Hello!
Unfortunately, the internet in all of its diversity fails to deliver rich discussion about students' experiences of the English Extension 2 course, yet it will deliver a looped video of Nyan Cat flying through pixellated space. This is just the beginning of various resources that we will pump out for this course in the hopes that we can have a discussion as one big English family. I've spoken to some 2015 and prior English Extension 2 students and asked for their opinions and advice for the course. To surmise all of that, I've got a list of the five most common and detrimental mistakes that you as an Extension 2 English student can avoid.1. Not using your journal to your advantage.Although the journal is ultimately a stand against plagiarism and sometimes just a pain to deal with, it is the clearest way to organise your thoughts. You have the option to write an electronic journal or keep it hard copy. The advantage of an electronic journal is that it is always with you and easy to access. The beauty of a hard copy journal is that you can glue resources in and draw wild crazy sketches and plans. Here is an example of JK Rowling’s plot spreadsheet that she wrote for The Order of the Phoenix:
Use this space to glue in essays, images, facts, to draw up character profiles, to write reflections and to keep copies of your drafts as they receive feedback. I wrote a creative story set in 1952. In my journal, I had images on 1950’s hairstyles, BBQs, recipes, aprons, cars, vacuum cleaner advertisements and televisions. Each was annotated with my own descriptions to build up a vocabulary bank but also each was analysed about its appropriateness for the story I had brewing. I had information on the most common baby names in the 1930s (my characters were in their 20s), the most common surnames, the growing phase of dinner parties and the changing sitting room: the one with a television. This is just context! I had ten progressive drafts glued into my journal with teacher feed back, I had periodical reflections (all dated!) and constant updates on my forever evolving concept. You can’t put too much in your journal, in fact, arguably you can never put enough. I went through two books with pages absolutely full. Make sure you cannot be identified by your journal for submission reasons - make sure your name, school and phone number are removed from the front before it comes to crunch time!
Some teachers recommend that the journal be kept minimal so that if you are pulled up for suspected plagiarism, BOSTES can clearly see your process of concept, reflection and sources. There is merit to this and if you agree, have two journals. You absolutely cannot hold back from research and keeping it all documented makes your life easier when it comes to writing the reflection statement. You should also definitely avoid drawing or scribbling things in your journal that are unrelated to your major work or don’t assist the creative process. BOSTES suggests against that
here in the Journal fact sheet.
2. Not researching into form.I wrote a short story for my Major Work. I felt like it was easy enough to do without a lot of thought into the form because I’d been writing short stories for high school English for years. I knew I was skilled in writing - that is why I chose Extension 2 English - did I really need to research into form? My teacher told me that if I didn’t do some serious research into form I was going to be penalised. I was reluctant, and wrongly so. When I focused on studying form, I gained so much. I started with Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Philosophy of Composition.” It taught me a lot about starting a piece with the intention of effect in mind. However, I needed more. I turned to John Marsden’s short book “Everything I Know about Writing.” I’m specifically mentioning it because it is a wonderful book for creative Major Works - but also definitely worth a read for improving your creative writing in Extension 1 English and the Advanced course. I sat down and read it all in about three hours and gained valuable knowledge. After reading the book, I changed up the entire structure of my short story into a circular plot line. Thank you, Marsden.
However, this is definitely not a one-stop shop for creative short story major works. Analysing the form of George Orwell’s essays, for example, is considered research into form. Observing the structural form of plays or radio dramas is equally important as what it is to observe guides or break-downs of the form that you will be writing in.
It is easy to get caught up in your plot and concept and ignore everything that is happening in the structural world. Your structure and your concept are complimentative of each other. If one of these is poor, the other will be weaker.
3. Not drawing on the skills and knowledge gained from the Advanced and English One English courses.Section 4 of
this document explains how the Extension 1 English and the Advanced English course should be incorporated. It is important to look at the Extension 2 course as an expression of everything you have gained from the other two English courses. Your reflection statement will need to contain a clear link between the three courses. Don’t forget - this can be inclusive of the preliminary courses as well. It can be as simple as this: For me, my story was set in the Cold War era that I studied in Extension 1 English. In Advanced English I studied People and Landscapes in Module C - this informed my understanding of how a landscape can impact the experience of an individual. That is all it has to be! It can even be that you admired the minimalistic tone in a prescribed text and you emulated that in your own work. You just need to show that there is a connection and that Extension 2 English isn’t just an awkward, isolated add on.
4. Getting behind on time.In term 1 - you really need to push yourself to get a solid draft in the works. Ideally, term 2 will be finalising and refining. There are many candidates who get behind on their Major Work and drop the course before the finish line - wasting time and not achieving goals. You can avoid this by staying on top of things. Writer’s block doesn’t help - I know! When the creative juices flow you need to seize the opportunity and pump through as much of the work as you possibly can. Every composer works differently. You might need to designate a Sunday afternoon completely to Extension 2 in order to get things flowing. Or, you may need to be completely pre-occupied until you receive a divine inspiration strike and you will Extension 2 your little heart out. When you have the opportunity to build up your draft, you need to. Even if it is just a small crappy sentence, that is a sentence you didn’t have before and you can always edit later.
5. Connecting between the Reflection Statement and the Major Work.When you write the reflection statement, you need to do so with the understanding that you markers will read your reflection statement before they read your major work. There are certain boxes you need to tick. You need to talk about your process, your concept, your research, the other English courses and so on. You definitely need to highlight the parts of your work that you think give it textual merit. In a way, you are pretending that your Major Work was not written by you and in fact you are drawing links between the text and the concept from a removed point of view (except, you can write in the first person). This is your chance to show the markers that you have fulfilled everything that you set out to achieve as is highlighted in your Reflection Statement.
Let's chat! Post below whatever your concerns are, your questions are, your weaknesses are, your achievements are and your concepts are. Together we can flesh them out focus on a killer Extension 2 Major Work! Don't be afraid to post below. You and I both know that resources are limited for this course, and together we can change that!
I received 47/50 for Extension 2 English. You can download my reflection statement
here and my major work
here!
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