Craft of Writing Module Notes

Module Overview

  • Duration: Term 4 '18 - Term 2 '19, 1 lesson per week
  • Purpose: To enhance students' writing abilities, focusing on varied audiences and purposes.

Module Description/Rubric

  • Objective: Strengthen skills and confidence as proficient writers.
  • Activities:
    • Writing for diverse audiences using language for clarity and emotional impact.
    • Examine and analyze at least two short texts and other self-selected readings.
    • Engage with texts to evaluate how writers creatively employ language for various purposes (e.g., expressing insights, evoking emotions, natural descriptions).
    • Reflect on the recursive nature of writing and develop self-expression through quality texts.

Writing Process

  • Pre-Writing Stage:
    • Generate concepts through discussion and speculation.
  • Drafting and Revising:
    • Experiment with devices like:
    • Figurative Language: allusion, imagery.
    • Rhetorical Devices: narrative voice, characterization, tone.
  • Editing:
    • Ensure conventions of syntax, spelling, punctuation, and grammar are applied correctly.
  • Collaboration: Opportunities for independent and group reflections to refine writing skills.

Focus Areas of the Module

  • Reading and Writing Practices:
    • Establish a broad and creative approach.
    • Move beyond narrow definitions of imaginative writing.
    • Develop personal self-expression skills.
  • Types of Writing Explored:
    • Imaginative, discursive, persuasive, informative, and reflective.
    • Experimentation with form and style throughout the writing process.

Examination Criteria

  • Assessment Focus:
    • Crafting language that meets question demands.
    • Use of appropriate language for audience, purpose, context.
    • Demonstrating deliberate crafting, often requiring justification or explanation of choices.

Sample Exam Questions

  • Structure: Mostly two-part questions, synthesizing different instructions:
    • Require referencing a quotation or using an extract.
    • Include analyzing mood through language devices.
    • Invite choices in writing forms (imaginative, persuasive, etc.).
  • Expectations:
    • Connect responses to prescribed text modules (A, B, or C).

Student Goals

  • Development of writing skills through:
    1. Study of prescribed texts.
    2. Extensive reading beyond the curriculum.
    3. Revisiting previous module texts.
    4. Experimentation with language devices.
    5. Writing in varied forms.
    6. Adherence to a structured writing process.

Key Texts for Study

  • Text 1: "What Time Is It Now, Where You Are?" by Colum McCann
    • Summary: Chronicles a marine's New Year's Eve phone call. Highlights the intricacies of storytelling and character decisions.
    • Scope for Study: Focus on metatextuality and third-person narrative.
  • Text 2: "Spotty-Handed Villainesses" by Margaret Atwood
    • Summary: Discusses the creation of novels from a feminist perspective, addressing character diversity and roles.
    • Scope for Study: Examines themes like the 'Angel/Whore' dichotomy, encourages deconstruction of idioms, and contrasts characters like Ophelia and Lady Macbeth.