Author Archive

Scholarship test writing: Creative Writing skills

August 13, 2012

The aim of this piece was to exercise the skill of composing a narrative using an interesting structural device. There are many such narrative devices that can be exercised to form a narrative that realises greater suspense or intrigue at different stages of the story, including epigrams, flashbacks, cliffhangers etc. In this piece, the structural […]

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Creative writing skills: Focus

August 9, 2012

This is yet another 20 min short creative writing piece, this time in response to the image/prompt of a set of clocks. For a word document version of much better presentation and formatting than what is shown here email me at [email protected]. Remember, your goal is to produce focused writing by: • illustrating the context, […]

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Poetry analysis: Bookworm by Norman MacHaig

August 8, 2012

VCE English does require students to analyse texts, both in Outcome 1 and Outcome 3. The curriculum is not the same in Scotland where the focus for the analysis of literary techniques is much greater. I have found the pursuit of strong literary analysis to be extremely beneficial to students. In VCE English, students can […]

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Outcome 2 – Ideas and Arguments: Identity and Belonging

August 7, 2012

For a word document version of much better presentation and formatting than what is shown here email me at [email protected]. Outcome 2 – Ideas and Arguments Focus Questions and Topic Sentences/Prompts The challenge of Outcome 2 is in part to consider complex ideas and form certain arguments and conclusions for the chosen context. The terms […]

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Scholarship test writing

August 7, 2012

One good trick in short story writing is to achieve a variety of perspectives through the narration of different, and even conflicting, viewpoints. I do this using ellipsis ( * * * ) to present a transition from one narrator to another. The two submissions here using this technique are both 20 minute pieces written […]

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Williams Model Matrix for Gifted Students

July 18, 2012

The following presents two sets of activities to engender responses to the text The Web 2027 with respect to the concepts of “Connectivity” and “Virtual Reality”. Gifted students specifically benefit from study that focuses on concepts and relations between concepts, and enables engagement with content through differentiated learning activities (eg. Paradox, Attribute Listing etc…). Although […]

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Poetry: Preliminary test and course description

July 18, 2012

For a word document version of much better presentation and formatting than what is shown here email me at [email protected]. Literary techniques test Name: ______________________ 1. In your own words define the poetic/literary techniques of: Rhyme: _______________________________________________________ Rhythm: _______________________________________________________ Simile: _______________________________________________________ Metaphor: _______________________________________________________ Personification: __________________________________________________ Assonance: _______________________________________________________ Alliteration: ______________________________________________________ Symbolism: ______________________________________________________ Onomatopoeia: ___________________________________________________ Imagery: _______________________________________________________ […]

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Creative writing skills: Focus

July 18, 2012

For a word document version of much better presentation and formatting than what is shown here email me at [email protected]. Focus An integral skill in successful short story writing is the ability to truly capture the imagined scene in writing. Unfortunately (at first) when writers are told both to “describe more” and to “keep your […]

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Personal response: The Hunger Games

July 18, 2012

For a word document version of much better presentation and formatting than what is shown here email me at [email protected]. I wasn’t happy before reading this. My friend had informed me, “It wasn’t as violent as the film was.” A student told me, “It wasn’t as violent as I thought it would be.” Such descriptions […]

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Personal response: Maximum Security

March 26, 2012

MAXIMUM SECURITY by Robert Muchamore – Personal Response Right, I hated it. No really, I hated this book. There are very few novels that raise my ire. I hate how everyone misinterprets Girl with a Pearl Earring, and takes the position of the narrator when she’s clearly a vicious lying manipulative self-obsessed snake. I hate […]

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