tuhi mo nga meka
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity.”
—Amelia Earhart
te ao Māori principles
There are key principals that we, as an English Department, consider important as part of a holistic study at school.
- Mana – The prestige and authority of the writer. Writers can build mana through impactful stories that uplift readers.
- Whanaungatanga – The connections and relationships between characters, writers, and readers. Literature brings people together.
- Kaitiakitanga – Guardianship and protection of stories, language, and knowledge. Writers have a duty to share stories responsibly.
- Wairuatanga – The spirituality and deeper meanings conveyed through literature. Stories can be profound and moving.
- Mauri – The essential life force or vitality of the writer coming through in their work. Writing with purpose and energy.
- Aroha – The empathy, compassion, and love writers show through their words. Literature builds understanding between people.
- Tikanga – The customs, protocols and values upheld through storytelling. Writers adhere to cultural principles.
Key Terms
| Structural | relating to the arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of a complex whole. |
| Study | a detailed investigation and analysis of a subject or situation. |
| Macro | large-scale; overall. |
| Analysis | detailed examination of the elements or structure of something. |
| Characterisation | the creation or construction of a character. |
| Symbolism | the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. |
| Organisation | the action of organising something. |
| Form | a particular way in which a thing exists or appears. |
| Language | the style of a piece of writing or speech. |
| Connotation | an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning. |
| Conventions | a way in which something is usually done. |
| Audience | the people giving attention to something. |
| Purpose | the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. |
| Tone | the general character or attitude of a place, piece of writing, situation, etc. |
| Plot | the main events of a play, novel, film, or similar work, devised and presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence. |
| Subplot | a subordinate plot in a play, novel, or similar work. |
| Narrative | a spoken or written account of connected events; a story. |
| Construction | the creation of an abstract entity. |
| Perspective | a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something; a point of view. |
Learning Objectives
- To begin writing practice responses to the text.
- To recognise the elements of literary essay construction in timed environments.
- To use planning models to assist in writing cohesively.
Exercises
Spelling
| complex | simple | impulsive | cautious | selfish |
| altruistic | pessimist | optimist | objective | subjective |
| introvert | extravert | rational | irrational | concrete |
| abstract | harmonious | discordant | chaotic | orderly |
Summary Builder
Below is a piece of writing that you should attempt to summarise into around 100 words.
The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
As artificial intelligence (AI) systems become more integrated into our lives, we must grapple with significant ethical challenges. While AI promises immense benefits, from personalized healthcare to autonomous vehicles, we must ensure these technologies respect principles of fairness, accountability, transparency, and human dignity.
One major concern is algorithmic bias. As machine learning algorithms draw insights from existing data, they can perpetuate or exacerbate embedded societal biases around race, gender, or class. Ensuring diverse data inputs and oversight is crucial to avoid unfair outcomes.
Data privacy is another key issue. The massive troves of consumer data used to train AI could enable surveillance if not properly anonymized and protected. Establishing clear regulations on data collection practices is critical.
Even without biases or privacy breaches, the opacity of some AI systems makes accountability difficult. Users should reasonably expect explanations for algorithmic decisions, especially in areas like insurance and employment.
More broadly, the risks posed by advanced AI potentially gaining autonomy beyond human control remain hotly debated. Thought leaders urge precaution in developing highly capable AI tied to human values.
As machine learning spreads into finance, law, transportation, medicine, and beyond, we must proactively address these ethical dilemmas. Doing so will ensure AI technologies reflect the philosophical commitments of our societies, not just capabilities of our computers.
Writing About Non-Fiction
tuhi mo nga meka
And so we are writing an essay response to a question.
Essay writing requires a lot of practice. You will need to ensure you spend time writing, and rewriting your academic response. The same way that you would for a piece of creative writing.
Many Components, One Argument.
All essays are arguments. They require you to be convincing that what you are saying is accurate and focused. If the question asks for the reasons a character does certain things, then your answer, with your reason must be presented as the most logical, or more researched reason. You need to convince the marker that what you’re saying is accurate.
You need to have many things automated to help you with your essay writing
- spelling and grammar
- structure of essays
- academic vocabulary
- knowledge of the text
- understanding of how genre works
- an answer to the question
There is only one way to get better at these things – practice. Like a swimmer needs to get into the pool and swim, so too you need to put pen to paper and write.
Consider the following question
There are a few challenges in this question. Let’s go through the planning process together.
- What are the key words that must be included in the answer?
- Conflict – this is the key one
- Characterisation
- Plot
- What are the things I need to establish within those words?
- Conflict: Internal vs external / context / content
- Characterisation: Types of character (foil, round vs flat), Hero’s Journey, Arc, Methods of characterisation (especially relationships)
- Plot: Narrative perspective, structure, sub plots?
- Remember to include the keys? (these should be pretty automatic)
- Key events
- Key people and relationships
- Key settings
- Key quotes
Start writing your topic statements for the body paragraphs. It is important to do this first to ensure you are keeping your response on track.
Read these two topic statements and discuss if they are effective in answering the question (provided again)
Despite not reading The Diary of Anne Frank, can you identify which two topic statements would work well?
- The Diary of Anne Frank shows how conflict can impact characters and plot.
- There are many different types of conflicts in The Diary of Anne Frank.
- Anne Frank’s diary demonstrates the immense historical impact of WWII on Jewish families in Amsterdam through intricately crafted characterisations and plot developments over the course of two years spent hidden in an annex.
- The increasing level of conflict from the Nazi persecution and Anne’s confinement in the secret annex profoundly impacts her on a personal level, affecting her growth from a young, irreverent girl to a reflective and insightful writer documenting a traumatic historical period.
- The interpersonal conflicts between the annex residents reveals facets of individual personalities under duress and fuels subplots that diversify the narrative arc.
- Anne’s conflict with her mother rips apart their relationship, leading to bitter arguments that reveal the dysfunction beneath their surface interactions.
- Living in cramped quarters for two years created constant bickering between characters, shaping their depictions through moments of stress.
- Anne’s changing outlook toward Peter chart her maturation while creating a romantic subplot.
- Mr. Dussel’s arrival introduces comedic conflicts that lighten the tone.
- Anne’s inner turmoil about her identity and restricted adolescence acts as the core internal conflict that drives her reflections.
- The evalution of Anne’s writing over time shows her creativity and introspection blossoming amidst oppression.
- Shifting power dynamics between the annex residents generates tensions that influence plot events and character behaviours.
Which two would you choose? Why?
Can you improve on these?
Exercises
Using your text, create the topic sentences for the above questions.
Now consider some of the explanations that you need to provide. It is important to give some context to these examples (note that context means two scales: on a whole text scale, is about where things are happening in the world, the time frame – all those things; but also, context is required on a micro scale where each quote you give within a body paragraph needs to have its own set of explanation)
In writing the piece of Anne Frank, it would be important to think about some of the following concepts.
- Anne’s changing views on romance and maturity could be evidenced through paraphrasing her early dismissals of love versus later passages where she longs for intimacy and describes new feelings for Peter.
- Her complex relationship with her mother and its arc over time could be demonstrated by describing disagreements between them that reveal the hidden dysfunction beneath their interactions.
- Passages where Anne discusses her aims with writing the diary itself could be summarised to analyze her introspection and how documentation develops her self-determination.
- Moments that reveal interpersonal tensions arising from confined living conditions could be generally depicted to show how these daily conflicts further developed characterizations.
Marking Your Work
Getting to know what, exactly, you will be marked on is an important part of your English journey. Learn about the mark scheme that all teachers use to mark your work. Be careful of the specific words that are used because they really do make a difference.
Each mark scheme is split into different mark ranges (or bands) and they give you an idea of what descriptors you are aiming at. Descriptors, like the root word describe, give you the key things that are expected within that band of marks.
Examiners can only mark what you write, not what you know. It’s important that you include more detail if you feel it necessary to aid in the understanding of the response. This is the reason why the GST techniques are so important. If you don’t use techniques like ‘subjective point of view’ – so long as it fits within your analysis – then the marker does not know that you understand that. Similarly, in genres like the supplementary texts, e.g. articles, using language like ‘the headline‘ or ‘the caption’ or ‘using the inverted pyramid’ helps the marker because it is clear that you understand the genre. This is especially the case when you are being marked by someone outside of your school – like NCEA and CIE.
Ko te reo te tuakiri | Language is my identity.
Ko te reo tōku ahurei | Language is my uniqueness.
Ko te reo te ora. | Language is life.