About this rap
Rap live for subscription and introductions (week beginning 16 October 2006)
Rap point 1 (week beginning 23 October2006)
Rap point 2 (week beginning 30 October2006)
Rap point 3 (week beginning 6 November 2006)
Rap wrap up (week beginning 13 November 2006)
Resources
Journeys rap home
Credits
About this rap
This rap assists Stage 6 students in the English (Standard), English (Advanced) and English (ESL) courses to explore the concept of the journey and selected texts from Journeys: English Stage 6 stimulus booklet for the area of study HSC 2004 and 2007.
The stimulus booklet offers various points of view from which the Area of Study The journey may be introduced. The texts in the booklet provide different examples of the concept of the journey. These texts are intended as stimulus for responding to and composing a variety of texts relating to the Area of Study
Program and planning for Introductions
Term 4 Week 1: week beginning October 16 2006
Here are some possible teaching activities for this week.
During the first week rappers send a short introductory message about their class or group, and give some information about their school and its location.
Rappers could locate participating schools on their Rap map after reading each introduction.
When preparing for the rap teachers may wish to view the Archives of the class email discussion from previous book raps including 2004 book rap on The rabbits.
Stage 6 Outcomes and content |
Teaching and learning strategies |
English Standard
Outcome 5 A student analyses the effect of technology and medium on meaning
English Advanced
Outcome 7 A student analyses the effect of technology on meaning
English ESL
Outcome 7 A student analyses the effect of technology on meaning
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Some or all of these preparatory activities could be carried out in this first week.
Introduce the book rap and outline expectations. Students are shown the rap web site, read selected sections such as Rap lingo, discuss the purpose of rap lingo and practice using it.
In discussing the purpose and conventions of a book rap, teachers could also refer to appropriate Book rap FAQs, and examples of email messages in the Archives of email discussion from previous raps.
Discuss the process of subscribing to a listserv.
Subscribe the group/s or class to Journeys book rap.
Students will identify the ways purpose, audience and context affect their writing for the book rap introductory message.
Explain the conventions of email. Provide opportunities for the discussion of introductory rap messages. Examples of introductory messages from previous raps in Archives of email discussion could be referred to.
Facilitate a brainstorm, a deconstruction, and joint construction of a group or class introductory message for the rap. If a large number of schools are participating, discuss how you will manage email messages (see Book rap FAQs).
Introduce students to the Board of Studies NSW web site. Show and discuss with them the English Stage 6: prescriptions: area of study, electives and texts booklet and the Journeys: stimulus booklet for the area of study HSC 2004-2007
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Program and planning for Rap point 1
Term 4 Week 2: week beginning October 23 2006
Rap point 1:
What relevance does the concept of journey have to our lives?
Write a short explanation of the relevance of the Area of Study The journey for parents of HSC English students. Your explanation will be published in a section of the school newsletter called Curriculum snapshots. This section of the newsletter is written by students to inform their parents of what they are studying in class.
Jointly compose and post a response of approximately 200 words.
Post your class answer to the rap once the teacher has approved the final text.
Suggested learning activities for this week
The five introductory activities are designed to get students thinking about their response to Rap Point 1 through initial discussion, reading and writing about the concept of the journey. The introductory activities should be completed before the jointly composed response to Rap Point 1 is begun.
Teachers of students in the Standard and ESL courses may need to scaffold and support the learning of their students as they work through these activities in additional ways of their own devising.
Stage 6 Outcomes and content |
Teaching and learning strategies |
English (Standard)
Outcome 6 A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally.
Outcome 11 A student draws upon the imagination to transform experience and ideas into text, demonstrating control of language.
English (Advanced)
Outcome 6 A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally.
Outcome 11 A student draws upon the imagination to transform experience and ideas into text, demonstrating control of language.
English (ESL)
Outcome 9 A student engages with the details of text in order to develop a considered and informed personal response.
Outcome 12 A student draws upon the imagination to transform experience and ideas into texts, demonstrating control of language.
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Introductory activities
1. Discuss the following quotations with a partner. What does each have to say about the concept of journey?
(All these quotations are taken from The Oxford dictionary of quotations)
A
Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
Up-hill (Rossetti 1862
B
Like pilgrims to th’appointed place we tend;
The world’s an inn, and death the journey’s end.
Palamon and Arcite (Dryden 1700)
C
Ithaka gave you the splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn’t anything else to give you
Ithaka (Cavafy 1911)
D
You can’t go home again
You can’t go home again (Wolfe 1940)
E
A tower of nine storeys begins with a heap of earth
The journey of a thousand li starts from where one stands.
Tao-te Ching (Lao-Tzu c. 604 -c.531 BC)
F
Let who will be a wanderer and explore farthest Spain: such may have more of a journey: this man has more of a life.
Of the old man of Verona who never left his home (Claudian 370 BC -c.404 BC)
G
Clay lies still, but blood’s a rover;
Breath’s a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad: when the journey’s over
There’ll be time enough to sleep.
A Shropshire lad no.4 (Houseman 1896)
H
Journey’s end in lovers meeting, Every wise man’s son doth know.
Twelfth Night (Shakespeare1601)
I
[The traveller] can get the greatest joy of travel without going to the mountains, by staying at home and watching and going about the field to watch a sailing cloud, or a dog, or a hedge, or a lonely tree.
The importance of living (Lin, Yutang, 1938)
2. Behind each of these quotations lies a particular view about or set of values relating to journeys. With this in mind, consider each of the statements about the concept of journey on Rap sheet 1: Responding to statements about journeys.
Working with your partner, complete Rap sheet 1 by matching to each statement the most relevant quotations. Note: you may match a particular quotation to more than one statement.
3. Add to the table by writing 3 thoughts of your own about journeys, which you have gained from considering the quotations, and matching the most relevant quotations to each of these thoughts.
4. Read Rap sheet 2: The journey and human experience and complete the 3 activities it outlines.
5. Present the haiku you have written in completing Rap sheet 2 The journey and human experience to other students in a Microsoft PowerPoint slide show.
Each line of your haiku should be a slide in your presentation. You are to find an image to match each line. Keep in mind that your image does not have to be a literal representation of your poetry. You should consider how to symbolically represent your words.
Rap reponse: Facilitate rap reps’ use of the word processor and email programs.
In your group or as a class compose the response to Rap point 1 (see above). Once your teacher has approved the final text post it to the rap.
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Program and planning for Rap point 2
Term 4 Week 3: week beginning October 30 2006
Rap point 2:
In what ways do narrative conventions shape the way that composers represent journeys?
Compare and contrast the representation of the journey as a narrative in two of the texts from the stimulus booklet.
Jointly compose and post a response of approximately 400 words.
Post your class answer to the rap once the teacher has approved the final text.
Once you have posted your class response you may wish to respond to one or more of the responses from other class groups. You can do this by posting your comments to the rap so all rappers can share your ideas.
Suggested learning activities for this week
The five introductory activities are designed to assist students to develop the content of their response to Rap point 2 through initial discussion, reading and writing about two texts from the BOS stimulus booklet, Journeys, and how these represent in narrative form the concept of the journey. The two texts are Text 1, The road not taken, a poem by Robert Frost, and Text 2, the cover of Victor Kelleher’s novel, The ivory trail.
The introductory activities should be completed by students before the jointly composed response to Rap point 2 is begun.
Teachers of students in the Standard and ESL courses may need to scaffold and support the learning of their students as they work through these activities in additional ways of their own devising.
Note to teachers: an overview of The grammar of visual design will help explain the metalanguage to those who have not worked with the grammar of visual design.
Stage 6 Outcomes and content |
Teaching and learning strategies |
English (Standard)
Outcome 2 A student demonstrates understanding of the relationships among texts.
Outcome 4 A student describes and analyses the ways that language forms and features, and structures of texts shape meaning and influence responses.
Outcome 5 A student analyses the effect of technology and medium on meaning.
Outcome 6 A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally.
Outcome 10 A student analyses and synthesises information and ideas into sustained and logical argument for a range of purposes and audiences.
English (Advanced)
Outcome 2 A student explains relationships among texts.
Outcome 4 A student explains and analyses the ways in which language forms and features, and structures of texts shape meaning and influence responses.
Outcome 5 A student explains and evaluates the effects of textual forms, technologies and their media of production on meaning.
Outcome 6 A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally.
Outcome 10 A student analyses and synthesises information and ideas into sustained and logical argument for a range of purposes, audiences and contexts.
English (ESL)
Outcome 2 A student describes and explains different relationships among texts.
Outcome 6 A student interprets texts using key language patterns and structural features.
Outcome 9 A student engages with the details of text in order to develop a considered and informed personal response.
Outcome 11 A student analyses and synthesises information and ideas into sustained and logical argument for a range of purposes and audiences.
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Facilitate student access to rap email messages in print or electronic form, so they can read, discuss and record the responses of other rappers to Rap point 1. Teachers may wish to share strategies they are using for collecting rap email, sharing and recording responses on the teacher discussion list. Teachers seeking additional ideas could ask such questions on the teacher list.
- Students read and complete the activities for Rap sheet 3: The journey: narrative and representation.
- Students read and complete the activities for Rap sheet 4: The journey: narrative, representation and ideology.
- Students read and complete the activities for Rap sheet 5: Reading: The road not taken.
- Responding to The ivory trail bookcover
A predominantly visual text such as a book cover can also have a narrative structure. In completing the following activities, you will explore how the cover of Victor Kelleher’s novel, The ivory trail, represents the concept of journey through the grammar of visual design and its narrative structure.
a. In order to have students describe how meaning is made in the book cover, use the notemaking scaffold Reading images: compositional analysis for visual texts in order to make notes on the hyperlinked Microsoft PowerPoint deconstruction of The ivory trail cover.
Note to teachers: an overview of The grammar of visual design will help explain the metalanguage to those who have not worked with the grammar of visual design.
b. Students use the notes they have made on the scaffold to write a commentary for the PowerPoint deconstruction of the book cover, which would be suitable for a class presentation on how the book cover represents the concept of the journey.
Rap response: Facilitate rap reps’ use of the word processor and email programs
In your group/s or as a class compose the response to Rap point 2 (see above).
Once your teacher has approved the final text post it to the rap. |
Program and planning for Rap point 3
Term 4 Week 4: week beginning November 6 2006
Rap point 3:
Text 6 Journeys over land and sea
- What ideas about the journey are expressed in Text 6 Journeys over land and sea
- How are these ideas conveyed?
- What is the impact of these journeys?
Post your class response to these questions once the teacher has approved the final text. Your answer to each question should be in paragraph form. You should write about two paragraphs for each question.
Stage 6 English outcomes |
Teaching and learning strategies |
English (ESL)
Outcome 1 A student demonstrates understanding of how relationships between composer, responder, text and context shape meaning.
English (Standard)
Outcome 1 A student demonstrates understanding of how relationships between composer, responder, text and context shape meaning.
English (ESL)
Outcome 5 A student demonstrates understanding of how audience and purpose affect the language and structure of texts .
English (Standard)
Outcome 4 A student describes and analyses the ways in which language forms and features, and structures of texts shape meaning and influence responses.
English (Advanced)
Outcome 4 A student explains and analyses the ways in which language forms and features, and structures of texts shape meaning and influence responses.
English (ESL)
Outcome 9 A student engages with the details of texts in order to develop a considered and informed response.
English (Standard)
Outcome 6 A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally.
English (Advanced)
Outcome 6 A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally. |
Facilitate student access to rap email messages in print or electronic form so they can read, discuss and record the responses of other rappers to Rap point 2 to add and compare messages.
Text 4: Journey to the interior
Introduce Text 4 Journey to the interior as a listening activity. Students listen as the poem is read aloud.
Students are provided with an incomplete copy of the poem with key words missing.
Teachers will choose appropriate words, concepts and punctuation to delete, according to the needs of the students in their class.
As the teacher reads the poem a second time students fill in the missing words. Some groups of students may need more than one reading to complete this activity. Share answers.
In pairs, students take turns reading the poem to each other.
As a class, discuss initial responses to the poem through questions such as:
- what is the purpose of this text?
- who is the intended audience?
- what type of journey does it express?
Teacher leads a class deconstruction of the poem as shown in Rap sheet 6. This is an important step in the teaching sequence as students need to be able to independently identify, describe and explain the effect of the language and structural features used by the composer of the following text.
Text 6: Journeys over land and sea
Draw students’ attention to the contextual information that can be found in the acknowledgements section of the stimulus booklet.
What does the title suggest this text might be about?
Give students the opportunity to read it several times before class discussion of responses. Some students will need the text read to them, a glossary of terms used in the text and an explanation of cultural references such as Renaissance.
As a class, discuss initial responses to the text.
Rap response:
Introduce Rap point 3. Break it up into focus questions:
- context/purpose/audience – where does the text come from, who wrote it, to whom, why and when?
- content – what ideas about journeys are expressed?
- identify and discuss the structural features used to convey these ideas
- identify and discuss the language features used to convey these ideas
- what is depicted in the graphics included in the text? How do they relate to the written text?
- what is the impact of the journey on the travellers and the world?
Divide class into groups and allocate one focus question to each group.
In these groups students draw on the skills developed from the deconstruction of Text 4 to discuss and deconstruct Text 6, according to their focus question.
They should formulate points supported by evidence from the text and report their analysis back to the class.
Using the ideas and evidence reported from each group, jointly construct a class response to the questions in Rap point 3
Facilitate rap reps’ use of the word processor and email programs. Rap reps send the class response to Rap point 3 (see above) to the rap once the teacher has approved the final text.
Additional activity
Convert answers to the questions in Rap point 3 into an extended response such as an essay or other format.
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Program and planning for Rap wrap up
Term 4 Week 5: week beginning November 13 2006
Having participated in the book rap, share your experiences with other rappers. Fill in the Rap reflection sheet to help you with this.
| Stage 6 English Outcomes |
Teaching and learning strategies |
English (ESL)
Outcome 9 A student engages with the details of texts in order to develop a considered and informed response.
English (Standard)
Outcome 6 A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally.
English (Advanced)
Outcome 6: A student engages with the details of text in order to respond critically and personally.
English (ESL)
Outcome 14 A student reflects on own processes of learning, especially on the effects of their expanding knowledge and skills in English.
English (Standard)
Outcome 13 A student reflects on own processes of learning.
English (Advanced)
Outcome 13 A student reflects on own processes of learning. |
Students read and discuss the responses of other rappers to Rap point 3. Discussion could include similarities and differences in the responses of participating schools, points the class had not previously considered, differing interpretations of the text. Students record any new ideas they would like to include in their own notes on Text 6 Journeys over land and sea.
Ask students to draw on what they have learned from activities in the rap to compose their own definition of journeys. This definition could include:
- types of journeys one could experience in life
- how journeys can broaden a person’s understanding of the world and themselves.
Brainstorm students’ recall of terms and ideas about journeys to support their composition if needed. Students share and discuss their responses. Facilitate class discussion, reviewing and reflecting on activities students have engaged in during the rap. Students use the Rap reflection sheet to support this activity. Students discuss their responses and reflect on the variety of other’s views and responses to the rap. Students participate in jointly constructing a class response to the Rap wrap up. The message is drafted, reflecting a variety of views and responses. It is then word processed and posted to the listserv, when the teacher has approved final text. |
Credits
Thanks to the English Faculty of Penrith High School, especially Mark Howie, Head Teacher English, and Jo-Anne Patterson, ESL teacher, Wyndham College, and to Kerry Underhill, Senior Curriculum Adviser, English 7-12.
Additional resources provided by the School Libraries and Information Literacy unit.
This rap is a joint project of the School Libraries and Information Literacy and English Units, Curriculum K-12 Directorate.
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