What am I supposed to be doing these holidays?

I know you think I'm cruel for giving you holiday homework. At times, I think I'm cruel too. Then I remember I'm being cruel to be kind :) - and I persist.

Despite all this, I hope you're having a good holiday.

Advanced:
* Task One - Finish well
- 2004 HSC Section III (conversation poem)
- 2005 HSC Sections I and III
- 2006 HSC Section III ("Kubla Khan" or "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

* Task Two - Writing Workshop
- Aim for at least an 11/15 benchmark for two polished stories

* Task Three - Transformations
- Watch Hamlet
- Read Hamlet

* Task Four - Critical Study
(recommended if you don't do extension, or just love reading! If you do extension, focus on that)
- read Wuthering Heights

Extension (1):
* Read your Important Readings
* Work on your assessment
* Read If on a Winter's Night a Traveller - maybe allocate yourself a chapter a day... just pick the book up off the floor from where you threw it the day before :)

Extension (2):
* You know, like Dory in Finding Nemo... just keep going!
NB. Alicia - I added a whole stack of readings for you :)

Imaginative Journeys (HSC Advanced)

Welcome to the blog, Advanced!

There will progressively be resources here for you too. For those interested in picture books and visual literacy as a way of exploring the concept of imaginative journeys, here's a perceptive and insightful analysis into the children's classic Where the Wild Things Are, proving that complexity lies in the reading as much as it does in the text.

Here are some core sites for Coleridge:
* Charles Sturt Uni's HSC site - this should help you as you make study notes for each poem.

* From the site above; excellent contextual summaries, both biographical and social

* This site is called 'intertextuality', but it's really about linking your poems with related texts. As usual, ignore any references to the stimulus booklet for this year's HSC.

Internet resources for Extension 1

I'm sorry I can't think of more creative titles for these blog entries. Wait a minute... one's coming... nope, it's gone. Oh well.

Anyway, of more use to you than a creative title might be the following links. Please bear in mind that they are in the cursory scanning stage at the moment. Anything that I find particularly indispensable will cause me to increase my contribution to climate change in the form of photocopying handouts for you (be kind to the planet... recycle all your notes when your HSC is over!).

Regardless, Extension 1 demands that you read both extensively (if you'll pardon the almost-pun) and deeply. I did say this was a uni-level course. I wasn't lying! This really is a course where you need to read widely and think actively. More than anything, I can only be a guide or facilitator, rather than a teacher in the traditional sense. Learning, in this instance, is very much a case of construction.

* A good overview, especially of the key postmodern theorists:

* A jaw-dropping range of theorists:
(For the moment, concentrate on Barthes, Baudrillard, Derrida, Jameson and Lyotard from this list)

* This site is promisingly entitled Postmodernism: What One Needs to Know
(Of course, even a cursory knowledge of postmodernism tells you that this statement itself is a contentious one!)

* A short and inevitably overly-simplistic summary of postmodernism
(Not my words; the author's. Nevertheless, a most accessible read, even if it falls far short of comprehensive.)

* The Charles Sturt HSC website (an invaluable resource):
(Much of it written by Axel Kruse, whom you'll meet early next year)

* The Board of Studies Syllabus
(Now there's reading for a rainy day!)

Repository of Resources for Extension 2 (updated semi-regularly)

I'm setting this up because the oceanic wash that is my brain sometimes throws up unexpected things while it stares vacantly at the computer screen.

Please don't despair if I haven't posted anything up for you yet. Chances are, the more you progress with your own research, and the more you are able to tell me, the more associative neurons will go off firing.* I expect this entry to expand in due course.

* for everyone
- Don't forget to check out the students' workshops advertised by the NSW Writers' Centre. The one on Sunday, 20th January focuses on short story writing, script writing and critical response writing.
- The workshop on Wednesday, 23rd January will give you the opportunity to workshop your developing projects, once again focusing on the areas above. You will have professional feedback on the structure, style and writing challenges involved in the completion of your project.
- I'm not clear on the cost at this stage. It says Members $60, Members' concession $50, Non-members $90. There appears to be no concession for non-members.
- Here's the link: http://www.nswwriterscentre.org.au/

- (4th December) this is apropos of nothing but a fleeting thought I thought I'd share with you. It was great to see you evaluating each other's proposals and ideas and providing each other with valuable feedback. I couldn't help but be reminded of two biblical proverbs: "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another"; and "Wounds from a friend can be trusted". I encourage you to keep being each other's 'critical friends' :)

* for Ryan
- a few interesting things on postmodern gothic - with reference to Edward Scissorhands! - a nice Frankenstein connection for you
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/pmc/text-only/issue.592/potter.592
- the notion of gothic horror in contemporary society - with reference to body parts - again, a serendipitous (or not?) Frankenstein connection; it seems you're on to something!
http://www.gettingit.com/article/563
- a fascinating abstract to someone's thesis on postmodern gothic cinema in an antipodean context (antipodean means 'other side of the world', and is usually taken to mean Australia & New Zealand) - a good source of films you should watch
- http://library-resources.cqu.edu.au/thesis/adt-QCQU/uploads/approved/adt-QCQU20060921.111449/public/01front.pdf
- perhaps Stephen King's writing is what you ought to be looking at! - another reference to Frankenstein, this time explicit:
http://stephen-king.net/reviews/review.asp?id=%7B488C3FE9-3287-434C-81F6-56BC71FA58ED%7D
- an outline of a uni course on postmodern gothic! Use this to indicate further paths to research:
http://www.sandystone.com/pupik/331k.f96.html
- more resources on postmodern gothic than you can poke a stick at (if you so desired). Just a warning at this point: don't fall into the trap of over-reliance on cybertextual sources. Don't forget the valuable print resources you've been using.
- http://home.actlab.utexas.edu/pomogoth/
By the way, everyone, there are good resources here for Extension 1 as well.
- and also this: http://home.actlab.utexas.edu/pomogoth/pomogoth-syllabus-f06.pdf (Love this professor's style!)
- resources on straight gothicism:

http://www.zittaw.com/gothicliterature.htm

http://www.virtualsalt.com/gothic.htm

* for David
- Here's the site I was telling you about:
http://www.speakeasy.org/~subtext/poetry/hill/poem1.htm
- Here's the video art exhibition at the MCA earlier on this year, which may be give you further links to pursue. It's always worthwhile delving into contextual information so you can investigate the artist's concepts, and see how they intersect with yours.
http://www.mca.com.au/default.asp?page_id=10&content_id=1953
- Something on Tony Oursler, whom I also mentioned (he was also at the MCA exhibition):

http://tonyoursler.com/tonyourslerv2/main.html

- I just stumbled across this, but I suspect if you google "postmodern video art" or the like, you'll get something like this... it's called "Lullabye for Postmodern Children". Just a word of caution... always check out a composer's credentials and oeuvre to establish contextual awareness.

http://www.dr-yo.com/lullabye.html

* for Janelle

- like I said, it's a bit controversial posting anything up for you! But I did mention Kate Grenville to you - try Lillian's Story and Dark Places - flip sides of the same story, rather like your project.

* for Angela
- a list of films with existentialist themes: A Short Film about Killing, A Short Film about Love, Amelie, Being John Malkovich, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Breaking the Waves, Breathless, Closer, Crimes and Misdemeanours, The Deer Hunter, Dogville, Donnie Darko, The Double Life of Veronique, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Garden State, Ghost World, Groundhog Day, I Heart Huckabees, Last Tango in Paris, Leaving Las Vegas, Memento, Paris, Texas (that last two is one movie - Paris, Texas), Rope, Run Lola Run, Till Human Voices Wake Us, Waking Life, Wings of Desire, The 400 Blows. (That should keep you busy!)

- a good, albeit comprehensive introduction to existentialism:

http://people.bu.edu/wwildman/WeirdWildWeb/courses/wphil/lectures/wphil_theme20.htm

- another accessible, but quite comprehensive, introduction to existentialism:

http://etext.virginia.edu/cgi-local/DHI/dhi.cgi?id=dv2-22

* for Alicia

- All Families are Psychotic - Douglas Coupland (Luke - do you have a copy of this?)

- The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls

- The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen

- We Need to Talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver

- Running with Scissors - Augusten Burroughs

- Bee Season - Myla Goldberg

- White Oleander - Janet Fitch

- Falling Leaves: The Memoir of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter - Adeline Yen Mah

- Carry Me Down - MJ Hyland

- A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon

- and Grimm's Fairy Tales are a great source too

(A quick google check will help you sort out roughly what they're about before you go looking.)
********these below are new************
- This Boy's Life - Tobias Wolff
- Ordinary People - Judith Guest
- What about some Greek tragedies, like Antigone and Agamemnon?
- John Irving - Widow for One Year, The Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp
- Absalom, Absalom - William Faulkner (this is really hard to read at firstM, but it's tragedy on a grand scale)
- Margaret Drabble - The Peppered Moth, The Witch of Exmoor
- Margaret Atwood - Lady Oracle, Surfacing (both highly readable)

- look for short stories by Katherine Mansfield, Anton Chekhov, Margaret Atwood and Angela Carter

*I never claimed to be a biology teacher.

Extension 1 trip to Sydney Uni

Greetings, fellow travellers. Hope you enjoyed the journey to Sydney Uni and its surrounds. David Brooks was very impressed with your writing, although in the end we agreed not to swap students after all. :) I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the package, and will let you know when it arrives.

Here is the link to the list of resources that Jacqui so thoughtfully set up for us. The weblinks are particularly useful, especially the first and the third (the second is the Klages article I've already issued to you as a handout).

Please don't forget to let me know if you want to join Sydney Uni library with SchoolsLink, and I'll ask Mr Brewer to be your 'guarantor'. This will be particularly useful for Extension 2 students, as it will allow you to access the databases and electronic resources. However, even if you're not, there is a wealth of knowledge and scholarly reference in the databases that will help you with your related texts. Here's the direct link to the library so you can see what it has to offer & whether it will help you with a particular search. Click on 'Catalogue'.

You should be almost finished The French Lieutenant's Woman by now. Otherwise, next week's lesson will seem very much like gobbledygook... that is, more than usual!

English (Extension 2)

After a long hiatus, this blog is active again. (Translation: I just remembered its existence.)

Anyway, I was doing some research for my uni course the other day when I came across something that I thought would be helpful for Extension 2. This format seems ideal for this course, since, firstly, for most of its duration we won't be meeting together as one group any longer. Secondly, as most of the process is individualised, this blog allows me to post up useful information and links without absolutely overloading you in the process with dead trees. If anything is spectacularly useful to you, print it out; if not, ignore.

At this stage of the proceedings you're probably feeling a teensy bit overwhelmed with the potential amount of information that faces you, and are wondering how to organise the lot without going mad. (If you're not feeling this way, chances are, you're procrastinating... Either that or you're slapping yourself on the head thinking "Oh yeah! Extension 2... forgot about that". Am I right?) In any case, one problem with the early stage of Extension 2 is that the Major Work feels like one great big 'blob'... it's all vagueness, you feel fuzzy-headed about direction, research, ideas... you might literally say you feel like you've lost the plot.

Work on the methodology of investigation in specific areas (which is essentially what you're doing) recommends that you:
a) produce many ideas
b) postpone evaluation
c) use tricks to promote unorthodox combinations of ideas
d) state the problem clearly
e) work systematically, yet retain spontaneity
f) deliberately reflect on your own thinking

This advice is worth taking to heart. It was put together by Coleman (1985)* who conducted an exhaustive study of the literature on how to research and write up a major project.

Also, Maker and Neilson (1996)** suggest spending a fair amount of time with the problem, before beginning writing (which is also what we're doing).

Elements of Problem Finding

* Analysis - real problems generally are complex situations that lack clarity, organisation and definition. Analysis includes taking the problem apart, sorting its aspects into categories, gathering facts and opinions, comparing the situation with others, researching the issue and developing questions about it, and dissecting it. In other words, if you're starting with "gothic literature", don't just leave it as a 'blob', do something with it! How might you do that? Here are some examples:
- ask yourself questions about it: who, what, when, where, why, how
- gather data that has some kind of relationship to the problem; after you've done that, stretch your imagination as you look for different kinds of patterrns or relationships
- 'find the source'- try and take the central idea back to its source (remember "the myth of origins?")
- list its attributes - this can contribute more ideas
- record everything you know about it
- review others' work - try and read up on/view other works in this field
- create a mind-map or a matrix (if that's your thing)
- don't block - don't close off avenues too quickly; openness to ideas is key at this stage

* Problem Definition - once you have analysed the problem, you need to define it. The definition gives you a focus for research, and it also sums up in a nutshell the essential elements of the issue you're exploring. (I'm using the term 'problem' loosely.) How will you know when you have a good problem statement? You'll know when it
- invites new ideas, possibilities and actions
- is succinct and specific about the actual issue or concept you're addressing

And by the way, yes, this can, and should, go in your journal.

All the best for your proposals! I'm looking forward to receiving them (Tuesday, 27th November).


* Writer of Schooling the Gifted, which I suspect is not on your must-read list.
**Writers of Curriculum Development and Teaching Strategies for Gifted Learners, which, nope, I don't expect you to have read either.