Exploring Sustainability, Memoirs and Verse
Year 7
It has been a pleasure reconnecting with the students and being their full time English teacher again. We began this term by defining sustainable and delving into the world of associated vocabulary. We read a non-fiction article about the effects e.g. erosion, the 2010 unprecedented statistics that were based on the amount of rainfall in Australia and the corresponding seas levels, and the water cycle.
This term, students have a dedicated lesson based on writing with particular emphasis on gaining strategies to be able to write freely in assessments.
Year 8
The students have been finding out information about Malala Yousafzai in preparation for reading the memoir “I Am Malala; How one girl stood up for education and changed the world.” The students had the task of understanding specific vocabulary that related to the context.
This week they have learnt about the structure of a memoir, and are delving into the prologue to have the required background information to fully submerge themselves into the memoir.
This term, students have a dedicated lesson based on writing with particular emphasis on gaining strategies to be able to write freely in assessments.
Year 9
The students will be reading “Brown Girl Dreaming” this term. They are learning how a narrative can be written in verse and that the poet’s choices determine how the reader connects to the text. Poetic devices such as repetition, alliteration, personification, metaphors and similes are located and explained in terms of effectiveness.
This term, students have a dedicated lesson based on writing with particular emphasis on gaining strategies to be able to write freely in assessments.
Years 7 and 8 English: Poetry and the Library Bus
Both year levels are working through poetic forms and literary devices, and the Auckland Libraries mobile bus called in again this week.
Creative Writing: Plots, Characters and Credible Detail
The Creative Writing cohort has been pulling apart the opening pages of well-known novels, then building plots and characters of their own.
Year 9 and 10 English: Shakespeare on Its Feet
Year 9 are turning Othello from page to stage through freeze frames, and Year 10 are preparing for the ASB Theatre production of Macbeth.
Years 7 and 8 English: Persuasive Speeches and the Mobile Library
Year 7 and 8 students have been writing and presenting persuasive speeches, and the Auckland Council mobile library bus called in at the school.
English Years 9 and 10: From Poetry to Analysis
Year 9s are constructing three-paragraph analytical essays using the BUG formula. Year 10s are working through Cambridge-level language analysis, learning to distinguish it from literary analysis.
Years 9 and 10 English: Ozymandias and the Passage-Based Essay
Year 9 and 10 students prepare for passage-based essays on Ozymandias and other poems, building both poetic analysis and essay-writing skills.
Wrapping Up the Artemis Inquiry
Year 7 and 8 students close their Artemis unit having mastered the inquiry process, with Artemis II’s launch now on the horizon.
Building Comprehension and Summary Skills in Years 9 and 10
Year 9 students are mastering the art of summarising, while Year 10s are developing the deeper reading and paraphrasing skills needed for Cambridge assessments.
Novel Study and PAT Results in English
Year 7 students are exploring identity and belonging through Wonder, while Year 8s are analysing I Am Malala. Both year groups completed PAT assessments in Week 5.
Cambridge English in Years 9 and 10: Reading Deeper
Year 9s are mastering summary and paraphrasing skills. Year 10s are working through Cambridge-level comprehension, learning how to use evidence, inversion, and concision to lift their answers.
