Getting Ready to Teach Pearson’s new AS and A level English Literature specifications from 2015

1. Getting Ready to Teach Pearson’s new AS and A level English Literature specifications from 2015 14GBAE03

2. Aims and Objectives • During the sessionyou will: • Consider the structure, content and assessment of these new qualifications, and the support available to guide you through these changes • Explore possible teaching and delivery strategies for the new qualifications, including co -teaching AS and A level • Take part in planning activities • Have the opportunity to network and share ideas with other teachers

3. The changes

4. Changes to all A Levels • In new A level the AS level will be a separate, linear qualification and the grade will not contribute to the overall A level Grade • The content of the AS can be a subset of the A level content to allow co-teachability with the A level • HE/Russell Group involvement in subject content.

6. Changes to subject criteria • 20% coursework at A level – no AS coursework • 8 texts – reduced from 12, to facilitate in-depth reading and move away from ‘secondary texts’ • 6 reduced to 4 at AS • Changes to dates ranges: post-1990 becomes post-2000; greater emphasis on pre-1900 texts (3 out of 8) • Unseen assessment will be a compulsory requirement • Less emphasis on comparison in favour of ‘connections’

7. Changes to Assessment Objectives

8. Our specification

9. A and AS level at a glance

10. A level text coverage There are two texts in each component All new Literature specifications require 3 out of the 8 texts to be pre-1900 * Indicates where a third pre-1900 text can be studied Remember to complete and submit the pre-1900 checking form before the start of the course.

11. Component 1: Drama Tragedy: Shakespeare: Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Anthony and Cleopatra Other drama: The Duchess of Malfi, A Streetcar Named Desire, Doctor Faustus, The Home Place OR Comedy: Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure Other drama: Waiting for Godot, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Pitmen Painters, The Rover

13. Component 3: Poetry

14. Texts at AS Level AS texts are taken from the A level options: • 2 x prose texts, including at least 1 pre-1900 text (same themes and texts as A level) • 1 x other drama text (same other drama texts as A level) • 1 x selection of poems from Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry 2002–2011 Allows for complete co-teachability

15. Co-teachability

16. Planning

17. Text coverage activity • Using the text coverage handout, which of your currently taught texts might you want to keep? Where could these be used? • What opportunities for introducing new texts does it present? • How are you meeting the pre-1900 requirement? Discuss your thoughts with a colleague.

18. High level planning activity Look at the 3 planning models in your pack, and the questions for consideration. • Discuss the merits of each with a colleague • Using the blank planning sheet draft a possible 2 year plan for your department / class Examples of detailed course planners and schemes of work can be found on the Edexcel website.

19. Assessment – A level

20. HOLISTIC MARKS SCHEMES Look at the example mark scheme for ‘other’ drama in the sample assessment materials Integrated assessment objectives – no longer separate grids for each AO Even weighting of marks across the targeted AOs (any exceptions are minimal, so that the approach should still be even handed)

21. Component 1 - Drama

22. Shakespeare Or Key Points • AO1, AO2, AO3, AO5 • The student must be able to discuss the play in the light of other critical interpretations • The student must also explore the play’s contexts

23. How can students demonstrate their engagement with different interpretations? (AO5)

24. Shakespeare Critical Anthology • Free hard copy to every student. Order yours here. • Essays on the genres of tragedy and comedy, as well as specific writing on the students’ selected play. • Produced in association with University College London. Spend a few minutes looking at the relevant critical anthology for your chosen Shakespeare text. How might you incorporate this resource into your teaching? Take a look at the Using Literary Criticism lesson plan for some further ideas.

25. How might students use the critical anthology? • Understand the position being put forward • Compare the critical position with own position – identify points of similarity and difference • Compare the critical position with that of other students in class, or another critic • Agree with a critical point and find other examples in the play to further support it • Disagree with a critical perspective, and find evidence to support your own view • Refine the critics’ position – identify elements you could support, and those which you would develop further • Select particular key quotations to support or contrast with your own reading

26. Extract from a student response However, by the time we get to Act 4, the comedy of the revenge plot dies as Malvolio is imprisoned in ‘hideous darkness’ and is abused by Feste, who tries to prove him mad. Even Sir Toby believes this is excessive and wants to be ‘well rid of this knavery.’ There is an argument that says Malvolio’s imprisonment is intended to reflect Shakespeare’s own antipathy towards the puritans. It is true that the darkness could symbolise Malvolio’s moral blindness or lack of self-knowledge but, to me, and probably to a modern audience generally, his treatment ceases to be comic and becomes brutally unfair.

27. How can students demonstrate their engagement with different contexts? (AO3)

28. Extract from a student response …Perhaps as a more civilised society we have more of a moral compass – morality is not innate but dependent on environment and society. It is interesting to ask what Shakespeare’s attitude to Malvolio was. At a time when theatres were banished to the margins of London by puritanical authorities we may assume that Shakespeare may have intended for the audience to unite against Malvolio and enjoy his humiliation. Thirty-three years after Shakespeare’s death, however, the Puritans took power after the beheading of Charles I. Theatres, including Shakespeare’s Globe, were closed. It is as if Malvolio’s revenge is directed not only at the audiences who mocked him, but also at his creator himself.

29. ‘Other’ Drama Or Key Points • AO1, AO2, AO3 • The student must explore the play’s contexts • There is NO requirement to engage with other interpretations

30. Component 2 - Prose

31. PROSE OR Key Points • AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4 equally weighted • Students must explore the contexts of the novels • An additional focus is on making connections between the texts – ‘Compare’ will be a command word in the question. • One of the texts must be pre-1900

32. How should students make links and connections between texts? (AO4)

33. Extract from a student response In conclusion, Attwood uses Offred as her narrator in order to present how the abuse of power by the hierarchy depends upon the repression of most of the population, therefore creating a dystopian novel. Attwood presents a woman which the readers can relate to, and therefore can attach themselves to emotionally, creating an engaging narrative. On the other hand, Shelley uses multiple narrators, which interlink and blur together, in order to create an uncertainty for her reader, and enforce the gothic form of her novel. By using three different narrators, Shelley provides distance between her tale and the reader…

34. Demands of AO4 Level 1 1–4 Descriptive • Demonstrates limited awareness of connections between texts. Describes the texts as separate entities. Level 2 5–8 General exploration • Identifies general connections between texts. Makes general cross references between texts. Level 3 9–12 Clear relevant exploration • Makes relevant connections between texts. Develops an integrated approach with clear examples. Level 4 13–16 Discriminating exploration • Analyses connections between texts. Takes a controlled discriminating approach to integration with detailed examples. Level 5 17–20 Critical and evaluative • • Evaluates connections between texts. Exhibits a sophisticated connective approach with sophisticated use of examples.

35. Ways to teach links and connections in lessons • Continuum lines (statements to agree, qualify or disagree with are placed at either end of a line and students are asked to place texts/ parts of texts at points in the line in relation to the opposing terms) • Scaffolding plans for responding to comparison questions • Combing sections of the texts for similarities / differences • Exploring the connecting themes and asking students to find textual illustrations for these • Using Venn diagrams to compare characters / themes / modes of presentation etc. • Other ideas?

36. Component 3 - Poetry

37. Contemporary Poetry or Key  Points • AO1,AO2,AO4 • All modern poetry (post 2000) • Students must compare poems • BOTH poems will be printed in the A level paper i.e. the unseen poem and the optional studied comparative poems

38. Poets from ‘Poems of the Decade’ Vicki Feaver: ‘The Gun’ Sinéad Morrisey: ‘Genetics’ Listen to the poets reading their poems from the Poems of the Decade anthology. Follow them in you anthology.

39. Coverage of the poems – groupings poems for teaching How far can the ‘I’ of a poem ever be identified with ‘the poet’? • Simon Armitage ‘Chainsaw Versus the Pampas Grass’ • Eavan Boland ‘Inheritance’ • Ian Duhig ‘The Lammas Hireling’ Consider the methods used to convey childhood: • Helen Dunmore ‘To My Nine-Year-Old Self’ • John Burnside ‘History’ • Julia Copus ‘An Easy Passage’ There are many ways in which the poems for study might be grouped. A range of suggested groupings and suggested seminar ideas, are available on the website.

40. Using the Unseen Poetry resource • ‘how to approach unseen’. Advice from: • an academic • a poet and editor of ‘Poetry Review’ • a skilled sixth form teacher Discover the Unseen Poetry Preparation anthology here.

41. Approaching Unseen Poetry ‘When I read the unseen response essay I hope to get a sense that the writer is someone who understands how poetry works and what it is for….a sense that poems are not intended to be studied in classrooms or written about in exams…’ Gary Snapper ‘Look at the poem first. Some poems sit comfortably on the page. They are tidy and well behaved as Shakespeare’s sonnets are…Others sprawl all over it, reluctant to be confined to its margins, like the great rebellious poems of Pablo Neruda…Then read the poem. No, don’t just read it. LISTEN to it.’ Maurice Riordan ‘

42. Approaching Unseen Poetry • Sometimes the questions we ask are more important than their answers and no close reading can explain everything about a really good poem. If a close reading, by some chance, ever managed to do that, we would have nothing to bring us back to the poem again.’ Peter Barry • ‘Who better to teach you about contemporary poetry than the poets themselves.’ Edexcel

43. Poetry movement or poet or Key  Points • AO1,AO2,AO3 • Students need to engage with contexts • No comparisons required

44. Component 4 - Coursework

45. COURSEWORK Key Points • Any TWO texts of any period or genre other than texts that have already been studied • AO1,AO2,AO3,AO4,AO5 • Students have to link the texts, and engage with contexts and alternative interpretations. • Students as independent learners. There are lots of example text and task combinations in the getting started guide

46. Activity • Consider the list of example coursework tasks and texts in your packs. • Using either the other texts in the specification, or your own ideas, devise two further coursework tasks. • Use the provided examples to help you in creating an appropriate task title. If you need support with your coursework texts or tasks, or confirmation of their suitability, e-mail the coursework advisory service.

47. Assessment – AS level

48. Component 1 – Poetry and Drama

49. Component 1 – Poetry or Key Points Poetry: • AO1, AO2, AO4. • No unseen poetry but still all post-2000 and the same Anthology (and same poems) are used.

50. Component 1 – Drama Or Key Points Drama: • AO1, AO2, AO3, AO5 • No Shakespeare • AO5 is addressed in the question: ‘…in the light of this comment…’ (no requirement to draw in additional critical materials from outside the drama text)