Year 11 - Advanced

Course Description

Stage 6 students will be allocated into one of the three categories (for internal use): - PP/PI.1: Approximately 30% content alignment (literary and non-literary texts), 50% essay writing, 15% speech, and 15% creative writing. - PP/PI.2: Approximately 40% content alignment (literary texts), 50% essay writing, and 10% speech. - PP/PI.3: Approximately 40% content alignment (literary and non-literary texts), 50% essay writing, and 10% speech. Target level/skills: This class is customised to help students enhance their individual academic writing skills. Students will be coached on how best to work with their idiosyncratic strengths and weaknesses in thinking and writing. In general, skills and strategies will be consolidated upon the student’s thematic understanding of school related content. However, the current classes offered do not provide direct and specific content on school specific texts. In addition to different schools having different text selections every term (see example 1), schools vary in terms of their interpretation and application of the texts (see example 2). Therefore, students are expected to have a solid understanding of the specifics (i.e. various preferred approaches) of the text related content covered in school. Approximately 30%-40% of the current class time will be dedicated to help students clarify school content and align the content with the targeted analytical and writing skills. Example 1 : Grade: Year 8 Module/rubric/thematic focus for the term: Conflict Chosen text by school A: A selection of poetry on ‘War’ Chosen text by school B: A selection of poetry on ‘Love’ Chosen text by school C: Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” Example 2: Grade: Year 10 Module/rubric/thematic focus: Shakespeare (The Perils/Paradox of Ambition) Chosen text by schools A, B, and C: Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” Interpretation/application by school A: Too much ambition is greed Interpretation/application by school B: Gender binary is a power structure Interpretation/application by school C: Villains are also victims Please note: Students who struggle to keep up with the school content (and the alignment process e.g. compulsory prescribed text reading) for two consecutive terms may be advised to take up support lessons externally. Outcome: Through working on both their strengths and weaknesses in critical thinking and application, students are expected to display confidence in their ability to maximise their strengths in constructive writing.