Hey, everyone! I wrote a massive breakdown of the new Common Module for Extension 1 English and wanted to share it in this thread for general viewing ;D I also have a colour-coded copy of it available in the AN Notes section which can be accessed here!
English Extension 1 is one of the more, shall I say, enigmatic courses in the HSC. Although only being a single unit subject, the reality is that English Extension 1 can be challenge. My solution is to make what may seem complex and difficult to understand in one reading simpler with definitions and narrowed objectives to effectively navigate the demands of the course.
English Extension 1 Common Module: Literary Worlds
Common Module Rubric
"In this module students explore, investigate, experiment with and evaluate the ways texts represent and illuminate the complexity of individual and collective lives in literary worlds. Students evaluate how ideas and ways of thinking are shaped by personal, social, historical and cultural contexts. They extend their understanding of the ways that texts contribute to their awareness of the diversity of ideas, attitudes and perspectives evident in texts.
Students explore, analyse and critically evaluate textual representations of the experiences of others, including notions of identity, voice and points of view; and how values are presented and reflected in texts. They deepen their understanding of how texts construct private, public and imaginary worlds that can explore new horizons and offer new insights. Students consider how personal, social, historical and cultural context influence how texts are valued and how context influences their responses to these diverse literary worlds. They appraise their own values, assumptions and dispositions as they develop further understanding of how texts make meaning.
In their study of literary worlds, students experiment with critical and creative compositions that explore how language features and forms are crafted to express complex ideas and emotions, motivations, attitudes, experiences and values. These compositions may be realised in various forms, modes and media. Each elective in this module involves the study of three texts from the prescribed list, with at least two being print texts. Students explore, analyse and critically evaluate a range of other texts that construct private, public and imaginary worlds."
The Rubric Elements Simplified
The focus for the common module is on the notion of literary worlds; environments, places, surroundings and locations constitute towards, or even reflect, the human experience, as portrayed in texts. Literary worlds will have different aspects that define them and influence how the individuals, groups and societies inhabiting will choose to interact. When we simplify the key rubric elements I have identified, three distinct areas emerge.
Literary forms and features
● Construction- the arrangement of literary forms and features, such as language, to create/produce a text.
○ Views at textual composition; literary forms and features are to be considered when examining the text type and how its features (techniques) are utilised.
● Intention- an aim, purpose and/or objective.
○ Composers are deliberate creators and consciously choose to project their intentions into the media.
● Context- the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood.
○ Influences of the composer’s personal, social, historical and cultural contexts on how language/visual media is constructed.
Meanings and ideas
● Personal- belonging to or affecting a particular person.
● Private- involving only a particular person or group, and often dealing with matters that are not to be disclosed to others.
○ Literary worlds being personal/private; worlds inherently have impact on individuals and their values, behaviours and attitudes.
○ Do the perspectives of characters or voices in the text reveal valuable, subjective responses?
● Collective- relating to or shared by all the members of a group.
● Public- of or concerning the people as a whole; open to or shared by all the people of an area or country.
○ Literary worlds being collective/public; worlds are vehicles for collective experiences and formulate central beliefs, values, norms and expectations for groups or society.
○ Do these centralised constructs give meaning and purpose?
○ Are the worlds tolerant of disruptions to order in the forms of change, deviance or dissent? Why or why not?
● Imaginary- existing only in the imagination.
○ Literary worlds being imaginary; worlds can offer hypotheticals or speculations on what exists beyond our own.
○ Are these worlds entirely foreign or are there aspects that are familiar in the immediate world of the composer or the audience’s contemporary world?
● Complexity- the state or quality of being intricate or complicated.
○ Ideas, emotions, motivations, attitudes, experiences and values are multifaceted; there is more gray space than black and white.
○ What difficulties arise in these worlds and how do they impact the human experience?
○ Does having complexity create depth and breadth to meanings and ideas being explored?
Reception from audiences
● Explore/investigate- plan, inquire into and draw conclusions about.
○ What are your independent interpretations of the texts?
○ Did these interpretations align with your own values, assumptions and dispositions?
○ Have they been reconfigured and/or enhanced during your study of literary worlds as a construct?
● Analyse- identify components and the relationship between them; draw out and relate implications.
○ Scrutinising texts to extract meanings.
● Experiment- to try out new ideas or methods.
○ Personal compositions (of both critical and creative natures) can allow you to demonstrate how you have been inspired by these worlds and motivated to construct your own.
○ Stimulating own literary worlds that may experiment with conventions for the chosen form.
● Evaluate- make a judgement based on criteria.
○ How successful have the composers been in creating these worlds?
○ Are these worlds valuable and important? Why?
○ In criticising the text, what can you appreciate from it?
Elective 2: Worlds of Upheaval
The literary worlds which are explored in the electives are all intended to be approached solely from the aspects specified in their titles. For this particular resource, I have deconstructed Worlds of Upheaval.
Elective 2 Rubric
In this elective, students explore and evaluate textual representations of the experiences of individuals and communities seeking unity, certainty, solace, justice or restoration in periods of significant social and political change and upheaval. They analyse how texts represent the predicaments, aspirations, motivations and ideas of individuals and groups in periods of upheaval and reflect on the potential of texts to activate change in attitudes, perspectives and social circumstances. Students consider how texts representing worlds of social and political change may challenge literary conventions and traditional societal values. They critically evaluate how texts represent shifting values, contexts and attitudes, and reconsider their own values and assumptions in relation to these representations. In their responding and composing, they explore, analyse, experiment with and critically evaluate their prescribed texts and other appropriate texts. They write their own imaginative compositions that represent the relationship between the individual and society in times of upheaval. In this elective, students are required to study at least three of the prescribed texts (including at least two extended print texts) as well as other texts of their own choosing. At least two related texts must be studied. Texts can be drawn from a range of times, contexts and media and should explore the individual and society in times of upheaval.
The Rubric Elements Simplified
Literary worlds facing upheaval are represented to suggest the permeating influences of social and political change in regards to standards of living, norms, values, expectations and engagement across different individuals or groups.
The notion of upheaval is significant to this elective. These worlds explored are assumed to have been created by composers to show dramatic or revolutionary change in the social and political spheres of life. They may be worlds on the cusps of, presently experiencing and/or products of upheaval. It is important to remember that the literary worlds you study, including for your selection of related texts, are informed by upheaval.
Literary forms and features
● Representations- the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.
○ Personalities, events, situations or abstract concepts and how they are framed in the texts to deliver perspective and meaning.
○ Significant social or political change representation encouraged to be viewed as progressive or critiqued as the contrary by composers.
● Literary conventions- commonly used devices or aspects of a certain kind of work.
○ Conventions of the form are employed to communicate and generate ideas, allowing the text to be distinguished as a cohesive whole with a form easily identifiable.
○ These conventions may be challenged with inventive writing and new methods of communication.
○ Challenging conventions may reflect the challenges and upheaval of the literary world constructed within the text.
● Context- the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood.
○ Influences of the composer’s personal, social, historical and cultural contexts on the construction of the literary world.
○ Are aspects of the composer’s immediate context represented, reflected or constructed within the text or does the context simply provide background to what the literary world speculates or predicts?
Meanings and ideas
● Rectification- the action of putting something right; correction.
○ Natural inclination of worlds to seek rectification during periods of upheaval.
○ Unity- the state of being united or joined as a whole.
○ Certainty- the quality of being reliably true.
○ Solace- comfort or consolation in a time of great distress or sadness.
○ Justice- just behaviour or treatment.
○ Restoration- the action of returning something to a former owner, place, or condition.
● Interactions- reciprocal actions or influences.
○ Social- relating to society or its organisation.
○ Political- relating to the government or public affairs of a country.
● Change- the alteration or modification of elements in a society.
○ Upheaval resulting in an alteration to aspects such as culture, politics and the economy of a society.
● Upheaval- a violent or sudden change or disruption to something.
○ Immediate effects of change are realised when there is an element of unexpectedness and aggression.
○ The disruption to order may be invited or rejected by different groups.
○ Does upheaval impact all members of society equally?
● Predicaments- a difficult, unpleasant, or embarrassing situation.
○ What challenges arise within periods of upheaval and why may it be difficult, unpleasant or embarrassing?
○ Are all aspects of upheaval successfully resolved?
○ Which groups benefit from change? Contrastingly, which groups are negatively affected?
● Aspirations- a hope or ambition of achieving something.
○ Aspirations as inherent to the social and political processes of change.
○ What are the aims of those conducting upheaval?
○ What are the aims of those resisting it?
○ How do hope and ambition drive these aspirations?
● Motivations- a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.
○ Identifying motivations can generate empathy and understanding from audiences.
○ Are these motivations central to the individuals or groups from the start or are they developed over the course of the text?
○ How do these motivations function within periods of upheaval?
● Attitudes- a settled way of thinking or feeling about something.
● Perspectives- a particular attitude towards or way if regarding something; a point of view.
● Social circumstances- a set of concepts that results from or is influenced by criteria or activities associated with the social environment of a person.
○ Can social circumstances that inevitably affect society give purpose to individuals and groups? Can these periods also appear futile for others?
● Shifting- changing, especially unpredictably.
○ What are the causes of these shifts?
○ What are the reactions to these changes from individuals and groups? Do they differ?
○ If changes were predictable, would they have the same degree of impact?
● Values- principles or standards of behavior; one’s judgement of what is important in life.
○ Do periods of upheaval reaffirm values or demand a revision in them?
Reception from audiences
● Explore/investigate- plan, inquire into and draw conclusions about.
○ What are your independent interpretations of the texts?
○ Did these interpretations align with your own social or political values and standpoints? Have they challenged them or heightened them?
○ Have these interpretations been reconfigured and/or enhanced during your study of worlds of upheaval as a construct?
● Analyse- identify components and the relationship between them; draw out and relate implications.
○ Scrutinising texts to extract meanings.
○ Analysis from a socio-political lens in order to draw implications from the text.
● Experiment- to try out new ideas or methods.
○ Personal compositions (of both critical and creative natures) can allow you to demonstrate how you have been inspired by these worlds and motivated to construct your own world facing upheaval.
○ Experimentation with literary conventions, inspired by the prescribed and related texts, to represent social and political situations.
○ Testing new ways of writing to represent personal, social and imaginative struggles, hardship, determination and perseverance in times of upheaval.
● Reconsider- consider (something) again, especially for a possible change of decision regarding it.
○ What assumptions did you have prior to the text on periods of upheaval?
○ Have they been revised or altered?
○ What new insights have you been offered in the text and have you reconsidered your own insights as a result?
● Evaluate- make a judgement based on criteria.
○ How successful have the composers been in creating these social and political worlds?
○ Are these worlds valuable and important? Why?
○ In criticising the text, what can you appreciate from it?
○ Have they activated changes? Consider both from a large scale in society or on a smaller scale with changes in thought from you as an audience member.
○ Has there been controversy generated from your text? What judgements can you make on the text in light of it?
These areas can guide your investigation and study in a way that is distinct and comprehensive. I hope this introduction was helpful and wish you all the best with your exploration of literary worlds this year. Happy writing!