AS COMMS - revision materials

Here is a good website which provides an overview of some of the theories we have looked at regarding identity and self-presentation: click here

Goffman prezi here: click here

Johari window prezi here: click here

A2 Comms - 'Students of colour feel 'othered' at Oxford University'

An interesting article for PostColonialism: click here to read.

AS LangLit: Mother - modelling PETAR

These are the three paragraphs modelling PETAR that we created in class:

POINT
EVIDENCE
TECHNIQUE
ANALYSIS
RETURN TO THE QUESTION

In Mother’s first turn, we see her attitude towards Annie being revealed: ‘The only thing is I think her nose got longer.’ In this declarative, we see her insult Annie, perhaps to try and reduce her status in Chris’ eyes. Mother does not want to acknowledge that Annie is over Larry and creating barriers between Annie and Chris is one way of stopping this from happening.

Miller demonstrates that Mother is capable of manipulating the other characters in the play when she says ‘{directly at him} Like what, for instance?’ In this interrogative, she is trying to make Chris feel uncomfortable, almost daring him to admit that he has feelings for Annie. The paralanguage conveyed through the stage directions above can be seen as a form of intimidation.

In Mother’s penultimate turn, Miller shows us that she is still living in the past – haunted by Larry’s memory: ‘{She suddenly realises something, turns with a reprimanding finger shaking slightly at Keller}’. Here Miller uses paralanguage to demonstrate that Mother blames Keller for accepting too quickly that Larry is dead. This tells us that Mother has still not accepted that Larry is dead and clings to the hope that he may return.

A2 Lit - Patterns in coursework feedback

There are some notable patterns in the feedback I am giving you during our 1-1s:

- Make sure that each section / paragraph starts with a topic sentence, which links back to the previous section (probably through a comparative phrase) and makes its relevance to your thesis clear. Here's an example from Tolu's essay, who is doing the 'hopes/dreams/reality/suffering' question:

'Like Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Pecola's dream means that she is forced to chase the inachievable, which in her case is her impractical desire to have blue eyes.'

So the link is made (red) first, then the new topic set up with clear reference to the question through 'dream', 'inachievable' & 'impractical desire'.

- Avoid using the words 'positive' or 'negative' in your essay: there are always better words you can use

- Don't allow your sentences to go on for too long, and make sure that you are not using commas where a full stop (or semi-colon) is needed

- Make sure that you remember to quote from your texts, and that you use punctuation to introduce the quote

- Have you written, in detail, about at least 3 Larkin poems?

- Are you modifying your arguments with words or phrases like 'Perhaps', 'It could be suggested that ...', 'Arguably', to make it clear that you are offering an interpretation rather than the truth?

- Don't just include secondary critics, use them - comment on them or use them to introduce a counterargument or new angle

- Remember that you can take on the question. You don't have to agree with it!

I suggest you watch the video on this blog which compares all three texts for context to make sure that you are covering all the bases which are relevant to your essay

AS LL - A great little video to watch

AS Comms - uploading audio to MovieMaker

We recommend converting your audio to WMV before uploading it to MovieMaker (this is relevant to those of you recording your audio on your phones). You can conver audio here:

http://audio.online-convert.com/convert-to-wma

MovieMaker seems to have a little bug which sometimes freezes projects once audio in other formats is uploaded.

 

Comms & Culture: Barbie & Gender

Here's an interesting article on the plan to create a new doll based on more realistic body proportions (compared to Barbie) - good to read for gender, power & socialisation: click here to read it