Standard Module C: The Craft of Writing

This blog post offers an overview of the Prescribed Texts for Standard English Module C, 'The Craft of Writing'. In the study of this module, teachers are required to teach TWO of the Prescribed Texts. It should be noted that there are no prescribed editions for these texts, which means that they don't have to be sourced from particular anthologies or websites (NOTE: This is interesting as some of these texts [such as Crouch End] exist as different versions in different places).

I would like to offer my eternal gratitude to my colleague and mentor Kira Bryant, who supplied me with these texts. Check out her great blog: Tales from an Edugeek.

Prose Fiction Options

There are five fiction short story options to pick from, three of which are by Australian authors; Peter Carey, Catherine Cole, and Melissa Lucashenko. The last of these, Lucashenko, is also Murri Aboriginal.

'The Pedestrian' by Ray Bradbury

What is it: Leonard is a writer in the mid-21st century who has taken to walking the streets at night - the only one of the city's 3 million residents to do so. Careful not to disturb all the people safely ensconced in their houses, Leonard finds himself targeted by the city's lone police car as he walks aimlessly through this future world.  

Scope for Study / Verdict: Bradbury explores the theme of conformity in this 1950s satire of increased home comforts, imagining a future where people no longer have any reason for going outside. The protagonist subverts the conventions of his society by daring to walk for no reason other than just walking, something that confuses and alarms the authorities - represented here by the police (who no longer have much to do due to people staying inside with their TVs and air conditioning). Students will be able to draw parallels between this imagined future and their own 21st century world of increased home entertainment, with room for comment on the isolationism prompted by new technologies.

Page Count: 2 pages.

Source: First published in a magazine in 1951, 'The Pedestrian' can currently be found in the Ray Bradbury anthology The Golden Apples of the Sun.

Peter Carey doing his best "Oh hi, I'm an author" face.

'Report on Shadow Industry' by Peter Carey

What is it: An unnamed protagonist reflects on the nature of the 'shadow industry' that has emerged in America - the springing up of 'shadow factories', the way they are changing the environment, the increasing popularity of manufactured shadows, and the connection of this new product to misery, suicide, envy, embarrassment, etc. 

Scope for Study / Verdict: In this fictional 'report' Carey satirises the nature of materialism by taking an abstract and obviously useless product and showing its impact on society. Carey explores the various dimensions that come with a society obsessed with material possessions, drawing upon his own background as an advertiser to make evident the power that consumerism holds over the customer. Students will be able to engage fairly easily with the story due to its brevity, unusual concept, and the fact that it's broken into 5 separate short parts that deal with different aspects of the topic.

Page Count: 3 pages.

Source: Written in 1974, 'Report on the Shadow Industry' can be found in Peter Carey's anthology Collected Stories.

'Home' by Catherine Cole

What is it: Ahmed is a refugee who, after spending 4 years in the Villawood Detention Centre, moves into a small Sydney house next to a cemetery. He finds his new home strange and alienating, and the profound losses he has endured make it difficult for him to even find solace in his religious faith. 

Scope for Study / Verdict: Cole plays with past and present tense to manipulate the reader's distance from the story at various points, and tells Ahmed's tale in a third person limited perspective that allows for the reader to get a deeper understanding of what the character is going through. This narrative also allows for the reader to view the way that Australian culture appears when seen through the prism of a newly-released asylum seeker's eyes. Unlike the more high concept, abstract narratives of the previously examined short stories, 'Home' is very much a character piece that allows for students (and teachers) to look at perspective and characterisation in a fairly traditional sense. 

Page Count: 8 pages.

Source: 'Home' can be found in The Best Australian Stories 2011 anthology (ISBN: 9781863955485).

'Crouch End' by Stephen King

What is it: Two police officers in the London suburb of Crouch End field a case from a hysterical American woman who has lost her husband. Crouch End is known for mysterious disappearances and odd goings-on, and the husband, Lonnie, has become the latest victim of the Lovecraftian monsters that live beneath the Earth in this area.

Scope for Study / Verdict:  Originally written as a contribution to an anthology that sought to 'shake up' H. P. Lovecraft's long-familiar Cthulhu Mythos, 'Crouch End' sees King combine the British 'bobby' police procedural genre with his well-known penchant for horror. Watch out for the challenging structure (it risks getting lost in flashbacks within flashbacks), as well as the UK-specific vernacular that King rather unsuccessfully tries his hand at (EG. "Maybe you ought to give me a kiss... I always fancy a kiss when I'm getting my doodle pulled").

Page Count: 17 pages.

Source: Originally published in 1980 as part of Ramsay Cambpell's anthology New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. The source listed in the syllabus document, though, is a slightly different edition of the story published in Stephen King's 1993 short story collection Nightmares and Dreamscapes.

Lucashenko has written six novels, including the award-winning teen mystery, Killing Darcy.

'Dreamers' by Melissa Lucashenko

What is it: Jean, a young Aboriginal woman, comes to a farm in rural 1940s NSW to seek work, and develops a friendship with a farmer's wife, May. Together they raise May's son, Eric, a toddler so prone to wandering off that they decide to attach a bell to him.

Scope for Study / Verdict: Lucashenko's story spreads across a two decade backdrop of post-war Australia and incorporates contextual points related to our mid-20th Century history - including the 1967 Referendum, the Aboriginal missions, and the impact of the war on rural Australia. The writing itself mostly sticks to a third person limited perspective that's both understandable enough for Stage 6 Standard students and inclusive of enough context-specific vernacular to maintain an engaging sense of setting and character. In terms of teaching students, 'Dreamers' is also a good example of a circular narrative structure.

Page Count: 11 pages.

Source: 'Dreamers' can be found in the 2016 anthology The Near and the Far: new stories from the Asia-Pacific Region.

Nonfiction Options

There are four non-fiction options to pick from. Two of these writers are American, one is British, and the other is Australian. All are Anglo-Saxon/Western.

'Dear Mrs Dunkley' by Helen Garner

What is it: Garner reminisces about her formidable childhood teacher, Mrs Dunkley, and describes the dread of her teaching methods. The story pieces together Garner's memory, her impressions now, a dream she once had and wrote about, and a letter from a stranger that illuminated the real Mrs Dunkley and forever changed Garner's remembrance of the woman.

Scope for Study / Verdict: A fantastic piece that expertly dances between childhood memory and adult experience to draw a complex portrait of a terrifying but influential figure in the author's life. Garner brings Mrs Dunkley to life before the reader's eyes through the use of carefully-observed imagery and hindsight, and the final part of the overall piece packs a resounding punch that will shift the audience's entire view of the story. A perfect example of a well-written memoir.

Page Count: 3 pages.

Source: This piece appears in the 2012 collection Sincerely: Further Adventures in the Art of Correspondence from Women of Letters, curated by Marieke Hardy and Michaela Maguire. It can also be found online as a Sydney Morning Herald article, and in Helen Garner's own non-fiction anthology Everywhere I Look, published in 2016.

'The Sporting Spirit' by George Orwell

What is it: Orwell comments on a 1945 visit from the Dynamo Moscow football team to play some historic matches against the British, and in particular on the way that sport can be viewed as an extension of aggressive nationalism. The writer deconstructs the motivations and impacts of international-level sport, drawing on the 20th century re-emergence of sport as a contributing factor to the destructive nature of nationalism.

Scope for Study / Verdict: Once you get past the 1940s context there's a lot in this piece that should prompt Standard English students into discussion. With Australia's sporting culture so prevalent at a school-level in so many different contexts (urban, rural, suburban, private schools, public schools, whatever), it shouldn't be an issue getting students to engage with the contentious idea that sport can be ultimately damaging when examined on a national scale. Orwell's relatively straight-forward and conversational style also makes this piece perfect for a Standard English cohort, and there's ample scope for analysing his use of figurative language, rhetoric, logos, and ethos in an attempt to persuade the audience. It's also worth noting that, if you have a high-performing Standard class, the gender and race-related prejudices of Orwell and his time can be critically evaluated as well.

Page Count: 2 pages.

Source: Originally published in the leftist newspaper The Tribune on the 14th of December, 1945. The essay be easily found online with a quick Google search, and has also been published in Penguin's 'Modern Classics' series as part of the Orwell non-fiction anthology Essays (ISBN: 9780141183060).

'A Comparison' by Sylvia Plath

What is it: This short piece delves into the differences between writing a poem and a novel, with Plath using the full brunt of her descriptive and figurative powers to characterise the two literary forms in a complicated and interconnected manner.

Scope for Study / Verdict: A wonderfully creative piece of artistry. Plath playfully manipulates language and uses imagery, metaphor, personification, and candor to control the relationship between subject and audience. The density of the piece is preserved by it's brevity, which means that Standard students should be able to deconstruct it in close-up without fear of losing their way too much.

Page Count: 2 pages.

Source: This piece can be found in the Plath collection Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams, a volume released in 2000 that focused on her non-poetry pieces.

Vowell is a journalist and social commentator best known for her work on radio in examining American culture.

'What He Said There' by Sarah Vowell

What is it: The author describes a visit to the historical town of Gettysburg, where Abraham Lincoln once delivered his famous Gettysburg Address during the American Civil War. As she tours the town, Vowell flits across themes on the commodification of history, the dumbing down of culture, and what it is that ensures certain parts of history live on in the collective memories of the wider public.

Scope for Study / Verdict: In a piece rich in literary invention, Vowell meditates on the nature of history within the context of modern America. In examining the author's writing, students might consider why Abraham Lincoln is seen as an 'American Jesus', or why the Gettysburg Address is like a 'soy-bean', or why the author switches to present tense when describing Lincoln's thought processes 137 years ago. There's also this great quote, "The best the slaughtered can usually hope for is a cameo in some kind of art", which is basically the thesis of the article.

Page Count: 8 pages

Source: Vowell's essay can be found in her book, The Partly Cloudy Patriot, published in 2002.

Speech Options

Of the four speeches, two are Australian, one is American, and one is British (delivered at an American institution). Both of the Australian ones are delivered by politicians, one of whom is Wiradjuri Aboriginal.

Linda Burney delivering her historic speech.

'First Speech to the House of Representatives as Member for Barton' by Linda Burney

What is it: In this speech, Linda Burney, the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the House of Representatives, gives her inaugural speech to Parliament in 2016. She explains what it is she stands for, who the people of her electorate are, and the background she has come from. Burney uses this opportunity to describe the role of politics as she sees it, with particular attention given to the themes of equality, welfare, and the remedying of past wrongs to pave the way for a more inclusive nation.

Scope for Study / Verdict: Burney is an entertaining speaker, utilising humour and pathos to construct a deeply affecting picture of Australia's marginalised minority groups and what it means for them to have people like herself in parliament. Teachers will need to examine the speech within the context of 2016 and the history that has led to this point, with Burney referencing the Wiradjuri Wars of the 19th century, the 1967 Referendum, the differences between the Liberal and Labor Parties, Edmund Barton, the 2008 Apology, the incumbent government's defense of 'hate speech' in 2016, and a few other relevant events. Students can examine the rhetoric used by Burney to strengthen her position and draw connections between the content of her speech and their own lives and beliefs.

Page Count: 8 pages.

Source: A transcription and video of the 2016 speech can both be found on the Parliament of Australia website.

'How to Live Before You Die' by Steve Jobs

What is it: In a speech delivered at Stanford University, Apple Mac creator Steve Jobs describes the purpose of things, and the art of using your experiences to carve your own unique path. Through the use of hindsight and the telling of three key stories, Jobs explains the cause and effect chain that led to his own innovations, and what motivates him to live his life in the way that he does.

Scope for Study / Verdict: This is a very accessible speech, and one made somewhat poignant by Jobs' death by cancer (he references having been cured of pancreatic cancer). I think it would work quite well with a Standard English class as the language is conversational and straightforward whilst dealing with some hard truths pitched at an audience of young adults.

Page Count: 3 pages.

Source: Delivered as the 2005 Stanford University Commencement speech, 'How to Live Before You Die' can be found on Stanford's website here.

Paul Keating lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

'Funeral Service of The Unknown Australian Soldier' by Paul Keating

What is it: Prime Minister Paul Keating delivers a eulogy on Remembrance Day for all Australian soldiers who have died in war, examining what it means to die for one's country, and the reasons why we honour the fallen.

Scope for Study / Verdict: Keating's mastery of the speech genre is well-renowned, and his memorial speech for the 'Unknown Soldier' provides ample fodder for the study of rhetoric, and the way politicians like Keating use this art form to control language and persuade audiences. Examples for analysis include anaphora, logos, the use of semi-colons as 'super commas', symbolism, carefully selected paragraph breaks, parataxis, embedded clauses, and polysyndeton - all persuasive and structural devices that demonstrate Keatin's expertise as a renowned orator.

Page Count: 2 pages.

Source: A transcript of the speech can be found on Paul Keating's website.

'The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination' by JK Rowling

What is it: Harry Potter author JK Rowling delivers a speech to Harvard University upon receiving an honorary doctorate, choosing to focus on the concept of failure as a force that can galvanize people into assessing their own purpose in life, seeking out the things that truly matter to them, and using this as a foundation to build their own dreams. Rowling recounts her own experiences of failure and how this led to her work at Amnesty International, and the impact this had on her.

Scope for Study / Verdict: An uplifting speech that's perfectly pitched for Year 12 students who will be evaluating their own life journeys in the days to come. There's a great quote from Rowling, "There is an expiry date on blaming your parents on steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you", which should have some relevance to the young adults we teach. Her speech encompasses themes of achievement, failure, speaking up, and the (implied) meaning of life itself. There's also just enough challenging terms smattered throughout that will allow for expanding student vocabulary, IE. 'quixotic', 'paradoxical', 'parenthesis', 'ennobling', 'vicissitudes', 'temerity', etc. 

Page Count: 5 pages.

Source:  The full text of the speech, which was delivered in 2008, can be found on one of Harvard University's websites here. A 20 minute recording of the speech can also be found on the Ted Talk website and on Youtube.

 
Poetry / Performance Poetry Options

Of the five poets featured here there are three Australians. The international entrants are the American Robert Frost and Singaporean poet Carol Chan.

'Popcorn' by Carol Chan

What is it: Chan ruminates on the international origins of her 7/11-bought popcorn while remembering a conversation with a barista from China, and considers the fine line between authentic culinary experience and phony, consumer-driven materialism. The piece is framed by a comparison between the poet's craving for popcorn and the feeling of disappointment she experiences when she eats it.

Scope for Study / Verdict: Standard English students may at first be confused by the presentation of this blank verse poem in couplets that break up an otherwise straightforward piece of writing. Chan folds an illuminating conversation inside of the story of the persona's popcorn-consumption, adding irony and political commentary to an otherwise innocuous occurrence. I think this would be a fun poem to teach, especially if you have creative students who might appreciate composing their own pieces in a similar manner.

Page Count: 14 pairs of lines (about 1 page).

Source: 'Popcorn' features in Contemporary Asian Australian Poets (ISBN 9781921450655). This 2013 anthology is also a Prescribed Text for Standard English Module A: Language, Identity and Culture.

Frost's demeanour and fashion suggest a certain oneness with nature

'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening' by Robert Frost

What is it: Frost describes a sense of rapture experienced by the poem's persona. The short and economically-composed portrait of the woods-in-season represents a communion with nature that links to concepts of place and emotion.

Scope for Study / Verdict: I guess this could be seen as the token international 'classic' entry in the poetry section of Module C, with Frost's exploration of nature conveyed through traditional use of imagery, sensory description, and elegant word choices. The poetry is more than accessible enough for a Standard English class, and its mileage will probably depend on the level of enthusiasm held by the teacher for Frost's poetry.

Length: 4 short stanzas.

Source: Originally published in 1923, this poem can be found most recently in The Collected Poems of Robert Frost, released in 2012.

'An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow' by Les Murray

What is it: A man stops and begins to cry in the middle of Sydney at Martin Place. The poem describes the way surrounding people react to the weeping man, with multiple points of view building a sense of depth and mystery.

Scope for Study / Verdict: Murray arranges free verse into several five-line stanzas, eschewing a more formalised structure in order to force the focus onto the content of the poem. Students can be scaffolded in examining each viewpoint presented, and there is a lot of scope for discussion in terms of creatively exploring the enigmatic weeping man at the centre of the piece and the strange impact he has on those around him. I think this would be a fantastic piece to study with a class both in terms of analysing the text and using it as a basis for creative writing activities.

Length: 9 stanzas presented across two pages.

Source: 'An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow' can be found in the 2012 book The Best 100 Poems of Les Murray, published by Black Inc.

I'm just gonna say it: Judith Wright looks like such a badass in this photo. I love it.

'The Surfer' by Judith Wright

What is it: This 1945 piece by the Australian poet Judith Wright describes a body surfer's mastery of the waves, the synergy between the human swimmer and the personified ocean, and the dangers that lurk in attempting to subjugate such a powerful force of nature.

Scope for Study / Verdict: Wright's language is powerful and visceral in its description of action, drawing parallels and tensions between the ocean and the swimmer who attempts to ride it, and remains a great piece of verse. The poem is relatively short and features little in the way of obscure or archaic language, allowing instead for the Standard English student to observe the writer's creative use of structure when arranging clauses and word combinations. There is also scope for students to explore connections to the poetry in terms of what it has to say about the underlying conflict or relationship between humanity and the elements.

Length: 3 stanzas (1 page)

Source: The poem can be found in the anthology Judith Wright: Collected Poems 1942-1985 published in 2016.

'May Your Pen Grace the Page', performance by Luka Lesson

What is it: A plea for potential writers to express themselves creatively, Lesson's slam poetry examines the nature of writing itself as an entity to be wooed and flirted with, and gives way to enthusiastic and romantic reflection.

Scope for Study / Verdict: The inclusion of this piece as a performance rather than a text-poem brings into focus the potential for analysing multimodality, with Lesson using pace and volume to build tension and emphasis. In 'May Your Pen Grace the Page', the process of writing is personified as a lover, calling to mind similarities with other Module C texts such as Sylvia Plath's 'A Comparison', and Lesson mixes the genres of poetry and hip-hop, which may assist with engaging some Standard English students with nominally challenging content.

Length: 3 and a half minutes.

Source: An audio recording can be found on Luka Lesson's 2012 CD Please Resist Me, and on Youtube. A transcript can also be found here.