1. AREA OF STUDY – BELONGING 2013 SECTION 1 An approach as you prepare for the Half Yearly examinations and beyond

2. IMPROVING YOUR READING SPEED FOR READING TIME
There are only two ways that you can improve your ability to read with deep understanding:
Practice reading by reading – you become a faster reader through experiencing reading
By engaging with a variety of texts – the examiners will provide you with written and visual texts from different sources. Reading across mediums assists you. You may want to consider the following forms: features articles, news reports/articles, advertisements, song lyrics, poetry, media sites, webpages, prose texts, short stories, picture book illustrations, comics, graphic novels, works of art (including sculptures), historical reports – just to mention a few.

3. Know your rubric – the key statements
Belonging, or not belonging may vary
Context shapes belonging – personal, cultural, historical, social
Emerge from connections to people, places, communities, groups and the broader world around them
Experiences
Notions of identity
Relationships
Acceptance
Understanding
Potential to enrich
Challenge a community or group
Modifies over time
Choices not to belong
Barriers to prevent belonging
Exclusion
Given voice
Absence of voice

4. What does Section I seek to assess? (as stated in the AOS rubric)
How the concept of belonging is conveyed through the representations of people, relationships, ideas, places, events and societies that they encounter in the prescribed text and texts of their own choosing related to the Area of Study.
Assumptions underlying various representations of the concept of belonging.
How the composer’s choice of language modes, forms, features and structures shapes and is shaped by a sense of belonging.

5. Conceptual V Technique driven responses
CONCEPTUAL DRIVEN
TECHNIQUE DRIVEN
Responses CAN be concept driven. These explore a concept without the explicit identification of techniques needed in the response.
However, you MUST provide strong and appropriate textual detail.
You can use techniques and textual detail in conceptual responses but not necessarily in the rigid way used in a technique driven response.
You will be directed to compose technique driven responses through the key term of the question ‘HOW’.
These types of responses must have techniques explicitly named for you to gain full marks.
These must have strong and appropriate textual detail.
If you respond conceptually to technique driven questions only, you will NOT be awarded full marks for this question.

6. TEXTUAL ANALYSIS - TEM
This is one approach to consider. Different teachers have different approaches – IQE, TEE, SEX/Y,PEEL, PETAL.
T – TECHNIQUE
Name the technique explicitly and correctly.
E – EFFECT AND EVIDENCE
The effect of the technique explores its purpose and provide evidence that correctly (appropriately supports this).
M – MEANING
Meaning links the representation back to the concept being explored.

7. Writing time – 40 mins Dividing your time
You should attempt to break up the 40 minutes into 3 sections:
10 minutes reading and planning
15 minutes for the 1 – 4 mark questions
15 minutes for the synthesis question (5 marks)

8. Reading time – 10 mins
Read through the texts at least TWICE, but preferably THREE times. This will provide you will a deeper comprehension of the texts. You are aiming for inferential reading. This is often achieved through the second to third reading. First off reads only give you literal understanding (allows for recount) – this reading will not assist you in finding the deeper meaning of the texts.

9. The 1st 10 minutes of writing time
For example:
Text one — Visual text
(a) Select one aspect of the visual text and explain how it offers a perspective on belonging. 2
Text two — Transcript
(b) How are personal insights into belonging to places conveyed in the transcript? 2
Text three — Nonfiction extract
(c) From his experience of new places, what does Jack come to understand about belonging? 3
Text four — Fiction extract
(d) “Nothing here in Brooklyn was part of her.”
Discuss the importance of memories to Eilis’s sense of belonging. 3
Texts one, two, three and four — Visual text, Transcript, Nonfiction extract and Fiction extract
(e) Analyse the relationship between places and identity in TWO of these texts. 5
10 minutes of deconstructing the questions and planning.
This is your first opportunity to write on the paper – spend time to deconstruct the questions first (remember that the answer is ALWAYS in the question).
Highlight all the key words of the question.
Annotate each key term with your own understanding of the term or phrase.

10. This is your plan for your response.
Name 1 idea that comes from the rubric linking to the text. E.g. perspectives of belonging.
TEM the way that personal response to belonging to place is shown – give TWO examples.
What ideas about belonging to new places are shown in the text.
TEM the way that this is shown – give TWO examples for the 3 mks.
Show the importance of memories.
Show how TWO texts best shows the relationship between place and identity.
Write TEM of TWO texts showing this concept.
Use my previous answers and add some further devices.
Rewrite the question using your annotations.
This is your plan for your response.
This time allows for the adrenaline to settle and gives you the opportunity to respond with thought and insight.

11. 1st 15 minutes of writing time
Complete ALL questions – except the very last question; you have them planned in the rewrite. Simply respond in the most direct way possible.
Remember the rule – 1 mark requires answers of one to two sentences per mark. i.e. if the first question is one mark, it should be one to two sentences only and so on.

12. 2nd 15 minutes of writing time
The last question – the synthesis question – leave 15 minutes to complete.
Due to the nature of the response, you should spend the greatest amount of time to write this response.
It is the only exception to the rule of one to two sentences per mark. You should attempt to write a response about 1 to
1 ½ pages for this response.
In many ways, you should write this in a similar way to a section 3.

13. Structure to a response
1 mark concept question
2 – 4 marks questions
Do not simply say that the concept is ‘belonging’ or ‘not belonging’. Use your knowledge of the rubric key terms and integrate these into these responses. Remember that is what the examination looks for in the texts when they are chosen.
The first sentence should identify the concept of belonging. Read the question carefully – does it identify the sense of belonging in the question? If not, use your knowledge of the rubric to set it yourself. The next sentences should move to prove the representation using TEM. M must be linked back to the concept identified in the first sentence.

14. 5 – 6 mark questions (synthesis)
1. Write a conceptually driven first sentence (similar to writing a thesis statement in a Section III response). Read the question carefully, the concept may be identified in the question. If not, use a concept driven response from earlier on or use your knowledge of the key terms of the rubric. 2. Connect the concept of belonging to the first text that you will discuss. This assists the marker to see the way that you connect the thesis to the text (drive their way of thinking).

15. Synthesis continued...
3. If the question asks for the most effective text in representing the concept, use your previous answer and add some more textual analysis (techniques that you would have identified in your reading and planning time). Use TEM to analysis this. Remember to keep focusing the discussion back to the concept identified in the opening sentence. 4. Repeat the structure above for as many texts as the question requires of you (be it 2 or all 3). 5. End with an evaluative statement. If the question is written directing a third person response, you MUST write in the third person. If the question is written directing you to respond in the first person, you MUST respond in the first person. Remember there is an outcome in the English syllabus that requires a personal engagement with texts. This outcome may be matched to this task, so be mindful of this.