Pushing and stretching with literature texts

One of the benefits and curses of working in a small school is the small number of students in an exam cohort. I can easily mark the whole year group’s attempt at a question 2, but, at the same time, each student is the equivalent of one percent. During the mock period I have marked every student’s response to the unseen poetry element on the literature papers and it has made me think a little bit differently in how we approach literature in general.

For two years, I have been trying to work out how the literature papers are marked. Our first year was disappointed because students were obsessed with A02 in the extract. Our second year was a marked improvement and was incredibly strong, because we moved to focus on A01 rather than A02. Teaching students that the extract is there for them to make some A02 comment and that the answer to question doesn’t sit in the extract has had a big impact for us. The extract is often a crutch for students because they see it as a way to analyse to death an extract or link the extract to everything in the story.  

In marking one hundred and so unseen poetry extracts, I have spotted a common problem and understood something that affects the majority of literature questions. The development of ideas. We all know the problem with PEE and its hydra like kin, but there is a problem of students stepping up and moving away from this. I have liked the use of how/what/ why structure and varied it to include this format:

Dickens presents the divide in society as …

Dickens uses …

Dickens teaches us …

That way students keep coming back to the writer. The writer often gets lost in a rabbit warren of explanation as a student connotes to death a word. This approach, however, has worked for some weaker students as they are ten poles for an idea.  The start, middle and end keep the focus on the writer and his or her intent. Overall, I have found this really helpful for getting students to Band 3, providing they explain an idea in some detail.

The problem I find is with bright students getting out of Band 3, as they tend to be stuck on PEE repetition. A typical paragraph tends to go PEEPEEPEEPEE. They list points rather than develop them. Those points might be different points or different examples of the same thing, but there is no development of ideas. Point. Evidence. Explain. Repeat. It is interesting how students don’t get out of the PEE cycle easily when it is pointed out to them.

This week, I have tried an approach in planning to address this problem, because students are making the right points, but they are not doing anything with the idea. Recently, I saw some example paragraphs that were described, for students, as being evidence of a Grade 9 quality. I felt that they missed the point about development of an idea, so I thought about how I could get that across to students.

Anyway, here is the lesson I did with students. In the first part, I modelled how to plan a paragraph and then, in the stages after that, the students worked in pairs to produce their own and then they made one individually.

The starting point for the planning were these ideas. They could pick a poem they wanted to and an idea they felt they could explore in some detail.

•       Ozymandias – Man is weaker than nature

•       Power doesn’t last

•       Emigreé – memories are powerful

•       The past is better than the present

•       Storm on the Island – man would rather fear things than trust someone

•       A problem unites people

•       London – man is happy to be controlled than think on his own

•       Misery is a disease

•       Prelude – Life is a fairy tale

•       Man is insignificant

This is the tool I used for the planning. I will probably adapt and change it over time. 

Once the students had their starting idea, they could explore the idea in some depth. Take this example for Ozymandias a student wrote:

Idea: man is weaker than nature

Choice: ‘shattered visage’

Man is weak in relation to the rest of the world featured in the poem. The once powerful legacy has been reduced.

[explains how man is weak]

Choice: ‘lone and level sands’

Nature is far bigger and superior to man. The lifeless landscape contrasts with our traditional view of nature, which highlights nature’s power to provide life, nourishment and existence.

[develops the reason for him being weak]

Choice: ‘King of Kings’  

Man has a superior view of himself and that is undermined by the fact that there is nothing left of him now. Man is deluded and think she has power and can control his world. Nature’s power is subtle and slow, but clearly more powerful.

[develops the relationship between man and nature]

Idea revisited: nature has the power over life and death and mankind needs to worship nature and not himself

When we did this, students were able to develop and extend an idea. The key thing was the progression of an idea and leading to a new conclusion or hypothesis about the poem. We had some interesting ideas in relation to the points given and students engaged with the poems on a deeper level than before. I discussed with students how each part could be a paragraph on its own, but the development from one idea to another is vital to show depth of understanding.

On reflection, I think having the key idea (hypothesis) as the guiding thread helped students. They were able to keep the focus tight and related to the idea. They were able to explore the different parts of the idea rather than hunt for different examples to show it. They explored how nature is strong. They explored how man thinks he is strong. They explored how man is weak.

I am going to get students to practise the planning before I start them writing. I want them to get used to the idea or thinking about developing an idea. I want them to be comfortable with developing and then will explore how to do it in their writing.

Thank for reading,

Xris

AQA English Exam Structure Strips

Like others schools, we are finding the exam papers a challenge for some of our less able students. They are finding the switching between questions and the different foci a real problem. Something that we teachers find difficult too. It was suggested to me that we'd explore the use of structure so I went to town a bit. And, here they are. 

We are going to use them as a starting point to teaching the questions and then take the framework away. However, I am planning to give them as a booklet for our less able students, so they know how to approach the different questions in the run up to the final exams. They'll also function as automatic differentiation tools so teachers can pick them off the shelf and use them. 

They are a work in progress and so will change and adapt as we go along. But, they are a starting point for my team. 

The formatting might be funny in the preview on Google docs but it looks better when downloaded. 

Literature Paper 1

Literature Paper 1 Romeo and Juliet

Literature Paper 1 Christmas Carol 

Literature Paper 2 

Literature Paper 2 An Inspector Calls 

Literature Paper 2 Poetry Comparison 

Literature Paper 2 Unseen Poetry Part 1 

Literature Paper 2 Unseen Poetry Part 2 

Language Paper 1

Language Paper 1 Question 2

Language Paper 1 Question 3 

Language Paper 1 Question 4 

Language Paper 2 

Language Paper 2 Question 2

Language Paper 2 Question 3

Language Paper 2 Question 4

I have bewitched the files so anybody selling them on TES will be plagued by endless commas splices. 

Thank you for reading, 

Xris 

P.S.  Thanks to Caroline Spalding and Stephen Lockyer for the original idea. 

Being a rudder in exam season

Stress is a bit like energy. It cannot be destroyed. Only changed from one state to another.

I had the joy many years ago of working in a call centre for a year. And, it was an interesting year. A year of selling car and home insurance. A year of breaks timed to the second. A year of having my life controlled by a flashing box.  I didn’t enjoy the experience.

The whole call centre experience made me see people in a different light. I had people being rude and vile towards me. I had phones slammed down on me. I had people be snide to me. I had people talk down to me. The funny thing is that the people called the telephone line to get a quote for insurance. I didn’t call them. They called me (well, the company), yet they still treated me as if I was the verbal equivalent of being a punch bag.  

The telephone conversation was something else. It was an opportunity to take their stress and convert it to something else. Anger at someone on the end of the line. I’d say, in the modern age, we become used to this idea of transferring our anger and stress to the person on the other side of the line.  

We all get stressed at some point, but it is how we deal with stress that’s important.

We are now, for me, entering a difficult period for teachers. The time with Year 11s is dwindling and our fear for their results is rising. At this point of the year, I think it’s important that we ask ourselves: am I transferring my stress to my students? It’s a simple question, but one we need to ask occasionally to keep things at bay.   

Year 11s are generally stressed and worried about their exams and future. They might not show it in the ways we expect them to show stress, because they are teenagers and they are still working out how things work in their minds. They mess about. They are rude. They don’t listen to instructions. All because they don’t know what is going on in their minds.

At a time when they need order, calmness and reassurance, we often create more stress, because we are stressed. Stress cannot be destroyed. Only changed. We transform our stress to the students’ stress. And they absorb some of it. They listen to their friends and possibly absorb some of their stress. Then, go home and listen to more stress from their parents.

In the call centre, I had to take a lot of this stress from people. I knew it wasn’t me that was the problem and I also knew that I didn’t have the time to explore their deeply rooted psychological problems. I let them get it out of their system verbally and then spoke to them quietly and calmly. Often, by the end of the conversation they were calm and pleasant.

We’ve all been in a difficult situation and it is the voice of authority, calm and reason that helps us in a situation. A doctor in medical emergency. A paramedic in an accident. Not the people panicking.

We need to be the rudder for students at the moment. Our fears must be our fears. We can convey our concerns and highlight issues, but our fears are our emotional baggage to deal with and not something we should share with students. They need a rudder. Something solid, reliable and reassuring to guide them. Our job at the moment is to point them in the right direction. Add our emotions and we can guarantee that the line isn’t so straight.

So, whether it is SATs, GCSEs or A-levels, we need to be mindful of our fears and worries. We need to be careful about what we convey to the students. 

Thanks for reading, 

Xris 

Just another marking Monday

Over the years, I have seen various approaches to marking. Some good. Some bad. Some as quick as a sneeze. Some as slow as a snail with a limp.

The problem we have with marking has always been how time consuming it is. You do have to read things and there’s no getting away from it. However, the marking tells you if the students have understood what was taught or that they can use a skill. Really it is the measuring stick for all we do. Yet, we have a problem with it. Nobody has it fixed.

I am a big fan of ‘live marking’ as you addressing issues at the point of work. You can make quick fixes and check if things have been understood.

I have issues, personally, with ‘whole class feedback sheets’ for they publicly highlight success and failure. I like them for ease, but I have seen them photocopied for students and they name students and highlight the strengths and sometimes the weaknesses of them. All stuck in an exercise book. 

My school has been working to having more systematic approach to marking and I am finding it interesting and rewarding.

The process is pretty simple. During the learning, students are given a ‘mid-learning’ task to see what input is needed. We call them simply ‘learning check points’. They are little yellow sheets and the student completes the task on it. 

Then, the teacher gives it a tick. Secure. Partial. Limited. Phew. That’s a lot of work. In fact, it doesn’t take long. I can do a set in ten minutes. And they generate quite a bit of information.

From the information, I can target the class in three clear groups. Secure. Partial. Limited. I can then address areas for improvement. These are from a Year 11 lesson on Paper 2 Question 2: 

Secure – you need to explore the symbolism of inference. How does it link to the wider world.

Partial – you need to develop your inference by saying ‘because… so… as…’
Limited – you need to follow the statement / quotation / inference structure

I am able to make quick judgement and then I identify areas for improvement and provide an extension task.

Finally, I feedback the sheets to the class. Give students time to address the problem in their writing and stick the sheet in their books.

As a system, it is quick, effective and incredibly helpful. I don’t have to take in thirty exercise books and search for the right page. I don’t have to read pages and pages of stuff. Simply, I have a paragraph to read and that’s it. From that paragraph, I can see where they are in relation to the learning and then I can adapt my teaching. The paragraph is the perfect unit for checking learning in English.

For me, the judgement element is important. Making a judgement is important for students and teachers. Is it good? How good am I in relation to others? Feedback is great, but we do want to know where we are in relation to others. That’s where the secure, partial and limited come in.

For Key Stage 4, I have found this approach quite effective for addressing exam questions. It has allowed me to be precise in feeding back what the problems are in responding to the question. I have narrowed their focus and then as a result narrowed my focus. If I can't see it in that one paragraph, then I can't give them the mark. Therefore, they have to ensure it is there in that paragraph - and every paragraph in the exam answer- so it narrows their focus. It has really allowed for greater level of precision for teachers and students. 

For Key Stage 3, I think this has opened up the marking and the work. It has allowed us to move away from the assessment questions and allowed us to explore other avenues related to the texts studied. 

I think it is important that we talk and share different marking methods and approaches. Each school is a different context and needs a different approach. We do need to keep the marking dialogue going. 

Thanks for reading, 

Xris