downtherabbithole

The new study design is up and running and students and teachers are getting their heads around Outcome 2, Creating and Presenting. It allows students lots of opportunities to expand their writing skills and to explore a range of ideas in relation to a set of ideas. We have chosen ‘Encountering Conflict’ and so students will look at what it is to encounter conflict and the ways in which this has been explored in the text ‘Secret River’ by Kate Grenville’.

It is really good for students (actually, it’s necessary) to engage with the world beyond that text in order to place it into a framework for themselves. I would suggest reading Grenville’s ‘Searching for the Secret River’ the text that discusses her experience of writing and researching the book. I would also recommend Inga Clendinnen’s article in the Quarterly Review in response to Grenville’s claim that what she was writing was ‘history’. This is useful for an understanding of the world and work of a writer and the ways in which the ideas within the text have ramifications in the world.