Our Goals

Our goals for this term:

In this unit, students will further develop their skills in responding and composing to texts. They will build on their understanding of narrative elements achieved in Year 7, with an emphasis on unpacking what is meant by the well-worn refrain “show, don’t tell”.  To achieve this aim, students will examine a variety of quality imaginative texts. They will develop the metalanguage to describe how linguistic and stylistic devices are employed to “show” complex characters and purposeful settings and to explore ideas about the world. Students will also consider the importance of point of view for shaping the reader’s response to events, characters and ideas. 

As students develop these understandings, they will be provided with many opportunities to experiment with linguistic and stylistic devices in their own writing. They will feel empowered to create their own scenes that appeal to their reader’s emotions and that place their reader in the middle of the action. Students will be encouraged to view themselves as authors with something important to share. As they write, students will reflect on their compositional choices, and consider to what extent they have achieved the goal of “showing - not telling”.