Decent Music

Unfortunately I will no longer be teaching the 3rd years at the IRA - so in an attempt to continue your introduction to "decent" music you'll find a playlist of good songs that I've quickly put together using the excellent (and legal) playlist website.

For shame! The playlist website no longer operates in our lonely little isles - only our u dropping friends in the good old US of A can benefit from my musical cornucopia.

Alas alack etc.

"Vincent" - Narrative poems

Below you will find short films that have been made based on two narrative poems written by Tim Burton.



Who said poems had to be boring?

Nightmare Before Christmas

Speechwriting

Today you finished off the MLK question-sheet that I handed out to you. The most important point that has been raised during our time looking at the speech is that speeches are designed to PERSUADE and ARGUE a point to the intended audience.

Next lesson we'll get stuck into looking at some techniques used in speechwriting.

Remember there are previous posts on the blog that are linked to speechwriting. Rather than reposting the same material again and again I will just label each post as "speechwriting" after the relevant lesson. To view these posts click on the "speechwriting" label on the right-hand side of this page.

P.S: You were also told about the speeches that you will have to prepare. If there's any particular topic to do with prejudice in Scotland that you'd like me to have a look at then please feel free to leave a comment on this post with suggestions.

Dystopian Matrix Quotes

In preparation for writing your essays I handed out a sheet containing quotes from "The Matrix" that display certain dystopian characteristics.


When writing your essays you should try and use these quotes as direct evidence from the film to back-up the point that you are trying to make in each analysis paragraph.

Try and write 3 or 4 analysis paragraphs that make use of these quotes - then write 2 or 3 more analysis paragraphs describing some of the specific cinematic techniques used by the Wachowski brothers within the film and how they help portray The Matrix as a dystopian society (camera angles/lenses/movement/lighting/mise-en-scene)

Once you have written your anaylsis paragraphs, then you can write your conclusion summing up your points - remember to answer the question as well!

Click below for a link to the quotes:

http://www.box.net/shared/qx98hjpnn7

For a list of the cinematic techniques in the film that we touched upon click on the link below:

http://www.box.net/shared/bmi67nvvfq

All of the dystopian characteristics are on the handout I gave you at the start of the unit - if you've lost it then you can download a copy from here:

http://www.box.net/shared/clyu3xzrgo

Descriptive Writing Revision Sheet

Below you will find a link to a short revision sheet that I've created for descriptive writing.

http://www.box.net/shared/eh1mf6no1a


Remember to avoid the "Joey Trap" - a thesaurus can be more of a hindrance than a help!

Gregory's Girl Revision sheet

As promised I have noted down a few quotes from the play that could be useful in your exam essays.

Follow the link below to download a copy of the revision sheet that I have created:

http://www.box.net/shared/pp75msd95g

UPDATE: If you download the sheet please leave a comment on this post so that I know who's downloading a copy and why (especially since there have been a lot of downloads recently despite the fact that the exam it was prepared for has now passed!).

This will help me decide what materials will be useful for pupils in future.

Thanks,

Mr Watt.

Gregory's Girl Exam revision

Last lesson we looked at how to go about writing an essay on "Gregory's Girl" in your exam.

Below you will find a link to the powerpoint presentation that I used in class:

http://www.box.net/shared/5ki3n3n26d


Here's a brief summary of the last few scenes of the play:

Scene 12: Gregory is helping Dorothy practice her football skills. She appears on scene immaculately dressed in a track-suit, whereas Gregory is wearing a pair of borrowed shorts. They practice football for a while - Dorothy is brilliant and Gregory is rubbish. At the end of the session Gregory asks Dorothy out on a date and she says "Okay". Amazed at this response Gregory says: "I mean on a kind of date" and asks her to "stop fooling around" when she once again says yes. This shows Gregory's lack of confidence and awarkwardness.

Scene 13: Gregory is getting ready for his big date with Dorothy. Madeline is acting like a mother figure making sure that he is cleaning himself properly and giving him advice on what to do and say on the date. Role reversal with M and G once again rears its ugly head.

Scene 14: This is the final scene of the play. Dorothy stands Gregory up and he is told this by Carol who offers to walk with him to the chip-shop. At the chip-shop Carol passes Gregory across to Margo and then makes a telephone call to Susan. Margo goes for a walk with Gregory and leads him towards where Susan is. We find out that the girls have conspired to set-up Gregory with Susan as she is the one that actually fancies him. Gregory and Susan seem to get along really well together and at the very end of the play they kiss.

Superhero Plot

You've created your superhero, your villain and a city for them to operate in - now you have to think about the plot of your comic strip.

The plot is the story being told in your comic strip. When you create your own comic strip it will be best to use a traditional superhero plot. Here is a choice of traditional plots that you could use:

1.Your super villain has robbed the city bank and is holding customers hostage.
2.Your super villain is about to place a mind-controlling drug in the city’s water supply.
3.Your super villain has started murdering policemen and is on his way to City Hall to kill the mayor.
4.Your super villain is planning a massive break out at your city’s jail.




Now you're ready to create your own comic strip!

Remember to make use of some comic tehcniques such as: speech bubbles, thought bubbles, captions, panel frames, onomatopoeia


If you fancy having a go at making a professional looking comic then download a free 30-day trial of ComicLife:

http://plasq.com/comiclife-win

Or look at Marvel's comic creator:


http://superherosquad.marvel.com/create_your_own_comic

Descriptive Writing 2

In the second part of the descriptive writing revision session we learned a few more techniques that could be used to raise your descriptive writing to a higher level.

Structure
A good structure provides shape to your writing. There are several ways in which you can structure your descriptive piece:

• location by location
• from inside to outside (or vice-versa)
• from then to now
• from the general to the particular

Theme
The reader of your descriptive piece needs to want to read your piece, they need to: be interested, engaged, and be able to relate to what you've written.

In order to ensure this you must write about something that they would enjoy reading about and make sure that your piece isn't just describing a scene - it must have an underlying theme. Professional writers never just write for the sake of describing and neither should you.

Download the lesson's powerpoint presentation for ideas on how to give your piece an underlying theme:

http://www.box.net/shared/u5y0ezuy50

Super Villains

So we've created our superheroes and now we have to create their foes - the super villains!

Remember the important role that contrast plays in comic books - if your superhero wears bright colours then your super villain must wear dark colours and vice-versa.

Also remember the need for motivation. In order to make your villain believable your reader must know why it is that they commit such evil acts. Watch the videos below and see if you can work out why each of the villains acts the way that they do:





Have a look at Marvel's website to see some of their famous villains:

http://www.marvel.com/universe/Category:Villains

Descriptive Writing

In this lesson we learned a few effective techniques to use when writing a descriptive essay:


Senses














Imagery

Vivid language

Below you will find a link to the Powerpoint presentation that I used in class.

http://www.box.net/shared/5kuc1qgvsq

WARNING!: Interesting wordchoice is essential for a good mark, but don't fall into the Joey trap!

Analysing dystopian film - intro.

This lesson we began to analyse a dystopian film clip - the clip being the famous 1984 Apple Macintosh advert.

First we discussed "1984". I told you a bit of background information about the famous novel "1984" written in 1949 by George Orwell (Eric Blair).

The novel is set in the eponymous year and focuses on a repressive regime. The story follows the life of a civil servant called Winston Smith who grows disillusioned with his meagre existence and begins a rebellion against the system that leads to his arrest and torture.

"1984" is one of the most famous novels of the 20th century and you can see it's influence throughout British society:

Big Brother: The (in)famous reality TV show "Big Brother" is based on the concept of the all-seeing dictator know as Big Brother within the novel. Big Brother keeps an eye on the citizens of Oceania through large screens which display his image and which also act as video cameras. These screens are situated throughout Oceania and the citizens are reminded of the constant surveillance through the slogan: "Big Brother is watching you".

Room 101: The late-night talk show hosted by Paul Merton on the BBC in which celebrities try and have the objects that they hate the most confined to room 101 is similarly based on a concept contained within "1984". Room 101 in "1984" is a torture chamber situated in the Ministry of Love in which prisoners are subjected to their worst nightmares - nightmares that the Party knows about by means of their constant surveillance and the thought police.

Thought Police: A saying that has come into popular use within the UK post-9/11. The Thought Police are the secret police of Oceania in "1984". It is the job of the Thought Police to uncover and punish thoughtcrime and thought-criminals, using psychology and omnipresent surveillance from telescreens to find and eliminate members of society who are capable of the mere thought of challenging ruling authority.

Then we began to look in detail at the Apple advert. Each of you were given an information sheet on the advert, including a scene-by-scene analysis and a set of questions. You viewed the advert and then began to answer the questions.

Apple "1984" Advert

Gregory's Girl - scenes 10 & 11

This lesson we continued reading "Gregory's Girl" - focusing on scenes 10 & 11.

Scene 10: This scene is set in the darkroom at school. Eric is developing the photos he's taken of Dorothy and Gregory is trying to buy one off of him. The scene is important with respect to the play's theme of adolescence and how difficult a time it can be for teenage boys. It highlights the boys obsession with sex - which is important with regards to the themes of role reversal and gender stereotyping when we compare the boys treatment of sex/the opposite sex to that of the girls.

Scene 11: Breaktime in the school playground. The scene opens with Pete trying to get Lisa to sleep with him by falsely declaring his love for her and stating "But it's dangerous to wait for too long. It's unhealthy. It's bad for you". Lisa isn't interested and maturely replies "If you love me you can wait then". The scene moves on to Gregory being told that Dorothy wants to talk to him over by the bikesheds - where she asks him to help her practice football during the lunch break. Gregory thinks that it's a date. Meanwhile Andy and Charlie are desperately trying to chat-up some girls by telling them "interesting" facts such as the speed at which snot escapes your nose when you sneeze...funnily enough the girls aren't interested. This is another prime example where we can compare and contrast the boys vs girls attitude towards the opposite sex and relationships in general.

Gregory's Girl - Gender Stereotyping

So...today we tackled gender stereotyping in a bit more detail (can you guess what theme I'll be pushing you to tackle when writing about the play in your exam?). We quickly recapped the scenes that we'd read last lesson before tackling scenes 6, 7, 8 & 9.

Here's a quick summary of what happened in the scenes:

Scene 6: This scene was set in the cookery class, a mixed class of boys and girls. At the very start of the scene the girls are discussing Dorothy trying out for the football team and Susan asks: "Why is it boys are such a physical disaster?". The girls go on to discuss boy's hairstyle, saying that "It's so temporary" - suggesting an aspect of role reversal in that it is the boys in this play who are obsessed with their image (flashback to Gregory in front of the mirror possibly?) rather than the traditional view of girls being image obsessed. Gender stereotyping and role reversal also rear their ugly heads with regards to the character of Steve who is portrayed as being a master cook and it is the girls who ask him how to cook things properly rather than vice-versa.

Scene 7: It's the second football match and once again role reversal and gender stereotyping are the main themes in this scene. At the start Alan asks Dorothy if he can borrow her football, only to rebuffed as it is "a Telstar 5. It's only the best professional football in Europe" - Alan obviously doesn't have a clue about the more technical aspects of football but Dorothy (a girl) does. We then see the girls standing at the side of the pitch discussing the boys' sex-lives (or lack thereof...) - unlike the boys who get over-excited whenever sex is even hinted at (remember the fiasco in scene 2 outside the nurses' hostel?) the girls discuss sex in a confident, matter-of-fact manner. The girls then go on to discuss the football match, using several technical terms and obviously enjoying and understanding exactly what is happening on the football field - whereas the boys are more interesting in checking out Dorothy. Even when the boys do try and focus on the football match it is obvious that they don't understand the game as well as the girls. At the end of the scene Gregory flirts with Dorothy near the changing rooms, only for two boys from the school newspaper to butt-in and try and seduce her themselves! In the conversations with the boys it is Dorothy who comes across as the most confident person - showing Gregory her scars and using innuendo in he reply to Gordon when she says: "Bring your pencil too...and your sharpener...just in case..."

Scene 8: A recent school leaver called Billy is waiting outside the school to speak to some of the 4th year boys. He is obviously as obsessed with sex as the schoolboys and brags about his supposed sexual conquests - even stating that one of the school teachers is desperate to have sex with him. Compare this discussion about sex to the one the girls were having in the previous scene - which group seems more mature, confident and believable? Watch the Harry Enfield "Women know your place" video below:



Do the girls in the play live up to the traditional gender stereotype that was prevalent in British society during the late 1970s and early 1980s? (Here's a short clip of Gene Hunt from the TV show "Ashes to Ashes" showing the prevalent view of women during the period when the play is set)



Scene 9: Madeline and Gregory are sitting in a cafe discussing Gregory's infatuation with Dorothy. Here is an obvious example of role reversal - rather than Gregory giving his younger sister advice it is Madeline who is advising her older brother. If you look at the language used by each character it is Madeline who seems more like an adult in this conversation; in fact if you weren't told Madeline's age you could be forgiven for mistaking her for Gregory's mother. Towards the end of the scene (after Madeline has left) Richard (Madeline's 1st year boyfriend) appears and asks Gregory where Madeline is. Rather than telling Richard where his sister is Gregory acts very childishly and tells him to "piss-off" and act his age; however, Richard rises above Gregory's behaviour and acts like an adult...yet another example of role reversal!