What's the tone of the headline? AQA Question 2

Every so often, I like to blog about a lesson I have taught that week. Not because I think I am amazingly great - I am not: I still have a pile of marking to do and there is always something I haven’t done. But, because I like to share and see what others have done. Writing a blog on a lesson becomes the equivalent of throwing a pebble in the pond. Lots of waves are generated. In the past, I have described a lesson and as a result of that I have had several suggestions of how else that specific lesson could have been done.

In fact, I am one of those sad people that likes looking at schemes of work. I enjoy reading old – very old – text books. It is not for the joy of finding a worksheet full of flared trousered teachers or teenagers with hair that resembles candy floss. It is more about the joy of finding a different approach or a novel way or idea of doing the same thing Plato did teaching all those centuries ago,  than finding a worksheet that will keep a class quiet for five minutes. It is the oh-never-thought-of-doing-it-that-way thing I like. Therefore, I am sharing this lesson. I could, if I wanted to, put all my resources on TES, but I find it frustrating that the website, great as it is, tends to collect resources rather than ideas. I don’t want an instant lesson; I actually love planning. A ready-made resource doesn’t really appeal to me. I want ideas. That’s why I blog. That’s why I read blogs. They help me plan. They feed my inspiration.

Right, the lesson! Well, I am preparing students for the last big push on the AQA Unit 1 exam. Psychologists would have a field day with me, because I am starting to enjoy the exam and the teaching of it. Now, I haven’t gone all ‘Blue-Peter’ and overdosed on positivity; it is just that with all the model answers I have written and all the time I have spent on it, I have gone all ‘Stockholm Syndrome’. I have fallen in love with my captor. If you can’t beat them, join them.

Anyway, this lesson was about question 2. The headline and picture question.

Explain how effective the headline and picture are in the article and how they link to the text.

Step 1:

I explained to students the problems in the last mock.

What were the problems in the last mock exam?

* Not enough language analysis

* People didn't show they understood the tone of the piece of writing
* The picture's symbolise wasn't fully explored
*The links made were pretty poor

Step 2:

 I then gave students a sheet of headlines from a range of different sources. Rather than dive in for the techniques employed, I asked students to identify the tone of the article from the headline. Was the tone shocked, comical, disgusted or something else?

 

I caught TB from my pet cat: Teenager tells how she was rushed to hospital with severe lung damage

The horrible word in the exam question is ‘effective’. As soon as students see it they hone in on it. Everything becomes about things being effective. But, it is something more subtle that is needed in the exam. Focusing on the tone shows understanding of the text and an awareness of how the headline is used. The headline doesn’t just make you want to read it, but also hints at the emotional impact of the story. I am feeling sad. Oh, look there is a story that sounds a bit funny, so I will read that. Oh, that other one looks depressing. Better not read that.

As we did this, we noticed that the tone of the headline might be more than one thing. Sometimes headlines started with a serious tone and then changed to a comical tone.

 Step 3:

Next, I got students to highlight the language devices employed. While doing this, I reminded them to see if they could link the technique to the tone.

Analyse the headline  - look at the language

Think of...

*punctuation - any form of punctuation

* sounds (harsh / soft /rhyme / alliteration)

*Which word is the most dramatic / effective?

* Techniques (exaggeration/ emotive / puns)

* Facts / numbers / statistics

* First and last words

*Reason for the choice of words

Doctors snapped my unborn baby’s arm in two … to save her life: Maternity ward drama as medics battled to deliver baby so big she got trapped during birth

 

There’s so much to be said from the headlines in the exam, but student opt for the most obvious ones, which means that they miss the subtle or plainly obvious ones. Like some of these here:

·         Start and end feature something shocking

·         Writer tricks reader into thinking the doctors are evil – they withhold the reason for the snapping for later

·         Ellipsis used for dramatic emphasis   

·         Starts with an emphasis on action – snapped (onomatopoeic word)

·         Alliteration of baby, big and birth

·         Doctor becomes medic

·         Battled has severe connotations

·         Two halves of the sentence have didn’t tones

 

Step 4:

Then we discussed how things could be linked to the text. Mostly, things in the text prove, support or challenge ideas in the headline.

Link those together -  writer - technique - reader

The writer uses a serious tone by using a fact( ********) in the headline so that reader is shocked by the amount of people that has died.

Link again....

The text reflects the shocking nature of this by referring to the names of these people: '************'. 

Step 5:

After making links, we then focused on the pictures. Now, I have done quite a bit of work with the students, but at this stage I felt that I need to go back to basics.  I discussed with students these set questions:

 

What does it show?

What does it hint at?

What does it symbolise?

 

Describe / Suggest / Symbolise

 

I found that teaching students to analyse pictures like this helped them to step up their interpretations. They were able to build up ideas in detail. Too often students neglect to say what is in the picture and its relevance to the text. Again, when thinking of these things students had to think about the tone of the text. 
 

Link ideas to - writer - picture -reader

 

The picture shows the boyfriend smiling and the celebrity wearing animal fur which highlights the writer's anger and the will provoke the reader to feel shocked that he might get away with it, while the badgers are dead.

 

Link to the text:

This is supported when the text says....

 

Step 6:

Finally, this is where things get scary. I printed off headlines and pictures from the Daily Mail. (Sorry, to say this but the Daily Mail website is brilliant for resources for this particular question.) I didn’t print anything else off the article, just the headline and picture. Students then proceeded to annotate the sheets and the analysis was great. Each student had a different headline. They had to do all the above in 5 minutes and they did it effectively.

As a plenary, students read out two things about the headline and two things about the picture. I modelled an approach to the question and made students experience the thought processes needed for the exam.

 Next lesson, I will be getting them to write a response the question, yet this text will be about a new article that they haven’t seen. Oh, and I will be writing a response at the same time.  

 

Feed me, Seymour! Feed me now. I am off to read some more textbooks from the 1970s.

Thanks for reading,

Xris32  

Listening to the words

I had a funny incident this week, when someone didn’t listen to me. My car, a small silver thing, was due for an MOT and service this week. I rang up and booked an appointment. During the call, I then asked for a courtesy car. However, when I arrived at the garage, I was informed that a car was not available. After huffing and puffing a bit, I was questioned if I minded what I drove. I said: ‘No.’ I was then taken to a forgotten part of garage’ forecourt and introduced to what can only be described as a monster truck. A huge ‘transformer’ style truck with wheels the size of me. Any minute, I thought, it was going to transform into this robot. This massive jeep, which wouldn’t look out of place in the Australian outback, was my car for the day. In fact, I had to travel to and from school in it. Surprisingly, there wasn’t space in the car park for it. All of this because someone didn’t listen properly.

Writing is a complex process, and, even after years of living on this planet, I haven’t fathomed everything yet about it. Just when I think I have things cracked, I notice something else about it. This week I tried something different with writing, but before I explain it, I think I need to discuss the thought processes that led to the idea.

In its simplest of forms: writing is the communication of ideas. It is the writing down of what a person thinks or feels or both. Of course, it can be something more meaningful and it can invoke emotion in others: and it can be, like, really really really pretty.  As English teachers, we can become a little bit obsessed in this ‘pretty’ writing. We even teacher students to write pretty. In fact, a lot of my marking involves making writing pretty. I could almost add ‘so it makes your writing look pretty’ to all my comments in exercise books.

 Write in paragraphs so your writing looks pretty.

Vary how you start your sentences so your writing looks pretty.

Use a range of punctuation marks so your writing looks pretty.

Like teenagers over a boy-band, we coo and sigh when we read pretty writing in books. Oooh. Ahhhh. Isn’t it pretty? Often English teachers enthuse passionately over how they love, adore, cherish a book and make comments that would sound stalkerish if they were attached to a human being. I’d die if I don’t read the next book. I could eat that book.  

 Admittedly, we all love pretty things. But, writing is complex. There is no point having pretty writing if it doesn’t fully make sense. We often, when teaching writing, focus on the pretty things, rather than focus on the communication aspect. Does this piece of writing communicate its ideas well? Or, has it used a range of punctuation marks? The two areas of pretty and communication are interwoven together and, honestly, cannot be separated as two entities, but I do feel we focus on the pretty stuff and neglect the communication aspect. We might get students to plan their writing. We might brainstorm ideas with them. We might ask them to read over their writing to make sure it makes sense. Unfortunately, I think that is the point at where we stop with the communication and then we wade into the ‘pretty’ territory. We get them to proofread things and we get them add bits, but I think that is all for the communication aspect. We show how other writers made their writing pretty. We give them lessons on ‘pimping up’ their writing.

 Over the years, I have done loads of self and peer assessments. And, usually, they are the equivalent of apple bobbing. Students dip in and out to correct a mistake. It is all about students searching for mistakes and errors. Again, it is about polishing something so it becomes pretty. This week I did something different and it was met with some success. Instead of getting students to read each other’s work, I got students to read their essays to their partner. The partner couldn’t see the writing or even mark it with a pen. Instead, they had to listen to the words. Listen to how ideas were conveyed in a piece of writing. When the listener heard something ‘rum’, they gently tapped them on the shoulder and explained what the problem was. I heard the following things in the discussions:

You are repeating points.

I don’t know what you mean by that.

You need to explain X further.

You use ‘however’ but this is another point from the same perspective.

You haven’t told the reader why this is bad.

I even joined a pair and listened to a student read her essay out. As a group, we commented on how her introduction didn’t really explain the direction she was going. We also reflected on how we kept hearing the words ‘animals’, ‘zoos’ and ‘caged’ all the time.  The Year 7 student as a result of this discussion noted these comments and worked on making it better. The advice given was probably more helpful than ‘check your spellings’. But, underwriting this whole approach is the communication of ideas. I am a bit woolly when getting students to check if a piece of writing is effective. It often gets bogged down with the ‘pretty’ things, and the translation of thought to writing is often forgotten. This was plain and simply about the communication of things. The ideas. The development of ideas. The reader’s understanding of ideas.

I am not suggesting that we stop proofreading. Far from it. I am suggesting that we need to look at the communication of ideas. We need to get students to communicate effectively and work on developing that communication. The focus on spelling, punctuation and grammar can neglect the ideas in the writing. Yes, spelling, punctuation and grammar help to express those ideas, but starting with dud ideas in the first place is not going to make a great piece of writing. Adding a few techniques and correcting a few spellings will not improve the whole text. Listening, rather than reading, could help students to see / hear where things need improving.

After all, students spend more of the day listening than reading and writing, so surely that skill is the strongest, yet we often refrain from using it to help students get better. It is always about getting them to read another person’s work? Not, listening to another person reading their work out.

Thanks for reading,

Xris