HopeSpringsby Richard Conlon
Year 9 ReadingActivities
Introduction
The following resources provide a three-lesson study of three key elements of the play:
- The structure of the play and what is essential to it (AF4).
- What might happen after the play (AF3).
- The attitudes of the author and audience to how we deal with disruptive children (AF6).
Each area is introduced and explored in whole-class work before students work independently on an Assessment Task.
Resources include detailed lesson plans, marking guidance and student resource sheets.
Timing
It is envisioned that these reading activities will be taught over three lessons of about one hour each, although you may wish to adjust timings to suit the needs of your class. The Assessment Tasks are introduced discretely, one a lesson. It is suggested that each task is completed before moving on to the next one. This might mean that extra time needs to be given for task completion, either in the form of extra lessons or homework.
Framework Objectives and Assessment Focuses
Once you have completed the study with your students, they will have engaged with the following Framework Objectives and Reading Assessment Focuses:
LESSON 1Learning objective:
- To understand what is essential to the structure of the play.
- Copies of HopeSprings.
- Resource sheet 3: The Assessment Tasks.
Starter / Share the learning objective with the class.
Introduction / Tell the class to imagine that they are going to prepare the script for performance, but that there will not be enough time to perform the whole play. They need to cut out about half of the lines. How will they go about this? Do they have any initial ideas?
Development / Take some feedback. Introduce the first Assessment Task, which is also set out on Resource sheet 3: The Assessment Tasks:
‘Imagine that you have been asked to prepare a version of the play for members of your class to perform. The play has nearly 2000 lines but you have been instructed to cut it down to between 850 and 1000 lines. You may not re-write any section; you can only cut out lines. Work with a partner to decide which lines to cut out of the play.’ (AF4)
Point out that they have a number of options including cutting:
- whole characters
- various lines
- a mixture of the two.
Put students into small groups and ask them to plan for one of the above options. Take some feedback after a few minutes.
Independent work / Pair or group students to complete the first Assessment Task.More-confident students could be paired, and less-confident students placed in larger groups.
Note:This is essentially an oral task. The opportunity for assessment is in listening to the conversations that students have as they complete the task.
LESSON 2
Learning objective:
- To speculate about what might happen after the end of the play.
- Copies of HopeSprings.
- Resource sheet 1:What will the future be like?
- Resource sheet 3: The Assessment Tasks.
Starter / Give the class three minutes to imagine and discuss in small groups what will happen to the children when they return to the mainland.
Introduction / Take some feedback from the discussions. Show the class the brief quotations on Resource sheet 1: What will the future be like?Discuss with them what the pieces of evidence might suggest about the future. Ask the class about the effect of Sam's final words; are they ironic only? Or do they confirm a note of optimism?
Development / Ask the class to continue the discussions in their groups. Encourage them to find other pieces of evidence in the play that give clues about what the future holds for the children.
Now explain the second Assessment Task, which is also set out on Resource sheet 3: The Assessment Tasks:
‘The end of the play is left unresolved: we don't know what happens when the children get back to the mainland. They have committed some very serious crimes, but as the Ringleader says, it's all ‘a bit of a grey area’, and how things will turn out is not clear.
Explain what you think will happen in the days, weeks and months after the children return to the mainland. Use evidence from the script to back up your ideas.’ (AF3)
Independent work / Ask students to complete the Assessment Task.
LESSON 3
Learning objective:
- To understand how a writer influences the reactions of a reader or viewer.
- Copies of HopeSprings.
- Resource sheet 2: Most true views.
- Resource sheet 3: The Assessment Tasks.
Starter / Encourage a general discussion about how disruptive children in schools are – and should be – dealt with.
Introduction / Jot down some of the views expressed. Ask the class which of these views are supported by the play. If necessary, add some more views by refining existing ones or providing your own, for example:
- Disruptive children should not be forced to do things they don't want to do.
- Disruptive children should be treated patiently and kindly.
- Disruptive children are simply misunderstood.
- Private special schools should be shut down.
Alternatively:Ask groups to assign a number from 1 (completely untrue) to 5 (completely true) to each statement, and then find evidence to support those they have rated 4 or 5.
Development / Now give students the instructions for the third Assessment Task, which is also set out on Resource sheet 3: The Assessment Tasks:
‘This play is designed to make us think about how disruptive children are dealt with. Explain what you think the author, Richard Conlon, is suggesting about how we deal with disruptive children. Use evidence from the script to back up your ideas.’ (AF6)
Students could write about what:
- Conlon seems to think and feel about the HopeSprings project
- life at HopeSprings is like
- we feel about the pupils at HopeSprings.
Independent work / Students complete the third Assessment Task.You may wish to pair less-confident students or the planning stage of this Task.
1HopeSprings Year 9 Reading Activities
Marking guidelines
Level / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7AF2 / Some relevant points identified.
Comments supported by some generally relevant textual reference or quotation, e.g. reference is made to appropriate section of play but is unselective and lacks focus. / The most relevant points clearly identified, including those selected from different places in the play.
Comments generally supported by relevant textual reference or quotation, even when points made are not always accurate. / Relevant points clearly identified.
Evidence compared from different parts of the script.
Use of apt textual reference and quotation to support main ideas or argument. / Evidence precisely chosen and applied to the point being made, e.g.close analysis of impact of a single word, or, deft selection across a longer textual stretch to evaluate the Ringleader’s views.
Ability to see the significance of a part of the text within the context of the play as a whole, e.g. noticing what Sam’s words imply about his ‘project’.
AF3
(Task 2) / Comments make simple inferences based on evidence, e.g. ‘When they get back they might not get into very much trouble because the company won’t want the bad publicity.’
Inferences often plausible, but comments are not always rooted securely in the text or they simply repeat narrative or content, e.g. ‘They’ll have to get warm when they get back because they are cold and wrapped in blankets.’ / Comments develop explanation of inferred meanings drawing on evidence across the text, e.g. ‘The Inspector is described as having “natural authority” and an example of this is when …’.
Comments make inferences and deductions based on textual evidence, e.g. in drawing conclusions about what the Inspector will do back on the mainland from how he reacts to the children’s reports of life at HopeSprings. / Comments securely based in textual evidence.
Different layers of meaning identified, with some attempt at detailed exploration of them, e.g.explaining what might happen to the Ringleader with reference to connotations of clues in the script.
Comments consider how some events or words become more significant in the light of the whole script, e.g.tracing how the Ringleader’s attitude is gradually developed or revealed. / Comments begin to develop an interpretation of characters and/or themes, making connections between insights, teasing out clues and predictions by weighing up evidence, e.g. considering different pieces of evidence to illuminate the tone of Sam’s final speech; exploring more than one prediction.
AF4
(Task 1) / Some basic aspects of the way the play is structured are identified, e.g. ‘We can easily compare the attitudes of parents and staff’. / Comments on how the play is structured show some general awareness of the play's stagecraft, e.g. ‘It's very effective to have Sam’s story threaded throughout because it reminds the audience how sad and tragic their lives are’.
Continued / Some detailed exploration of how the play is built around different groups and their interactions.
Comments on how different aspects of the play contribute to the play’s theme and the final attitude the audience is left with. / Some evaluation of how necessary and effective parts of and aspects of the script are, e.g. evaluation of the role of the island voices.
Some appreciation of the skill with which the play is structured.
Level / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
AF4
(cont’d) / Various features of the play's time-shifts are clearly identified, with some explanation, e.g. ‘Not saying. If the pupils are male or female keeps the audience guessing and makes them have an open mind’.
AF5 / Some basic features of use of language identified, e.g. ‘The Inspector sounds like he is in charge’.
Simple comments on language choices, e.g. ‘“stock” makes the Ringleader sound funny and a bit cruel’. / Various features of language identified, with some explanation, e.g. ‘Sometimes the Ringleader uses imagery to make his point powerfully – like when he explains how, for him, O.P. was “like putting deposits of hatred into a bank account”’.
Comments show some awareness of the effect of writer’s language choices, e.g. ‘At the end the Inspector keeps saying “you” to the children and giving orders. This shows that he is feeling in charge again’. / Some detailed explanation, with appropriate terminology, of how language is used, e.g. to underline the Inspector’s authority and to contrast his character with that of the Assistant’s.
Some drawing together of comments on how the writer’s language choices contribute to the overall effect on the audience, e.g. pointing out the sort of language that typifies the Ringleader’s control. / Comments begin to develop precise, perceptive analysis of how language is used, e.g. the contrast between the language of the publicity brochure and the threats of the Ringleader.
Some appreciation of typical features of language and how they affect the audience, e.g.how pronouns are not gender-specific and the challenge this presents to the performers.
AF6
(Task 3) / Main purpose identified, e.g. ‘It’s to make us think about the way we treat disruptive children’.
Simple comments show some awareness of writer’s viewpoint, e.g. ‘The audience will probably feel on the Ringleader’s side'.
Simple comment on overall effect on audience, e.g. ‘I reckon that the audience will mostly like the Ringleader – or at least think he is more right than the Principal. / Conlon's main purpose clearly identified, often through general overview, e.g. ‘Conlon wants the audience to feel a lot of sympathy for Sam’.
Viewpoint clearly identified, with some, often limited, explanation, e.g. ‘The audience will think places like HopeSprings are wrong because they treat children badly’.
General awareness of effect on audience, with some, often limited, explanation, e.g. ‘You feel really sorry for Sam as he tries to find happiness and you can really feel how desperate he has become’. / Evidence for identifying Conlon's purposes precisely located at word/speech level or traced through the play.
Viewpoint clearly identified and explanation of it developed through close reference to the text, e.g. ‘At this point the Ringleader’s sarcasm makes it easy for the audience to share his hatred of HopeSprings and everything it stands for’.
The effect on the audience clearly identified, with some explicit explanation as to how the effect has been created. / Responses begin to develop some analytic or evaluative comment on how Conlon conveyshis attitudes, e.g. considering how the HopeSprings brochure influences our feelings about the place.
Responses begin to develop some analytic or evaluative comment on how viewpoint is established or managed across the play, e.g. tracing how the audience's attitudes are consistent or varied in different parts of the play.
1HopeSprings Year 9 Reading Activities
Resource sheet 1:What will the future be like?
‘It will only get worse – worse for you, all of you.’(Inspector, page 31)
‘You can say that, when this is all over, we will speak up for them, say they helped us to put things right. They won't be implicated.’
(Inspector, page 47)
‘legally, I think you'll find it's all a bit of a grey area.’
(Ringleader, page 80)
‘And will they really want the bad publicity?’
(Pupil 6, page 80)
‘Pupil 3:... ‘every student is free to leave when...the programme...’
All pupils: ‘...has saved their life.’
Ringleader:I don't think I can honestly say that, not yet.
Inspector: Unusual circumstances.
Ringleader: A bit of a grey area, eh?’
(page 81)
‘So, when things look bleak, when you are at the end of your tether, remember – there is a way forward. It's not hopeless; just when you think there's nowhere to turn – HopeSprings.’
(Sam, page 82)
Resource sheet 2:Most true views
Think about all the views about how disruptive children should be dealt with that are shown in Hope Springs. Write down the three views you think are supported the most strongly. Find evidence to support your choices.
View / EvidenceResource sheet 3: The Assessment Tasks
For all of the following tasks you will need to:
- use evidence to support your ideas (AF2)
- interpret evidence (AF3)
- explore examples of the language that authors give their characters (AF5).
Assessment Task 1
Imagine that you have been asked to prepare a version of the play for members of your class to perform. The play has nearly 2000 lines but you have been instructed to cut it down to between 850 and 1000 lines. You may not re-write any section; you can only cut out lines.
You might decide to cut:
- whole characters
- various lines
- a mixture of the two.
Assessment Task 2
The end of the play is left unresolved: we don't know what happens when the children get back to the mainland. They have committed some very serious crimes, but as the Ringleader says, it's all ‘a bit of a grey area’, and how things will turn out is not clear.
Assessment Task 3
The play is designed to make us think about how disruptive children are dealt with.
Write about what:
- Richard Conlon seems to think and feel about the HopeSprings project
- life at HopeSprings is like
- we feel about the pupils at HopeSprings.
Take your time over this task: its purpose is to let you talk through your ideas about what the play is about.
1HopeSprings Year 9 Reading Activities