Pupils of the Month - is it you?

This year, the English department is running a pupil of the month reward system. This is to recognize and reward the outstanding work that goes on on a daily basis from a significant amount of our students. Sometimes, we are so blown away by the outstanding nature of their effort, homework, classwork, engagement, that we want to shout about it from the roof tops.


So, every month, we will share these students, and if we can, photographs of their work, to celebrate their successes. Each student's reason for winning will also be explained.


Without further ado, here are our September winners!

Year 7 –  Lucy Andrews.

Lucy always shows exceptional effort in lessons and  her class contributions have been consistently outstanding since the start of term. Superb! Well done, Lucy, and keep up the great work!

 

Year 8 was just too difficult for use to decide! Having looked at positive behavior points for the 2 students, we found them neck and neck. Therefore, both of them are declared our winners! In no particular order, we have Mimi Cook for outstanding homework, effort in class, attitude to learning. We also have Matthew Smith, again, for outstanding homeworks in English. Well done to both students - we hope you continue with this excellent work!

 

Year 9 - Katie Beresford 
Katie has been given this aware for great effort in reading Lennie’s part with emotion. For those of you that have read Of Mice and Men, you'll realize the significance of the emotions portrayed through Lennie's character. Katie did an excellent job of portraying this and showed herself to have a real talent for speaking.

 

Year 10 - Nathan Shaw.
Nathan has made an excellent start to his GCSE English studies. Each piece of work has shown that he has put in lots of effort, and also that he is making excellent progress as a result. Well done Nathan, and keep up the excellent work.

 

Year 11 - Tom Goode.
Tom never ceases to amaze his English teacher, Miss Forrester. Tom's effort and work outside of school is truly outstanding and as a result of this, Tom is making huge steps in progress. Indeed, he is out performing his target grades by around 2 grades. Tom's absolute dedication to his own achievement is inspiring to all. Keep up the hard work Tom - it's really paying off!

 

Year 12 – Ella Curzon.
Ella has been recognized for her excellent homeworks as she begins her journey into A Level English. This is an integral part of achieving success at A Level, and it's brilliant to see Ella doing it so brilliantly!

 

Year 13 - Alex Milburn.

Alex has made huge improvements to organization. This has made a huge impact and Alex is now making increased progress as a direct result of this, well done!

These are just some of our truly outstanding and inspiring students at Cockermouth School. Over the coming months, we will continue to share the outstanding work of our students. For those of you that have narrowly missed out, this is your chance to work even harder, push yourself, and make sure that you are next month's English Student of the Month!

Good luck, and keep learning!

The English Department.

Final Words

With the Literature exams looming, we thought it would be apt to give you some final words of wisdom and tips for the exam.
Remember, it's Unit 1 on Tuesday (modern texts) and Unit 2 (poetry) on Thursday. If you DO NOT bring your copy of your novel to the Tuesday exam, you WILL have to sit the exam without a copy so do not forget it! See your English teacher as a matter of urgency if you do not have your exam copy.

General advice:
1) Read the question 2 or 3 times.
2) Highlight the key words in the question and make sure you're really clear in your head what you're being asked to write about. Don't be the person who doesn't answer the actual question.
3) Once you're really clear in your head what the question is asking, begin your plan.
4) On your plan, you should roughly plot of what you're going to write about, and use this time to locate the quotations you're going to use. DO NOT start writing until you have your quotes and your ideas clear in your head.
5) Remember, you need to be writing about the following things, regardless of text or question: key words, alternative interpretations, personal response, etc. If you think you might forget this, use the PEEKIIE mnemonic to remind you: Point, Example, Explanation, Key word analysis, Interpretations, Intentions (the writer's intentions behind their language choices etc) Evaluation. 


Other words of wisdom:
1) Don't write about what isn't there. For example, when comparing poems, don't write about one poem having a simile and the other not. You look like a fool. Only write about what IS actually there. There is no significance to what isn't there.

2) Don't make generalized comments such as 'The writer used this to have an effect', 'It makes you want to read on' and anything else that is completely meaningless. The reason you want to write this is because you can't think of anything better. Take a couple of minutes to think of something to say. It's far better to produce a shorter answer with some really great points than it is to write a meaningless 3 page essay.

3) Ignore what everyone else is doing. We know it's hard. Just because they're doing it, doesn't mean that you should be too. Each person works differently. Do what you need to do. Don't worry if others have started writing and you're still planning. Don't worry if everyone else has finished and you haven't. Remember, this is YOUR exam. You do what's right for YOU.

4) Don't over react when you read the question. If it's not what you're expecting or it feels like something you can't write about, take a moment to work it out in your head. If it's really thrown you, do the other section first and come back to it. You'll work it out - go with your gut instinct.

If you need any help or advice, please just come and see us, email us, tweet us, leave a comment here - we'll do everything we can to support you in the coming days if you need it.

As ever, good luck, work hard, do your best and that's all anyone can ever ask of you.

Question 1 English Language GCSE revision activities.

One of the most effective ways to prepare for the English Language exam is to lots of example questions! Here, we're going to share with you some links to example articles, and the question that you should have a go at answering. Email this to your teacher, bring it in on paper...anything. Just make sure you get some feedback on it!


Question 1 Links:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/apr/29/the-bfg-spielberg-roald-dahl-filmed-adaptation?CMP=twt_gu

Question: What do you learn about the adaptation of the BFG? (8 marks).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/04/coral-reef-breeding_n_4388094.html

Question: What do you learn about how the barrier reef might be saved? (8 marks)


Good luck, and, as always, work hard.

The 5 minute mock exam analysis....

We came across courtesy of @TeacherToolkit and @MathedUp on twitter and we couldn't help but share it with you.
By now, you will all have your literature mocks back from your English Teachers. Obviously you will have spent some time in class on these, but this resource is designed to help you use the mock exam, and the feedback, to identify what you need to do, and where your own revision needs to be focused. The idea is that this resource should only take you five minutes but the outcome will really focus you on your next steps.
You will need to complete this for each of the texts you have studied and are tested on in the exam.

As always, come and see us if you need any support whatsoever, or leave a comment on here and we can respond promptly to you.

On revising comparing poems effectively.

One of the most effective ways to prepare for this section of the Literature exam is to pre empt what's coming. This post will direct you on how to do this effectively.

We can *roughly* know the types of things you will be asked about in the exam. We know it'll be to compare, and we can make some educated guesses about the topic which you will be asked to compare. Therefore, you can begin to group poems by question. Below are a list of questions that you may be asked. For each one, decide all of the poems you could write about:

1) Compare the ways identity is presented....
2) Compare the ways that strong characters are presented....
3) Compare the ways that weaknesses in characters are presented.....
4) Compare the ways that characters are presented.....
5) Compare the ways that attitudes to other characters are presented....
6) Compare the ways that heritage is presented....
7) Compare the ways the past is presented in terms of its impact on characters....

For each of these topics (in bold), write a list of poems you could write about.

You then need to work through the poems, one by one, comparing each of them to all of the others.

For example, if you decided that you could write about COMH, Casehistory, River God and Singh Song (there are more, but just as an example....) for identity, you would then set about deciding what you'd write about if each of the poems was the named poem, and which ones you'd compare it to and how.
So, let's say that River God is the named poem. For each of the poems you could compare it to, make a list of:
1) Similarities
2) Differences
3) Language devices used
4) Quotes you could use.

You can then use that information to write a plan. Then repeat this process for every poem that could be named, and for every poem you could write about. You should then be in a position where, in the exam, you know straight away which poem you'll choose, and, more importantly, what it is you're going to write about.

Have a go at planning the following essays, deciding what poems you'd use, and what you'd write about. Bring them to me to look at!

1) Compare the ways that strong characters are presented in Medusa and one other poem.
2) Compare the ways that heritage is presented in COMH and one other poem.
3) Compare the ways that attitudes to other characters are presented in The Ruined Maid and one other poem
4) Compare the ways that feelings towards other characters are presented in On a Portrait of a Deaf Man and one other poem.
5) Compare the ways that characters' experiences are presented in 'Horse Whisperer' and one other poem.

Once you've planned a range of responses, have a go at writing them as an essay response. Bring them in or email them to me for feedback.

Remember, it's absolutely vital that you're confident on all of the poems, and all of the potential topics. Tackle the ones you're scared of, or struggle with, first. Make yourself confident on them. You do not want to be in the position in the exam where you cannot answer either of the questions!!

English Language Revision Sessions

From next week, there will be English Language revision opportunities after school. For those of you re-sitting the language paper, these are a good idea.

They will be held in S10, from 3:20 to around 4 o'clock.
The dates of the sessions are as follows:

Monday 28th April: Q1
Tuesday 6th May: Q2
Monday 12th May: Q3
Monday 19th May: Q4

As you can see, these sessions are focusing on the reading section of the exam. If you feel you need more help with your writing, please remember that there is an English Drop In Clinic every Thursday lunchtime in S12 where you can go to get some expert help and support.

Please also remember that these sessions are absolutely not a substitute for revision at home, in your own time. These sessions are purely being provided for re capping purposes, to remind you how to respond to the question, and to provide you with some practice materials.

If you cannot attend the session, but would like the hand outs, please come and see Miss Forrester, who is running the sessions, in S10, or the Year 9 Head of Year office, at lunchtime.

We hope that your revision is going well. Please do come and see us if there's anything we do to support you further.

Good luck.

"Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction" - Anne Frank.

Revising for English Literature over Easter...DO IT.

All the best people in the world recognize that the purpose of the Easter Holidays is for Year 11 students across the country to be revising. Forget eating chocolate eggs, it's all about revision.

So, with that in mind, we thought it would be useful for you to have some exam style questions to do over your revision holiday. This is one of the best, if not the best, way of revising for this exam. It helps you realize what you know, but also, crucially, what you don't know about the texts.

Here are a list of questions for you to use. These are all aimed at candidates sitting the Higher paper.

For Short Stories:

Q1a: Write about the ways that attitudes to parents are presented in Anil
Q1b: Write about the ways that attitudes to others are presented in another short story.

Q2a: Write about the ways that the relationship between the boy and his father are presented in 'Compass and Torch'.
Q2b: Write about the ways that a relationship is presented in one other short story.

Q3a: Write about the ways that Carla is presented in 'My Polish Teacher's Tie'.
Q3b: Write about the ways that a main character is presented in one other short story.

For Poetry (character and voice).
Q1: Compare the ways that powerful characters are presented in My Last Duchess and one other poem from the anthology.

Q2: Compare the ways that strong emotions are presented in Medusa and one other poem from the anthology.

Q3: Compare the ways that ideas about identity are shown in 'The Clown Punk' and one other poem from the anthology.

Q4: Compare the ways that isolated characters are portrayed in 'The Hunchback in the Park' and one other poem from the anthology.

Remember to bring these into school for your English teacher to look at, or email them a typed up version. If you're stuck on these, please leave a comment - these are immediately directed to an English teacher who can provide you with assistance over the holidays.

More exam papers can be found by following this link: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/english/gcse/english-literature-9710/past-papers-and-mark-schemes

You will all be sitting Unit 1 and Unit 2. Unit 1 is Short Stories and Of Mice and Men and Unit 2 is poetry and unseen poetry. To practice answers for Of Mice and Men and unseen poetry, you are best placed to access these on the above link so that you have the extracts of text from Of Mice and Men and the poem for the unseen question.

Good luck - remember, you only get one chance at these exams. Work hard now and you will be successful.

Grammar: why it matters

Grammar is really important, both for your Language GCSE and for your Literature GCSE, where you are now assessed on your spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG).

Below are a list of websites to help you out when it comes to learning grammar, and improving it!

http://dailygrammarlessons.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.grammarblog.co.uk/

http://www.future-perfect.co.uk/grammar-tips/

Equally important is your use of vocabulary, especially in the Language Section B, but also in your literature, making sure you're choosing the right words to talk about writers' intended effects. Below is a website that aims to help you develop your vocabulary.

http://www.wordsurfing.co.uk/

These are skills that you need not only for success in English, but are vital for success in Post 16 study, where ever that may be. Good luck.

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail."

Benjamin Franklin

English Literature: Are you ready to take a big step?

Now that you are ready to do some serious revision, here are some tasks below that you can use to make sure you're revising effectively:

1) Print off/access blank copies of the poems you have been studying. From memory, annotate onto this copy everything you can remember. Then, compare this to your notes. What have you missed out? What do you need to focus your revision on? Once you know what you don't know (!), make yourself some flash cards to help you remember this.

2) Do the following exam questions for the Short Stories (some of you may not have studied these). You can use the questions as many times as you wish (as long as it's appropriate for the story!):
- Write about the ways that growing up is presented in one of the short stories
- 'Morals are important'. Write about the ways that morals are shown to be important in one of the short stories.
- Explore the portrayal of character in one of the short stories.
- 'With age comes responsibility'. To what extent is this true of the short story?

3) Find a quote for each of the following things from Of Mice and Men:
Dreams, Light, Dark, Setting, Symbolism, The Great Depression, Lennie, George, Crooks, Curley, Curley's Wife, Hands.

4) For each of these quotes, mind map them with all of the things you can say

5) Follow one of the links below to an 'unseen' poem. Answer the question next to it.
Links:

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-do-not-love-you-except-because-i-love-you/  How does the poet present love in this poem?

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening-2/  How does the poet present nature in this poem?

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/do-you-remember-childhood/ What do you think the poet's views on childhood are?


Good luck- there's plenty here to be getting on with! Remember to bring your work to your teacher for feedback, or come along to the English Clinic, S12, 12:45-1:15 Every Thursday lunch time.

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
- Mark Twain

Revising for English Literature - taking baby steps towards success.

Sometimes, you need to split your revision into smaller chunks, or have some tasks that will take you shorter amounts of time. Therefore, on this post, you will find a range of tasks that you can do as revision for your English Literature exam. Most of these shouldn't take you longer than 20 minutes, so if you're struggling to get started and a cup of tea or cleaning your bedroom seems much more appealing, start with one of these. It's short and you'll feel more successful afterwards!!

1) Write down definitions of the following terminology: simile, metaphor, alliteration, oxymoron, rhetorical question, rhyme, rhyme scheme.

2) Re read the short stories.

3) Make a summary of the chapters in Of Mice and Men

4) Write down, from memory, key quotes from Of Mice and Men

5) Look at the targets you have been given on previous pieces of exam work. Are you making progress towards them? Re write your answers based on any targets that you don't feel you are progressing towards.

Good luck

On Using 'completeissues' to revise for your Language Exam

http://www.completeissues.co.uk/

Step 1: Click on the above link
Step 2: You will need to sign in - you can get the login details from your English teacher or email forrestera@cockermouthschool.org to be emailed them.
Step 3: Click on 'browse'. This will take you to a page where you can access a whole range of non fiction texts that you can use for practice questions.
Step 4: Choose an article
Step 5: Read it.
Step 6: Decide which question it is best for.
Step 7: Have a go at doing an exam style answer for the question
Step 8: Give it to your English teacher for feedback.

A reminder of the questions:
Q1) Explain what you learn about in the text (8 marks, 12 minutes)
Q2) Explain how the headline, subheadline and image link to the text (8marks, 12 minutes)
Q3) Explain some of the thoughts and feelings the writer has in the text (8 marks, 12 minutes)
Q4) Compare the language used in 2 of the articles (16 marks, 24 minutes)

If you are not sure whether the question is appropriate for the article, send it to your English teacher to have a look at and ask them which question you should be using it for.
In the mean time:

1) Read the article and work out the following things:
2) Who is the intended audience? How do you know?
3) What is the purpose of the article? How do you know?
4) Find as many language devices in the article as you can- highlight them and note down what you would say about them
5) What genre is the text? How do you know?
6) If you had to write about the presentation of the text, what things would you pick out and what would you say about them?

The more practice like this that you, the better grade you will come out with. Remember, if you need any help at all, leave a comment, email your teacher/go and see them or use the English Clinic on a Thursday lunchtime in S12 12:45-1:15.

Good luck - work hard, and you will succeed.

On revision....

We hope that all year 11s are revising hard at home in preparation for their GCSE exams.
Rather than offering stand alone revision sessions, we are taking a slightly different approach this year. We have set up an 'English Clinic' in which students can pop along with:
*  something they're struggling with in their revision
* essay plans for essay questions
* questions they might have about the exam
* some practice answers that they have completed
* basically, anything that they need help on!

These will take place on Thursday lunch times every week in S12 from 12:45-1:15.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Year11: A list of great revision websites

Students learn in many different ways. We hope we can provide you with some useful ideas on different websites you can use to help you revise in ways that suit you.

So, here are some recommendations:

 

http://www.completeissues.co.uk/ - a website ideal for those sitting their English Language exam this summer. You will need to login (your English teacher can provide you with the login details - it's free!) so do ask them. There is a huge amount of brilliant articles to use to help you with sources for Q1-Q4 of the exam so you should never be stuck for practice questions! Remember to bring them in for your English Teacher to mark and give you feedback on.

 

http://getrevising.co.uk/resources/level/gcse - this is ideal for all of your subjects and general revision as well as being useful for English. There’s a wealth of information on it, from being able to create your own revision timetable to over 600 resources on Of Mice and Men, there’s something there for everyone!

 

http://www.youtube.com/mrbruff - Mr Bruff is our second favourite English Teacher, aside from Mr Lawson-Ellis, obviously. He has created an amazing YouTube page, full of excellent videos that help you with your revision. There’s videos on moving from A to A* and they’re all on a range of topics, from ‘Unseen Poetry’ to ‘Of Mice and Men’. It’s a must-use website for anyone wishing to succeed!

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/micemen/ - ahhhh, our ever faithful friend, Sparknotes. This is a link to their stuff of ‘Of Mice and Men’, but there are hundreds of other texts on there, with very useful information to revise from, and it’s all really reliable, too. Check it out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/english_literature/ - BBC bitesize is a really reliable website that covers lots of information, both for your Language GCSE and your Literature GCSE. Get involved.

 

http://wildernenglish.wordpress.com/tag/responding-to-an-unseen-poem/ - struggling with unseen poetry? This school has an excellent blog post on responding to unseen poems, and also some practise questions for you.

 

We’ll add a new post with some more useful links on for you in the coming weeks, but this is more than enough to get you started. Get off FaceBook and onto something that will help you excel your potential. Now.

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