The second last post

Revision!

We went over the some of the main things to remember about Close Reading, from a little crib sheet made up by one of my colleagues. Email me if you want this (though it doesn’t have anything new; it’s just a handy reminder, to be propped up against the Corn Flake packet on the morning of the exam).

We also discussed the suitability for our texts of various exam-type questions made up by another of my colleagues, and I suggested that you should have a go at one or two and email them to me by Monday at the latest, to give me a chance to mark them.

We looked at, and tried to assess, another couple of the Critical Essay workshop essays for which the SQA supplied answers. Again, we were not too stunned by their brilliance and therefore encouraged to feel we could all do at least as well.

Finally, we looked at student answers from the 2005 Close Reading workshop and considered the marks awarded.

Next week, as I said last week, I’ll be there and will be happy to do any revision/marking/advice on demand.

Meanwhile, revise your texts! Learn quotes! Despite the evidence from the SQA workshop, I’d still recommend trying to get at least 5 relevant quotations into each essay (many more for essays on poetry) – so this means learning 10 for each of the play and the novel, since the relevance will depend on the question.

Feel free to email me if you have any problems with which you feel I could help: pdonaldson@stevenson.ac.uk

Vitamins and revision

Nothing interesting is going to happen from now on, I’m afraid, people!

This week we went over in some detail the answers to the 2008 Close Reading and I gave you out the workshop materials for the 2005 one, together with students’ answers (unmarked). We looked at the question on both passages and considered if any of them strayed from the “2 marks for turning up and writing something” rule. Please take on the mantle of a marker and grade the various attempts at the other questions for next week!

Also consider doing some critical (literature) essays – and do them within 45 minutes!

We also considered the language on the label of Allyson’s Vitamin Water bottle. Remember to practise your analytical skills as you live your life between now and May 15. Read adverts, labels, leaflets, newspaper articles – anything – and look at the sentence structure, word choice and so on.

Next week we shall be loking at some actual students' essays and the marks awarded to them by the SQA, and then doing a timed essays on literature. So come prepared! No more spoon-feeding…

However, the class doesn’t start till 7.15 because some people have to do reassessments. Do some revision….

Happy Easter

Sorry that this is rather a late post.

In our most recent class, we mainly looked at two pieces of writing: one on garden birds and one on Wikipedia. The first was humorous and the second more serious; but both used sentence structure, word choice, imagery etc. Do pause in your reading over the next weeks and ask yourself the sorts of questions that the SQA does – just to give yourself confidence that you do, indeed, know how the question setters will have been thinking.

Homework is the 2008 Close Reading, passage 2. But as well as that, you must revise – look at the Language Skills book if you’re at all uncertain about Close Reading, but also re-read the novel and the play and learn – well, I’d suggest four poems, ideally, off by heart and memorise what there is to say about them. Do also read my notes on the novel and the play and look up the internet – you’ll find lots of other things there, for inspiration and reassurance. Learn quotes: 10 per novel, 10 per play and lots and lots for the poems (which is why it’s easier to learn them off by heart, in my opinion).

Write some literature essays - you choose questions from the past papers and try to write answers in forty-five minutes. It's no good doing a wonderful essay in two hours... I'll happily mark anything you do.

See you on the 21st. Have a good Easter.