Pre-Mock Advice

This post is quite a general one giving advice on how best to prepare for your mocks. I've also attached the powerpoint for the Armitage poem we looked at today ('Mother Any Distance').

You will be sitting the following papers:

1. A Paper One (like the one you did for homework). This paper will ask you:

• to answer some shorter-answer questions based on a text that you will be given in the exam; and


• to complete a piece of writing (argumentative, persuasive or advisory).

2. A Literature paper. This paper will ask you:

• to answer an essay question on TKAM (you will have a choice of which question to answer); and


• to answer an essay question comparing and contrasting the poems we have studied in class.

How should you revise for Paper One?

You can find information on writing to persuade, explain and advise here.

You can find information on reading non-fiction texts (the shorter answer section) here.

You should read through these notes, try out the online tests and attempt a couple of the activities.



How should you revise for literature?

Use previous posts and the links list on the right to find useful revision materials for poetry and TKAM.


To Kill a Mockingbird

Reread key chapters from the book and make notes on them.

Make notes and highlight key information in your revision pack.

Read through the powerpoints/posts on TKAM on this site and others; make notes as you go along.

Focus on the major characters and themes. This is generally good advice, although questions can be more obscure.

Remember, some of the older posts on this site (see link at the bottom right) have useful information in the form of videos etc.


Duffy, Armitage & Pre-1914 Poetry

BBC Bitesize (see the links list) has loads of useful information on the literature poetry we've looked at, as well as readings and some videos.

Make sure you have an in-depth understanding of the poems we have covered in class. If there's anything you don't understand, take the time to research it.

The powerpoints on this website contain a huge amount of useful stuff. Read them over and add to your annotations.

The 'Literature Poetry' powerpoint in the last post has a 'connections' sheet on the last slide. Tr completing this, thinking about how you could compare each of the poems we've studied, their similarities and differences.

Good luck! You can come talk to me at any time - lunch, break, after school etc. I'm usually in my room or the English office.

Simon Armitage Mother, Any Distance Greater

Literature Guide

Remember that we are studying Duffy, Armitage & Pre-1914 for English Literature.

The following powerpoint has loads of information on all the key poems and will be a great aid in your revision.

lit guide

'Kid' by Simon Armitage

Today in class we studied 'Kid' by Simon Armitage.

Here is the powerpoint, as promised, as well as a compilation of Robin quotes from YouTube.

See also the 'Lit Guide' powerpoint.

Kid

Homework for w/b 01/11

This week your homework is to complete the Paper 1 you were given in class.

You will be sitting a similar paper in your mock exam so this provides valuable practice.

Complete Section A and choose one question from Section B.

You should also be revising for your mock exams at this time. Do this by rereading the book, making notes using the revision pack and your own independent study, and looking over the poetry that we have studied in class so far (make sure that all your notes have been tranferred to your anthology).

This link will take you to the listing for York Notes: To Kill a Mockingbird at Amazon.

This link will take you to the listing for York Notes: Duffy, Armitage and Pre-1914 Poetry.













These texts are both worth buying and will be extremely useful to you over the course of the year.

Great revision tool at BBC Bitesize

I found this revision tool on the Bitesize website and I think it could be really helpful.

You all know that I'm a fan of spider diagrams and this tool allows you to create printable, customisable ones for any of your subjects, and any topic within those subjects. For example, if I create a spider diagram on Carol Ann Duffy's poetry I can add branches (legs?) for each of her poems, then use the drop-down menus to select the attributes of each poem, such as structure and imagery, and comment on these.

It's a great way to make sure you're covering all the bases when you're studying.

Homework for the half-term, plus Historical Context of TKAM

Your homework for this half term is as follows:

1. Complete the essay question you were given in class. It would be beneficial for you to do this under timed conditions; however, I still expect to be given a full essay to mark on the Monday we return.

2. Take notes on the social and historical context of the novel. To help you do this I have attached a powerpoint dealing with the topic; I have also attached a video. The links on the sidebar (e.g. the link to Wikipedia) will also be useful. You should take notes in your jotter under the heading 'Social and Historical Context of the Novel'.

3. Revise for the mock exam. The sheets you were given in class today will contain suggestions on how best to go about doing this, and I've also given guidance below. The revision pack, although not yet available in hard copy, is also attached to this post.

To Kill a Mockingbird Background



Tkam Revision Pack

Some of the formatting of the revision pack hasn't come out too well but these issues will be resolved in the hard copy. In the meantime, all the necessary content is there - it just doesn't look as neat and tidy as it should.

On My First Sonne

Here is the powerpoint we used today in class. It should help you to understand the context of this poem in more depth.

On My First Sonne

My Last Duchess: Context & Newspaper Article

After studying 'My Last Duchess' today I thought that a bit of background information would help you to understand the poem in more depth. This is a PowerPoint about Robert Browning and the people it is based on (Lucrezia and Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara).

I've also attached a copy of a newspaper article I wrote to introduce the poem to another class. A quick read of this should help you to consolidate your knowledge of the poem's events.

My Last Duchess

Big Al Unveils New Wing of Ferrara Art Gallery

Central Concerns: The Importance of a Moral Education

Moral Education is one of the central conerns of the novel. There is a lot of information on this theme in your revision packs, including some key quotations (although, as always, these should be supplemented with your own study).

Below is a PowerPoint presentation exploring the topic.

The Importance of Moral Education

Central Concerns: Motifs & the Mockingbird

A motif in literature:

• has symbolic value


• is recurring

"... but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

Mockingbirds represent innocence; to kill a mockingbird, which is a harmless, giving creature, destroys that innocence. Several characters in the novel can be described symbolically as mockingbirds.

Boo Radley: Boo is one obvious choice. He was badly treated by his father but still doesn't lose his kind and generous spirit. Boo gives gifts to the children and saves Scout and Jem from Bob Ewell. At the end of the novel, Scout acknowledges that publicising this fact would be like shooting a mockingbird as Boo is a quiet and intensely private person who would be upset by the intrusion of neighbours, however kind they may be. This moment also signifies how Scout has grown up over the course of the novel - she is more understanding of human nature.

Mayella Ewell: We suspect that poor Mayella may be dreaming about something beyond her own painful life when we see that she cultivates flowers in the garden of her family home. Mayella is harmless, but she has been corrupted by her neglectful father, who is sexually and physically abusive towards her. In this way Mayella has lost her innocence - she is like a mockingbird who has been shot.

Tom Robinson: Tom was trying to help Mayella, and his evidence at the trial lets us know that he is a loving and kind person. He is innocent in the legal sense; however, he is also innocent in the sense that he is somewhat naive and actually harms his own case by admitting that he 'felt sorry' for Mayella. This turns the white jury against him as a black man has no place pitying a white woman. Tom is literally shot when he tries to escape from jail, but he is also robbed of his innocence when the guilty verdict of the trial is returned.

There are other examples of mockingbird characters in the novel, too.

Mockingbirds also help to alter the atmosphere in the book; for example, at moments of tension they are silent (e.g. when waiting for the verdict of the trial) and at times of beauty and peace they can be heard.

It is worth noting that the mockingbird motif appears in the names of certain characters - the Finches, for example (a mockingbird is a type of finch) and Tom Robinson (a North American robin is a songbird, as are mockingbirds).

Useful Video Links

I found these videos on YouTube and they appear to be pretty good. They'll give you a bit of a break from reading, too.

Introduction

Themes

Characters

Summary

'An Inspector Calls' - Essay

The essays for 'An Inspector Calls' should be completed and handed in to me in draft form by Friday the 2nd of July. Anyone who doesn't do this will be getting a phone call home about it.

Here is a copy of the essay plan that I handed out in class on Monday.

aic plan

A Well-Made Play

One of today's Learning Objectives was to understand the meaning of the term 'well-made play'. The definition is below. If you haven't got a note of this already, please make sure you copy it down.

Well-made play: a play that exhibits a neatness of plot and smooth-functioning exactness of action, with all its parts fitting together precisely. An Inspector Calls works through an interlocking series of unexpected events, leading up to a final revelation that is almost a trick ending.

To find out more about the concept of a well-made play, click a here.

The essay will, of course, be about dramatic devices in Act One of 'An Inspector Calls'. I will post up more details about this once we've completed the tables.

Morality

Today I explained to you that 'An Inspector Calls' follows in the tradition of the morality play, an ancient form of production that makes statements about good and evil/right and wrong through allegory.

A definition of the term allegory and the PowerPoint we looked at in class can be found below. You should have been taking your own notes in your jotter, but it might be helpful to look over them again.

ALLEGORY:


Allegory is a figurative mode of representation conveying meaning other than the literal. It teaches a lesson through symbolism. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation. An allegory in its most general sense is an extended metaphor.

Examples: The recent film 'District 9' explores the concept of apartheid in South Africa through allegory; instead of the races being separated, the human species is separated from an alien civilisation who are kept in shanty towns.

'Wall-E' is another example of an allegory. It explores the idea of love overcoming everyday monotony; the two robots are represent humans trapped in a lifelong pattern, which is thrown off by their love for each other.

"I realized the point I was trying to push with these two programmed robots was the desire for them to try and figure out what the point of living was...It took these really irrational acts of love to sort of discover them against how they were built...I realized that that's a perfect metaphor for real life. We all fall into our habits, our routines and our ruts, consciously or unconsciously to avoid living. To avoid having to do the messy part." -- director Andrew Stanton

Morality in ‘An Inspector Calls’

Social and Historical Context - Videos

In class today we learned about the social and historical context of An Inspector Calls. It might be useful for some of you to watch the videos again - if you'd like to do so, click here. There are some other videos there too which might be helpful.