Preparing for Assessment Task 1

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By now you should be well into your preparation for the first Assessment Task and should have a clear idea of what you need to be working on in order to perform your best. All of the materials outlined below have been made available to you over the past several weeks – make sure you are using them.

Please remember to keep posting your work to the relevant Showbie assigment as a PDF document only so that I can return feedback to you as quickly as possible. Details of how to sign up to or access Showbie can be found in this post: Showbie

 

1. Still Developing Ideas regarding the Key Themes of the Novel.

If you are still at this stage then you have a lot of work ahead of you. The best course of action will be to start by revise some of the most widely applicable stories in the novel:

  • ‘A Temporary Matter’
  • ‘Interpreter of Maladies’
  • ‘The Third and Final Continent’

You will also need to know one or two other stories in detail. Select the ones that you feel you know the best/are most comfortable and familiar with. ‘This Blessed House’, ‘Mr Pirzada Comes to Dine’ and ‘Sexy’ can work quite well.

To revise these stories you can use the following resources:

  1. Student slides and materials from oral presentations
  2. Slides on A Temporary Matter
  3. Padlet Materials on the Motif of Food
  4. Basic Understanding: Comprehension Questions
  5. More Advanced: Discussion Questions

There are also further resources on the ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ STL Link page: ‘Interpreter of Maladies’

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2. Assistance required with Structuring an Essay.

Make sure you have gone through the sample essays carefully and completed the associated activities: Sample Essays and Incorporating Quotes

You may find this break-down and explanation of one of the sample paragraphs useful in terms of identifying the key structural elements required by a strong essay (click for a larger version):

Make use of the text response essay materials on STL Link: Planning a Text Response Essay

Revise the structure of an essay:

Introduction

  • Include the title of the stories and the author.
  • Refer to key words and concepts from the essay topic.
  • Present a clear contention that provides a direct response to the essay topic/question.
  • Provide some contextual background (give an overview of the text as it relates to this topic).
  • Present some reasons to support your contention (i.e. a guide to the ideas explored in your following body paragraphs).

Body Paragraphs (at least 3 or 4)

  • Begin with a clear topic sentence which presents the argument/idea which the paragraph will explore.
  • Body paragraphs must contain evidence (quotes). These will provide the backbone for your analysis. All quotes must be fully incorporated.
  • There should be reference to and evidence from at least two stories in each paragraph.
  • End with a linking sentence which summarises your argument. This should include a reference to what the author’s intention/message/ideas are. Key terms should be used.

Conclusion

  • Restates your contention, linking it back to the overarching essay topic (use key terms).
  • Summarise the main points discussed in your above body paragraphs.
  • Provide a broader answer to the topic, commenting upon the broader message that the author is trying to communicate.
  • Leave a lasting impression in relation to language and ideas. It can be good to incorporate a key quote from the novel.

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3. Developing an Understanding of Essay Writing.

If you are feeling confident enough to complete an essay, but still need extra guidance in planning and generating ideas, then make sure you use the Guided Text Response Essay activity to gain some extra practice.

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4. Editing and Reviewing Key Essay Writing Techniques

Make sure you are familiar with embedding quotes: Sample Essays and Incorporating Quotes

Remember that, by this point, your essays must include the following:

  • A topic sentence that outlines the IDEA or ARGUMENT that you will be exploring in this paragraph. If you have a tendency to simply retell the story, try to avoid references to specific stories in your topic sentence (or the following sentence) – begin by explaining the IDEA before you jump to the examples.
  • Several FULLY INCORPORATED QUOTES in every body paragraph. This is not negotiable – it must be done in every body paragraph.
  • Follow up each quote, example, or reference to a story with YOUR OWN ANALYSIS/EXPLANATION of what the author is trying to explore/explain/reveal to the reader.
  • AT LEAST TWO stories should be discussed in each body paragraph.
  • Your paragraph should conclude with a Linking Sentence that explains what the AUTHOR’S PURPOSE was in doing whatever you have just been discussing (i.e. there should be at least one reference to ‘Lahiri’ in every body paragraph).

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5. Writing Practice Essays

Use the topics which have been made available on the blog to plan, write and edit your own responses. This is the best possible practice for the upcoming assessment task and where you will ideally be at this stage. You can find practice topics in the following posts:

There are also a series of practice questions here that you can choose from: interpreter_of_maladies_practice_essay_questions

When you complete an essay, mark yourself against the Year 11 Text Response Essay Assessment Sheet and see if  you can make any improvements. Then pass it on to me for feedback.

If  you are confident with you ability to write a well-structured essay under timed conditions (this confidence can only come after having completed at least two practice essays under timed conditions as part of your revision) a good revision technique is to choose an essay topic and plan the ‘skeleton’ of an essay, including a brief introduction, topic sentences and dot-points of quotes and analysis for each body paragraph.