Week 8 Term 3 - English Department: Preparing for the Derived Grade Assessment Exam - (September 12 - 16)

Since 2020, student achievement in external assessment has changed. The disruptions to the school structure and learning over the last two years have impact on student achievement with external assessment and Derived Grade Assessments have become an insurance policy that students are encouraged to take on should anything happen. Preparing for the Derived Grade Assessment Examinations is important. How you prepare can have an impact on your outcome. For my two senior classes (201ENG - NCEA Level 2 English + 301ENGLit - NCEA Level 3 English) I wanted to make sure that I prepared them well enough to know the texts and how to craft their text responses. I am going to share the preparation I went through with my NCEA Level 3 English class (301ENGLit) focusing on the external assessment paper 91473 - Response to a visual text. 

VISUAL TEXT: ​ Visual texts are texts in which meaning is shaped and communicated by images rather than words. Visual texts range from a photograph or illustration in a print magazine to the visual components of multimodal texts. (Visual Literacy)

We spent all of Term 2 focusing on our extended written text, so I decided that I would begin the Derived Grade Assessment preparation by looking back on our visual text (Ron Howard's - A Beautiful Mind). We had watched the film earlier in the year when we were doing our Close Viewing Assessment, so I knew that I had to revisit the text with the students to get them familiar with it again. The premise of the Derived Grade Assessment for 91473 is crafting a written response to a studied visual text. The students are giving 8 statements that they have to choose from (see the statements from the 2021 91473 external assessment for a visual text below): 

1. Innovative texts provide the most reward for the audience.
2. A convincing hero has a balance of admirable and deplorable characteristics.
3. The most powerful texts affect their audience through sophisticated structure.
4. An inspiring text challenges the audience’s initial assumptions about characters.
5. The important messages in a text are conveyed by the differences between settings.
6. An effective text uses imagery to present the ordinary in extraordinary ways.
7. The power of a persuasive text comes from the skillful combination of elements.
8. Significant connections between the start and end of a text reveal important ideas

The students will choose ONE statement and craft their written response, basing their response on the visual text studied in class. In preparation for this, I knew that the students knew the text well and that they had already studied the three key scenes from the film in depth. All of this is needed in the written response, however I wanted to focus on three areas that they students could support what they already know and potentially take their writing to the next level. The three areas are the visual text's genre, the director's style and the social/historical/political context around the film. A well rounded and crafted text for a visual text essay is one that is not just mapping out the key scenes, techniques and director's purpose BUT is one that can tie in all the other aspects WELL linking back to the statement that the student has chosen.

91473 DGE Document that I prepared for my students focusing on the 3 areas. 

Genre: It is important for the students to know the genre of the film. Knowing the genre can help them grasp on the stylistic conventions of the genre and how the director has used it to show a specific message. 

Director's style/background: Knowing more about the director, the style of they film and what characteristics are evident in their film style, can help student's when they are talking about the director's purpose. 

Social/Political/Historical context: Knowing the social, political and historical context of a text and weaving this into your written text, can really help elevate your writing. It will show the marker that your understanding of the text goes beyond what have you seen and highlights your understanding of the social, political and historical context that help support the film's overall message or purpose. 

91473 DGE Document: Crafting their text

From here the students were able to pull what they revised on the text, specifically the three scenes and integrate what they had revised on the 3 new areas. The purpose of this next part of the revision was so that they could organize and plan what they know - crafting a plan of their paragraph for each scene that they would write in the actual Derived Grade Assessment exam for the visual text. 

My approach for the Derived Grade Assessment revision was to keep as simple as possible and something that the students could do in their own time. I wanted them to use what they know about the text but also introduce them to a few key areas that could help elevate their writing. The proof is in the pudding and now with the assessment over, I look forward to seeing if the revision actually worked.