This course is a combination of Media Studies and English.
This term, we're focusing on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (last term we voted on which novel to study, after sampling several). Students joining the class will have to have already read the first half of the novel, and have their own copy in some form to bring with them to class.
We'll be reading the novel together, discussing it, and doing various design/writing/filmmaking activities related to the text.
I'll encourage students to submit ENG 1.1/91924 after we have completed our text study: which is an internal worth 5 Credits (Demonstrate understanding of how context shapes verbal language use). This will happen near the start of term 2, depending on how quickly we progress through the course material.
I'll also encourage students to eventually submit English 1.2, another 5 credit internal - sometime towards the end of term. Students who have become familiar with the text and who have been engaging with the class should find this fairly straightforward (although these are all new standards at level 1, so things are a little more vague than they have been in previous years).
One of my aims is also to get students prepared to achieve Media Studies at Level 2, if they wish to do so (Media Studies is only offered in NZ at levels 2 and 3). For that reason, this won't feel like a full English course, or a full Media Studies course, but a combination of both! (in my humble opinion, the best bits of both curriculum areas. But I would say that :p).
Warning 1: Being a senior course, some of the texts studied later in the year will inevitably be R13. If you aren't yet 13, this unfortunately is a non-negotiable, as I'm not going to be breaking the law for your benefit. :p
Warning 2: Students will need access to a device, and it'd be preferable for them to set up a goodreads.com account beforehand (you can just use your school email to do this if you like). If you haven't been in a class with me before, you should know I have some pretty high standards around device use. You simply won't be welcome to scroll through your feed or play games while the lesson is active: you'll be expected to be an active contributor to the class. I promise there'll be interesting content to keep you engaged! And you'll promise not to make me have that boring conversation with your HBLA and parents about inappropriate device use :p