Courses:

Classes run weekly and for a term block (approximately 10 lessons). Courses will provided successive lessons which accumulate to students providing a completed, edited and graded Assessment. The courses follow the Victorian Curriculum and will refine knowledge and skills in the topics students study at their school

Argument Analysis

Argument Analysis is a VCE Unit which is a part of the Curriculum and one of the sections for the VCE English Examination. This unit requires students to not only understand articles but to be able to analyse how an author attempts to persuade an audience. Students must have a solid understanding of various techniques that an author may use in order to assess the intended effect. School Assessed Coursework requires students to formalise their evaluation of articles into a sophisticated and coherent written response.

This course builds student confidence in this compulsory Victorian requirement and examined topic for VCE. At Brave New Learning, students will gain skills which will enable them to understand this style of writing and to be better prepared for exam conditions. Teachers of Brave New Learning will provide exemplar responses so that students are able to see model answers. Students will learn:

  • visual literacy metalanguage, emotive language and figurative language,
  • how authors attempt to appeal to specific audience groups and their accompanying persuasive devices,
  • how to effectively and efficiently annotate articles,
  • to create a number of Argument Analysis Responses.

Text Response Essays

An analytical text response essay entails studying a text in depth (such as a film, play or novel) so students can analyse the ideas and meaning of the text. This is part of the Victorian Curriculum and is both a School Assessed Coursework requirement and a section of the VCE Examination.

At Brave New Learning, classes will closely study texts and discuss the themes, contextual information, social issues and construction of their designated texts. Students participating in this course will be taught how to:

  • evaluate the links between contextual information of an author, the time period and the form of their text,
  • understand and express interpretations of character development, motifs, symbols and use of language and visual (where applicable),
  • appropriately plan essays based on a strong contention,
  • provide unique and insightful analysis on meaning and purpose of a text,
  • construct an essay using the correct structure of a Text Response, embedding of quotes and how to create arguments with appropriate evidence related to an essay question.

Creative

Although this is not directly on the VCE Examination, it is a School Assessed Coursework obligation and does contribute to a student’s Study Score. However, the base text will be an option on the Examination in where they may choose to write an essay on it. This outcome requires students to study a text and then produce a creative piece of writing which shows sophisticated understanding of the original text. Depending on the school’s decision, students may be asked to submit a creative piece in any form, such as a short story, screenplay or a compilation of smaller writing tasks.

At Brave New Learning, this course will enable students to produce a creative piece based on a studied text. Students will be taught:

  • a close study of a text,
  • how to use an original text to create adaptations on the themes, ideas and messages,
  • how to plan for a creative piece which explores an original text,
  • how to edit a piece of writing,
  • how to use spelling, language, punctuation and grammar to enhance writing.

New VCE Unit 4 Comparative Studies

The Comparative Unit was officially implemented into the VCE Curriculum in 2017 and now forms a student’s School Assessed Coursework and a section in their VCE final examination. This unit requires students to study a pair of texts and complete a Comparative Essay. The final outcome of this unit is that students can write a full essay which combines both texts when answering an essay question.

Students studying this course will study a pairing of texts, in great detail, and will be educated on how to construct a higher ordered thinking response to an essay question. In order to do this, the course will teach:

  • the contextual information of both texts’ authors, time period and structural features of the texts’ forms,
  • how to take notes and organise information from two texts,
  • the most effective way to structure this specific style of essay.

Statement of Intention

The Curriculum requires all students to complete a Statement of Intention twice per year; once for their Oral Outcome and once for their Creative Outcome. A Statement of Intention involves students developing a written explanation of the authorial choices they made for their tasks. This piece of writing needs to reveal that a student purposely made conscientious decisions when they were creating their Oral or Creative School Assessment Coursework as it contributes to 25% of the respective Outcomes.

This course will enable students to be informative, concise and insightful when exploring their own planning, creation and execution of their own work. This course will explicitly teach:

  • how to annotate a booklet of speeches,
  • vocabulary needed to best explain how their own thought-processes assisted them in their purpose.
  • the most effective form to express these choices so they can gain higher marks for this VCE requirement.

Oral Presentations

The Oral Presentation is a component of the Victorian Curriculum in where students are to research and perform a persuasive speech as part of their VCE. This skill is an important element of a person’s schooling, career and life skills.

This course will teach students how to research and synthesise current media and general knowledge in order to conduct an informative, persuasive and thought-provoking speech. Classes will be taught:

  • how to use research to inform one’s opinion,
  • different structures of a speech,
  • how to tailor a speech to different audience demographics,
  • persuasive techniques and devices,
  • presentation skills,
  • how to maximise marks according to a presentation criteria.