ENGLISH

All year levels have had a fantastic start in English this year! 

Year 7 

Our new year 7 students have settled in quickly and are currently enjoying a creative writing unit based around the framework of Resilience inline with the school values. We have been doing many activities around building our resilience in our learning and have looked at how Resilience is incorporated in different texts. After camp students will complete their first common assessment task for the year in English which will see them creating their own stories that incorporate a tale of resilience. 

A reminder to all year 7 students and parents that they need to be completing 20 minutes of StepsWeb as homework each week. StepsWeb is an online literacy program which adapts to each learner and practises all the core skills needed for reading and spelling. 

Year 8 

Our year 8 students are enjoying being back in the classroom and are currently learning to express themselves in as few words as possible with a unit on microfiction. Microfiction is a short piece of fictional writing that has 300 words or less. The focus in this unit is on being able to tell a story that is complete but has immediate impact. Students need to choose their words carefully, every single word they write needs to have meaning! 

A reminder to all year 8 students and parents that they need to be completing 20 minutes of StepsWeb as homework each week. StepsWeb is an online literacy program which adapts to each learner and practices all the core skills needed for reading and spelling. 

Year 10, 11 and 12 

Our senior English classes have all started the year with writing units that are designed to expose students to writing for different purposes: To Explain, To Argue, To Express and To Reflect; and to allow them to experiment and develop their own writing ability within the purposes that they most enjoy. 

Each year level is focusing on writing within a different framework. The year 10 classes are focusing on the framework of ‘Compassion’ inline with the school values. The year 11 classes are focusing on the framework of ‘Power’, looking at where power exists, who holds power, who lacks power, and the different power dynamics that exist within society. And the year 12 classes are focusing on the framework of ‘Protest’ which encourages them to engage with the media and the world around them in a meaningful and positive way and to consider what they are passionate enough about to protest. 

Amy Broekmann

ENGLISH KEY LEARNING HEAD