Sample Scheme of Work: OCR GCSE English Unit A680: Information and Ideas: Reading

OCR GCSE English (Linear 2012)1 of 52

Contents

Introduction

Sample Scheme of Work: OCR GCSE English Unit A680: Information and Ideas: Reading

Sample Lesson Plans: OCR GCSE English Unit A680: Information and Ideas: Reading

Sample Lesson Plans: OCR GCSE English Unit A680: Information and Ideas: Writing

ThisSample Scheme of Work and Lesson Plan has been updated. The Higher and Foundation papers for Unit A644 and A653 are identical for the GCSE English and the GCSE English Language Specifications. The code number has been changed to A680 for both.

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Introduction

Background

Following a review of 14–19 education and the Secondary Curriculum Review, the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) has revised the subject criteria for GCSEs, for first teaching in September 2010. This applies to all awarding bodies.

The new GCSEs have more up-to-date content and encourage the development of personal, learning and thinking skills in your students.

We’ve taken this opportunity to redevelop all our GCSEs, to ensure they meet your requirements. These changes will give you greater control of assessment activities and make the assessment process more manageable for you and your students. Controlled assessment will be introduced for most subjects.

OCR has produced a summary document, which summarises the changes to English. This can be found at , along with the new specification.

In order to help you plan effectively for the implementation of the new specification we have produced these Schemes of Work and Sample Lesson Plans for English. These Support Materials are designed for guidance only and play a secondary role to the Specification.

Our Ethos

OCR involves teachers in the development of new support materials to capture current teaching practices tailored to our new specifications. These support materials are designed to inspire teachers and facilitate different ideas and teaching practices.

Each scheme of work and set of sample lesson plans are provided inWord format – so that you can use it as a foundation to build upon and amend the content to suit your teaching style and students’ needs.

The scheme of work and sample Lesson plans provide examples of how to teach this unit and the teaching hours are suggestions only. Some or all of it may be applicable to your teaching.

The specification is the document on which assessment is based and specifies what content and skills need to be covered in delivering the course. At all times, therefore, this Support Materialbooklet should be read in conjunction with the specification. If clarification on a particular point is sought then that clarification should be found in the specification itself.

A Guided Tour through the Scheme of Work

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Sample GCSE Scheme of Work

OCR GCSE English Unit A680: Information and Ideas: Reading
Suggested teaching time / 24-28 hours / Topic / Section A: Reading
Topic outline / Suggested teaching and homework activities / Suggested resources / Points to note
Introduction to Reading non-fiction/media texts /

Students to conduct a survey of all reading they do within the course of a day:

-at school and at home
-fiction and non-fiction
-print and online
-continuous text and bite-size

Teacher to demonstrate a range of texts and lead discussion of key features of texts, and introduce key concepts of audience, purpose and register

Texts projected onto screen would be useful to identify features of various non-fiction/media texts

A few up-to-date media texts selected by the teacher (eg newspaper report, magazine feature, advertisement, page from website, campaigning leaflet)

The high proportion of non-fiction media texts students encounter in their daily lives

Introduction of key concepts of audience, purpose and register - also relevant to their Writing work for the English and English Language specifications

Identifying and evaluating presentational features /

Students to identify a range of presentational features in a number of texts
Move students on from a simple listing of features to evaluation of the intended effects of presentational features on the reader

Texts to be drawn from those collected by teacher and students
Sample Lesson Plan 1

The foundation tier paper Question 2(a) is a direct question (worth 6 out of 40 marks for Section A) about obvious presentational features of media texts
The mere logging of features will not lead to high reward
Very basic observations such as ‘the title is in large fonts’ and ‘the writing is in columns’ will receive scant reward

Issue students with a suitable piece of travel writing
Students to locate facts and opinions in the text, using highlighter or coloured pens to sort the information in an effective manner
Students produce their own travel writing, combining facts and opinions

Travel writing texts from the print or online versions of weekend newspapers
Sample Lesson Plan 2

The ability to distinguish between facts and opinions is important in determining the objectivity or bias of a text or writer
The shorter questions in the Foundation Tier Question 1 sometimes ask for the identification of facts or opinions

Identifying the main points of a text clearly, concisely and in own words /

Issue students with a suitable text and question (eg ‘What are the main points of…?’ or ‘What are the writer’s views about…?)
Explain the importance of close reading of both question and text
Students to annotate the text briefly as an essential part of sorting information
Students to write responses summarising the information in their own words – as far as possible

Peer evaluation using the band descriptors should help students to strike out unnecessary repetition, explanation and lifting of the original text’s phrasing /

Past paper Non-fiction texts and questions – these can be easily amended
Sample Lesson Plan 3

At the top end of the Higher Tier mark scheme there must be a ‘comprehensive range of points clearly identified’, and the response must be ‘tightly organised and synthesised’
Other key features of success are:

-clear focus on the task
-use of own words (where possible)

A checklist of what is not required can be helpful: ie lengthy introductions and conclusions, repetition, explanation, commentary, lifting
Band descriptors should be explained in student-friendly terms

OCR GCSE English Unit A680: Information and Ideas: Reading
Suggested teaching time / 24-28 hours / Topic / Section A: Reading
Topic outline / Suggested teaching and homework activities / Suggested resources / Points to note
Collating from different sources and making comparisons /

Issue students with two texts offering different perspectives on a topic of current interest – focus on content rather than use of language
Building on their skills of summarising information in their own words, students to write a response comparing the texts
Explain that certain connectives can be used to aid the effective organisation of those points which are similar and those which are different

Two texts from newspapers or the internet on a topic of current interest – students could be asked to provide texts from which to choose
Sample Lesson Plan 4

Identifying and evaluating writers’ use of language devices /

Issue students with a highly opinionative media text and ask them to identify key features of figurative language, sound and rhetorical features
Students to select a number of language features and evaluate their effect on the reader

Cross-over piece with Writing: students to assess the text using the GCSE Writing marking criteria /

Teachers could select their own text or use some of the past paper Media texts (from both tiers)
Sample Lesson Plan 5

The key point is that logging of features on its own cannot lead to high reward. In recent years, students have deployed ever more exotic terms in their exam answers, thinking that the use of the term is an end in itself; it is not. The key focus is not on such terms; rather it is on the way in which writers use particular words and phrases ‘in order to achieve effects and engage and influence the reader’ (in the words of Reading Assessment Objective 3)

OCR GCSE English Unit A680: Information and Ideas: Reading
Suggested teaching time / 24-28 hours / Topic / Section A: Reading
Topic outline / Suggested teaching and homework activities / Suggested resources / Points to note

Brief, apposite quotation is best integrated with clear and concise analytical comment
There are clear cross-over opportunities with Writing here. Students could be asked to write their own media-style text, deploying a range of appropriate devices. Peer evaluation would determine how ‘engaging’ the resulting writing is

Developing and sustaining analysis of media texts /

Teacher issues students with a suitable text, perhaps a past paper – and also a question that asks for consideration of the use of language and structure in the text
Students consider their performance against the relevant band descriptors
Illustrate the key points using good student responses

Past paper Media text and questions – they may need to be amended slightly
Sample Lesson Plan 6

Top band answers will reveal a ‘perceptive appreciation’ of the ways in which the text achieves its purpose
Sustained analytical writing of high quality is described in Band 1 as ‘very effective use of apposite supporting references in a full, relevant and consistently analytical response’
Performance below Band 5 is characterised by descriptive rather than analytical comment, and by the prevalence of unsubstantiated assertions and sometimes the use of inert quotation, ie quotation that does not advance the analysis

Issue with a Reading booklet and question-and-answer type booklet (see the specimen paper)
Explain the mark and recommended time allocations for 1(a), 1(b) and 1(c)
Students to write up answers
Students to assess own performance in Question 1(c), using the relevant band descriptors

Slightly-modified Non-fiction questions from past papers: eg the January 2008 ‘Blackpool’ paper or the January 2009 ‘Snow’ paper
Sample Lesson Plan 7

There are significant changes in the format of the question paper, which now includes spaces for students’ answers. The total writing time for Section A is 1 hour. Before beginning their answers, students are advised to spend 15 minutes reading and planning for Section A
The format of the booklet makes it clear how much writing is required for each of Questions 1(a) and 1(b), and that the greater proportion of time (about 20 minutes) should be spent on Question 1(c)
Question 1(c) is a ‘What?’ question, requiring students to re-present information from a defined part of the text concisely and in their own words
Long introductions or conclusions, repetition and explanations (eg of their own views on the topic) will not be rewarded

Explain the mark and recommended time allocations for 2(a) and 2(b)
Remind about the different requirements of the (a) and (b) questions before students attempt them under test conditions
Peer and teacher evaluation of student performance, using the two sets of band descriptors

Slightly-modified Media questions from past papers: eg the January ‘Blackpool’ paper or the January 2009 ‘Snow’ paper
Sample Lesson Plan 8

The format of the booklet makes it clear how much writing is required for each of Questions 2(a) and (b) – no more than 10 minutes for (a) and 20 minutes for (b)
Question 2(a) requires consideration of effects and not a mere identification of presentational features. For Band 4, there must be ‘some evidence of analytical comment’ and ‘use of some appropriate detail for support’
Question 2(b) is a ‘How?’ question with a significant emphasis on the writer’s use of language. For Band 4, ‘a range of points’ must show a ‘sound understanding of the ways in which information and language contribute to the text’s purpose’. Additionally, there will be ‘appropriate supporting references and an attempt at an analytical approach’

Issue students with a Section A reading insert and questions in the style of the specimen paper
Talk students through the paper and briefly remind them of mark and time allocations, and of the different requirements of Question 1 and Questions 2(a)/(b)
Students to tackle the questions under test conditions
Students and teacher to evaluate performance, using the relevant band descriptors
Issue students with extracts from past examiners’ reports containing relevant general advice

Past paper Non-fiction and Media texts and questions – these will need to be amended to fit the format of the new paper
Sample Lesson Plans 9 and 10
Extracts from past examiners’ reports dealing with student performance in both summary-type and media text analysis questions

The format of the Reading section is different from that of the 2431/02 paper in the legacy specification. The total writing time is 1 hour, with 20 minutes spent on each of Questions 1, 2(a) and 2(b). Before beginning their answers, students are advised to spend 15 minutes reading and planning for Section A
Question 1 is a ‘What?’ question, requiring information to be summarised concisely in own words
Questions 2(a) and 2(b) are ‘How?’ questions inviting evaluation of how writers present materials and use language. ‘Presentation’ at higher tier includes - but goes beyond – media text presentational features, requiring consideration of how texts are structured (eg how an argument is put together)
Past examiners’ reports contain pertinent general advice on how (and how not) to answer both summary-type and media analysis questions

Teachers might usefully contribute to a departmental archive exemplar responses to be used with subsequent GCSE groups

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Sample GCSE Lesson Plan

OCR GCSE English Unit A680: Information and Ideas: Reading

Considering the effects of presentational features in media texts

OCR recognises that the teaching of this qualification above will vary greatly from school to school and from teacher to teacher. With that in mind this lesson plan is offered, as a possible approach but will be subject to modifications by the individual teacher.

Lesson length is assumed to be one hour.

Learning Objectives for the Lesson

Objective 1 / To read and understand texts (R1).
Objective 2 / To identify and evaluate the use of presentational features to achieve effects and engage and influence readers (R3).

Recap of Previous Experience and Prior Knowledge

Students will have read a range of non-fiction/media texts during Key Stage 3 and will be familiar with presentational features used in media texts from their reading at school and at home.

Content

Time / Content
5 minutes / Brief teacher-led discussion of the types of presentational features used in media texts. Words such as ‘title’, ‘strapline’, ‘sub-head’, ‘photograph’, ‘caption’, ‘pull-out quote’ to be displayed on board.
15 minutes / Teacher issues students with a range of media texts with strong presentational features. Texts might include newspaper/magazine articles, pages from websites, leaflets, advertisements, campaigning literature. Students identify in groups the presentational features of the various texts.
10 minutes / A general introduction to or revision of key concepts of audience and purpose.
15 minutes / Students are asked to construct a table having two columns: the first column to be headed ‘Presentational features’ and the second ‘Effects on reader’. Students consider what the various effects are by considering the purpose and audience of each text.

Consolidation

Time / Content
15 minutes / Students report back to the class on their evaluation of various presentational features and their effects.
5 minutes / Teacher reviews key outcome: that evaluation of presentational effects requires consideration of their effects and not the mere identification of surface features.

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Sample GCSE Lesson Plan