Ms. Dominico’s Year 12 VCE English Class

‘What people remember shapes their understanding of themselves and their world.’

Statement of explanation
The expository essay “What people remember shapes their understanding of themselves and their world” aims to inform and explain the essence of memory in shaping human experience. It explores memory persistence, its mutability and our dependence on them to negotiate life. It declares man a flawed but enigmatic creature. The intended audience is an educated adult one and the complex vocabulary, while appropriate for such an audience, discusses core ideas clearly and accessibly for even a non-specialist readership. The essay aims for a level of language sophistication that such an audience would expect and appreciate in a serious magazine. In a detached and formal tone the composition draws on “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind”, a parable on the futility of trying to escape the past. It concludes on an unexpected note as the “eternal sunshine’ is rejected as too bland and the central character’s choice to retain his memories are affirmed.

Essay:
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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…)

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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