Year 9 English

Task Name Student

Science Fiction – Short Story
Unit / Guiding Question Due Date Teacher
How does Science Fiction offer Ashley Hart
speculations about our shared or
Date Submitted Task Author
individual futures?
Ashley Hart
INSTRUCTIONS
Use the writing process to compose a polished short story which employs the features and conventions of
the Science Fiction genre.

WORD LIMIT: 1000

SOME SUGGESTIONS . . .

Try to develop and include aspects of the following:

 Restrict your participant to two or three characters

 Provide vivid descriptions and details about the physical setting (time, place, weather)
 Infer or outline the social setting (power structures / values / lifestyles)
 Conflict of some sort (conflict with the environment or between characters or within one character)
 Clear paragraphing
 A futuristic element / emphasis on technological sophistication (or not)
 A little direct speech but not too much
 An engaging introduction
 Consistent use of narrative voice and tense
 A cryptic or suggestive title
 A final piece with no spelling or grammatical errors (clear, coherent, accurate)

PLANNING TABLE

Characters Setting (physical / Conflict Technology

time)

1
2
3

Where this story fits into Key features you aim to Vocabulary (literal and Inspired by which text(s)
the imagined wider employ: invented)
world of the text Alien forms or
 Orientation environments?
 Complication Robotics?
 Crisis Mutations?
Computing?
Space?
Inter-planetary travel?

TASK SPECIFIC ASSESSMENT CRITERIA – See the next page.

TASK SPECIFIC ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

 Need to
CRITERIA DESCRIPTION Poor Good Excellent
Improve

Audience The writer’s capacity to orient, engage

and affect the reader

Text The organisation of narrative features

structure including orientation, complication and
resolution into an appropriate and
effective text structure

Ideas The creation, selection and crafting of

ideas for a narrative

Setting Setting: The development of a sense of

a place, time and atmosphere

Vocabulary The range and precision of language

choices

Cohesion The control of multiple threads and

relationships over the whole text,
achieved through the use of referring
words, substitutions, word associations
and text connectives

Paragraphing The segmenting of text into paragraphs

that assists the reader to negotiate the
narrative

Sentence The production of grammatically correct,

structure structurally sound and meaningful
sentences

Punctuation The use of correct and appropriate

punctuation to aid the reading of the text

Spelling The accuracy of spelling and the

difficulty of the words used
Year 9 English
AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM

ACHIEVEMENT STANDARDS
YEAR 9 Receptive Modes
(listening, reading and viewing) Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Accomplished
SHADED APPLY
R1. analyses the ways that text structures can be
manipulated for effect.

R2. analyses and explains how images, vocabulary

choices and language features distinguish the
work of individual authors.

R3. evaluates and integrates ideas and information

from texts to form their own interpretations.

R4. selects evidence from texts to analyse and explain

how language choices and conventions are used
to influence an audience.

R5. listens for the ways texts position an audience.

YEAR 9 Productive Modes

(speaking, writing and creating) Unsatisfactory Satisfactory Accomplished
SHADED APPLY
P1. understands how to use a variety of language
features to create different levels of meaning.

P2. understands how interpretations can vary by

comparing their responses to texts to the
responses of others.
P3. demonstrates how manipulating language
features and images can create innovative texts.

P4. creates texts that respond to issues, interpreting

and integrating ideas from other texts.

P5. makes presentations and contributes actively to

class and group discussions, comparing and
evaluating responses to ideas and issues.
P6. edits for effect, selecting vocabulary and grammar
that contribute to the precision and
persuasiveness of texts and uses accurate
spelling and punctuation.

TEACHER COMMENT

A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- E+ E E-
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1