In this class, we cover all the core English skills—reading, writing, and analysis—but we do it with a distinct Media Studies slant. We look at how stories work not just on the page, but visually and structurally, too.
For example, we will kick off the year by sampling a range of novels and voting on a class favourite to study together (and they'll all be geeky, nerdy, sci fi or fantasy novels. Fair warning). But instead of just writing standard essays, you might demonstrate your understanding by learning how to:
- Turn a chapter of the novel into a screenplay.
- Digitally storyboard a key sequence from the book.
- Design a new book cover based on the novel’s themes.
- Produce a mini-documentary on an idea from the text.
There will be a lot of reading in this class—it’s the foundation of everything we do. My goal is to help you realise how cool reading can be and nudge you towards being an independent thinker. You'll likely need a non-phone device to help you on your reading journey (phones won't be welcome in this class at all: I hate them. Instead, we'll be using laptops, computers and tablets frequently for creative work. And respectfully and on-task, too: I promise to provide the interesting content; you provide the focus).