ELECTIVE - WORLDS OF UPHEAVAL
Rationale
In this module, students examine the complexity of individual and collective human experiences by exploring the ways texts reflect their context and social values. Students will investigate texts in which representation and form are used, manipulated and re-crafted to portray diverse ways of thinking. Students are encouraged to re-evaluate their own values and understandings of the world around them and to appraise their understanding of conflicting morals, attitudes and perspectives. Students will experience set texts that are representative of the struggle between the individual and society in monumental and historical moments that have transformative power. Through the vastly differing contexts, texts and the subversive genres and forms, the composers provoke thought and change, which is a vehicle for students to experiment with the way literature can inspire shifts in societal and individual perspectives.
In Frankenstein, students will explore the search for solace, redemption and the desire for connection and acceptance. The text’s historical and literary context provokes students to consider the tension between dominant ideologies such as scientific rationalism and Romanticism. In Waiting for Godot, students will explore the experience of the search for meaning and the failure to find certainty in an Absurdist text sparked by the context of the Cold War period. The text’s challenge of literary conventions activates the audience consideration of changing values and assumptions in an unstable socio-political climate. In Do Not Say We Have Nothing, students will explore the enduring, layered impact of political revolution on the individual, and the potential for this to shift and alter across generations. Students will examine the complexity of language and communication as a means of preventing and provoking hope.
Students will be provided with significant opportunities to conduct independent investigation of the contextual backgrounds of the set texts, as well as being required to find at least two related texts which link to the concepts of the elective. Students are encouraged to make personal evaluations and engage subjectively to make critical and informed interpretations of the texts to share in written and verbal forms such as tutorials and Socratic discussion. They will experiment with their own style, form and language features to explore and reflect the relationship between the individual and society in times of upheaval. Students re-evaluate and reflect on their own values and assumptions and how these are informed by their own context, inspiring them to consider fresh ways of thinking about the world around them. As highly engaged students of literature, students will experiment with their own use of language as well as evaluating the distinctive qualities of texts.
In Frankenstein, students will explore the search for solace, redemption and the desire for connection and acceptance. The text’s historical and literary context provokes students to consider the tension between dominant ideologies such as scientific rationalism and Romanticism. In Waiting for Godot, students will explore the experience of the search for meaning and the failure to find certainty in an Absurdist text sparked by the context of the Cold War period. The text’s challenge of literary conventions activates the audience consideration of changing values and assumptions in an unstable socio-political climate. In Do Not Say We Have Nothing, students will explore the enduring, layered impact of political revolution on the individual, and the potential for this to shift and alter across generations. Students will examine the complexity of language and communication as a means of preventing and provoking hope.
Students will be provided with significant opportunities to conduct independent investigation of the contextual backgrounds of the set texts, as well as being required to find at least two related texts which link to the concepts of the elective. Students are encouraged to make personal evaluations and engage subjectively to make critical and informed interpretations of the texts to share in written and verbal forms such as tutorials and Socratic discussion. They will experiment with their own style, form and language features to explore and reflect the relationship between the individual and society in times of upheaval. Students re-evaluate and reflect on their own values and assumptions and how these are informed by their own context, inspiring them to consider fresh ways of thinking about the world around them. As highly engaged students of literature, students will experiment with their own use of language as well as evaluating the distinctive qualities of texts.
Focus Questions:
- How can texts, both collectively and individually, represent ‘worlds’ that are private, public, real and imagined?
- How can the content and form of texts be seen as a response to periods of monumental change and revolution?
Session 1: Deconstructing the Rubric - Common Module
Part A
View the rubric for ‘Literary Worlds’ and note down key concepts or ‘big picture’ words. Create definitions and find synonyms for these key words, and then to create poster for the classroom. You will be able to refer back to these during writing activities to extend your vocabulary.
Part B
Compose an extended creative piece of writing which explores either of the following:
Part C
Engage in the writing and presentation of a 3 minute persuasive speech responding to the following question.
Why is literature important?
Students should peer-mark and reflect on the speeches.
Part A
View the rubric for ‘Literary Worlds’ and note down key concepts or ‘big picture’ words. Create definitions and find synonyms for these key words, and then to create poster for the classroom. You will be able to refer back to these during writing activities to extend your vocabulary.
Part B
Compose an extended creative piece of writing which explores either of the following:
- Notions of identity, voice and point of view
- The construction of private or imaginary worlds.
Part C
Engage in the writing and presentation of a 3 minute persuasive speech responding to the following question.
Why is literature important?
Students should peer-mark and reflect on the speeches.
Session 2: We Should All Be Feminists
Part A
Complete a piece of extended persuasive writing of between 500-700 words entitled either: Why We Should All be Feminists or Why We Should Not All be Feminists.
Read the writing of another student and ask follow up questions of the writers of each piece in class discussion.
Part B
Read, annotate and complete close critical analysis of the text, and identify and discuss rhetorical techniques. What rhetorical devices are you already aware of? View the “handbook of rhetorical devices” to widen your understanding of rhetorical techniques.
Part C
View the TED Talk, “We should all be feminists” (duration 29:29) and complete the “Think” and “Dig Deeper” sections of Jessica Fletcher’s lesson plan.
Homework: students complete an extended response to the following question:
How has your response to the text differed when reading compared to listening/viewing?
Part A
Complete a piece of extended persuasive writing of between 500-700 words entitled either: Why We Should All be Feminists or Why We Should Not All be Feminists.
Read the writing of another student and ask follow up questions of the writers of each piece in class discussion.
Part B
Read, annotate and complete close critical analysis of the text, and identify and discuss rhetorical techniques. What rhetorical devices are you already aware of? View the “handbook of rhetorical devices” to widen your understanding of rhetorical techniques.
Part C
View the TED Talk, “We should all be feminists” (duration 29:29) and complete the “Think” and “Dig Deeper” sections of Jessica Fletcher’s lesson plan.
Homework: students complete an extended response to the following question:
How has your response to the text differed when reading compared to listening/viewing?
Session 3: Book from the Sky, Xu Bing
Part A
Research the artist Xu Bing and write an artist’s profile. The documentary “Intellectual By Nature, Poet at Heart: Xu Bing” (duration 24:10) is also a helpful resource for this activity.
Part B
Watch the video at Khan Academy to gain a sense of the work in the space as an installation. Xu Bing, Book for the Sky.
The video references Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution and the construction of Chinese characters.
Write one paragraph using the ALARM scaffold in response to each of the following questions (ie two paragraphs in total).
- How does Xu Bing explore the notion of creating meaning through language? In your discussion, refer to “Book from the Sky” as well as contextual information.
- How has Xu Bing’s art been shaped by social and cultural context?
Session 4: “neither”, Samuel Beckett
Part A
Using the Absurdism lecture at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QFpB0ZXBkk (15:03) listen and make notes and then write a 1 page summary of the history, significance, and trademarks of Absurdist literature and theatre.
Part B
Read the text “neither” by Samuel Beckett. Then, read the contextual details and brief information about Beckett by using the embedded hyperlinks. These will also be useful for when we start reading Godot. You might also like to look through the Journal of Beckett Studies.
View the text and the opera version of Neither in the clip below. Write some notes about what meaning can be made from this text. Discuss these ideas to expand upon your understanding of how meaning is made in Absurdist texts. Frame a written response around the question “How do you make meaning from a text which defies convention and expectation?”
Part C
Creative writing task for students to explore and play with the concepts of absurdism and their use of language.
Create a piece of short writing which experiments with aspects of absurdism.
Show it to a classmate. Ask them to try to explain “what it means”.
Write a reflection on the similarities or differences between what you intended to communicate and what the reader interpreted.
Part A
Using the Absurdism lecture at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QFpB0ZXBkk (15:03) listen and make notes and then write a 1 page summary of the history, significance, and trademarks of Absurdist literature and theatre.
Part B
Read the text “neither” by Samuel Beckett. Then, read the contextual details and brief information about Beckett by using the embedded hyperlinks. These will also be useful for when we start reading Godot. You might also like to look through the Journal of Beckett Studies.
View the text and the opera version of Neither in the clip below. Write some notes about what meaning can be made from this text. Discuss these ideas to expand upon your understanding of how meaning is made in Absurdist texts. Frame a written response around the question “How do you make meaning from a text which defies convention and expectation?”
Part C
Creative writing task for students to explore and play with the concepts of absurdism and their use of language.
Create a piece of short writing which experiments with aspects of absurdism.
Show it to a classmate. Ask them to try to explain “what it means”.
Write a reflection on the similarities or differences between what you intended to communicate and what the reader interpreted.
Context of the texts:
TIME & PLACE
1818 England 1927 Germany 1949 France 1955 England |
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Rise of Science and Romanticism Growth of capitalism Plot Communist revolution Post war despair |
CLASH OF IDEAS
Religion with individual creativity Alienation of labour under capitalist system Lack of Certainty Allegory of the Cold War |
STYLE
New genre of literature emerging from Gothic Expressionist melodrama Absurd / Existental |