Ms. Dominico’s Year 12 VCE English Class

Unit 3: Context SAC (SAC #4) Material: context-sac-1-sac-4-material-and-prompts
***NOTE: We have specified the audience…***

Another “How To” Tip!

What do I write?

Step 1: What are the ideas in the prompt? What does the prompt MEAN?

Step 2: How does the prompt relate to “Whose Reality?” (context)

Step 3: How does the prompt relate to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind?

Step 4: What can I write that will address the ideas in Step 1, 2 and 3?

Granted that Ian McEwan is not a Year 12 VCE student, play along with me for the purposes of this activity.

Let’s Pretend:
* Ian is a Year 12 VCE student
* that he was given the same prompt as you for Post #6 (memory and lives shaping…)
* you are his VCE assessor

TASK: Follow the instruction in today’s Word document (Sample Written Explanation and Student Piece of writing) to highlight and assess McEwan’s writing. Post your edits onto your blog so we can all learn from you!

Here is the file: sample-written-explanation-for-atonement1

I made a mistake!

THe SAC format is not how I explained in class today.

Instead, here is the SAC format:

Thursday
1) get SAC on Thursday **you will choose , and prepare, one prompt from a choice of 2! (not 3)
2) on the day we write the SAC — it is your choice which prompt you will use!!! (not Ms.D.’s!)
3) bring your pre-written Statement of Intention to the SAC
4) You will have 125 minutes (1 x 75, 1 x 50)
5) We will write our SAC next Thurs and Friday (Week 9)

Here is another prompt for you to write: 1) a written explanation and 2) a SAC response

PROMPT: ‘It’s not what we remember but rather how we choose to remember it’

Steps to Success:

1) Write your statement of explanation first (use the “triangle”: discuss the prompt, discuss how the prompt relates to the context “whose reality?” and the film ESSM, and then how your writing will discuss the ideas in the prompt as it relates to the context-film.

2) Write the piece of writing that addresses the ideas in your statement of explanation.

Do it for before Wednesday and I can give you some feedback before you do the actual SAC!

A written explanation would help!

“To see the importance of the written explanation (Insight p. 133) where the ideas generated from the text must be clearly explained in cases where the actual text is not mentioned by name in the response itself.” – Ms. Duffy

First of all, stop panicking! This is a totally achievable task.

You just need to spend some time looking at examples, and practising your writing.

Remember the keys to success: prompt + film + good writing = a good piece.

There are lots of models. I’ve posted 2 so far. (You can use the categories on the sidebar to search out the “exemplars” which are 2 student responses.)

Also,

page 128 Insight: Expository writing (Essay) with a model Written Explanation on “Whose Reality” (different text than we have studied, but same idea)

page 132-134 Insight: Imaginative Writing (fable) has a very good Written Explanation/Statement of Intention

Someone in Ms. Duffy’s class wrote a piece “Be careful what you wish for….” a fable that uses idea from P 133-34 Insight.

The student’s piece was based around (more…)

Check the following in each piece of writing you do:

1 Have I crafted a carefully worded statement of explanation that
explains purpose, form, language, audience, context? (150 words) 0/1/2/3

2. Have I addressed the prompt? 0/1/2/3

3. Have I made reference to “Eternal Sunshine” or incorporated
ideas from it? 0/1/2/3

4. Have I chosen the expository, persuasive or imaginative writing
forms? Is this clear? 0/1/2/3

5. Whose perspective am I creating this composition from?
(eg First person omniscient, Third person narrative) 0/1/2/3
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‘What people remember shapes their understanding of themselves and their world.’

In trying to make sense of who we are, we have only our memories of our past to help us to formulate our concept of ourselves as we are now. In a complex interchange our memories are joined to our personalities and help define our identity. Our values and beliefs are also shaped by our memories; either through social interaction or remembering the lessons passed on by significant people in our lives. Memories provide boundaries to our relationships with people in the world around – they govern our behaviour by providing a context to consider our actions.
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Class Notes:

prompt-overview-and-assessment-of-context.doc = Class Notes on Understanding the requirements of the creative writing task

Post #6:

Prompt: “What people remember shapes their understanding of themselvesand their world.”

• Response based on Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind

For a model response, see: http://en36.edublogs.org/2008/05/21/student-response-to-todays-context-prompt-2/

Length: 900 + words

Due Date: Tuesday May 26

 

My father’s eyes widened, he stood still and just stared at me in bewilderment.

“Don’t be ridiculous! An artist! Pfft! Who is an artist? Who’s going to feed you! I haven’t slaved away my life, come to a whole new country to have a daughter of mine become an artist. What kind of a person is an artist?

You don’t even know any artist! What kind of job is that?”

I could see he was building himself up to a major eruption. We argued on, but in the end, I stalked out of the house. Hours later, when I returned, he was quiet, but vigilant. I decided the best course of action was to avoid communication on the topic. I duly filled in the preference form for my Year 12 subjects, and here I am, doing Art, Design Tech. and Media. There’s not a Science or Maths subject to be seen. My father’s disgust continues, but what can he do?

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Tonight’s HW:

POST #5 TASK: Re-write the plot of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as if it were to happen in a different context. 

 EXPECTATIONS:

• Incorporate your understanding of the over-arching concept of the film (eg. “it’s a film about changing realities”)
• Write in EITHER: expository, persuasive, or imaginative style
• FORM: your choice, but suitable to a purpose which you should specify
• Include at least 4 stylistic devices that we discussed today: (imagery, music, dialogue, puns…)

READ:

Our Plot Summary:

“Two people fall in love, break up and have their memories erased only to find each other again–and discover they have changed.”

Over-arching Concept Boardnotes:

• (more…)

Post #1:  Reality TV

Post #2: Expository Writing of the Multiple Realities of your childhood – Multiple Realities

 Post #3: Upload your Context File (and your Character Mind Map!)

Post #4: Imaginative Writing as a Cultural Ambassador — Cultural Realities (see page 117-121 “Imaginative Writing” in your Insight textbook for writing help). (more…)

READ:
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1 Multiple realities ** NOTE: This is for Thursday May 15th’s Class — Your homework tonight is on “reality TV”
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Emotional reality versus literal reality
Two realities are presented in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The tangible and objective reality of the ‘real’ world of the text is contrasted with the realm of memory, emotions and subjectivity as revealed through Joel’s subconscious mind. The emotional reality recounted through memory is concerned with what is felt, with those things that cannot be proven to exist but are experienced as real. Here, the feelings associated with an event make it real, even if it only exists in dreams, observations or intuition.
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Tonight’s HW task:

TASK: Analyse the types reality as presented in some of the reality TV shows that you watch. Use Week 5’s Handout (from the Insight CD) to help you “name” these types of realities.
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responding-to-the-prompt-example.docI’m trying to include the notes Tim graciously typed up for us yesterday; however, I have not had success uploading photos/files, yet. Here goes!

Eloisa to Abelard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Abelard and his pupil, Heloise by Edmund Leighton.

Published in 1717, Eloisa to Abelard is a poem by Alexander Pope (1688–1744). It is an Ovidian heroic epistle inspired by the 12th-century story of Eloisa’s (age 19) (Heloise’s) illicit love for, and secret marriage to, her teacher Pierre Abélard (age 51), perhaps the most popular teacher and philosopher in Paris, and the brutal vengeance her family exacts when they castrate him, not realizing that the lovers had married.
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ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND (2004)
starring Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst
screenplay by Charlie Kaufman
directed by Michel Gondry

Here is an insightful film review from:

http://filmfreakcentral.net/screenreviews/eternalsunshine.htm

“…But it’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that completes Kaufman’s emergence into an emotional world with what is essentially an ode to one of my favourite ideas and phrases: the madness of love in a temporary world.

…. The film is told as a montage of Joel’s reflections of love at the moment of their erasure, and it’s every bit as melancholy and romantic as the conceit would imply.

… the picture is a cascade of thoughts that rejects traditional narratives while holding fast to recognizable strictures of storytelling. Joel is the hero, attempting to rescue his damsel from the dungeon of his mind and bad decisions.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind revolves around two quotes.
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Quotations:

** ‘Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.’ Philip K. Dick
** ‘Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.’ Albert Einstein
** ‘Are you sure that the floor can’t also be a ceiling?’ M.C. Escher
** ‘There is an objective reality out there, but we view it through the spectacles of our beliefs, attitudes and values.’ David G Myers, Social Psychology
** ‘There are no facts, only interpretations.’ Freidrich Nietzsche
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