Get Curious
English I
In which we study my favourite part of our language: voice, and also take a look at some ways that writing is restrictive, and why.
As we meet for the first time in English class, we also make the acquaintance of young Christopher Boone. In his unique voice, and in his unique way, he lets us into his own unique world. Or is it? Unique…?
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon is a compelling tale of mystery, deception, fear, love, and being different, yet the same. This will be our first joint book to study. Enjoy!
Assignment overview:
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Read a minimum of 30 pages per week.
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Make at least one entry per week in your Reading Journal.
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By the end of part 1 you are expected to be finished with
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your reading
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most of the questions (you may choose any 10 to skip).
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We are going to be working with how to comment on a text. Your first tasks will be centred around the book you have read, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.We will discuss how to write a commentary, practise writing one together, and finally you will have a chance show that you can produce one on your own.
Sparknotes can be of help if you want some more input on the text. Just be sure to use this resource properly! Never go here first! Decide what you think before reading about the opinions of others, or it will be a copying rather than a learning experience.
Now also adapted for the stage! Find out more about that and some other adaptation ideas from these videos:
Part 1 of this module is centred around the book The Curious Incidient of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. We wil spend time in class reading and discussing it, and you will, be required to do some reading at home. You will keep a reading journal, and will end this work by writing a commentary in exam conditions. You will also have some study questions to complete.
Part 2, which runs parallel to part 1, is called "Types of Text", and touches on various ways written texts follow set formats, and how this affects how we write, read and understand them. You will study 3 types of text to begin with - poems, news articles and diaries/blogs - and produce your own, based on a centre story of your choice.
Text types for this module:
The poem
The news article
The diary/blog
This module asks you to select a moment in your life to use as the basis for a set of texts. The smaller, or rather, shorter in time the moment is, the easier it will be to write really good texts about. This is because it will force you to write more in-depth, exploring the moment using as many senses as possible, and finding layers to the experience, rather than running through a longer chain of events.