imaginative: where do your characters start? What journey do they go on? What do they explore? If essay – what point are you making at the beginning? How is it explored/changed from the start to the end of your essay

9. The Poetry: Children  Identity is shaped by childhood  Children have a special world view  Children need to be exposed to beauty in the world  Children need to be protected from corruption of a materialistic society.

10. The Poetry: Old age  As people grow older they are corrupted by consumerism  Old people are defined by losses, wisdom, disenchantment and resignation  The cycle of life – the promise of birth, the rituals of adulthood, the vagaries of old age, the impact of death

11. The Poetry: Humankind  Corruption and the abandonment of self (and simple human dignity  The pain generated by the social and economic betrayal of the individual and of the family (Drifters)  Powerless against time, war, passion  There is value in solitude and pain in loneliness

12. The Poetry: Humankind cont’d  There is value in ordinary lives  There is comedy in how we attempt to give our lives meaning  The power of human imagination  We all have common bonds. We all share moments

13. The Poetry: City/Suburbs/Nature  The anonymity and stress of urban life  Embracing the suburbs and everyday ‘Australianisms’  Belonging to sights/sounds/smells, particularly in the suburbs  Belonging to a particular place/land  The nobility in a life lived simply

14. The poetry: Families, teams, religions  The value of belonging to a group and the need to have something to believe in  The negative impact of not knowing one’s identity making it difficult to belong.  The value and the emptiness of patriotism

15. Putting it all together  Planning should take 5 minutes and involve:  FORM – what it looks like  PROMPT – what will happen/ the message  IDEAS – about Identity and Belonging that are evident in the text

16. Extra literary connections  These should not be used as your primary references to the text but can function as extra connections  Repetition  Personification of emotions eg. ‘gladness crooks me like an arm’  Use of domestic objects to symbolise an idea. Eg. ‘the silver web of glass in the left-hand pane’ to reflect a broken man  - SHOW your ideas. Present a rich picture of life

17. Practice Prompts  CRISIS – A single event can change who a person is  PLACE – Everyone is a product of their environment  RELATIONSHIPS – The people around you define who you are  BELIEFS – We are categorised by our actions rather than our words

18. Bibliography  VCE OXFORD ENGLISH 3 & 4  Bruce Dawe: Francis Russell Matthews: Phoenix Senior English Guides