Section outline

  • Term 1: Week 1















    Welcome!
    Hello and welcome back 8F1! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday and I can't wait to hear all about it!

    I look forward to teaching you again this year as we move towards an enriching and rewarding 2020. This year, English classes will involve building on what we learnt last year as well as an exploration of new and exciting topics. 

    Our context for this term is "Kia Kaha" - Stand Strong! This, to me, means fostering positive relationships at school and tackling social issues. In addition, we will be looking at conflict resolution and standing together in the face of adversity. 

    The overall working plan for English this term will look something like this:*

    - Revisiting formal essay writing: How much do we remember? What do we need to work on going into E-asTTle testing at the end of the year? (2 WEEKS)

    - Poetry analysis and creation: A broad look at the types of poetry, an exploration of the language features and techniques used to create meaningful poetry and then a few exercises in creating poetry of our own using our new skills. (2-3 WEEKS)

    - Creative writing and reading creative pieces: A more advanced study on the formulation of creative writing building from last year. I will explain this in more detail in person. (4-5 WEEKS)

    - Potential Assessment for this term: An 850(MAX)word short story on a social issue with a conflict resolution. I will likely be assessing how well you can use the conventions of story writing (what we will learn) to convey (express) an important message or moral.*

    * As you guys well know, I take into account your opinions and interests when I design a plan for the term so if most of you would rather not do a creative short story, there will be other options we can discuss and explore. 

    Success Criteria for Term 1: We are learning to...

    1) Recognize areas of personal development with formal writing and answer the question: "What do I need to do/change to improve my writing?"

        - Recall what PEEL paragraphs are and how to write them

        - Recall the Introduction Triangle and using it to start an essay

        - Recall and use the Essay Checklist format 


    2) Analyse at least 3-4 different forms of poetry and to determine what made the poem successful/meaningful 

    3) Understand the meaning of the author's or poet's purpose

    4) Create our own pieces of poetry using the knowledge we have gained through poetry analysis

    5) Name the conventions and recognize the language features and techniques used in creative writing - using these to create our own short stories

    6) Draft short story plans and edit our own writing 


    Activities for week 1:

    Monday (S1) - ADMIN Day

    Tuesday (S2) - No school for year 8s and 9s

    Thursday (S1) - Waitangi Day