Some advice for the Comprehending Section…

First of all, revise your text conventions. Revise your SWAT codes and language conventions as these will form the basis of your responses.

STRUCTURE

Your FIRST sentence needs to be your THESIS statement. You won’t have time to write an introduction so you need to get to answering the question as quickly as possible. In this first sentence, you need to use the key words/terms of the question to frame your response to it.

Your SECOND sentence should begin analysing/engaging with the text. It should contain reference to HOW textual conventions (be they language conventions/visual conventions) work to frame a specific response from the reader/viewer.

The best approach after that is to show how further language/visual conventions work TOGETHER to maintain a consistent reading of the text in response to the question.

It should simply be an extended TEEEL paragraph.

You DO NOT need to write a conclusion or to re-state your ideas because you want your response to be as concise as possible.

So… in conclusion

Start with your THESIS statement. Use the KEY WORDS/TERMS from the question to help frame your argument.

Then an extended TEEL paragraph in which you try and demonstrate how several language/visual conventions have helped shape your reading of the text.

Please note the image above. This is the final three paragraphs of the article we looked at yesterday.

Some things to note about the ending:

• ‘Reflecting on this, I…’ helps the writer to signpost the transition from the main body of her think piece to a more reflective tone, signalling the transition towards the ending of her response. Think about using a discourse marker like this in your final paragraphs. You might, for example, use ‘Thinking about this…’ or ‘On reflection,…’
• The tone at the end of this think piece is intensely personal.
• Notice how the language in the final paragraphs purposely echoes the language of the headline and how this angry, furious tone is established in the opening paragraphs. The language here works both as a structural device and works as a language pattern.
• Note the rhetorical repetition of the adjective ‘furious’ in that second paragraph. Repetition is used here to reinforce the angry tone of the think piece. It also works to align the headline with the conclusion in terms of language.
• ‘Anger’ and ‘furious’ could be considered synonyms.
• ‘revenge on the racists’ uses alliteration to demonstrate a link between these two ideas. Works as a rhetorical device.
• Final sentence ends the think piece on a more positive tone and reveals her hopes for her own family. Intensely personal still.

The conclusion of your think piece needs to echo the tone you established in your headline and the opening couple of paragraphs. It also needs to reflect on the content of your think piece and summarise your own thoughts/perspectives.

Think about how you use:

• Emotive language
• Personal, inclusive language
• Rhetorical devices

to summarise your central issue/idea and how you ensure your own perspective(s) come through really clearly.

As ever, show me your work-in-progress for feedback.

Please note the above image. It is an annotated copy of a think piece we looked at last term.

Things to note:

• How the think piece combines the personal, the anecdotal with her wider consideration of the issue she’s writing about.
• How she shifts between the ‘I’ and the ‘we’.
• How she integrates her own research and the bigger picture with her own thoughts and perspectives.
• How the tone is conversational in places (she uses the word ‘kids’ for example) with a more formal point of view.
• How she uses language patterns and synonyms to establish and maintain a consistent perspective on her issue.
• The use of metaphors to give the response a distinctly sophisticated feel.
• How the language used reflects the tone set in the headline.

Please note the attached image. It’s a stylistic choices checklist of things I’d expect to see in the think pieces you will be writing over the next few weeks.

The assessment criteria for this assessment is also pretty clear; you cannot achieve over 50% if you don’t understand (and are able to control) the genre you are writing in.

So… please critically examine the think pieces we’ll look at it in class over the next week and apply this checklist to your reading of them.

So… when we’re planning our body paragraphs, we need to consider the following:

• That our topic sentences LOGICALLY EXTEND from the thesis statement constructed in your introduction.
• That our thesis statement AND topic sentences use the key words/terms from the question to help frame our argument.

You can see from the image about that the thesis statement uses the key terms from the question AND establishes a clear argument.

Above is sample body paragraph to Murderball. Here are my teaching and learning points:

• I’ve tried to use the key terms from the question in my topic sentence, as well as ensuring the topic sentence adds direction and focus.
• I wanted this topic sentence to logically extend from my thesis statement in a logical and explicit way.
• The second sentence engages with the ‘how’ of the question. This means that the body paragraph starts with an engagement with ALL of the key terms of the question.
• There is reference to relevant SWAT codes.
• The body paragraph references specific scenes rather than treating the characters more generally. There is evidence that the text has been analysed and engaged with, rather than merely described.
• The final sentence links back to the topic sentence and thesis statement, thereby trying to construct a cohesive and logical argument extending from the key terms of the question.

Therefore, what I’ve tried to do here is to describe a PROCESS more than anything else. It’s really important that you construct your ideas in tandem with the key terms of the question, but also an argument that is both logical and cohesive. The actual content of this example is largely secondary to the PROCESS.

Please note the sample introduction above. It was written as a response to the following question:

Consider how character construction has contributed to ideas in one studied text. 

Some teaching and learning points to note:

• The global sentence makes reference to the 2017 Me Too movement, therefore placing Murderball into a more contemporary context.
• You’ll also note that Murderball is underlined. This makes it clear to your examiner that you are writing about the text, not the referring to the original name for quad rugby.
• The global sentence uses a key word from the question- ‘construction’- as well as introducing a central idea- ‘masculinity’.
• Your examiner will expect to see you using the key terms from the question throughout your response.
• The second sentence gives information on date the text was released, the genre, who directed and and overview of plot.
• Next sentence refers to the central characters and how they are constructed. Note I’ve used that key term from the question again.
• I then refer to specific SWAT codes to show HOW they are constructed.
• Final sentence is my thesis which establishes the key ideas I’m going to construct my body paragraphs around.

Attached above is a suggested structure for your multimodal presentation.

Consider the following:

1. Decide on your theme. This will need to be phrased as a question as per the examples on the whiteboard screenshot.
2. Make sure that you establish a clear context for the film also. This will include: directors, date released, genre, plot/character overview… as you would do in a written extended response.
3. Explain your chosen theme in a bit more detail and give it a context.
4. Introduce your first clip from the film. These should be no longer than 30 seconds long.
5. Analyse the scene in detail. Include: SWAT codes, how the scene answers your question, how it establishes/develops your chosen scene.
6. Repeat for one or two more scenes. Make sure you refer to how an audience might respond to each scene and the development of your chosen theme.
7. Make sure that you talk about the structure of the text, how the theme evolves/develops.
8. Make sure you place your scenes in chronological order.
9. Conclusion. A summary of your findings/exploration of your chosen scene/how the chosen scenes work to establish and develop a specific theme.

It’s important to use words like:

Representation

Ideas

Values

Attitudes

We’ll work on these in class.

ClickView link to The Peanut Butter Falcon:

Please use these resources to guide your investigation into your chosen theme.

Camera Work – Terminology

Glossary of Film Terms

The-Peanut-Butter-Falcon-Script

Themes – Dialectic journal

The Peanut Butter Falcon – Theme Analysis

Peanut Butter Falcon Film Reviews

Film-Guide—The-Peanut-Butter-Falcon

Context

The modelled builds on the previous blog post, which has this narrative’s exposition. You may remember that the narrative begins with the central character navigating a climbing wall. The modelled example also assumes that there has been further context added (previously) to the narrative and the tension has been building deliberately to this point.

What I’ve tried to model here is:

• How we can use short sentences to build tension. You’ll note there are three short sentences placed side-by-side to indicate that the tension is really high at this point in the narrative.
• There’s also some repetition in those short sentences for emphasis. This is deliberate to signpost to the reader that this bit of the narrative is particularly important.
• The verb ‘haul’ is an interesting one. It suggests fatigue (that the person climbing the wall is tired) and also the great effort involved in climbing the wall. So, this verb is actually working on multiple levels. Again, this was deliberate to show the reader several things at the same time. In your own narratives, you need to deliberate in your language choices to signpost important things to your reader.
• ‘Unravelling’ was another conscious language choice. Here, I wanted it to show how the central character’s climbing equipment was literally unraveling, but also that he might be mentally unravelling too as his fear kicks in.
• I suggest how tightly the harness should fit, as this is a reference to the exposition of the narrative. I’m showing you here how to make sure your narrative is cohesive. You CAN return to some of the imagery of your exposition throughout your narrative to give your story cohesion. This is a good thing.

The resolution of this narrative has been modelled above. A few things to note:

• ‘Grab’ as a verb suggests desperation and fear.
• There is an opportunity for some further detail on setting.
• The narrative ends when the central character reaches the ground. There’s no need to add any further detail as that is the natural conclusion. We don’t need to see how he shakily slipped off the frayed harness and hobbled to his car to go home; that’s incidental.

The narrative COULD end on a cliffhanger with the central character left dangling in the air. In suspended animation. This would work equally as well. Equally, he could think that he’s safe and then falls the final 10ft or so… the twist in the tale. The point here is that you have to make a judgement on how your narrative ends, whether this fits stylistically with the rest of the narrative. Just make sure that your resolution is as efficient as possible.

This question and image were taken from a previous Year 11  ETAWA Semester examination.

Before we look at the modelled examples, let’s remind ourselves what at EXPOSITION looks like.

An EXPOSITION is the bit at the START of your narrative that:

• establishes setting
• introduces character
• establishes tone
• gives a context for the narrative
• establishes narrative point of view
• includes some action to ensure the narrative begins efficiently.

Here are TWO expositions to the same image:

This one is quite lighthearted, deliberately melodramatic and uses hyperbole to create a more ironic sense of trepidation.

This one is more conventional in the ways in which it constructs the fear of the person about to scale the climbing wall. Note the language patterns here which help to construct a sense of fear, of reluctance and general nervousness.

What BOTH examples have in common is this:

• Note how both examples SHOW the reader the emotions of the subject rather than TELLING the reader these things. Effective writers SHOW the reader rather than signposting these things in an overly obvious manner.
• Setting is clearly established.
• Character is introduced.
• Verbs and adverbs are used extensively to construct the tone of the exposition.
• A context is given for the action.
• The action begins when the action begins. There is no getting ready, getting dressed, getting to the venue… you don’t have time in your examination to do this.

So… when you write your own expositions, be as efficient as possible. Get straight to the heart of the action, use language to create a distinct tone and engage your reader in the setting, context for your narrative.