3.7 Connections
3.7 Respond critically to significant connections across texts, supported by evidence
Suggested text hypotheses and texts for 2020:
“In times of suspicion, truth is often the first casualty.”
“People believe the truth that most suits their view of the world.”
The Crucible by Arthur Miller https://archive.org/stream/TheCrucibleFullText/The+Crucible+full+text_djvu.txt
Article about Fake News: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170301-lies-propaganda-and-fake-news-a-grand-challenge-of-our-age
Article about political leaning dictating the understanding of the Covid19 crisis: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/31/21199271/coronavirus-in-us-trump-republicans-democrats-survey-epistemic-crisis
YOUR CHOICE:
Some good suggestions are Othello by William Shakespeare or The Truman Show by Peter Weir
More suggested 3.7 groupings
“People often struggle to choose between right and wrong.”
“Individuals often find themselves in conflict with the forces of society.”
1. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
2. The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (Short story) http://web1.nbed.nb.ca/sites/ASD-S/1820/J%20Johnston/The_Lottery_with_questions_Shirley_Jackson.pdf
3. Little Brother by Bruce Holland Rogers (Short story): http://strangehorizons.com/fiction/little-brother/
4. The Dark Knight by Christopher Nolan
If you are going to use “individual rights vs the rights of the group” this is a good article about someone protesting the lockdown restrictions in the USA. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/lesterfeder/coronavirus-sara-walton-brady-video
3.7 Respond critically to significant connections across texts, supported by evidence. Credits: 4
Connecting the Dots
In this activity you will:
- Select at least four texts, of which at least one has not been studied in class, either this year or last year.
- Form a hypothesis about a significant aspect of the texts and use this to guide your critical response, supported by examples and quotes from the texts.
- Present your findings as a formal written report or as a speech.
You will be assessed on how well you:
- Recognize and interpret the connection across the texts.
- Draw insightful conclusions and judgement from your interpretation of these conclusions.
- Use specific and relevant details from the texts to support your interpretation.
TASK 1: Choosing your texts and identifying your connections.
- Select four texts that have some commonalities such as character experience, setting or theme. Up to three of these may have been previously studied in class.
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- _____________________________________________________________________________
- Frame your hypothesis about these connections (NB – this may be similar to your work for 3.8. Instead of drawing on critics you will be proving your hypothesis by reference t at least four primary texts.)
- Examples of possible hypotheses:
It is not possible to escape the consequences of your actions.
Focusing on the destination condemns the journey towards happiness to failure.
Once we begin manipulating others, the outcome will always be negative.
TASK 2: Completing the log
Use the template on the following page to take notes on the connections between your texts. For each text, you must find two aspects that can be compared or contrasted with at least one other text in terms of your hypothesis. These aspects do not need to be the same across all four texts.
Aspects might be: Characterisation, narrative structure, use of specific language/film techniques, setting, presentation of ideas, similar events, point of view.
TASK 3: Writing your report
Present your findings in a written report or speech format. You must ensure that you demonstrate a critical analysis of how each text supports your hypothesis, presenting evidence from at least two different aspects of the text.
Hypothesis:
What is your guiding hypothesis or thesis statement (linked to your connections)?
___________________________________________________________________________
Eg: “It is only in moments of extreme trial that true natures are revealed.”
A Beautiful Mind by Ron Howard
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Suggested extra texts:
Apollo 13 by Ron Howard
Castaway by Robert Zemeckis
The Truman Show by Peter Weir
http://www.studyit.org.nz/subjects/english/english3/7/subjectcontent/recordingevidence.html
HOW TO DO IT?
Use the working frame below. Devise your own hypothesis to explore. Clearly identify the connection in each of your texts. Find key examples of where that connection is demonstrated in the text, highlighting the way specific techniques/aspects have been used to help us understand that connection. Critically respond to it. Create new meaning about it from your examination of it. Compare and contrast this new meaning with other ideas you have found regarding this connection in your other texts. From these comparisons, form conclusions and make judgements about your hypothesis/connection. Evaluate the impact of these conclusions (i.e.: Do you think this is what the writer/director intended? Why? Why not? Effectiveness of effects? Would most audiences respond in the same way? Why? Why not?) and discuss what implications your findings might have on how we react to each text, other texts in general or even the real world. Discuss how these findings apply to the wider world or the human condition.
NEW CONNECTIONS ESSAY PLANNER 2020
BEFORE YOU START
Think of possible conclusions you could draw about the way your hypothesis interacts with all 4 of your texts.
What “BIG IDEA” findings do you suspect you will find?
Brainstorm possible results you might find out from analysing your hypothesis in these texts.
Don’t worry if your BIG IDEAS don’t all pan out right now – just make as many educated guesses as you can. Your later analysis will test how many can still stand at the end.
POSSIBLE BIG IDEAS ABOUT MY CONNECTION
My hypothesis connection is: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Choose your best 2 BIG IDEAS to guide your analysis of the way your hypothesis operates across your 4 chosen texts.
Leave the option open to adapt, change or discard your brainstormed BIG IDEA if you discover a better one as part of your analysis. All your analysis will be building and deepening your ideas anyway.
EXAMPLE HYPOTHESIS: The setting of the text impacts how we judge the morality of the characters. Big ideas: 1. When characters live in more primitive or difficult times we excuse them more for their actions.2. But even when settings are from different eras, if the characters take relatable actions we judge them by today’s standards of decency.
Complete the planner below using the most relevant examples from each of the 4 texts.
| 3.7 CONNECTIONS | The Crucible | The Lottery | Little Brother | The Dark Knight or
The Truman Show. |
| My hypothesis/connection is:
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| My 2 possible BIG IDEAS about my hypothesis connection are (may be modified after your analysis):
1.
2. |
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| POINT 1 By looking at my hypothesis across the 4 texts it led me to understand BIG IDEA #1 about my hypothesis which is that SOMETIMES……because… |
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| EVIDENCE
Example(s) from text
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| EXPLAIN
What this shows about my connection is…
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| EVIDENCE
Example(s) from text
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| EXPLAIN
What this shows about my connection is…
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| COMPARE across texts
What’s similar about how my 4 texts deal with BIG IDEA #1? What’s similar or the same? IDEAS? PURPOSE? AUDIENCE IMPACT? TEXT AS A WHOLE? |
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| CRITICAL ANALYSIS
What perceptive understandings about my hypothesis/BIG IDEA #1 can we see from these similarities? HUMAN NATURE? SOCIETY? REAL WORLD LINKS TO TODAY? SO WHAT? WHOSE SHOES? WHAT’S OUTSIDE THE BOX?
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| CONTRAST across texts
What’s different about how my 4 texts deal with BIG IDEA #1? What’s different? IDEAS? PURPOSE? AUDIENCE IMPACT? TEXT AS A WHOLE?
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| CRITICAL ANALYSIS
What perceptive understandings can we see from these differences? HUMAN NATURE? SOCIETY? REAL WORLD LINKS TO TODAY? SO WHAT? WHOSE SHOES? WHAT’S OUTSIDE THE BOX?
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| SUMMARIZE Big Idea #1 of CONNECTION Overall judgement or conclusions about BIG IDEA #1 and how it answers my hypothesis.
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| POINT 2 By looking at my hypothesis across the 4 texts it led me to understand BIG IDEA #2 about my hypothesis which is that SOMETIMES……because… |
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| EVIDENCE
2nd Example(s) from text
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| EXPLAIN
What this shows about my connection is…
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| COMPARE across texts
What’s similar about how my 4 texts deal with BIG IDEA #2? What’s similar or the same? IDEAS? PURPOSE? AUDIENCE IMPACT? TEXT AS A WHOLE? |
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| CRITICAL ANALYSIS
What perceptive understandings about my hypothesis/BIG IDEA #2 can we see from these similarities? HUMAN NATURE? SOCIETY? REAL WORLD LINKS TO TODAY? SO WHAT? WHOSE SHOES? WHAT’S OUTSIDE THE BOX?
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| CONTRAST across texts
What’s different about how my 4 texts deal with BIG IDEA #2? What’s different? IDEAS? PURPOSE? AUDIENCE IMPACT? TEXT AS A WHOLE? |
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| CRITICAL ANALYSIS
What perceptive understandings can we see from these differences? HUMAN NATURE? SOCIETY? REAL WORLD LINKS TO TODAY? SO WHAT? WHOSE SHOES? WHAT’S OUTSIDE THE BOX?
|
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| SUMMARIZE Big Idea #2 of CONNECTION Overall judgement or conclusions about BIG IDEA #2 and how it answers my hypothesis. |
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| CONCLUSION
Overall judgement, thoughts, insights or conclusions about what has been discovered by investigating this hypothesis connection in these texts: |
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When writing up your report you might want to use this paragraph structure and sentence starters:
| P | Point | Identify how the two texts are similar, and how they are different, based on the link
“Both [Text A] and [Text B] are similar because…” “…but they are also different because in [Text A]… while in [Text B] …” |
| E | Evidence / Example | A quotation or other detail from Text A:
“This can be seen in [Text A] when…” |
| E | Explanations | Showing how the evidence supports the point:
“This [name of technique] shows that…” “This also shows that…” |
| E | Evidence / Example 2 | A quotation or other detail from Text B:
“This can be seen in [Text B] when…” |
| E | Explanation 2 | Showing how the evidence supports the point:
“This [name of technique] shows that…” “This also shows that…” |
| L | Link 1 | Linking the evidence and explanations: “This is like [Text A] because…” “This is different to [Text A] because…” |
| Link 2 | Link to the big ideas: “This reinforces the idea that…” | |
| Link 3 | Connect to previous paragraphs: “This is connected to…” | |
| Link 4 | Give your response: How you feel about the issue, or how it relates to your life |
Here is the pdf version: 3.7 more
My Hypothesis is:___________________________________________________________________
CONNECTION Eg:“Pressure reveals true character” Working frame for 3.7
| The CrucibleConnection:Proctor’s final decision shows that underneath his weakness, he is a man of integrity. He is able to have integrity despite his own flaws and the flawed systems of his society. | Examples from the text showing connection to hypothesisCharacterization:Language feature: | Critical response of how the evidence is connected to the theme | My ideas about the connection. | Compare/contrast to other texts.Interpret. Evaluate. | Judgements/conclusions.Implications.Wider world applications. |
| A Beautiful MindConnection:Despite starting as an arrogant and ambitious young man, due to his struggles with schizophrenia, Nash is compelled to soften. The pressure of his hardships allow Nash to find that the most important truths to be discovered are to do with the heart. | Examples from the text showing connection to hypothesisCamerawork:Music: | Critical response of how the evidence is connected to the theme | My ideas about the connection. | Compare/contrast to other texts.Interpret. Evaluate. | Judgements/conclusions.Implications.Wider world applications. |
| Apollo 13Connection:With an already trusted and proven crew, the pressure of a disaster in space pares back the character traits that are most important in life: Working together as a team, perseverance and hope. | Examples from the text showing connection to hypothesisSetting:Mis en scene: | Critical response of how the evidence is connected to the theme | My ideas about the connection. | Compare/contrast to other texts.Interpret. Evaluate. | Judgements/conclusions.Implications.Wider world applications. |
| The Truman ShowConnection:Hemmed in on every side, Truman takes deliberate steps to find his own path. This places him in direct opposition to “his maker,” Christof. While Christof assumes to know the measure of Truman’s determination, he is proven wrong as Truman, under both physical and psychological pressure, opts for free will and self-actualization. | Examples from the text showing connection to hypothesis Storm sceneEditing:Special Effects: | Critical response of how the evidence is connected to the theme | My ideas about the connection. | Compare/contrast to other texts.Interpret. Evaluate. | Judgements/conclusions.Implications.Wider world applications. |
Another example:
3.7 Respond critically to connections across texts
Recording evidence and responding critically
You will find it easier to put together your final assessment, if you collect evidence as you read your texts and put it into a chart like the one below.
| Theme: The power of love to transform people | |
|---|---|
| Text type: Title of text: Author/ Director: |
Film A Beautiful Mind Ron Howard |
| Example(s) showing connection to theme | Scene 56, Nash reluctant to return to hospital. ‘I need to believe something extraordinary is possible.’ Then Alicia leaves the room; the camera stays on Nash, holding the handkerchief. |
| Critical response of how the evidence is connected to the theme | Tension is created the audience don’t know if she will have him committed. Is their relationship strong enough to overcome this obstacle? The Handkerchief motif used here to link back to their first date at the Governor’s mansion. |
| My ideas about the connection. | Love requires faith, trust and honesty. Alicia suggests that he needs to change by trusting his heart rather than his mind. This vulnerability and leap of faith is similar to the struggles experienced by Lester Burnham in American Beauty when he… |
Use these questions to help respond critically to your evidence:
- What are the themes your text presents?
- Who is involved with these themes?
- How have these themes been shown and developed?
- What have the characters learned from dealing with this theme?
- What is the theme showing us about our world and values?
- How and why does the setting changes in the text?
- How does the setting influence a character’s feelings, actions and relationships?
- Identify and explain the techniques used to describe the mood and atmosphere of the setting.
- How can the setting represent or symbolise an idea?
- How does the context challenge the values and beliefs of the reader?
- How they deal with an important issue.
- Relationships between main and minor characters.
- How are the characters revealed or developed? Think about style and language features.
- Conflict with other characters or within a character.