25
Gazette January 2020
AC A DE M IC E XC E L L E NC E
Write a Book
Learning through doing has been at the core of the English classroom in 2019 and it has been so wonderful to see the creative and original work produced by our students this year. From picture books in Year 7 to short films in Year 8, war diaries in Year 9 and digital essays in Year 10, students have composed a range of complex multimodal texts.
Unlike traditional written compositions, multimodal texts are incredibly demanding for both the composer and the responder, requiring students to understand the relationship between different modes and the way they shape meaning. Offering authentic opportunities for students to create multimodal texts is imperative if we are to prepare them well for their Senior study of English where NESA’s assessment and reporting guidelines stipulate that in both Year 11 and Year 12 “one task must be a multimodal presentation enabling students to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills across a range of modes.” The language of visual design suddenly has far more currency for students when they get to apply it to their own compositions, as opposed to the dry learning of metalanguage that can often seem so foreign. Through the construction of their picture books, students in Year 7 now understand terms such as salience and vectors and how these are used to shape the perspective of the reader. Students in Year 9, however, through the creation of a war diary from the perspective of a King’s Old Boy who served at war, understand that as active agents who construct meaning, composers have the power to evoke our empathy and compassion. And that is the point, our humanity, our ability to think and feel and to step inside someone else’s shoes is shaped through the texts that we read and create. As a Department we could not be more proud of the way the boys have embraced this opportunity and we are delighted to share their efforts with you.
Sonya Harper Acting Head of English Department
