English Department News
The English Department is excited to be moving into the Semester Two ECP with some newly developed and resourced units of work being rolled out this coming term, leading to transformational and innovative learning experiences. Please make sure students are aware of what they will be learning in the upcoming unit, which has been published on Astra. Their teachers will also remain the same, with no staffing changes foreseeable for Semester Two which is the most strategic way forward for student-teacher relationships and solidifying ways of working in the English classroom.
The units of work being taught this coming semester are as follows:
Year Level | Unit 3 (ECP / Term 3) | Unit 4 (End of Term 3 / Term 4) |
| Year 7 | Knowing the Media | Film Study: Mulan |
| Year 8 | Text Study: Runner | Language of Argument |
| Year 9 | Australian Poetry Study | Novel Study: Animal Farm |
| Year 10 | Analysing Argument | Play Study 12 Angry Men |
The Writing Revolution:
This semester, the English Department is also excited to be piloting The Writing Revolution in both Year 7 and Year 11 English. The implementation of this pilot project is to inform our decision-making as to the feasibility of moving forward with this particular literacy approach.
Mr Bordin and Miss Nelson have been working hard to develop the beginning of the new Year 7 English unit entitled Knowing the Media, with a writing revolution approach. This is a build-in, rather than a bolt-on approach to the teaching of a unit of work ensuring students are equipped with sentence and paragraph-level structures through a contextualised study of the media and advertising. Similarly, Year 11 English students will be exposed to the same approach, but within Unit 2, Area of Study 2 of the Study Design, entitled Exploring Argument.
We look forward to providing students with transformational learning experiences through the explicit teaching of sentence and paragraph structures.
Following the pilot implementation, the relevant English teachers and I will analyse the data to determine whether students have grown in their literacy capabilities and have added skills to their ‘toolkit’ to experience success in classwork and assessment moving forward.
If you would like more information about this approach, please visit: https://www.thewritingrevolution.org/.
Mr Troy Edwards
Head of English