Encountering Conflict Through Text Tremors

Thursday, March 8, 2012

PREPARING FOR THE SAC

ENCOUNTERING CONFLICT FILES

Researching the Context and developing knowledge and ideas that you might use in your writing responses is crucial towards preparing for success in your Creating and Presenting SACs and the exam. Use the class handout to help begin your brainstorming and expansion of your conflict knowledge by researching texts, images, music and film.

TASK:
To create Conflict Files develop four possibilities for writing pieces from your research:

Choose four prompts

Choose a text, image, song and film

Write about the links you can identify between your choices and the prompts

Write about the links you can identify between your choices and the set text

Write about the links you can identify between your choices and the Context

Come up with an idea for a writing piece and explain it in terms of FLAP+C

Present three quotes that you believe could work to enhance the writing piece

PRESENTATION:
Publish your Conflict Files in the appropriate section of our Encountering Conflict Blog.

Crucible - Encountering Conflict Files - Blog Posts

Monday, March 5, 2012

Another example of a modern day witch hunt

Azaria's ghost can be heard as you pass the big red rock by Martin Flanagan

The Lindy Chamberlain, 'A dingo took my baby', case has been a saga spanning more than 30 years. This article by Martin Flanagan highlights its contemporary relevance and outlines historical connections that can be drawn between what happened to Lindy and what happened in the days of witch hunts. If Flanagan was addressing a prompt such as, 'One conflict always contains the seeds of another', this piece would operate fantastically as a Creating and Presenting piece of writing that ticks all the boxes for what examiners are looking for. It is persuasive opinion piece, presented as a newspaper article. It adopts the features of its form as required. It draws from the set text obviously, which in this case would have been The Crucible and it goes beyond the set text - coherently bringing in discussion about the Madeleine McCann case, Aboriginal beliefs and knowledge and Burke and Wills.

Complete a close reading of this text, just as you did with 'The Drum' opinion piece by O'Neill - pretending it is C+P response written to a prompt. Look for where you believe the teacher/examiner would be ticking the boxes for this piece in terms of; considering the Context, drawing from the set text and addressing a prompt using highlights and annotations to identify all the elements at work. Some of what you read and see might inspire you for your own piece of expository, persuasive or creative writing you need to create.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

A model for context writing

The Drum Cllimate Witch Hunt

Click to read more...

Read the article and comment on:

Links to the Context
Links to The Crucible
What prompt would work successfully with this piece

The article, Modern-day climate change witch hunt, by Brendan O'Neill, actually works as an example of Context writing. It demonstrates how topics can be melded together to present a perspective of the world.

The Context area of study asks students to create a piece of writing of that considers their Context and set text from a point of having explored its ideas and arguments broadly. Students need to show that they can combine general, societal knowledge alongside their own view of the world to impart relevant discussion that has a purpose and delivers a substantiated message.

If Modern-day climate change witch hunt was written as a Context piece its statement of explanantion would outline that:
The Context is Encountering Conflict and the set text is The Crucible by Arthur Miller.
The form is persuasive, it is an opinion piece.
The language is highly emotive. Attacks, anecdotes and humour are employed as persuasive techniques. References to history are used to inform the discussion, just as Miller used history to develop The Crucible.
The audience is politically aware adults who have an interest in the global warming debate.
The purpose is to challenge the global warming theories. A strong position is put forward with skepticism aimed at climate change supporters' arguments. Comparisons between witch hunters and global warming advocates are made as O'Neill outlines a belief that debate on the issue is unreasonably one-sided.
The Context is a current environmental conflict being explored through an observation that it involves the same ignorance and discrimination that shaped unfortunate moments of hysteria in instances such as the Salem and McCarthyist witch trials.

WHEN A PERSON READS THIS ARTICLE THROUGH THE LENS OF OUR CONTEXT AREA OF STUDY, imagining a student has developed this for a SAC or exam piece, THEY CAN SEE HOW IT: CONSIDERS THE CONTEXT AND DRAWS FROM THE SET TEXT OF THE CRUCIBLE. WHILE OBVIOUSLY USING IDEAS AND THEMES FROM THE SET TEXT, IT ALSO SHOWS THE AUTHOR HAS EXPLORED BEYOND THE SET TEXT TO DEVELOP A SOPHISTICATED PIECE OF WRITING THAT DEMONSTRATES A BROAD WORLD PERSPECTIVE ON ISSUES OF CONFLICT.