Ethan Sais – 17974628

English Curriculum 2B Assessment Task 1

Table of Contents

Evaluation …………………………….2
- References ……………….5

Lesson Plan 1 ………………………..6

Lesson Plan 2 ………………………..8

Resources ………………………11
- Resource 1 …………………..11
- Resource 2 …………………..12
- Resource 3 …………………..14

pg. 1
The Craft of Writing Evaluation

In order to address the content points covered in the stage 6 standard English module, ‘The

Craft of Writing’. The following evaluation and lesson plans explore the key features and aspects of

J.K. Rowling’s 'The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination'. This speech has

been chosen because it develops upon a range of concepts including that of audience, context,

intertextuality, perspective and argument. The craft of writing module is designed to provide stage

6 students with the opportunity to develop as writers and therefore, hinges heavily on students

helping students fortify the skills and knowledge needed to convey their ideas for a range of

purposes and “authentic audiences” (English stage 6 prescriptions 2019-2023, p.15, 2017).

Susan Gannon argues that Australian Students are less competent with argumentative,

narrative and descriptive texts (2009). Suggesting further that there is not enough writing in the

English classroom. This is something the new syllabus has taken into consideration with the

implementation of the Craft of writing module. The craft of writing module places particular

emphasis on the recursive process of writing to further develop a student’s ability to apply their

understanding of textual forms and features to their own writing. Gannon highlights the notion a

“curriculum cycle” that has students conducting tasks that involve of modelling, joint construction

and independent construction of their own texts (p.227, 2009).

Rowling’s text is extremely advantageous for students because it allows them to model their

own experiences into a text that demonstrates the use of argument to persuade its audience.

Furthermore, this text can be very useful as a stimulus for many writing tasks, such as adapting texts

for different audiences or purposes, composing new texts, and representing texts in various modes

and media. Furthermore, it can be used as an example of how writers use language to address

certain purposes or to reach specific goals. In this case Rowling uses emotion, experience/context,

intertextuality and perspective to address the key argument of perseverance and resilience in her

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speech. Showing a clear reflection of the purposes outlined in the module; these being to evoke

emotion, to describe the world around them and to shape audience’s perspective.

In this module there is a particular emphasis on students use of the writing process, this

takes the form of class and group discussion and speculation sessions as to aid students in

developing their own ideas during the pre-writing stage. There is a clear correlation to Atwell’s

notion of writing conferences, this activity can be used to provide all students with guidance in their

writing as well as feedback as a process of editing (Sawyer, 2009). Rowling’s Speech is also a valuable

tool for exploring the concept of argument which is portrayed through her use of persuasive and

emotive language. For this module students can use parts of the speech as stimulus to model how

experience can be used to present an argument that engages and resonates with the audience. This

further relates to how Rowling uses language to shape perspective. This can be useful for students

completing this module as it assists students in identifying how an author uses language and

structure to position responders construct and appreciate the underlying values and meanings of a

text (English textual concepts, 2018).

Another feature for possible exploration of Rowling’s speech “the fringe benefits of failure

and the importance of imagination” is that of context. This is highly beneficial to students in the craft

of writing module as it highlights the significance of going beyond the text and understanding the

world in which the text was made. Taking into consideration the socio-cultural, literary, historical,

cultural and personal spheres that influence the composer and the audience. The context of

Rowling’s speech is extremely useful in demonstrating to students how vital context is in exploring

how a variety of meanings can be derived from a text (English textual concepts, 2018). As well as

how their own context and experiences can shape the texts they compose.

However, the lesson plans for this assignment address the concept of intertextuality. Susan

Davis Lenski (1998) proposes that when students read a text they create a complex model that

embeds their understanding of the new text into a web of their own experiences and previously

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experienced texts. Rowling’s speech provides ample opportunity to explore intertextuality within the

classroom. This is because she uses intertextuality to incite humour within her audience as well as to

engage the audience with a familiar context to base her argument. This is beneficial for students as it

gives them a new way of thinking about texts and a new way of creating meaning from texts (English

textual concepts, 2018). These can be explicit, implied or inferred references to other texts. Students

therefore are opened up to a whole facet of constructing meaning. The concept of intertextuality is

also highly significant and relevant to the module the craft of writing as it provides students with a

new avenue to explore when creating or in the case of this lesson sequence, adapting texts to suit

their varying purposes and audiences. J.K. Rowling’s speech delivers students a plethora of prospects

to develop their own wide reading, including providing students with a greater contextual

understanding to Rowling’s other works. This is also relevant to the concept of intertextuality as this

speech aids students in understanding the key themes and perspectives in her other works.

It is evident that Rowling’s speech is a valuable text in exploring the craft of writing module.

It provides teachers with plenty of opportunities to help students discover how texts persuade

audiences and consider varying perspectives. This speech can be used to look at features pertaining

to context, audience, perspective, argument and intertextuality. The accompanying lesson sequence

is an example of how Rowling’s text can be used to demonstrate how meaning can be inferred from

one text to another and in demonstrating how our experiences of texts are not isolated. That they in

themselves provide each other with new meaning and through intentional forms of intertextuality

and inferred intertextuality. This is a useful tool for students learning to craft their own texts

because it gives them a model to write texts that are enduring and multi-faceted.

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References

(2018). Retrieved March 27th, 2018, from English Textual Concepts:

http://englishtextualconcepts.nsw.edu.au/

Davis Lenski, S. (1998). Making Connections across Texts. Intertextual Intentions, 74-80. Retrieved
March 28th, 2018, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30189562

Gannon, S. (2009). Creative Writing. In S. H. Gannon, Charged with Meaning (pp. 223-230). Putney,
Australia : Phoenix Education.

NSW Education Standards Authority . (2017). English Stage 6 Prescriptions .

NSW Education Standards Authority . (2017). English stage 6 Syllabus.

Rowling, J.k. (2008, June 5th). The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination.
Cambridge,, Massachusetts: The Harvard Gazette . Retrieved March 18th , 2018, from
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/06/text-of-j-k-rowling-speech/

Sawyer, W. (2009). Further Applications: Writing . In S. H. Gannon., Charged with Meaning (pp. 231-
234). Putney: Phoenix Eductaion.

WETA. (2018, March 27th). Thinking Aloud Activity. Retrieved from Adolescent Literacy :
http://www.adlit.org/strategies/22735/

pg. 5
ENGLISH LESSON PLAN 1/2

Class: Standard English Stage 6 Time: 60 minutes

Teacher Objectives:

To provide students with a firm understanding of intertextuality and its role in

shaping how we as responders interpret and shape meaning from texts. So that
students understand that all texts inform and shape each other’s meaning

Syllabus Outcomes for students

HSC Unit – Module C – The Craft of writing

Outcome: 4

A student:

 adapts and applies knowledge, skills and understanding of language concepts and
literary devices into new and different contexts EN12-4

Syllabus Content: Engage personally with texts

● assess how their knowledge of language features, text structures and stylistic
choices helps them to engage with unfamiliar texts or textual forms

Materials

 A copy of J.K. Rowling’s “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of
Imagination”
 Mind map and learning prompt resource
 Writing implements
 Electronic Devices
 Classroom projector/smartboard

Procedures
Time Organisation Teaching/ learning activities
5 min https://www.yo Students watch a YouTube clip that demonstrates the
utube.com/watc explicit use of intertextuality within the media they
h?v=- consume on a daily basis, through the form of parody.
bbNrbCurnI
15 min Draw table up In small groups students discuss other forms of
on board for intertextuality they have come across and write them
students to use down into three categories
as reference - Explicit (specific quotation or reference)
- Implied (commonalities through genre or style)

pg. 6
 - Inferred (texts drawn on by the responder and
how their experiences and understanding gives
texts new meaning)
15 min Teacher Students are given a resource that demonstrates the
constructed pervasiveness of intertextuality in the texts they
resource consume with this resource students recognise:
All texts are in a constant dialogue with each other.
- In groups students consider this statement and
address how these texts are related.
o Why do creators use elements from
other texts in their work?
o Does this allow the audience to broaden
their understanding of text?
o Does this create new meaning for the
texts?
o Do you think this helps in making
meaning of texts you are unfamiliar with?
Come together for class discussion.
25 min Provide copy of Students engage in a close reading of Rowling’s speech
speech then using a think aloud scaffolding strategy they are
guided to consider:
- instances of intertextuality throughout the
speech.
- elements of context, audience and purpose
Homework Students watch J.K. Rowling’s Speech online:
https://www.ted.com/talks/jk_rowling_the_fringe_ben
efits_of_failure/up-next
And answer the following question in 3-4 sentences:
What categories do the intertextual references within
Rowling’s speech fall in to and what new layers of
meaning do they provide?

Evaluation/ Extension
Formative assessment is in the form of student response to discussion questions and
demonstration of understanding of intertextual devices in the prescribed text.
Possible extentsion for this lesson can involve getting students to search for intertextuality
in a music video and write in a few paragraphs the link between the texts and what effect
that has on the audience.

In retrospect

This lesson plan could be improved in the future by providing students with the greater
autonomy and self-guided tasks.

pg. 7
ENGLISH LESSON PLAN 2/2

Class: Standard English Stage 6 Time: 60 minutes

Teacher objectives:

To provide students with the skills and knowledge consider how authors create
texts through the use of intertextual devices. Therefore, guiding students to
reconsider the nature texts as composed from other texts and experiences. This
will provide students with a foreground for composing their own texts.

Syllabus Outcomes for students

HSC Unit – Module C – The Craft of writing

Outcome: 4

A student:

 adapts and applies knowledge, skills and understanding of language concepts and
literary devices into new and different contexts EN12-4

Syllabus Content: Develop and apply contextual knowledge

 analyse and appreciate how composers (authors, poets, playwrights, directors,

designers and so on) create new texts, or transform and adapt texts for different
purposes, contexts and audiences
 adapt texts for different purposes, contexts and audiences (ACEEN050)

Materials

 Copy of text
 Electronic devices
 Worksheets
 Class projector/smartboard
 Notes on other texts/students own wide reading texts
 Student google/social media accounts

Procedures
Time Organisation Teaching/ learning activities
5 min Copy of Revision of homework:
speech Class discussion – Prompting Questions -
Answers to  To what extent do Rowling’s intertextual
questions references inform your understanding of her
speech?

pg. 8
  Does this speech inform your understanding and
interpretation of her other works?
 What is the purpose of this speech?
 Who is the audience?
15 min Google Using google Docs students in groups of four:
documents - Search the internet for an ad or image that
Premade demonstrates a form of intertextuality and write a
template for brief description
activity - Engage in class discussion
Account
Student
devices
20 min Writing Students are given the opportunity to write their own
implement texts.
- In this task students are required to write a 3
Previously paragraph (2-3 min) speech that contains both
read texts explicit and implicit forms of intertextuality
- Students can draw from texts previously studied in
class as well as texts from their own wide reading
to inform their speech
- The speech is to be addressed to your fellow
students and discuss the notion of hard work and
resilience when studying for your HSC.
20 min Project Select students present to their speech in class (2-3
speeches on students time permitting) and have the rest of the class
smart board interpret the explicit and implied intertextual references in
for writing the speech. During this process students will be asked to
conference. highlight the Inferred intertextual responses they bring to
the text as a responder, demonstrating how meaning is
shaped by our individual experiences and knowledge.

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 Homework Interactive online discussion
- using the private English class Facebook group (or
other online interactive sites) students are asked to
respond to the following statement with a meme
that has a relevant and specific cultural or
contextual meaning:
o Respond to this excerpt of J.K. Rowling’s
speech with a relevant meme for discussion
in the next lesson. Be prepared to explain
the contextual and cultural significance and
how this adds to your understanding “You
might never fail on the scale I did, but some
failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to
live without failing at something, unless you
live so cautiously that you might as well not
have lived at all – in which case, you fail by
default.”
This task will be addressed in the next lesson, as a
discussion about the role of intertextual references in our
daily lives as a form of communication.

Evaluation/ Extension
Formative assessment of student responses to class and group discussions. As well as the
use of intertextuality in students’ speeches and the ability for the class to identify and
recognise the explicit, implied and inferred forms of intertextuality in each other’s work.

A possible extension for this lesson would be to give students to the chance to read a
passage from one of Rowling’s other texts and look for how she uses intertextuality to
persuade her audience in that text.

In retrospect
This lesson could be improved by providing students with more intertextual literary texts as models
for the writing tasks

pg. 10
Teacher Created Resources

Think Aloud Scaffold Activity

Read through J.K. Rowling’s speech ‘the fringe benefits of failure

and the importance of imagination’ then in pairs answer and
discuss the following questions:
 Who is this text written for?
 What purpose does it?
 What are some notable language features of the text? (e.g.
symbolism, metaphor, emotive language, rhetorical
questions, colloquialisms)
 Consider how Rowling uses intertextuality in this speech?
 List some examples and discuss how they are presented.
Consider if they are:
o Explicit (specific quotation or reference)
o Implied (commonalities through genre or style)
o Inferred (texts drawn on by the responder and how their
experiences and understanding gives texts new
meaning)

pg. 11
Google Docs Activity
In the following table insert an image, advertisement or link to a short video that
demonstrates an example of intertextuality and then write a brief description of how it
demonstrates intertextuality

Example Description
This advertisement operates on multiple
levels.
It is an advertisement for a business that
deals with unplanned pregnancies.
This ad uses intertextuality to persuade its
intended audience (women/couples) to use
their product through a common textual
experience

This text is of course snow white and the

seven dwarves. The first indicator is the
implied thematic/genre-based reference in
the headline “An early pregnancy is no fairy
tale”. Clearly using thematic language that
will persuade their audience to alter their
point of view and alluding to the intertextual
theme.
The mother is clearly snow white and the
seven dwarves have been replaced with her
seven children.

What other context and themes are

https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/56639
8090609888679/
explored in snow white? Where is the
prince? what are the creators of this text
trying to convey by leaving him out of the
image? How does influence the intended
audience?

Your Turn
Group 1

Group 2

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Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

Group 6

pg. 13
 How texts shape meaning activity

What type of intertextual connections do you see between these texts?

What themes/ideas do they share?

Bruce Lee – The Last Dragon Uma Thurman – Kill Bill Vol.1

Thelma and Louise

Why do creators use elements from other texts in their work?

Does this allow the audience to broaden their understanding

of text?

Does this create new meaning for the texts?

Do you think this helps in making meaning of texts you are Lady Gaga and Beyoncé - Telephone
unfamiliar with?

pg. 14