Year 9 Writing Task

Before we start the contextualisation of Shakespeare, it would be advantageous for me to understand a little more about what constitutes YOU as individuals.

For the first fifteen minutes of this class on a blank piece of paper, I want you to answer the following:

What is your name?
What is your favourite colour?
What is your favourite treat/snack?
What is your favourite game/app on the iPad?
What do you like to do for fun?
How many people are in your family?
Do you have a favourite singer or band?
Do you like sports, which ones?
Do you have a favoyrite animal?
Do you like to sing, what songs?
Can you draw/paint?
If you could be an animal what would you be and why?
What is the funniest/weirdest dream you ever had?
Have you ever met anyone famous? If so, who?
Where would you go for your dream vacation and why?
What job would you never do and why?
Do you like to read, what books?
What is the bravest thing you have ever done?
Are you a talker or a listener? What would your friends say about you?
What is your favourite T.V. show?
Do you have a nickname? What is it?
What subject do you like best in school and why?
What is the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
Who is the smartest person you know?
What food will you never eat? And why?
Which cartoon character are you most like and why?
What do you worry about?
What is your favourite sport?
If you were in a band, what instrument would you play?
Are you afraid of heights?
Are you ticklish?
What should you never forget?
Are you a cat person or a dog person?
Describe your best friend.
If you could turn invisible, where would you go and what would you do?
What is the best thing about being in Year 9 at Caulfield Grammar?

Stasiland Vocabulary

Will be adding to this list as we go....

German Terms in Stasiland

Ostalgie – A sense of nostalgia for the way things were in East Germany.

 

Mauer im Kopf – the sense of there still being a metaphorical wall in your mind that separates you from fully letting go of the past or embracing unified Germany. Not because you don’t want to – but because of the psychological damage inflicted during divided Germany.

 

Wiedervereinigung – Unification of Germany.

 

Vergangenheitsbewaltigung – the process of coming to terms with the shame of the past.

 

Words to describe the regime and the treatment of the individuals:

 

• authoritarianism
• autocracy
• totalitarianism

• tyranny
• coercion
• despotism

maltreatment

persecution

suffering

• conquering
• control
• fascism
• force
• hardness
• harshness

• severity
• subjection
• torment
• abusiveness
• forcefulness
• iron hand

* victimisation
*casualty
*disenfranchised
*oppressed
*indoctrinated
*mistrust
* socialism
* capitalism
* dichotomous
* victimisation
*degradation


*symbolisation

Linking words to make your essay more analytical:

furthermore, moreover, conversely, additionally, perhaps, suggests, seeks, exposes.....

dys·to·pi·a (dystopia)

/dɪsˈtoʊpiə/ Show Spelled [dis-toh-pee-uh] Show IPA

noun

a society characterized by human misery, as squalor, oppression, disease, and overcrowding.

 

 

First activity: Year 9 Research

You will be researching a variety of topics surrounding the life and work of William Shakespeare.  You will be working in groups of three to research and present one section of your information.  You may wish to work together or simply divide the tasks and/or topics among you, but you will be receiving a mark based on the work of the group as a whole.

You may present your information using any app you wish. Be creative! Please present your information in your own words, and do not simply cut and paste .

If you are unsure of any task, please be sure to seek clarification, either from your group or from me.

Good luck and have fun!

1. Shakespeare’s plays

 

Shakespeare wrote a great many plays, all of which fall into one of three categories: histories, comedies or tragedies.
Your task is to:

1. Examine the features of a typical Shakespearian history, tragedy and comedy.  Present what you have found out about each one along with a few titles of each. (e.g. “Macbeth” is a tragedy)
2. Explain how one of Shakespeare’s plays, such as Romeo and Juliet,meets the criteria of one of the above categories.
3. Write a summary which explores which types of play you would find the most enjoyable and explain why.

 

2. The Language of Shakespeare

 

Although it is over 400 years old, the language of Shakespeare is still very much appreciated today because it is filled with passion,  imagery, symbols and poetic verse.  This may seem awkward at best;  incomprehensible at worst!  But don’t worry: with a little close reading and analysis, you WILL understand it, and, best of all, never forget it!
Your task is to 

1. Research information on the language of Shakespeare and present what you have found.
2. Create an open-ended question which explores what you would like to find out about Shakespeare’s language and present your findings.
3. Write a summary about what it will be like to read or hear a Shakespeare play.

 

3. The Globe Theatre

 

The Globe Theatre was where many of Shakespeare’s plays were originally staged.  
Your task is to:

1. Research the seating, layout and other features of the Globe theatre and present what you have found.
2. Identify the differences between the Globe and other modern theatres.
3. Explain how seeing a Shakespeare play at the Globe would be different to seeing one in a modern theatre.

 

4. The Great Chain of Being

 

The Great Chain of Being was a concept that influenced the thoughts and minds of people in England during Shakespeare’s time.  It had great influence on many of Shakespeare’s plays.  
Your task is to:

1. Research information which explains what the Great Chain of Being is and present what you have found.
2. Write a summary which explains what you think of this concept.

 

5. The Divine Right of Kings

The Divine Right of Kings was a theory that dominated the thoughts and minds of people in England during Shakespeare's time. It had great influence on many of Shakespeare's plays.

Your task is to:

1)Research information about the The Divine Right of Kings and present what you found.

2) Write a summary on how you think The Divine Right of Kinds influenced Shakespeare's plays. 

 

Chapters 2,3,4

IDEAS to focus on:

The Wall (s)

* physical (Berlin)

* ideological (capitalist v socialist)

* psychological (the walls inside the mind)

Think about MEMORY:

Those who chose to forget,

Those who cannot,

Those who refuse,

And those who believe it's important to remember.


Chapter 2: Miriam

Anna meets Miriam.

The concept of "Prague Spring" is introduced.

Anna's frustration with her West Berlin television service is evident as they refuse to recognise other stories of East Germans.

A viewer in Argentina angrily writes that "history is made of personal stories".

This propels Anna to go and find Miriam. To put a voice to the voiceless.

Miriam tells her story of "rebellion", the protest phamplets she distributed when she was 16.

Chapter 3: Bornholmer Bridge

Miriam attempts to scale the Wall.

Miriam is clearly intelligent and courageous in the face of oppression by the GDR.

She is captured and tortured.

Funder switched from interviewer to allowing Miriam to voice her story.

Chapter 4: Charlie

Miriam and Charlie's life together is detailed as well as his death and farcical funeral are recounted.

Miriam reveals the ways of the Stasi behind prison walls. She notes the dehumanisation of being known as a number and of having to ask permission for every small act.

Her and Charlie's house was routinely searched.  She wasn't allowed to work or study due to her name being 'blacklisted' but despite this, she refuses to remember her term with Charlie with bitterness....instead she remember with love thus displaying that the Stasi could not penetrate and control EVERYTHING.

Charlie's death was suspicious and his funeral was tampered with. This propels Miriam to start searching for answers. The reader should feel horror when reflecting on their circumstances.

Year 10 assignment: Writing Folio

Jasper Jones Unit:

You are to compile a folio with the three styles of writing:

1) creative
2) expository
3) persuasive

You are to hand this in Week 4 with your nominated piece of writing for close assessment and feedback. You will have another piece of your work of your choice peer assessed.

The prompts for your creative piece is:

Outsiders can never truly belong.

Using this prompt, the Context of 'The other' and the text of 'Jasper Jones' as a stimulus, you are to write a creative piece in the form of:

* short story
* monologue
* dialogue
* letter
* diary entry
* transcript
* play
* poem/song

Word minimum is 500 words.

Enjoy :)

Year 12: Stasiland Chapter 1

Chapter 1 summary:

Berlin, Winter, 1996

* Anna travels to Leipzig to meet Miriam.

* The text starts in a train station, a transitory setting that immediately establishes Anna as a visitor and observer. Trains often represent a journey, ones that sometimes find a destination, sometimes they do not....indicative of Anna's adventures in Stasiland.

* The colours of Leipzig are magnified through Anna's hangover....colours are too bright and people seem hostile. This convoluted setting prepares the reading for the chaos of the post Berlin Wall landscape.... fragmented/broken and little chance of every being properly unified.  

* Anna converses with a women at the station which shows Funder both using 1st person and also 3rd person when chronicling Germany's history.

* The 'mystery' of Miriam is signposted, leaving the reader to think about possible narratives.

* The reader can now identify who Funder is and what her proposed mission is to be...

Ideas to start navigating through 'Stasiland"

IDEAS on first reading....

* Stasiland is a physical place put forward by Funder.

* The Wall is capitalised into a Proper Noun to magnify its importance and establish it as an active participant in the narrative.

* The idea of a 'guide', Alice in Wonderland/Anna in Stasiland analogy.

* The book is a historiography (historical body of work on a specialised topic) : factual/non-fiction....however deviates from this category in that Funder casts judgement and her voice explored and elucidates consequences.

* There are 3 Anna's - visitor, interviewer and narrator.

* Funder's voice :
1st person active -"I" conversations
3rd person omniscient voice- evidence/facts/transcripts
AND Anna disappears, allows characters to voice their story.

Funder interviews 6 men associated with the Stasi:

* Herr Winz
*Herr Koch
*Herr Boch
*Herr Bohnsack
*Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler
*Herr Christian

Interdispersed with other vignettes/bookends - Julia, Klaus, Sigrid Paul, Torsten, Charlie and Miriam.


Brainstorm

Funder presents individual and societal polarities:

Individual level

* protagonists/antagonists
* victims/perpetrators
*surrenders/offenders
*unapologetic/apologetic
*indoctrinated/dissidents

Societal level

* ideological divisions (dichotomous East Germany)
* physical and psychological effects of 'The Wall'.


Word of the day:

despotic

adjective

1. 1.

   of or typical of a despot; tyrannical.

   "a despotic regime"

   synonyms:

   autocratic, dictatorial, totalitarian, authoritarian, absolute, absolutist, arbitrary, unconstitutional,undemocratic, anti-democratic,

* Focus on HUMAN RESPONSE

* Focus on not only the WHAT but the HOW.... (conceptual and construction)

eg WHAT has Funder written - themes/characters/ideas

BUT also the

HOW: setting, time, place, narrator, voice, imagery

BUT now....to CONTEXTUALISATION......