A2 Literature - William Blake

It's worth watching this programme, presented by Peter Acroyd, about the Romantic poets - it gives some really good context for Blake:

Plus, here is a really good essay about Songs of Innocence & Experience, which I recommend you read (it also models the use of footnotes & References, which you need to include in your essay): click here to read it...

IB English - St Louis Blues

This is the song that Claudia & Frieda's mother sings to herself in The Bluest Eye - 'I looked forward to the delicious time when 'my man' would leave me, when I would 'hate to see that evening sun go down...' 'cause then I would know 'my man has left this town' ' (pg 18):

A2 Comms & Culture - Consumerism

Here are a few podcasts from the BBC about Consumerism - great for all of you (Objects of Desire) but especially those of you who have chosen 'Consumer' for your coursework. Click here to listen...

IB ORAL COMMENTARY: MOCK FEEDBACK

One of the main targets that I have given after listening to your orals is to analyse rather than explain, especially when it comes to discussing the stylistic features used by Shakespeare in the extract given. So what is the difference between explaining and analysing?

 Explaining essentially involves decoding something for the listener/reader - it is a way of clarifying or suggesting what is meant by the writer. It is an important skill because it demonstrates your understanding whilst taking the listener/reader beyond the literal lines themselves. But explaining only gets us so far. If we stick to explaining, then our discussion of the text will remain quite superficial and straightforward. So, whilst your discussion of a key line might start with some explanation, the aim is to move quickly into analysis. Analysis involves exploring, probing, questioning and then suggesting interpretations as a result. It takes the reader/listener much deeper below the surface of the lines. Most importantly, whereas explaining demonstrates that you understand, analysis demonstrates that you can think and actively create meanings. It takes confidence to analyse and good analysis demands that you fully engage with - and commit to - the text.  

 Let's look at an example. There were two key examples of imagery that many of you commented on in the mock oral - the 'horse' metaphor and the 'armour' simile. The typical way that many of you handled this was to say something like:

 Claudio uses a metaphor when he says 'the body public be a horse whereon the governor doth ride'. What he is saying is that Angelo, in governing the country, is like a horse rider who is using his whip on the people, who are seen as the horse in these lines. (This sort of comment might get you 5 marks.)

 So, you would be credited for correctly identifying these lines as a metaphor, and your explanation of the metaphor proves you understand it. But to get up to 7, 8, 9 or 10 for Criterion A, you need to be able to go further. Here's an example of the same lines starting to be analysed rather than explained:

 I am going to be looking at law and justice in this extract. Obviously, Claudio is describing how he feels that the law is unjust, and he is describing it through a metaphor, saying 'the body public be a horse whereon the governor doth ride'. He's describing the law as the rider, or Angelo as the rider, and the body of the horse as the body of the public and the society which the law is being inflicted on. We could maybe see the horse as previously unruly, needing to be tamed, when we're talking about the Duke's power. And this has some symmetry when we think about the rest of the play, where the law is described as needing to be pruned or cut back by Escalus, and the Duke who wants tighter control of the law. (This might get 6 or 7 marks.)

 In this example, we get the sense of the speaker searching for meaning. She is starting to peel back the language and is trying to work out what Shakespeare is doing. In this next example, the speaker goes even further by thinking and reflecting in even more depth about the same lines:

 Shakespeare develops the theme of justice and the law in this extract through the metaphor, ' the body public be a horse whereon the governor doth ride'. So he's giving us the idea of Angelo being the rider of the horse and the general public being the horse.  This gives the impression that Angelo is completely in control, he is 'astride' the horse and he's superior to the public because he's above them. The idea of the horse - the horse represents the people of Vienna. It suggests that by choosing a horse, they could at any time rear up because horses are quite unpredictable animals and they're also quite strong. This suggests that the people have power but at the moment Angelo 'let's it straight feel the spur', suggesting the only way he really knows how to control people is to use violence, so he's taking quite a Draconian stance at the beginning. Maybe in terms of horse riding, more experienced riders can know that they if they treat the animals kindly and develop a relationship of trust then it can often be more successful so maybe in this case, because Angelo is so inexperienced as a leader he doesn't yet know this, that if he develops a relationship of trust with his people he might better control them. It kind of confirms the point that Angelo is quite inhuman and he doesn't understand these things;  he takes a very harsh, cold stance and can't comprehend that maybe treating people gently is a way to control them better. (This might get 8 or 9 marks.)

IB ENGLISH - FINAL ORAL TIMES WITH ROOMS

IB ENGLISH

MOCK ORALS: MEASURE FOR MEASURE .... FINAL VERSION

6^TH & 7^TH February

It is essential that you arrive on time.

Please bring pens & highlighters, & a usb stick (labelled with your name).

DATE	NAME	PREPARATION		ORAL
Mon 6th Feb	Malik	10.30 – 10.50	1D31	10.50 – 11.00	1D13
	Becky	10.40 – 11.00	1D31	11.00 – 11.10	1D13
	Markus	10.50 – 11.10	1D31	11.10 – 11.20	1D13
	Jess	11.00 – 11.20	1D31	11.20 – 11.30	1D13
	Julianna	11.10 – 11.30	1D31	11.30 – 11.40	1D13
	Martha	11.30 – 11.50	1D27A	11.50 – 12.00	1D13
	Charlotte A	11.40 – 12.00	1D27A	12.00 – 12.10	1D13
	Olivia	11.50 – 12.10	1D27A	12.10 – 12.20	1D13
	Emma	12.00 – 12.20	1D27A	12.20 – 12.30	1D13
	Claudia	12.10 – 12.30	1D27A	12.30 – 12.40	1D13
	Melissa	12.20 – 12.40	1D31	12.40 – 12.50	1D13
	Antonia	12.30 – 12.50	1D31	12.50 – 1.00	1D13
	Charlie P	12.40 – 1.00	1E6	1.00 – 1.10	1D31
	Benedikt	12.50 – 1.10	1E6	1.10 – 1.20	1D31
	Ale	1.00 – 1.20	1E6	1.20 – 1.30	1D31
Tues 7th Feb	Freya	10.15 – 10.35	1D31	10.35 – 10.45	1D13
	Nakul	10.25 – 10.45	1D31	10.45 – 10.55	1D13

You will need to pick up your USB stick from my purple tray outside 1D17 the day after your mock, so that you can self assess your oral.

Please make sure you have put your Evaluation Sheet back in my tray before half-term.

A2 LITERATURE - Tragedy

Find out more about the origins of tragedy as created in Shakespeare's 'Othello' and consider its relationship with the world today by clicking here.

IB English - The Bluest Eye & dolls

In 2005, 16 year old Kiri Davis recreated the Clark's doll study, and made a short film called 'A Girl Like Me' about the results. Here it is: