Your Context is everything to do with responding to the
experience of Conflict Unlike text response, Encountering Conflict
will be the substance of your essay not Rugmaker You will learn
about your Context through a text - Rugmaker With your class, you
will extract the Key Ideas that relate to Encountering Conflict
from the text Your final piece will be on the Context and these
Ideas the text is secondary
Five types of prompts: Categorising prompts is a great
preparation technique This allows you to simply tweak your plan to
suit any prompt. This is an essential skill for the exam Prompts
Causes of conflict Nature of conflict Consequences of conflict
Reactions to conflict Resolving conflict
Slide 6
Evidence is what you use to support your comments on the
contexts key ideas. Textual evidence comes in many forms:
Characters experiences References to particular settings
(Afghanistan, warzones, asylum boats, detention centres etc.)
Specific quotes from the text Themes from the text Structural
elements Language features More suited to creative texts
Slide 7
This needs to be authentic, educated, high-level stuff. Nothing
obvious (e.g. Hitler, 9/11 all students fall back on these!)
Collecting stand-out external evidence is a year-long process.
Smart students record examples of evidence as they come across them
in a Context journal. No need to stuff your pieces full of evidence
(this makes it found forced and awkward) Essential that external
evidence flows naturally into your piece Your own personal
reflections about the Context/Key Ideas References to particular
events Evidence from media articles or journal articles Aspects
relating to the Context or Key ideas from your other current or
past subjects
Slide 8
Avoid superficial external links. Its better to have no links
in your piece than a forced link for the sake of it Good external
evidence does not include: Shallow pop culture references Song
lyrics Lame blockbuster movie references Sporting heroes and/or
teams School yard fights Unnecessarily personal information about
your family/boyfriend/girlfriend (the sympathy effort will get you
nowhere) Were talking about sophisticated, educated, informative
insights that add depth and complexity to your written piece
Slide 9
Explore the implications of the prompt What does it mean? What
does it imply? What does it assume? What does it suggest? DO NOT
mention the text this isnt a text response essay! Show originality
Quotes, scenarios etc.
Slide 10
The basic expository structure is similar to text response but
with key differences: Topic sentence: A key point relating to the
context and the prompt (no mention of the text) Elaboration:
Elaborate on your key point with reference to key ideas Textual
Evidence: Examples from the text that support the point youre
making External Evidence: Further supporting your point (only if
applicable) Link: At the end of your paragraph, make a clear link
to the prompt and context (again, no mention of the text)
Slide 11
The best topic sentences build on each other, rather than
having random separate ideas The way conflict invades our hearts
and minds is the most powerful of its effects 1. What makes
internal conflict so potent is its ability to induce the intrinsic
emotion of fear within us 2. An individuals beliefs and values are
deeply embedded and carefully nurtured throughout ones life 3. When
conflict possesses the power to invade our consciousness it can
create the foundations for deep inner turmoil Elaboration: The
elaboration needs to be thoughtful and authentic not a regurgitated
mess of key ideas Text evidence: Use evidence from the text
(Rugmaker) carefully to support ideas while revealing complex
knowledge of the text External Evidence: Used sparingly and
incorporated naturally to support ideas
Slide 12
What is the key message/moral/lesson about the prompt that you
are trying to communicate in your essay? Again, no mention of the
text
Slide 13
Pros Clear and explicit links to the text and prompt Can add
depth and broaden discussion with external examples Explicit
structure that you can follow You know how to do essays this is
familiar to you Safe option Cons Perhaps less inspiring and
potentially less of a wow factor than creative Challenges in
Authorial Intent audience, language devices etc.