Lyndall Hutton & Team

Year 12 Extension 1 Resource

Module: Texts and Ways of Thinking
Elective: Navigating the Global

Module B: Texts and Ways of Thinking

This module requires students to explore and evaluate a selection of texts relating to a
particular historical period. It develops their understanding of the ways in which
scientific, religious, philosophical or economic paradigms have shaped and are
reflected in literature and other texts.
Each elective in this module involves the study of at least two print texts, relating to a
particular historical period, that demonstrate the influence of particular ways of
thinking on literary and other texts. In addition, students explore, analyse and
critically evaluate a range of other texts that reflect these ideas.
Students explore the ways that values are inscribed in particular texts and how they
are reflected by texts. They consider whether and why texts are valued in their own
time. They also consider why and by whom those texts are valued today.
Students develop a range of imaginative, interpretive and analytical compositions,
including some which explore the effects of particular paradigms for a range of
audiences. These compositions may be realised in various forms, modes and media.
Students investigate topics and ideas, engage in independent learning activities and
develop skills in extended composition.
(English Stage 6 Syllabus, p 89 90)

Lyndall Hutton & Team

Extension 1 Outcomes
English Extension
Course 1 Objectives

HSC English
Extension Course 1
Outcomes

HSC English Extension Course 1 Content

Students will develop

knowledge and
understanding of how
and why texts are
valued.

1. A student
distinguishes and
evaluates the
values expressed
through texts.

1.

Students learn to distinguish and evaluate

the values expressed through texts by:
1.1 identifying aspects of texts that reflect and
shape values
1.2 considering the ways that values identified
in and through texts can vary
1.3 evaluating the effects of changes in
perceived values.

Students will develop

skills in theorising
about texts and values
based on analysis and
understanding of
complex ideas.

2. A student explains
different ways of
valuing texts.

2.
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4

Students learn how different texts are

valued by:
identifying aspects of texts that are valued
in different contexts
explaining why and how different aspects
of texts are valued in different contexts
speculating about different ways in which
texts might be valued
generalising about the nature of the
process of valuing texts.

Students will develop

skills in sustained
composition.

3. A student
3. Students will learn to compose extended
composes extended
texts by:
texts.
3.1 engaging with the complexity of a range
of texts
3.2 refining the clarity of their own
compositions to meet the demands of
increasing complexity of thought and
expression
3.3 using and manipulating a range of generic
forms in a range of modes and media for
different audiences and purposes
3.4 using stylistic devices appropriate to
purpose, audience and context.

Students will develop

skills in extensive
independent
investigation.

4. A student develops
and delivers
sophisticated
presentations.

4.
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4

Students learn to develop sophisticated

presentations by:
engaging in extended independent
investigation
reflecting on their findings
presenting the results to a specific
audience and for a specific purpose
reflecting on the effectiveness of the
presentation.

Lyndall Hutton & Team

ELECTIVES: Extension
MODULE B: Texts and Ways of Thinking
Elective 3: Navigating the Global
In the late 20th century and early 21st century, the development towards a global
culture has blurred traditional concepts and boundaries of time and space. Knowledge,
values and culture have become at once global and local through the globalisation of
communications. Choice and circumstance have created a range of individual and
community responses to this changing reality: some have embraced or warily accepted
it, while others have challenged or retreated from it. The ideas, language forms,
features and structures of texts may reflect or challenge ways of thinking during this
period.
In this elective, students are required to study at least three of the prescribed texts,
two of which must be print texts, as well as other texts of their own choosing. In their
responding and composing they explore, analyse, experiment with and critically
evaluate their prescribed texts and a range of other appropriate examples. Texts should
be drawn from a range of contexts and media and should reflect the relationships
between the global and the local and the significance of these relationships to the life
of the individual and their community.
Prose Fiction
Proulx, E Annie, The Shipping News, Fourth Estate/HarperCollins, 1994, ISBN13: 9781857022421
Theroux, Paul, The Mosquito Coast, Penguin, 1982, ISBN-13: 9780140060898
MacLeod, Alistair, Island, Vintage/Random House, 2002, ISBN-13:
9780099422327
The Boat, In the Fall, Second Spring, The Lost Salt Gift of Blood, Island,
To Everything There is a Season, Winter Dog, As Birds Bring Forth the Sun,
Vision, The Road to Rankin's Point, The Closing Down of Summer, The
Tuning of Perfection
or
Poetry
Heaney, Seamus, Opened Ground: Poems 19661996, Faber/Allen & Unwin,
2005, ISBN-13: 9780571194933
Digging, Personal Helicon, Funeral Rites, Punishment, Triptych,
Casualty, The Strand at Lough Beg
or
Film
Coppola, Sofia, Lost in Translation, Universal Studios, 2003
(English Stage Prescriptions p. 33)

Lyndall Hutton & Team

An Opening Comment
Some teachers will come to this elective fresh with no preconceived ideas based on
the previous elective Retreat from the Global, others may need to re-position their
thinking to adapt to the new prescription.
A Valuable Resource An Acknowledgement
HSC On Line Retreat from the Global by David Eldridge
Despite some shifts in focus for the current elective, this unit, prepared by David
Eldridge for Retreat from the Global, is a most valuable and comprehensive resource.
It addresses the conceptual, contextual and theoretical understanding required by
students to successfully respond to texts in Navigating the Global.
What is New?
Prescriptions
2009 - 2012
The title Navigating

Prescriptions
2002 2008
The title Retreat

Context In the late

20th century and early
21st century..

Context In the late

twentieth century..

Implications of
movement towards
global culture ..blurred
traditional concepts and
boundaries of time and
space.
An addition - The ideas,
language forms, features
and structures of texts may
reflect or challenge ways
of thinking during this
period.

Implications of
movement towards
global culture ..eroded
traditional boundaries of
time and space.

Texts some new ones!

Texts some gone!

Reasons for Change

???
To avoid assumptions of a
global/local binary; to
establish a notion that the
global is inescapable; to
focus on paradigms rather
than a simplistic physical
retreat
Continued and immediate
relevance which demands
engagement with current
resources
Focus on concepts rather
than boundaries to
encourage reflection on
ways of thinking rather
than simply the physical
impact.
To position teachers and
students to understand that
texts will explore, and
respond to, this global
culture in different ways. It
also hints that students,
who only examine how
texts reflect global ways of
thinking, will be limiting
their engagement with the
complex interplay of
global and local
paradigms.

Lyndall Hutton & Team

Unpacking the Rubric and Teaching and Learning Implications/ Suggestions

(Also refer to above resource from HSC On Line)

Rubric Feature
In the late 20th century and early 21st
century

Teaching and Learning

Implications/Suggestions
Students should be able to articulate an
understanding of the historical context,
related paradigmatic frameworks,
postmodernist thinking, post colonial
theory and political and cultural
theoretical perspectives.
A devised Book of Readings is a useful
reference but students should also be
encouraged to undertake independent
investigation.

global culture has blurred traditional

concepts and boundaries of time and
space.

Knowledge, values and culture have

become at once global and local through
the globalisation of communications.
Choice and circumstance have created a
range of individual and community
responses to this changing reality: some
have embraced or warily accepted it,
while others have challenged or retreated
from it.

relationships between the global and

the local

Introduce this at the beginning of the

course but avoid student overload rather
make these focuses ongoing and
developmental as texts are analysed and
evaluated.
Students should have a specific
understanding of the way scientific and
economic notions of progress have
shaped the global world and blurred
traditional concepts and boundaries of
time and space.
Students should understand the
implications of global communications
and transport. A Geography teacher, as a
guest speaker, is useful.
Students should explore a range of
responses through texts (prescribed,
related and those used for building
conceptual and contextual
understanding). These responses are
usually framed by context.
Note: The words changing reality
suggest an inescapable global context
which will provide ongoing challenges
for navigation.
Students will explore the representation
of both the global and the local in texts as
well as the balance, connections or
tensions, which exist between them.

Lyndall Hutton & Team

Note: Students articulation of the local

can be problematic encourage them not
to generalise, simplify or romanticise.
The local may be a state of mind rather
than a physical place or state of mind and
place may be interconnected.

the significance of these relationships

to the life of the individual and their
community.

Students should understand the scientific,

economic, religious and philosophical
paradigms of both the global and local
and examine how these are inscribed in
texts.
Students should explore the importance
and impact of the relationships between
the local and the global to the nature and
quality of life of the individual and their
community.

Focus considerations might be:

-the benefits, disadvantages and issues of
equity associated with technological and
economic progress
- functional/dysfunctional human
relationships human
connection/disconnection
- individual/ community identity and
personal dislocation/ alienation
- related notions of past, present and
future in creating security
- the role of social ethics and human
nurturing
- questions of justice, equality and
freedom
- sustainability
- cultural and individual psyche
- role of place versus space in creating
human well being
- opportunities for a paradigm shift or
balance
students are required to study at least
See HSC On Line unit regarding choice
three of the prescribed texts, two of
of related texts! Avoid teaching class
which must be print texts, as well as other related texts! Advise students to choose
texts of their own choosing
texts which do represent a sense of the
local as many students choose texts which
simply critique the global.
The ideas, language forms, features and Texts chosen should reflect a variety of
structures of texts may reflect or
perspectives. Students must analyse how
challenge ways of thinking during this
texts represent the focus areas of the
period.
elective through reference to forms,
features and structures of texts.

Lyndall Hutton & Team

Texts should be drawn from a range of

contexts and media.

In their responding and composing they

explore, analyse, experiment with and
critically evaluate their prescribed texts
and a range of other appropriate
examples.

It is useful for students to see each text as

an argument in response to the focus
areas.
Students should choose texts from
throughout the period and it is necessary
for texts to be explicitly placed in context
within the period.
A way to encourage students to choose
texts from a range of media is to specify
for assessment purposes.
States the obvious but emphasise the
critically evaluate for analytical
responses and devote considerable
teaching and learning time to
experimentation with composition which
reflects the focus areas of the elective.
Useful to look carefully at past HSC
papers as questions are demanding
students think on their feet.

Implications of Navigating in Navigating the Global

Consider the following:

The participle suggests a continuous reality for the individual

Suggests new territory and changing reality
Caution and potential danger - steer carefully or chance of being lost
OR Adventure/ discovery and new knowledge/ progress
Implies tension between the local and the global
Finding your way but with some direction
Need to know where you have been to navigate a way forward
Finding something new
Embracing the new
Navigating from one place to another to create a pathway but with the option
of returning
Skills need to navigate perhaps the local?
The need to navigate implies the complexity of progress and we need to find a
way to successfully navigate

Lyndall Hutton & Team

Quality Responses
A useful and detailed resource for teaching and student reflection is the 2006 markers
comments.
Vocabulary building is a key to success in this elective as it is integral to the
articulation of its complexities. Provide, or have students develop, ongoing
vocabulary lists which reflect conceptual, contextual and theoretical understanding.
The following might offer a start:
E.g.
Homogenous
Imperialism
Hegemony
Postmodern
Postcolonial
Paradigm
Globalization
Heritage
Capitalism
Proliferation
Grand narrative
Commodification
Progress
Integration
Conformity
Socio-economic
Nourishment
Domination
Retreat

displacement
alienation
traditional
local narrative
diversity
ceremony
democracy
justice
standardize
hybrid
eroded
challenge
ethnicity
resistance
political
authenticity
nurturing
balance
harmony

isolation
dysfunctional
regionalism
parochial
ethics
ritual
security
technology
empowerment
control
discourse
dynamic
meta-narrative
acceptance
theorists
spiritual
restore
navigation
threat

Related Texts
Should:
Reflect independent investigation rather than a class approach
Be substantial
Add to a students set of texts by offering a range of media and perspectives,
fiction and non-fiction
Be relevant for analysis and evaluation of relevant elective focuses not just
critique the global
Some suggestions contributed by Teachers (But always apply the focus areas of the
elective to assess suitability. There are many suitable related texts for students who
want to investigate.)
Prose Fiction
Dirt Music - Tim Winton
Heat and Dust - Ruth Prawler Jhabvala
Eucalyptus - Murray Bail
Journey to the Stone Country - Alex Miller
Bluebuck - Tim Winton
Tirra Lirra by the River - Jessica Anderson

Lyndall Hutton & Team

Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha - Roddy Doyle

Miss Smillas Feeling for Snow - Peter Hoeg
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
Oceana Fine - Tom Flood
The Boys in the Island (1974) - CJ Koch
The Doubleman - CJ Koch
Charades - Janette Turner Hospital
The Last Musician - Janette Turner Hospital
The Great World - David Malouf
East of the Mountains - David Gutterson
Hannie Bennets Winter Marriag - Kerrie Hardy
Chocolat - Joanne Harris
Wife - Nukherjee Bharati
The Merry-go-round and the sea - Randolph Stowe
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
The Riders - Tim Winton
Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai
Short Stories
Black Juice - Margot Lanaghan
The Turning - Tim Winton
Interpretive Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri
Films
Witness
Solyent Green
Fargo
Monsoon Wedding
Local Hero
Chocolat
The Castle
Apocalypse Now
Into the Wild
The Beach
Seven Days in Tibet
Waking Ned Devine
As It Is in Heaven
Non Fiction
No Logo - Naomi Klein
The Take
The Corporation
Inconvenient Truth
A Sacred Balance - David Suzuki
Television Series
Northern Exposure
Hamish Macbeth
Seachange
Image
Curly Pyjamas - Leunig

Lyndall Hutton & Team