This resource offers an answer to the Sample Paper HSC Advanced English Module C question: Choose a character, persona or speaker from ONE prescribed text that you have studied. Express the thought processes of this character, persona or speaker by exploring a moment of tension in the text from an alternative point of view. NOTE: the sample paper asked students to choose from a prescribed text that you have studied from Module C. This answer involves a Module B text (Henry IV, Part 1) in order to show how more substantial and complex literary texts like Shakespeare can also produce fruitful Craft of Writing responses. There is also an answer to part b), which asks students to justify their creative choices. Check out more creative writing resources at https://thecraftofwriting.org/

This resource offers an answer to the Sample Paper HSC Advanced English Module C question: Guard your roving thoughts with a jealous care, for speech is but the dealer of thoughts, and every fool can plainly read in your words what is the hour of your thoughts. Use this warning as a stimulus for a piece of persuasive, discursive or imaginative writing that expresses your perspective about a significant concern or idea that you have engaged with in ONE of your prescribed texts from Module A, B or C. This answer uses T.S. Eliot’s poem ‘Rhapsody on a Windy Night’ in a discursive piece about living up to your interpretations. Check out more creative writing resources at https://thecraftofwriting.org/

Shakespeare’s play about madness and ambition is an established favourite for senior students. This 48-page unit of work has been tested successfully with a mixed-ability class and provides material for a full 10-week school term. This unit focuses on close textual analysis. There is a mixture of tasks which gets students writing analytically, personally, and creatively, helping them to build up their own unique interpretation of the work, and eventually to express this in a formal essay. There is a brief, student-friendly explanation of what a close reading actually is and how to perform it, followed by a sample close reading of the opening passage. Each scene has a single-page task sheet comprising three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the chapter. Ten senior-level essay questions offer a choice of arguments about character, theme, language, and context, and a sample essay discusses the following question: I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares do more is none. How are ideas of manly behaviour presented in the play?

Shakespeare’s tragedy about madness and ambition is an established favourite for senior students. Each scene has a single-page task sheet comprising three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the scene. These tasks get students writing analytically, personally, and creatively, helping them to build up their own unique interpretation of the work, and eventually to express this in a formal essay.

Gothic literature still informs many popular works of fiction, television and cinema, and the genre is still a regular part of many students’ high school literature experience. This 135-page all-inclusive unit comprises: An introduction to the values of the Gothic genre Ten modules based around a classic Gothic short story or poem, which highlight one of the ten values or conventions. Each module has an introductory discussion; complete text of the story/poem; questions based on Bloom’s taxonomy An assessment task suitable for students aged 15-16 who have well-developed reading ability A reading list of other short stories both modern and classic from which teachers can choose partner pieces for the module stories

Shakespeare’s play about race and manipulation is an established favourite for senior students. This 35-page unit of work has been tested successfully with a mixed-ability class and provides material for a full 10-week school term. This unit focuses on close textual analysis. There is a mixture of tasks which gets students writing analytically, personally, and creatively, helping them to build up their own unique interpretation of the work, and eventually to express this in a formal essay. There is a brief, student-friendly explanation of what a close reading actually is and how to perform it, followed by a sample close reading of the opening passage. Each scene has a single-page task sheet comprising three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the chapter. Ten senior-level essay questions offer a choice of arguments about character, theme, language, and context, and a sample essay discusses how the play shows that ‘we need the Outsider narrative to help us define ourselves’.

Wilde’s Gothic novel about vanity and perdition is an established favourite for senior students. This 55-page unit of work has been tested successfully with a mixed-ability class and provides material for a full 10-week school term. Pre-reading research tasks introduce students to the late Victorian period and the Decadent movement, before the bulk of the unit focuses on close textual analysis. There is a mixture of tasks which gets students writing analytically, personally, and creatively, helping them to build up their own unique interpretation of the work, and eventually to express this in a formal essay. There is a brief, student-friendly explanation of what a close reading is and how to perform it, followed by a sample close reading of the opening passage. Each chapter has a single-page task sheet comprising three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the chapter. There is a discrete analysis task which shows students how to evaluate the same piece of textual evidence against three different questions, preventing them from regurgitating the same remarks regardless of question. A guided essay which breaks an essay down into manageable steps for lower-ability students or those who struggle to form and maintain an argument. Ten senior-level essay questions offer a choice of arguments about character, theme, language, and context, and a sample essay discusses whether ‘touching the sacred things is the only thing worth touching’.

Victorian poetry regularly makes the top ten poems in public surveys, and much of our conception of what makes ‘good’ poetry was shaped by poets like Tennyson, Browning, Rossetti, and Arnold. This period formed the emotional and social attitudes which linger today – even in post-modern texts which claim to have moved beyond them. While the Romantics were read by the literati, the Victorian poets in this unit formed the core of public poetry consumption. An understanding of this period is essential for students who will read Edwardian and Modernist literature in later terms, by showing them what these writers and artists reacted against. This activity comprises two poems by the Rossettis with questions which require students to make a close analysis and interpretation suggestions for extension reading to extend their knowledge of the poets a creative writing task which helps them to engage laterally and personally with the ideas in the poetry.

Victorian poetry regularly makes the top ten poems in public surveys, and much of our conception of what makes ‘good’ poetry was shaped by poets like Tennyson, Browning, Rossetti, and Arnold. This period formed the emotional and social attitudes which linger today – even in post-modern texts which claim to have moved beyond them. While the Romantics were read by the literati, the Victorian poets in this unit formed the core of public poetry consumption. An understanding of this period is essential for students who will read Edwardian and Modernist literature in later terms, by showing them what these writers and artists reacted against. This activity comprises two poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, with questions which require students to make a close analysis and interpretation suggestions for extension reading to extend their knowledge of the poet a creative writing task which helps them to engage laterally and personally with the ideas in the poetry.

Comparative units are a great way to examine how the same preoccupations appear in different times, styles, and forms. This senior unit of work invites students to compare Fritz Lang’s 1927 expressionist sci-fi extravaganza Metropolis with George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel 1984. They consider the two texts’ handling of themes, narrative strategies, and representational techniques through a side-by-side reading and viewing of the text pairing. The unit has been designed for a 10-week term, and this resource includes: A brief list of useful websites and readings which students should research to gain a sense of the film’s context and to give them time to read the first chapters of the novel. A breakdown of the text-pairing over seven task-sheets corresponding to 7 weeks of a school term. Each week contains A nominated section of the film and novel for study Topics and questions for class discussion which students should prepare either verbally or in writing. A writing task to consolidate the week’s work The final weeks of term can be given over to an assessment task, which will be put up on this shop.

Victorian poetry regularly makes the top ten poems in public surveys, and much of our conception of what makes ‘good’ poetry was shaped by poets like Tennyson, Browning, Rossetti, and Arnold. This period formed the emotional and social attitudes which linger today – even in post-modern texts which claim to have moved beyond them. While the Romantics were read by the literati, the Victorian poets in this unit formed the core of public poetry consumption. An understanding of this period is essential for students who will read Edwardian and Modernist literature in later terms, by showing them what these writers and artists reacted against. This activity comprises two poems by Matthew Arnold and Gerald Manley Hopkins with questions which require students to make a close analysis and interpretation suggestions for extension reading to extend their knowledge of the poets a creative writing task which helps them to engage laterally and personally with the ideas in the poetry.

Victorian poetry regularly makes the top ten poems in public surveys, and much of our conception of what makes ‘good’ poetry was shaped by poets like Tennyson, Browning, Rossetti, and Arnold. This period formed the emotional and social attitudes which linger today – even in post-modern texts which claim to have moved beyond them. While the Romantics were read by the literati, the Victorian poets in this unit formed the core of public poetry consumption. An understanding of this period is essential for students who will read Edwardian and Modernist literature in later terms, by showing them what these writers and artists reacted against. This activity comprises two poems by Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning with questions which require students to make a close analysis and interpretation suggestions for extension reading to extend their knowledge of the poets a creative writing task which helps them to engage laterally and personally with the ideas in the poetry.

The Middle Ages are fun and fascinating period of literature which even younger middle school students can enjoy. This complete unit of work is an easy and enjoyable survey of ten different medieval genres (including courtly love poetry, advice guides to children, frame tales, chronicles, and allegories) which will engage students of a more developed reading ability. This unit was successfully tested on a high-ability Year 8 (age 13-14) group. It assumes no prior knowledge of the medieval period. Contextual introduction to the period, changes to the English language, discussion of what people read and valued. Ten short modules covering ten different text-types found in popular medieval literature. Each module includes: introduction to the text type and a discussion of where we can see it in literature and culture today; a short focus text in modern English, either translated or retold Bloom’s Taxonomy questions on the focus text Stand-alone creative writing with medieval prompts Summative thematic essay on one short text (provided) and the student’s choice of another text from the unit Teachers can use the ten modules as a complete unit or as single modules supporting a study of another text.

Fitzgerald’s novel about ‘careless people’ and avarice in the modern era is an established favourite for senior students. This set of chapter questions comprises a single-page task sheet for each chapter. Each chapter has three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the chapter. The tasks lay the foundation for a critical essay at the end of the unit of study.

This substantial resource provides THREE different answers to the following question: **A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. **Sir Winston Churchill Use the lines above as a stimulus for the opening of an imaginative, discursive or persuasive piece of writing. In your piece of writing incorporate at least ONE example of figurative language that you have learned about through your study of the prescribed texts for Module C. There is an imaginative, discursive AND persuasive answer so that you can show students how the same idea can be turned three different ways, to answer this question. Students can read through the answers alone or you can use the resource to test their knowledge of factors involved in good exam writing and how one mode differs from the other. Each answer has a response to the (b) question, requiring students to **Explain how your writing in part (a) was influenced by what you have learned about figurative language through the study of your prescribed texts for Module C. **The (b) sections draw on ‘How to Live Before You Die’ by Steve Jobs, a prescribed text for Standard English, although no knowledge of this text is required to read or teach this resource.

Writing historical fiction is an excellent way for History students to develop an understanding of historical narrative, cause and effect, empathy, and perspective. Yet many teachers do not feel comfortable introducing an fiction task to the History classroom, or confident in steering students through it in a manner fundamentally different from English. This 10-section workbook engages students in a self-guided exercise in forming a historian’s question, locating sources with which to answer it, and performing a thought-experiment with historical imagination. They write the narrative in stages closely tied to historical skills, and so recognize from the outside the contestability of historical explanations and the relative quality of significance and evaluation performed by different historians. This workbook can be partnered with Diving Bell Education’s Investigating Story and History, a 10-section workbook which guides students through the development of narrative from the earliest human stories to the narratives of the digital era, and shows how History has an innately narrative character.

Shakespeare’s tragedy about race and manipulation is an established favourite for senior students. Each scene has a single-page task sheet comprising three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the scene. These tasks get students writing analytically, personally, and creatively, helping them to build up their own unique interpretation of the work, and eventually to express this in a formal essay.

Shakespeare’s tragedy about madness and family is an established favourite for senior students. Each scene has a single-page task sheet comprising three higher-order tasks: a close reading of a nominated passage, an extended response to develop interpretative thinking, and a choice of creative writing tasks which springboard from the language and ideas in the scene. These tasks get students writing analytically, personally, and creatively, helping them to build up their own unique interpretation of the work, and eventually to express this in a formal essay.

Short stories are a vital part of English literature. These short story studies can be used to build a short story unit, to supplement other texts, or as a standby lesson. Use this with our FREE Introduction to Short Stories two-page handout. Each classic story is copyright free in Australia, the U.K. and U.S. Paragraphs are numbered for ease of reference. Activities correspond to Bloom’s taxonomy of lower- to higher-order tasks. A comprehension question checks knowledge and understanding Application questions ask students to apply their knowledge of literary or rhetorical technique Analytical questions interrogate the story’s effect, mood, and construction-strategies. Creative writing tasks use an aspect of the story as a springboard to write creatively, discursively, or persuasively. H.P. Lovecraft’s classic cosmic horror story has been successfully used with a Stage 5 / Year 10 class ( 15 years).

Short stories are an effective way to illustrate the key concepts and reading strategies in the HSC Texts and Human Experience module. These short stories can be used to introduce the module, to supplement the prescribed text, as a standby lesson, or as part of an assessment task. Questions ask students to apply concepts from the rubric to the story, and sample answers on separate pages which the teacher may detach for teaching. Peter Gaskill’s story ‘Black Magic’ is about a fighter pilot attempting to make an impossible landing on a Pacific island during WWII. It is around 2226 words long and has been used successfully with a senior class (16-18 years).