The English and Drama Faculty of the College will be continuing its annual contribution to the NSW English Teachers Association, in 2018. This year, the theme is ‘Let’s Create’, and our focus will be on striking a balance between rules and freedom in creativity – analysis and imagination.
The NSW English Syllabus for Stage 6 that commenced in 2018 presents new challenges. This is especially so for the 2019 HSC cohort, who are facing the Year 12 English Advanced and Standard courses for the first time.
The greatest departure from the English courses that were examined in Term 4 for the last time is found in the new Module C, known as The Craft of Writing. This module moves the focus away from analytical essays and, for the first time in over a decade, requires students to explore a range of text types in their wide reading and personal writing, from the information and persuasive to the discursive and imaginative.
To give our students the best opportunity to meet these new challenges, Vanessa Refalo and David Gawthorne have co-produced a program of learning to be implemented in Term 2, 2019, which provides a highly structured and ordered approach to the distinctive requirements of Module C in the English Advanced course. This approach emphasises the need for sophisticated analysis of language features before and after students attempt their own compositions. The program also provides the outline for a similar approach to teaching and learning Module C in the English Standard course.
Confident in the potential of this particular approach, David Gawthorne will be presenting the program and its methodology to English teachers from across NSW as part of the ETA Annual Conference at the University of New South Wales on Saturday, 1 December 2018. This maintains the commitment of the College to setting standards of professional excellence in both teaching and learning at the College and contributions to broader professional development in the teaching profession.
Contributing to the English Teachers Association in this manner only reinforces Thomas Hassall’s reputation as having one of the best English Faculty’s in South West Sydney.
Dr David Gawthorne
Secondary Teacher - English
