Narrowing down revision in English

Revision and revising is such a tricky thing for English. It can, if we are not too careful, be the equivalent of Buckaroo. Here’s another quotation. Now, add these three quotations. Balance these intent words on your head. BUCKAROO! 

We all love a good quotation, but revision can become for literature all about the quotations and not the ideas. It is really hard to find a balance, because quotations are concrete and they can be recalled so they give the students the semblance of effective revision. The problem is that students can often learn quotations that have no link to the question, yet because they have learnt it they are going to crowbar it into their writing. Is the emphasis on quotation knowledge superseding text knowledge? And, more importantly, text understanding? 

I admit my emphasis on quotations has always been around words or one or two key phrases.  ‘Solitary as an oyster’ works on so many levels that it can fit into most essays. Class - the rich are shut off from their problems. Greed - hiding their riches. Charity - the pearl represents that there is some good in Scrooge. Teach them a good quotation and how it fits in a number of contexts and you are preparing students to think on their feet. All too often, we turn quotation learning into some kind of military drill. Drop and give me two quotations on Tiny Tim. What is that? I can’t hear you. For that, you are giving me four quotations on love in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The retaining of the quotation is more important the malleable nature of ideas and quotations. They are putty to mould and shape into an argument. 

This year, I played around with revision lessons. Instead of the hunt for a needle in a haystack knowledge retrieval, we tried a very simple structure. I simplified the text in several key images, the characters and the structure.  

I gave students a sheet with these on them. Then, I gave them the question. How does Shakespeare present love? Together, we worked on thinking what were the key images in the text related to the idea of love. We discussed the father’s and friar’s view of treating children like plants. We discussed the idea of cupid and the concept of love being unpredictable. Next, we explored the character across the text. Are there characters that show love? We discussed the combination of Lady Capulet and Nurse and their views of love. We then discussed the different attitudes that Mercutio and Romeo have towards love. The group decided that Shakespeare uses Lady Capulet in an unsympathetic light to show how adults have a conditional attitude towards love. Finally, once we had these ideas we considered the structure. We discussed that we see the parents move from unconditional to conditional love. We also discussed how problematic conditional love is with Romeo and Juliet. The overall opinion was that Shakespeare wanted balance and not one or the other. 

From a simple sheet, we had explored images, character and structure to form and argument in response to the question. Then, we were able to check what existing quotations we could use. In fact, as we discussed these ideas, students freely offered their ideas and quotations. The thinking of ideas started the search for quotations rather than the other way round. 

We then drafted a paragraph for one of the ideas. This took us close to thirty minutes to do, but we have revised images, characters and structure alongside themes and quotations.  In fact, in one lesson we covered three texts like this. 

I know revision season is done for this year (almost) but I think we genuinely need to think about the revision process long-term to avoid the Buckaroo effect. All too often, the closer we get to the exams, the more we attempt to cram and pile knowledge and things onto students. If the teaching of the texts is good, then at the end there shouldn’t be a need to fill students up with quotations. Students should with a few key choice morsels be able to create a dish of an essay. More able students will probably have a few more select and subtle morsels, but the majority will have something. 

Maybe our problem with exams and revision is that the default is that there is an absence of something. We add rather than build on what is there. English is probably the one subject where you are often starting with something. Before students revise the texts, they know something of the story. The power of literature is that it lasts long after the experience. They might not remember the quotations but they can remember the story. There is a spark of something to add kindle to. Hopefully, this is one way to start that fire burning. 

A link to the documents I used is here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/dp39pt9cgr91f6n2y4r8y/Year-11-Revision-Helpsheet.docx?dl=0&rlkey=r2jpgkdzwidapb5vi0fwrykw1

Thanks for reading, 

Xris