English advice please!

[upandgo]

hi guys!

for english next year (2016) my teacher said she really dislikes creative/imaginative responses. i absolutely love english and especially writing in creative format, and received near-perfect SAC results in some pieces i wrote this year.

i'm scared my teacher will give me a low score if i submitted an imaginative piece (since she hates it), should i avoid it altogether or do it anyway? 

[keltingmeith]

Find out how your school marks SACs.

If it's a case of two markers, do imaginative. I cannot IMAGINE my English exam without my creative context, so I really understand your issue. :S

Unfortunately, if your teacher is the only marker, you might have an issue. If this is the case, talk to her and find out why she hates it - she might be okay with you doing one. I had a Jap teacher who hated the creative response because it was hard to do - but when one student showed she could do it, that teacher was okay with her doing it again. Maybe the same will happen for you?

In fact, talk to her about it in both situations. Talking is generally a good thing to do.

[upandgo]

i'll definitely do that, thanks!

she told us that the past responses she'd read put her to sleep haha. but i'll definitely email her or something and talk to her about it 

[vor0005]

If I were you then I'd do expository/persuasive on your SACs, and then, if you're still really keen, do a creative piece on the exam. It's not worth risking a poor mark on the SACs (unless you have a strong distaste for forms of writing other than creative).

In general, though, I'd avoid creative pieces. The prompt (in context) tends to work worse for these pieces because you're unable to explicitly state your stance on the prompt - you can only show it through the voice of your characters. Examiners can and will mark you down if the link between your creative piece and the prompt isn't palpable.

Best of luck with your decision

[Splash-Tackle-Flail]

Another thing to keep in mind is that the VCAA defined 'expository', 'imaginative', and 'persuasive' aren't clear-cut extremes that we must choose from. Of course for SACs your teacher's words are gospel, but talk to her about it too. You could consider a hybrid, or a blend- really you can write anything as long as it ticks the boxes (as abc said relevant to prompt + text/film, with cool ideas, and engaging writing). From what I've heard from assessors, they really dig entertaining, engaging responses, and it's often those that stand out from the cliche expository discussion of ideas and examples that show these ideas that score the nines and tens. In my opinion, writing creatively (there are more means to write creatively than a short story) comes with an inherent risk, but if it's something you really enjoy, and are good at, it can really pay off, both in personal passion for writing, and in the enjoyment of the assessor. I think there was a really good creative response in one of the examiner's reports (for conflict iirc), I just can't remember which year :/

If you're teacher was similar to mine, I'll assume she's wary of creative pieces because the majority of them are done really really badly, as you effectively have to 'show' the ideas of your context, rather than explicitly expose them. Have you shown her one of your creative responses (if not perhaps do so in a practice sac)?

[tashhhaaa]

As mundane as it sounds, stick to your teacher's specifications if they tend to be biased or if there isn't any cross marking.

You're playing the SAC game now and you need to give yourself the best chance of getting the highest ranking you can feasibly obtain. If you want to write something else on the exam by all means do it

Like Splash-Tackle-Flail said, your teacher probably doesn't want you to produce one of those cliched creatives that everyone does (for example, one of my teachers said she hated creatives about bullying because they were all "horrible")

[ST0123]

Hi Upandgo,

Sorry to bump up this post, however I think that you're question is relevant to most students when it comes to context. Most teachers tell their students to stay away from creative context pieces as when done incorrectly, they don't address the prompt with depth and show a student's knowledge as much as an expository essay with references to art and history may. As long as your pieces are an exploration and not an example for or against the prompt, you should be okay. However, if you want to do creative, you can still do it by writing expository in a creative way (i.e. not writing a straight essay). You can take personas and write reflective pieces, news articles and speeches (check out Leunig's essays if you have the time). I think your teacher may be more encouraging/welcoming of this approach to context and both of you could be happy.

All the best for 2016,
ST0123

[KEAEducation]

Hey there!

Creative is absolutely the way if you're confident in it. Most teachers are adverse to the idea of students doing creative contexts because more students to creative pieces as a cop out or because their lazy and can't think of anything else. In other words, creative context is often times done poorly not because teachers mark it harshly but because the quality is simply not there.
However, if you are confident in your ability to express yourself in a creative way, you should definitely stick to your guns. You should also make sure you are in open communication with your teacher and work through whatever issues or concerns they may have about creative pieces. If they see, however, that you have a flair for creative writing and that you could produce a high-quality piece writing in this medium, they should not discourage you from doing it. It is important that you learn from your teacher what they are expecting and how they want you to approach it.

Remember, English is about expression!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb4dSuBcoZk