Items for this week's lessons....

As you already know, next week we are starting to look at your coursework texts. The theme for your coursework is ‘Innocence to Experience’ which you are going to explore in my lessons. As well as introducing the texts, we will be looking at the definitions of these two key words and how much impact they have on our lives.

I would like you to bring three-four photographs to lessons with you: one of when you were a baby/early years, one of you around primary age and a recent photograph. If possible I would like them to be personal photos not the ones we take in school, although I will dig them out of Mr Smith’s archives if you fail to bring any in! If the photos are sentimental, then photocopies will do. Students in Monday’s lesson are being observed so it is really important that you bring the correct resources for the lesson. Please let me know if there are any problems.

Thanks

Mrs Hulbert

Some research and wider reading...

I've placed this link in the websites to visit, but will also post it here. It contains very well organised information on Siegfried Sassoon. It will be good wider reading for our lesson which focuses onthe critique of those who lacked sympathy:

http://www.ppu.org.uk/people/sassoon.html

Concerns

I am becoming increasingly concerned by the amount of students who are failing to meet deadlines. These are set in place to help you manage the course and ensure that you are able to complete the syllabus by the exam and coursework date.

With the onset of your coursework in two weeks time, you must ensure that you keep up. Failure to do so may result in us being unable to submit your coursework to the board on time, losing you 40% of your final grade.

If you are in 12B, I will be checking your books to make sure your notes are up to date on Thursday. 12D you need to make sure that you have summary notes on each chapter in your books for Thursday’s lesson. If exercise books are not bought to the lesson, I will assume that they are incomplete.


Thanks

Mrs Hulbert

12B's trip to Southbank Book Market and the Imperial War Museum...

Again, great weather, a little cold, but fun had by all!





Bradley meets some of the Southbank locals...

















Browsing for a bargain...







Tim had a fascination with all of the bombs!

Annotations....

All annotations must be complete by 28th November 2008. No gaps - no exceptions!

Coursework texts...

I'm aware that Mrs. Hulbert has been talking to you about purchasing these texts in her lessons and I have also mentioned several times the need to buy (and read) them.

Please purchase:

Oranges are not the Only Fruit (Jean Winterson)

The History Boys (Alan Bennett)

You will be required to have both texts as soon as possible - 29th November at the latest (this will only leave you a week to read it though!). Please let us know if you have any difficulties in purchasing these texts. If you wish to purchase them off Amazon etc..., but don't have keycard speak to us and we can, upon the presentation of the money, use our cards to buy for you - Amazon also give free delivery for multiple purchases so get together with a few others!

You will need to read Oranges by the time we start our introductions to the coursework requirements and the theme of study. This will happen in the last two weeks of this term which gives you another 2-3 weeks to get this read (by the 8th December). It is not a particularly long text, and you must realise this is a first reading and you shouldn't get too bogged down in any difficulties you have in understanding as this will come with successive reads (yes, you must read it more than once!!)

You can then read History Boys over the Xmas holidays (I will also put the film on before the holidays - after school sometime) and when we return to school be prepared for the proper start of lessons on the texts - we will not read the entire text in lessons - we will only touch on passages that support our thematic concerns and the completion of your comparative coursework requirement.

And yes, during this period of time we will still be completing work on Fitzgerald and Owen, including exam essay writing practice for Milestone grades!

Don't leave your concerns to the last minute! See us in advance so we can support you appropriately.

Mr. D & Mrs. Hulbert

12D's trip to the Southbank Book Market and Imperial War Museum...

A great afternoon had by all - looking forward to doing it again with 12B!

If you were on this trip, can you leave your reflections of the afternoon and some of what you saw at the war museum!

Enrichment and Research Trip Update...

As you all should be aware, the enrichment and research trip is back on for the following dates:

12D on the 4/11/08 (instead of class Period 5 Tuesdays)


12B on the 20/11/08 (instead of class Period 5 Thursdays)

On both occasions, Mr D will be waiting in the egg from 1.25pm for a 1.30pm departure - if we've already left and are walking down to Becontree - run!

If you are at another consortium location you'll need to make you way, as per the instructions on the note, to Embankment Tube Station by 2.30pm.

Please see me for a note if you don't have one as it contains important information regarding what you need to bring etc...

Mr. D

Last week of half term...

As I will be away from Tuesday to Thursday this week, you 'll either have a cover teacher or be advised to complete work in the library or common-room. Either way, the tasks you'll need to complete are the same and require little input from the staff supervising anyway.

You need to complete the following work:

1. Complete any outstanding annotations from the poems we've covered - this now includes: Apologia..., Exposure, Futility, The Last Laugh and Stange Meeting.

2. Prepare for all the remaining poems - this means read them (several times), complete the diction column and the intended meaning.

3. Complete the homework tasks as instructed on the Independent study and Homework archive.

You may like, and I strongly suggest you should consider, doing this work in pairs or small groups. This will help, in my absence, with any problems you may face with either language, structural or form issues!

All this work should be complete by the first day back from half-term and whilst I agree the break should be a time for rest and relaxation it should also be a time for catching up on the knowledge from this half term and any work you've failed to complete!!!!!!

Good Luck and may the force be with you!

Mr. D

NOTE: I'll be available via email and via the comment link on this post to answer questions during the next two weeks

Important information on preparation for lessons...

Firstly, with a few people being away due to study sessions or others consortium commitments the order of which we are studying the poems has shifted a little.

You should read them in preparation for the upcoming lesson - something which is not happening - this is making it difficult for you to access the lesson, difficult for me to teach the lesson and difficult for those students in the class who have taken the time to prepare.

As a result, I'm going to be looking for annotations to be started before you enter the class for the lesson.

You should, at minimum, have noted the diction of the poem and have evidence that you have explored the meaning of the words you don't understand. You should also have a preliminary paragraph written on the poem's intended meaning.

The order of poems are as follows -

Exposure
Futility
The Last Laugh
Strange Meeting
The Sentry
The Show
Miners
Disabled
Mental Cases
A Terre

Postponed Trips...

Please be advised that the English trip to the Imperial War Museum has had to be postponed this week to a later date. You will have a normal lessons on Thursday and next Tuesday afternoon.

Any questions please see myself or Mr D. If possible, please could you pass this message on to anyone who I might have missed this message.

Many Thanks

Mrs Hulbert/Mr. D

Deadlines for Work books checks.....

If you receive an extension for work you have failed to complete, you must see me on the day your extension is granted to for resubmission.

If that means seeing me outside of our timetabled lessons so be it (this may be different for those not at JRCS as your home school - I'll take this into consideration when setting you a deadline).

This includes this Wednesday if you have study skills and miss some of our lesson time together. I'll be in my office from 8am and you can also see me and break and lunchtime!

There is really no excuse.

Mr. D

Dates for Mr. Donovan's Milestone Assessment...

12D Period 2 Friday 26th September

12B Period 4 Monday 29th September

If you are late you will not be allowed into the classroom and therefore will not complete the assessment.

During these assessments your workbooks will be checked as well - there were still people in lesson today who hadn't glued in their poems, stuck the notes into the appropriate place and hadn't completed the some of the research.

Failure to complete either the Milestone Assessment, submit a workbook or submit an incomplete workbook by these dates (unless you've negotiated with me in person) will result in you not attending next week's enrichment/research trip and you'll stay at school to complete work. Furthermore, not meeting these deadlines will also result in questions being asked about your suitability for the subject.

Mr. D

Imagery Chart for Insensibility..

This chart is now in the shared area - great help for your annotations!

Mr. D

Milestone Assessment for 'The Great Gatsby'...

As more and more of you ask about your milestone assessment, please be aware that you will be assessed on your understanding of the first 4 chapters and the context of the novel itself.

I offer no more hints than that!

Thanks
Mrs Hulbert

Tess of the D'Urbervilles...

BBC 1 are currently showing an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel ‘Tess of the D’Urbervilles’. It is one of the set texts for the prose exam.

Although we have chosen to study ‘The Great Gatsby’ it is a great example of some the texts you should be reading at home. Why not watch the series and then dip into the novel? It is shown at 9pm on a Sunday evening but the previous weeks episode is also repeated at 5.30 Sunday afternoon in case you missed one.

Enjoy
Mrs Hulbert

A visit to Waterstones...

I had a wander in Waterstones on the weekend. They have a large collection of study guides for AS Literature - however, be careful that they are not for the old specification (different requirements and texts now). Also, ensure they are for the correct exam board (OCR).

I purchased the book below as it is a good general study guide - come and have a look if you think you need to revise some of your key skills!

AS In a Week: English Literature - AS in a Week S.
Format: Paperback 112 pages
Date of publish: 31/01/2006
Publisher: Letts Educational
Usually despatched within 7-10 days
£7.99

You can follow this link to purchase it on the internet! If you were organised, two or three of you may want to order together to take advantage of their free delivery over £15!

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/simpleSearch.do?simpleSearchString=+as+in+a+week&searchType=3

You could also visit this link to buy the Critical Theory book required by Mrs. Hulbert.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Fiction-Illustrated-Classic-Modern/dp/0140174923

Mr. D

Next week's Milestone Assessment...

Next week's Milestone Assessment is structured as the actual exam you'll face to obtain a passing grade in Unit f661: Poetry and Prose 1800 - 1945.

In preparation for Section A: Poetry you need to be aware that the unit will assess you on Assessment Objectives 1, 2, & 4. They are listed on the left hand side of the blog and you'll need to be aware of them before attempting the Milestone Assessment.

Whilst you won't know the question and its particularities before the actual exam, you will need to know the poem, which is Insensibility. Furthermore, whilst AO1 and AO2 are similar to the assessment objectives of GCSE (although the difficulty has increased), you should take note of the differing requirements of AO4.

Asking me questions in relation to the AOs would best be done before the actual Milestone Assessment. These questions will not be answered on the day or during the exam.

Please note that Mrs. Hulbert may have specific instructions for her Milestone Assessment and you should direct queries about The Great Gatsby to her before her exam.

Mr. D

Computer access for students from other consortium schools...

Mrs. Wren has organising a guest username and password for you to access the intranet and then organise your own JRCS username and password.

Log in using the following username and password:

username: 6formguest
password: guest

Then email ahaynes@jrcs.bardgalea.org.uk your first and last name. He will create your JRCS account which will be:

your username will be first letter of name and your surname (e.g mine is - adonovan)
your passwork will be: password - then you can change you password once you've logged in (ensure you do this so no one can miss use your account).

Any problems see me, Mrs Hulbert or 6th form staff!

Mr. D

A general observation...

I noted today that some people hadn't printed and review notes from last weeks lessons. If you fail to keep up with the organisation of notes/resources you'll fall behind very quickly. However, this can be rectified with a little work.

What will be harder for you to rectify are the gaps in your knowledge and ability in the weeks to come!

By now you should have an awareness of the different poetic feet we've looked at and the difference between the four stages of consciousness of WW1 poetry. You shouldn't be an expert on it, yet, but we expect that you've revised all the content covered last week so you can apply it this week and in the future. This also goes for the work covered in Mrs. Hulbert's lessons too!

In your upcoming milestone assessments you will need to show knowledge of these elements.

Any probs etc... see me

Mr. D

e e cummings homework...

Firstly, thanks to Sam for posting a link to a internet site which dicussed the poem - which is exactly what the comment section is for. However, I should warn you though that not everything you find on the internet is of 'quality' and cannot substitute for you actually using your own head.

A reflection requires 'you' to read the poem and have a think about it and to possibly discuss it with others in the course.

However, I have placed a web link on our blog which deals with e e cummings for you, which incidently is of better quality and doesn't give you an 'answer' in the form of an essay written by a high school student but rather information to inform your reflection and thinking.

Remember, the task requires you to respond in paragraphed notes in a discursive style - this is what I'll be looking for when i check you books!

Mr. D

Indepedent Research and Homework...

Have you checked the link to the archive for your first independent research task? There is also a poetry reflection from lesson 2 which you'll need to prepare for lesson 3 discussion!

Mr. D

Looking for a good book?

Why not visit the Southbank book market next time you're in London - it's open 7 days a week!



You could even make a day of it - as the market is just outside the IMAX movie theatre and a great range of coffee shops!

Independent Task and Homework task link...

The Independent task and Homework task link has been added underneath blog archive on the left hand side of the blog - this is where you'll find all the hours of fun waiting for you!

regards,

Mr. D

No idea what to read? Here, try this for a start!

This list contains Classics, Poetry, Literary Fiction, Romantic Fiction, Children's Books, Science Fiction, Crime, Books that Changed the World, Books to Change your World and Historic Lives for you to read and explore. I haven't placed the above categories within the list - that's for you to decide.

If you read one (or more) why don't you leave your thoughts or a comment for other students in the course!

Mr. D

The Illiad and The Odyssey - Homer
Set during the Trojan War, The Iliad combines battle scenes with a debate about heroism; Odysseus' thwarted attempts to return to Ithaca when the war ends form The Odyssey. Its symbolic evocation of human life as an epic journey homewards has inspired everything from James Joyce's Ulysses to the Coen brothers' film, O Brother Where Art Thou?.

The Barchester Chronicles - Anthony Trollope
A story set in a fictional cathedral town about the squabbles and power struggles of the clergy? It doesn’t sound promising, but Trollope's sparklingly satirical novels are among the best-loved books of all time.

Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
Swift's scathing satire shows humans at their worst: whether diminished (in Lilliput) or grossly magnified (in Brobdingnag). Our capacity for self-delusion – personified by the absurdly pompous Gulliver – makes this darkest of novels very funny.

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
Flaubert's finely crafted novel tells the story of Emma, a bored provincial wife who comforts herself with shopping and affairs. It doesn't end well.

David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
David's journey to adulthood is filled with difficult choices – and a huge cast of characters, from the treacherous Steerforth to the comical Mr Micawber.

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Heroine meets hero and hates him. Is charmed by a cad. A family crisis – caused by the cad – is resolved by the hero. The heroine sees him for what he really is and realises (after visiting his enormous house) that she loves him. The plot has been endlessly borrowed, but few authors have written anything as witty or profound as Pride and Prejudice.

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
Cruelty, hypocrisy, dashed hopes: Jane Eyre faces them all, yet her individuality triumphs. Her relationship with Rochester has such emotional power that it's hard to believe these characters never lived.

War and Peace - Tolstoy
Tolstoy's masterpiece is so enormous even the author said it couldn't be described as a novel. But the characters of Andrei, Pierre and Natasha – and the tragic and unexpected way their lives intersect – grip you for all 1,400 pages.

Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
'"I'm no Angel," answered Miss Rebecca. And to tell the truth, she was not.' Whether we should judge the cunning, amoral Becky Sharp – or the hypocritical society she inhabits – is the question.

Middlemarch - George Eliot
Dorothea wastes her youth on a creepy, elderly scholar. Lydgate marries the beautiful but self-absorbed Rosamund. George Eliot's characters make terrible mistakes, but we never lose empathy with them.

Sonnets - Shakespeare
Shakespeare's sonnets contain some of poetry's most iconic lines – and a mysterious insight into his personal life.

Divine Comedy - Dante
Dante Alighieri's epic tale of one man's journey into the afterlife is considered Italy's finest literary export.

Canterbury Tales - Chaucer
These humorous tales about fictional pilgrims made an important contribution to English literature at a time when court poetry was written in either Anglo-Norman or Latin.

The Prelude - William Wordsworth
This posthumously published work is both an autobiographical journey and a fragment of history from the revolutionary and post-revolutionary years.

Odes - John Keats
Littered with sensuous descriptions of nature's beauty, Keats's odes also pose profound philosophical questions.

Paradise Lost - John Milton
Since its publication in 1667, Milton’s 12-book English epic – in which he sets out to 'justify the ways of God to men' has been considered a classic.

The Waste Land - T. S. Eliot
Eliot's vision of dystopia became a literary landmark, and introduced new techniques to the modern poet. He remains one of the defining figures of 20th-century poetry.

Songs of Innocence and Experience - William Blake
Blake's short poems are simple in rhythm and rhyme, but sophisticated in meaning. Written during a time of political turmoil, they embody his radical sympathies and anti-dualist ideas.

Collected Poems - W. B. Yeats
Considered a driving force in the revival of Irish literature, Yeats fruitfully engages the topics of youth, love, nature, art and war.

Collected Poems - Ted Hughes
Although Hughes was a colossal presence among the English literary landscape – his work often draws upon the forbidding Yorkshire countryside of his youth – his personal life had a tendency to overshadow his talent.

The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James
James's mastery of psychology has never been more elegantly expressed nor more gripping than in his tale of Isabel Archer, a young American in search of her destiny, and Gilbert Osmond, the ultimate cold fish and one of literature's most repellent villains.

A la recherche du temps perdu - Proust
A novel whose every sentence can be a struggle to finish may sound forbidding, but this masterpiece of modernity, takes us into every nook and cranny of the narrator's fascinating mind, is worth the effort.

Ulysses - James Joyce
Banned in Britain and America for its depiction of female masturbation, Joyce's Ulysses takes its scatological stand at the pinnacle of modernist literature. Lyrical and witty, its stream-of-consciousness narration deters many, but makes enraptured enthusiasts of others.

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
A sparse, masculine, world-weary meditation on death, ideology and the savagery of war in general, and the Spanish civil war in particular.

Sword of Honour trilogy - Evelyn Waugh
A poignant, ironic study of the disintegration of aristocratic values in the face of blank bureaucracy and Second World War butchery, Men at Arms, Officers and Gentlemen and Unconditional Surrender are Waugh's crowning achievements.

The Ballad of Peckham Rye - Muriel Spark
Comic, satirical and ineffably odd, Spark's fifth novel introduces Dougal Douglas, ghost-writer, researcher, mysterious figure of Satanic magnetism and mayhem, to the upper working-class/ lower middle-class milieu of Peckham.

Rabbit series - John Updike
We first meet Harry 'Rabbit' Angstrom in Rabbit, Run, as a boorish, unhappy former basketball jock who runs from (and to) his pregnant wife. The novels that follow cover 30 years and make up the great study of American manhood.
One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel García Márquez
The greatest moment in magical realist fiction, García Márquez's passionate, humorous history of Macondo and its founding family, the Buendías, has the seductive power of myth.

Beloved - Toni Morrison
Morrison brought to life a version of the slave narrative that has become a classic. Her tour de force of guilt, abandonment and revenge plays out against the background of pre-emancipation American life.

The Human Stain - Philip Roth
Roth's brilliant, angry dissection of race, disgrace and hypocrisy in Clinton-Lewinsky era America brings to a close his grand and meticulous American trilogy (American Pastoral, I Married a Communist).

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
Cornish estate owner Maximilian de Winter's second wife – also the nameless narrator – is haunted by the housekeeper's oppressive worship of her predecessor, Rebecca. A masterful tale of suspense.

Le Morte D'Arthur - Thomas Malory
Malory's yarn explores the possibility that chivalry is best revealed by a knight's loyalty to his fellow knights, and not simply his devotion to a woman.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Choderlos de Laclos
Paris in the 18th century: the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont concoct a scheme of seduction to entrap members of the aristocracy. Their roguish machinations lead to their climactic undoing.

I, Claudius - Robert Graves
An invented autobiographical account of Claudius, the fourth emperor of ancient Rome. Graves draws upon the historical texts of Tacitus and Suetonius to write Claudius's story after claiming a visitation from the ancient ruler in his dreams.

Alexander Trilogy - Mary Renault
Renault transports readers to Ancient Greece in a historical trilogy that presents the life and legacy of Alexander the Great in a humanising fictional portrait.

Master and Commander - Patrick O'Brian
Set during the Napoleonic Wars, O'Brian's books journey the seas with Commander Aubrey and his crew aboard HMS Sophie. The novel follows Aubrey's convincing and complex friendship with Maturin, the ship's surgeon, as they fight enemies and storms.

Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
Scarlett O'Hara manipulates her way through the American civil war. This selfish, but gutsy heroine idealises the unattainable Ashley before realising her love for her third husband, Rhett, who dismisses her with, 'My dear, I don't give a damn.'

Dr Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
Yuri Zhivago loves two women, his wife, Tonya, and the captivating Lara. Pasternak juxtaposes romance with the stark brutality of the Russian civil war in this extraordinary historical epic.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
Disgraced by an illegitimate child, Tess is tainted with shame and guilt, which destroys her marriage to Angel Clare. She emerges as a tragic heroine, incapable of escaping the hypocrisy of Victorian society.

The Plantagenet Saga - Jean Plaidy
A collection of novels inspired by the Plantagenet dynasty. Jean Plaidy is one of the many noms de plume of Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert, the celebrated historical fiction writer, who died in 1993.

Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
Four children sail to Wildcat Island, where they encounter a rival camping party then join forces to hunt treasure. Robinson Crusoe meets The Famous Five in a tale of sailing and ginger beer.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy discover the land of Narnia and the malevolent White Witch. The novel uses Christian iconography in Aslan's dramatic sacrifice and resurrection. Edmund's transition from self-interested schoolboy to heroic young man is also resonantly spiritual.

The Lord of the Rings - J.R. R. Tolkien
Frodo and friends journey to Mordor to destroy the ring, making the young Hobbit one of the greatest fictional heroes of all time. More than 100million copies have been sold of the trilogy that brought fantasy to a mainstream literary audience.

His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Will is a boy from Oxford. Lyra is a girl from Oxford in a parallel world. Together they have an epic adventure spanning parallel universes. The trilogy has inspired criticism for being heretical – Pullman himself declared the books were about 'killing God'.

Babar - Jean de Brunhoff
Babar brings clothes and cars (and Madame) from Paris to his African kingdom. With his family and the wise Cornelius by his side, Babar protects his land from the Rhino King Rataxes. The big, beautiful books are enriched by Brunhoff's wonderful illustrations.

The Railway Children - E. Nesbit
Nesbit’s classic, made famous by the 1970 film, tells of how Bobby, Phyllis and Pete, missing their beloved father, adapt to a poverty-stricken life in the country, helped by Mr Perks, the Old Gentleman, and by waving to the train.

Winnie-the-Pooh - A.A. Milne
The Silly Old Bear, with his friends in Hundred Acre Wood, is more than a British institution. A.A. Milne created a life philosophy with the trials, triumphs and tiddley-poms of the honey-loving, always kind-hearted Pooh.

Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling
The boy wizard's dealings with the forces of adolescence and evil have sold more than 350million books in 65 languages. The Harry Potter phenomenon has its detractors, but the success of special 'grown-up' covers, allowing commuters to read Rowling without shame, tells its own tale.

The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
Lonely and miserable trying to clean his hole, Mole ventures outside. He meets Ratty, Toad and Badger, and embarks on a new life defending Toad Hall from the weasels, protecting Toad from himself and messing about in boats.

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
The piratical coming of age of Jim Hawkins, who discovers a map of Treasure Island among an old sea captain's possessions – and then follows it. Parrots, 'pieces of eight' and the lovable, but morally ambiguous Long John Silver.

Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The great genius of Shelley's novel has often been overwhelmed by images of schlocky bolt-necked 'Frankensteins'. Brought to life by Dr Victor Frankenstein, Shelley’s creature is part gothic monster, part Romantic hero.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
Among the deep-sea volcanoes, shoals of swirling fish, giant squid and sharks, Captain Nemo steers the Nautilus. Nemo is the renegade scientist par excellence, a man madly inventive in his quest for revenge.

The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
A seminal work of dystopian fiction, Wells's tale of the voyages of the Time Traveller in the distant future (AD802,701) is also a cracking adventure story.

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Ignorance is far from bliss in Huxley’s terrible vision of a future of rampant consumerism, worthless free love, routine drug use and cultural passivity.

1984 - George Orwell
So persuasive and chilling was the world summoned up here that 'Orwellian' has entered the language as shorthand for government control. Chilling, wry and romantic, it is above all a passionate cry for freedom.

The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Shifty Soviets and the clipped vernacular make this a Fifties horror story. But as humans cope with disasters (mass blinding by meteor shower; ruthless walking, flesh-eating plants) the tale becomes taut, terrifying, and far from ridiculous.

Foundation - Isaac Asimov
'Great Galaxy!' It is not for literary brilliance that one approaches the first in the Foundation series, but rather for the sweeping grandeur of Asimov’s epic universe-wide tale of the decline and fall of empires. Once you've finished this, 14 novels and countless more short stories await.

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke
The first in Clarke's quartet was written as a novel and, in collaboration with Stanley Kubrick, as a film script. As the Discovery One mission drifts towards Saturn, Clarke creates the embodiment of the perils of computer technology, HAL9000.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Dick's masterpiece questions what it is that distinguishes us as human, as we follow Rick Deckard on his mission to 'retire' recalcitrant androids. Spawned Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.

Neuromancer - William Gibson
A violent slab of cyberpunk sci-fi, in which techie activities (artificial intelligence, hacking, virtual reality) are married with a grimy, anarchic, slangy sensibility, and a cast of hustlers, hackers and junkies trying to make sense of a world ruled by corporations.

The Talented Mr Ripley - Patricia Highsmith
Tom Ripley is one of 20th-century literature's most disturbingly fascinating characters: a suave, charming serial killer, who's utterly amoral in his pursuit of la dolce vita.

The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett
A tale of greed and deceit that's also the archetypal work of 20th-century detective fiction: complete with flawed hero (Sam Spade), femme fatale and a convoluted plot that unravels grippingly.

The Complete Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
It's one of literature's most wonderful ironies that Conan Doyle himself became a spiritualist so soon after creating the most famously rational character in all literature.

The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
His oeuvre may be small, but with the help of long-time protagonist PI Philip Marlowe – who appears here for the first time – Chandler helped define the genres of detective fiction and, later, film noir.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - John le Carré
Le Carré, master of the Cold War novel, follows British spymaster George Smiley as he tries to uncover a Moscow mole, and faces his KGB nemesis, Karla.

Red Dragon - Thomas Harris
Hannibal Lecter's second literary appearance sees him called upon by old FBI chum (and near-victim) Will Graham, to help solve the case of the serially morbid 'Tooth Fairy'.

Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
From Istanbul to London, Hercule Poirot's little grey cells rattle away to improbable effect as he untangles the mystery of the life and violent death of a sinister passenger.

The Murders in the Rue Morgue - Edgar Allan Poe
Poe's blackly ingenious tale of brutal murder in 19th-century Paris establishes C. Auguste Dupin, a man of 'peculiar analytic ability', as the model for pretty much every intellectual detective to come.

Das Kapital - Karl Marx
His thinking may not be as popular as it was in the Sixties and Seventies, but it's as relevant. The cardinal critique of the capitalist system.

The Rights of Man - Tom Paine
Written during the heady days of the French Revolution, Paine's pamphlet - by introducing the concept of human rights - remains one of modern democracy's fundamental texts.

The Social Contract - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
'Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.' How are we to reconcile our individual rights and freedoms with living in a society?

Democracy in America - Alexis de Tocqueville
This treatise looked to the new country's flourishing democracy in the early 19th century and the progressive model it offered ‘old’ Europe.

On War - Carl von Clausewitz
The first, and probably still foremost, treatise on the art of modern warfare. The Prussian general looked beyond the battlefield to war's place in the broader political context.

On the Origin of Species - Charles Darwin
No other book has so transformed how we look at the natural world and mankind's origins.

The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli
Written during his exile from the Florentine Republic, Machiavelli's bible of realpolitik offers the ultimate mandate for those (still-too-many) politicians who value keeping power above dispensing justice.

Leviathan - Thomas Hobbes
Hobbes's call for rule by an absolute sovereign may not sound too progressive, but it was based on the then-groundbreaking belief that all men are naturally equal.

On the Interpretation of Dreams - Sigmund Freud
Drawing on his own dreams, plus those of his patients, Freud asserted that dreams – by tapping into our unconscious – held the key to understanding what makes us tick.

L'Encyclopédie - Diderot, et al
Subtitled 'A Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts', with contributions by Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot and others, the 35-volume encyclopedia was the ultimate document of Enlightenment thought.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig
Pirsig's feel-good memoir about a father-son motorcycle trip across America became the biggest-selling philosophy book of all time.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
Bach's fable about a dreamy seagull called Jonathan, who seeks to soar above the ideology of his flock, became a New Age classic, and is dedicated to the 'real seagull in all of us'.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
Originally broadcast on Radio 4, this quotable comedy about a hapless Englishman and his alien friend proved that sci-fi could be clever and funny.

The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell uses everything from teenage smoking to Sesame Street to show how one person's small idea, or way of thinking, can spark a social epidemi

The Beauty Myth - Naomi Wolf
Wolf, the controversial American feminist (and teenage victim of anorexia), argues that women's insecurities stem from society's demands on them either to be beautiful or face judgment.

A Child Called 'It' - Dave Pelzer
Pelzer's graphic account of his abusive childhood topped the bestseller lists worldwide. Since then, he's had to fight off accusations of embellishment and fantasy from family members.

Schott's Original Miscellany - Ben Schott
Dip into Schott's compendium of trivia and impress your friends with such questions as, 'Do you know who makes the Queen's pork sausages?' The answer: Musks of Newmarket.

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon
Compressing 13 turbulent centuries into one epic narrative, this is often labelled the first 'modern' history book. Gibbon fell back on sociology, rather than superstition, to explain Rome's demise.

A History of the English-Speaking Peoples - Winston Churchill
Taking us from Caesar's 55BC invasion to the Boer War's end in 1902, Churchill’s four-volume saga makes the proud, but now-unfashionable, connection between speaking English and bearing 'the torch of Freedom'.

A History of the Crusades - Steven Runciman
Still the landmark account of the Crusades, Byzantine scholar Runciman's work broke with centuries of Western tradition, claiming the crusading invaders were guilty of a 'long act of intolerance in the name of God'.

The Histories - Herodotus
Ostensibly about Greece's defeat of the invading Persians in the 5th century BC, it blends fact, hearsay, legend and myth to tell tales of life in and around Ancient Greece.

The History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
Famously fastidious over the reliability of his data and sources, Thucydides – with this detailed study of the 25-year struggle between Athens and Sparta – set the template for every historian after him.

Seven Pillars of Wisdom - T. E. Lawrence
Lawrence of Arabia's fascinating, self-mythologising account of how he united a string of Arab tribes and successfully led them to rebellion against their Ottoman overlords.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Compiled at King Alfred's behest in the AD890s, this is the earliest-known history of England written in old English. It's also the oldest history of any European country in a vernacular language.

A People's Tragedy - Orlando Figes
Figes charts the Russian Revolution in stark detail, telling the tale of 'ordinary people' and boldly concluding that they 'weren't the victims of the Revolution but protagonists in its tragedy'.

Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution - Simon Schama
Before he was on television, Prof Schama offered 948 pages of proof that there was more to the French Revolution than fraternity, equality and eating cake.

The Origins of the Second World War - A.J.P. Taylor
Was Hitler all that bad? Wasn't he just an opportunist who took advantage of Anglo-French dithering and appeasement? The label 'iconoclastic' applies to few historians so well as it does to Taylor.

Confessions - St Augustine
In probably the first autobiography in Western literature, the Church Father recounts his life-journey from sinner to saint, from the boy who stole pears from a neighbour's tree to the articulator of key Christian doctrines.

Lives of the Caesars - Suetonius
Charting the lives of Julius Caesar, Augustus and the 10 subsequent Roman emperors, with scandalous tales of imperial decadence, vice and lunacy.

Lives of the Artists - Vasari
The history of Italian Renaissance art, as told through the biographies of its heavyweight practitioners.

If This is a Man - Primo Levi
His background as an industrial chemist from Turin may not sound remarkable, but Levi's poised account of his hell-on-earth experiences as a prisoner at Auschwitz undoubtedly is.

Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man - Siegfried Sassoon
He's best known for his anti-war poems, but he was also once popular for his semi-autobiographical trilogy of novels, of which this was the first.

Eminent Victorians - Lytton Strachey
Strachey didn't do hagiography. His unflattering biographical essays on major Victorian figures debunked the myth of Victorian pre-eminence.

Diaries - Alan Clark
The late Tory MP was not one to get bogged down in matters of policy. His indiscreet memoirs detailed countless extra-marital affairs and character assassinations of colleagues.

A Life of Charlotte Brontë - Elizabeth Gaskell
A biography of the intriguing Jane Eyre author, by her friend and fellow-novelist, Gaskell. One of the definitive 'tortured genius' biographies.

Goodbye to All That - Robert Graves
A friend of Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, Graves was another Englishman to write unsparingly about the horrors of trench warfare.

The Life of Dr Johnson - Boswell
He's one of English literature's all-time heavyweights, but most of what we know about Samuel Johnson, the man, comes from his friend Boswell’s hearty anecdotal biography.

10 films to watch before you die c/o Mr. Lawes in Media

Usually, we won't put dedicated film information on the blog - however, as some of you didn't know anything of the 'Hanibal Lector Trilogy' we were worried about what other great films you might not know about!

Remember: you can still be thinking about and applying your knowledge of narrative structures to films as well as literary texts!

Mr. D


Okay, so the title might be a little melodramatic, but these are all great films. I’ve tried to include as wide a variety of different genres as I can – and be warned, most of them are from (gasp!) before the year 2000…

If you want any more information on them, come and speak to me.

- Mr Lawes

Citizen Kane (Dir.: Orson Welles, 1941)
This film regularly tops all of those ‘greatest movies of all time’ lists produced by movie magazines like Empire and Total Film. It tells the story of Charles Foster Kane, whose dying word is ‘rosebud’ – and the reporter who sets out to find out who or what ‘rosebud’ means. It’s a landmark of modern cinema for loads of reasons (like the brilliant camera work) but it’s also just a really entertaining film to watch. Look out for the mock news broadcast at the beginning – very famous.
If you like this, then try: Rear Window; North by Northwest; Brick.

Apocalypse Now (Dir.: Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
The best war movie made ever - it’s based on Joseph Conrad’s fantastic book Heart of Darkness. The director, Coppola drove himself to a nervous breakdown making this movie, and it was worth it. There are so many iconic scenes in it that it’s tough to choose any of them – but Lieutenant Kilgore’s immortal line is probably the best: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning…”
If you like this, then try: The Deer Hunter; Full Metal Jacket.

Goodfellas (Dir.: Martin Scorsese, 1990)
“As far back as I can remember, I’d always wanted to be a gangster” – Henry Hill. For me, this is a gangster movie that approaches the genius of The Godfather. It’s slick, it’s fast, and it’s very, very cool. Based on the true story of Henry Hill, who worked his way up the ranks of the mafia until eventually being caught and tried by the FBI, it’s a beautifully filmed, brilliantly scripted slice of gangland cool.
If you like this, then try: Pulp Fiction; Scarface; The Godfather.

Psycho (Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
This is an absolute classic horror film. It’s got that shower scene in it, and I still think it’s scary. Not only that, but the ending is still able to shock, even though the film’s fifty years old. Hitchcock’s important to cinema because he is the absolute master of building suspense up right through a movie, until it’s almost unbearable. This film follows the story of a young woman who steal some money from her boss, but ends up spending the night at the creepy Bates Motel…
If you like this, try: Dial M For Murder; North by Northwest.

A Clockwork Orange (Dir.: Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
This film was banned shortly after its release because of a series of copycat killings. It follows the story of young Alex and his three droogies. Alex is fond of ultra-violence, rape, and Beethoven – the film’s exactly as weird and disturbing as it sounds. But it’s also brilliantly clever social commentary, and very famous (not least for the magnificent opening shot of Alex and his droogies in the Moloko Milk Bar). Bloody, violent, difficult to watch, and undoubtedly genius.
If you like this, then try: Fight Club.

Amores Perros (Dir.: Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, 2000)
Okay, so cinema from outside the UK or the US remains something of a niche market. But that’s a shame, because there are absolutely loads of films like ‘Amores Perros’ which are much better than most of the movies around, but don’t get many people watching them. This is a Mexican film about dog fighting and criminal gangs, and the story of three young people who get caught up in the violence of life in modern Mexico. Genius film-making; plus when you say you know about Mexican cinema, it makes you look dead clever.
If you like this, then try: Cicade de Deus (City of God); La Haine.

Blade Runner (Dir.: Ridley Scott, 1982)
This is based on an absolutely amazing book (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick) – and is one of the few examples of a great book becoming a great movie. It’s about a series of androids which are indistinguishable from actual humans, and an agent who has to try to find four rogue ones. So it’s Science Fiction (SF), but don’t let that put you off – it’s also a really clever take on government and society in general. Like so many of these films, it’s full of iconic moments – the best being the opening scenes, which were shot in Tokyo and still look pretty amazing.
If you like this, then try: Alien; Brazil; Terminator 2 – Judgement Day.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (Dir.: George Lucas, 1977)
I know, I know – the new ones were rubbish. And I’m sure most of you have already seen this. But it remains an absolute milestone of cinema for all sorts of reasons: it’s the first time SF became really mainstream; Lucas had to invent all sorts of new techniques to be able to film it the way he wanted (including surround sound); the special effects were revolutionary; and it’s an absolutely compelling story. The updated version, with better graphics, is an improvement in some ways but not others, I think – but it does remain absolutely brilliant. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a much darker, more grown-up film; but I still don’t think it’s as satisfying as this one.
If you like this, then try: not to watch the three new ones. Or Return of the Jedi.

Pulp Fiction (Dir.: Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
Absolutely, undoubtedly, one of the best movies ever. It’s fast, it’s funny, and it’s full of dialogue sharper than one of Samuel L. Jackson’s suits. It tells the stories of a boxer, two hitmen, and a mob boss’ wife, whose stories all interlink in brilliant ways. It’s difficult to say too much without spoiling the film – but it is full of absolutely iconic moments of modern cinema. “Mmm-hmm, this is a tasty burger…”
If you like this, then try: Kill Bill Vols. I and II; Reservior Dogs; Death Proof; Planet Terror.

Requiem For A Dream (Darren Aronofsky, 2000)
The most depressing film I have ever watched, but one I seem to watch time and time again. Aronofsky’s editing and camerawork are really, really innovative – he uses split screen shots better than anyone I’ve seen. It tells the story of Harry and his friends Marion and Tyrone, whose ambitious plans go awry as their drug habits spiral out of control. This really is a film only for the strong-stomached, but it’s worth the payoff. You’ll be depressed for weeks.
If you like this, then try: Trainspotting; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; Brick.

So, that’s it – a very short list of some great movies. Some that didn’t make the cut, but perhaps should have: Taxi Driver (tough); American History X (thought-provoking); The Shawshank Redemption (prison break); Casablanca (old school); The Usual Suspects (surprising); The Silence of the Lambs (scary); The Battleship Potemkin (Russian); The Matrix (“I know kung fu!”); The Third Man; La Haine (French); Leon; LA Confidential (retro); Raging Bull (boxing); The Maltese Falcon (the original); Gorky Park (Russian murder mystery); Indiana Jones (all of them); Batman Begins (“My anger outweighs my guilt”); Saving Private Ryan (gory); Monty Python and the Holy Grail (“We are the knights that say…”); 2001 A Space Odyssey (classic SF); Some Like It Hot (funny); The Omen (creepy); The Exorcist (terrifying); Jaws (bitey); Fargo (clever); and Crash (very weird).

Induction Session 1

In discussions of Blake's, 'O Sick Rose' it came to light that students were unaware that Blake was also a painter and that one of his painting was used in the film, 'Red Dragon', based on the first book in the Hannibal Lector Trilogy.

Unfortunately, it came to light that no-one knew about the film (or books - written by Thomas Harris) or of its main protagonist, and one of modern literature most memorable, even likeable, evil characters, the brilliant but dangerous serial killer - the gifted psychiatrist Dr Hannibal Lecter

The trilogy follows as: "Red Dragon", "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" - some excellent wider reading and viewing!





NOTE: Mr. Lawes tells me 'Manhunter' is the original Hannibal Lector film with a good old 'English' actor - none of that American over-acting!

Bridging the gap from GCSE...

Don't be surprised or dismayed by the feeling you will almost certainly have in the few weeks of your sixth-form course that the gap between GCSE and AS seems rather wide. A wider range of more demanding texts will make you feel that the subject has changed - some of the set books, genres and periods will be completely new to you, and some you may never even have heard of!

You may be ready for authors or genres you did not appreciate before, and you will continue to develop as a reader throughout the course. You may, for instance, enjoy poetry more at the end of the course than the beginning.

It may seem strange that you will be studying only six texts per year, but this does not mean that you can be leisurely in your work habits; enlightenment, expertise and reaching examination standard come from thorough study and extensive rereading.

You may be disappointed to learn that there isn't much scope for creative writing. You may use it to access a text or one of its ideas, but you won't be assessed on it. You must also be warned that there will not be any 'spoon feeding' - you will have to rely on your own responses and research skills. There is no place at AS for tkaing down dictation from the teacher, or copying notes from the whiteboard or textbook. You can, however, still expect some help with organising your thoughts and structuring essays and exam style responses.

Wider reading is less of an option and more of a necessity; its something you can do from the outset to become a more independent and better informed student. If you got way with bad habits at GCSE, such as not planning essays or not taking notes in class, or disregarding advice given on returned written work - you will now have to be prepared to acquire better practices.

AS Literature Outline

Studying for these qualifications will enable you to develop:

• your interests in and enjoyment of reading and discussing literary texts;
• your knowledge and understanding of a wide range of English literature texts;
• your skills of literary analysis.

This qualification gives you the opportunity to study literature across the genres of prose, poetry and drama, and to read around concepts of literature and literary analysis. To get the AS qualification, you’ll need to cover six texts and then another six texts to get the A level qualification, and it is possible to choose texts that link together or contrast with each other.

Before you start this qualification it is usual to have a GCSE in English or English Literature (at least at Grade B at JRCS). The emphasis is on progression from GCSE to the AS qualification and progression from the full A level towards study in Higher Education. English Literature combines well with many other subjects. History, Classics and Modern Foreign Languages are particularly suitable, but it can also be a valuable contrast to scientific, technological and economics-based subjects.

If you are considering going on to Higher Education, the English Literature qualification provides a wide range of opportunities for degree courses in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The English Literature qualification is also welcomed for many different careers because it emphasises creativity, disciplined thought and communication, plus an ability to synthesise and contextualise ideas.

Requirements of the qualifications:

To get a certificate for Advanced Subsidiary GCE, you will need to have studied for and been assessed on the two mandatory AS units (F661 and F662).

To get a certificate for Advanced GCE A level, you will need to have studied for and been assessed on the two mandatory A2 units (F663 and F664), in addition to the two AS units.

Assessment Units:

AS Unit F661: Poetry and Prose 1800-1945 (closed text examination)
This is a two-hour examination, divided into Section A (poetry) and Section B (prose). You have to answer two essay-style questions, one from Section A and one from Section B, based on the set texts you have studied.

Section A - you answer one question on one poem, written by a poet you have studied, and you are expected to make appropriate reference to other poems by the same poet. This is a closed text examination, so you do not take any books or copies of the poem into the examination room with you. The poems on which the questions are set will be printed in the examination paper.

Section B - there is a choice of two questions on each set text and you answer one question.
You will need to:

• respond to the proposition in the question and discuss how themes and issues
are presented;
• demonstrate an understanding of literary-critical concepts and approaches, which you will have studied from the complementary literary-critical text.

AS Unit F662: Literature post-1900 (coursework)
In this unit you complete two pieces of writing based on three texts chosen by Mrs, Hulbert & Mr. Donovan.

First piece of writing: this is a close, critical analysis of a section of one chosen text or poem. This should be approximately 1000 words.

Second piece of writing: this must be an essay considering two texts, exploring contrasts and comparisons between them, informed by interpretations of other readers. This should be approximately 2000 words.

The work submitted cannot be any longer than 3,000 words in total. It is assessed by Mrs. Hulbert & Mr. Donovan and moderated by OCR.