Episode 136: The Critical Thing Your Teen Must Know for ANY English Text   

TRANSCRIPT:

You’re listening to The Parents of Hardworking Teens Podcast, episode 136 - The critical thing your teen needs to know about any text they’re studying or analysing in English. Whether it’s for an analytical essay or they’re preparing for an unseen text they haven’t yet seen, this episode is all about knowing exactly what it is that THEY need to know in order to make their response clear, high quality and smoother and easier to plan, construct and write.

Hey VIP’s.
How are you? I hope things are going great for you and your teens. 

I am recording this right after a beautiful dog walk in the sunshine this morning - which was especially lovely as we’ve had pretty much a week of rain here - and not sure if you can hear, but I’ve had a cold, so things are feeling bright, the laundry is on and I have something very  specific I want to talk to you about today.

Just before I do, I want to quickly share that the Exam Mastery Workshop that ran a couple of weeks ago, is now available to purchase for your teen. That is - the full recording, the workbook, and two complimentary bonus resources from me. Because the workshop delivers the skills and exam technique to have them catapult their exam confidence and performance and the special bonuses will have them immediately uplevel their exam prep - right in time for any trials and then finals they have coming up, or end of year exams for those not yet in Year 12 or 13.

Those bonuses are:

17 Ways to make revision more Active - that is much faster and way more effective.

PLUS

5 ways to use past papers more strategically - strategies, practical actions that aren’t just ‘doing the questions or practising the papers under timed conditions’. But are skills based actions and fast but super-effective steps that don’t take hours but give the same if not more rewards.

If you want to check that out, it’s at www.gradetransformation.com/emw (that’s the letters E M W for exam mastery workshop.)

Now, into the episode and this is one of those episodes that you might want to forward on to your teen and have them give this a listen, because it’s super tangible AND it’s something that I’ve been raising, coming back to and repeating and asking so, so much on coaching calls recently. Private sessions, group calls, you name it, it has been a constant area of guidance and focus I’ve been working on with students - from students in Y7 and 8 up to Year 12 and 13, who are working on English tasks based on texts. Either texts they’ve been studying in class - like an analytical essay, where they’re analysing a text they’ve studied, a review or opinion piece on a text they’ve studied, their own creative piece - such as a re-telling from an alternative perspective, a re-imagination for a new context. 

AND also for unseen texts they’re trying to prep for. When I say text, that can be a novel, a play, a movie, a poem, a text extract, a documentary, or something visual - a poster, an advertisement.
 

There’s a critical thing that students need to be able to discern about these texts.  And I say critical as it’s essential that they’re linking to it and explicitly referring or connecting to it in their responses and writing. That is - that for any text, students need to know the themes and the MESSAGE of the text. 

In my experience, I don’t think enough students a) know it or can convey it or explain it clearly enough,  and b) some don’t really realise that they need to know it.

I certainly didn’t as a student. Somehow I still got a B in my GCSE English by being oblivious to this, but I can tell you it would’ve made everything so much clearer, I would’ve felt so much more confident and would’ve been so much more competent if I’d have known it.

Now, to be clear, I’m not an English Teacher, so this isn’t coming from English-specific teacher training, and so if any educator wants to correct me on anything here, then I’m very welcoming of that. But where this is coming from, for me, is having marked for a variety of national writing tests and Y12 writing exams and been formally exam board trained for those and for analysis exam questions in general,  including analysis of sources and texts provided in exam conditions such as the QCS extended response questions. Also through relief teaching that I’ve done over the years - covering and sometimes leading English lessons and classes.
 

Plus, this is something that has gradually become more and more apparent to me through my work supporting students within Rock Solid Study: in my research and real life experience in creating the 10 Week Grade Transformation Program, in my advanced trainings - like ‘Hit the Top Criteria in Extended Responses’ and in my direct coaching with students on their own real life tasks - I can’t tell you how many essay questions, exam board samples, and task sheets I’ve dissected, how many marking criteria and grade boundary descriptors I’ve scrutinised.

And this has been a key take away - a core concept every time. 
That there is a specific message or purpose of the text - And over time, it only becomes more and more apparent to me just how critical this is to everything else involved in those tasks - the evidence, the quotes, the analysis of the literary techniques, the context.

Every text that is studied in school has core or overarching themes AND a key message that it’s conveying. A purpose. Something that it’s trying to make the reader or audience think or feel.

Now, to be clear, that’s not necessarily the case for every text. I can tell you the frivolous feel-good stuff I read as I try to switch my brain off when I go to bed each night doesn’t. It’s just pure entertainment and amusement - what you’d call chocolate for the brain. Nothing especially insightful or poignant there.  But, those aren’t the texts being selected by exam boards and schools. Or at least I hope they aren’t!
 

In school it’s texts that have some message for society. Some meaningful take-away for the reader. And this is the critical thing your teen needs to know with absolute clarity.

There are general themes and there are specific messages.

A theme is something like power, or love, or identity, or greed, or gender stereotypes, or growing up, or mental illness or family, etc. 
 

Notice that these tend to be one word. Something general that could be shown in different ways. I’ll give you examples from texts that I’ve looked up recently for students as we’ve tackled this in their assignments to make sure I’m being as clear as I can here on this:
 

One text a student has been having to do an extended response on recently was About a Boy by Nick Hornby. And it has themes - according to Lit Charts (I’ve only watched the movie, not read the book) so I went to Lit Charts to check - it has themes of ‘Chosen family, coming of age, loneliness and isolation, mental illness, identity and fitting in. Or, let’s go more traditional - another student was doing an analytical essay on Macbeth - also according to LitCharts - the themes in Macbeth are:  Ambition, fate, violence, the supernatural, manhood and masculinity.

Notice how these are all pretty much one word themes. They tell us that these things are covered or involved in the text, but they don’t tell us much more than that. 

A message however, is a lot more specific. When I ask students what the message of their text is, I ask them to tell me it in one simple sentence, in words that a ten year old could understand.

It’s the thing that the author wants the reader or audience to think or feel at the end. It’s the key take away they want them to take with them. It’s the purpose of the text. 

For Macbeth the message according to Spark Notes (another online study guide I think is a good one) is: a cautionary tale about the corrupting nature of unchecked ambition and the destructive consequences of pursuing power through immoral means.

In a simple sentence that a ten year old could understand: I’d say something like - The play is a warning that ambition taken too far, along with a lack of morals leads to tragedy - for that person and others around them.

The message for about a boy is that:
People need human connection in order to thrive and sometimes these connections can be through unlikely friendships.

Now, here’s why your teen needs absolute confidence and clarity in the themes and message of their text. 

Because… any essay question or task is going to hinge on that in some way shape or form. 

For example, the classic analytical essay. All of their points, analysis and evidence needs to show how that message is conveyed and how it ties into the topic and focus of the question.

For a re-imagined scene - the core message has to be maintained, the context and setting just needs to be different. In fact, what you’ll often find is that that is the actual purpose of a re-imagining or creative task. To see if the student does actually grasp what the underlying message is and test their skills in adapting it.

For a review or opinion piece, the take-away for the audience needs to be clear. The impact on the audience needs is often the thing being reflected on in these sorts of tasks.

Now, can we still do those things without being 100% clear on the key themes and core message?

Yes. 

But will our points and evidence likely be more discerning and well-chosen if we do? Will our re-imagined scene have more direction and purpose? Will our opinion piece have a clearer focus?

I would argue yes. 

And will all of those things be faster and easier to put together because WE have a clearer idea of what we’re supposed to be conveying and focusing on? 
Also, In my opinion, yes.

So here’s my advice.

Before your teen starts writing or even planning their writing for any task or exam question in response to a text, they need to first check in on - do they know what the themes and the core message or intended take-away is of the text. And if not, that should be their very first action step before doing anything else - to figure those out, and be able to explain them to you or their teacher, or indeed the marker of their assessment clearly, succinctly, in words that a ten year old can understand.

If you would like this kind of in-depth support and guidance for your teen on their own tasks (including, we also have our English-focus coach, Gemma Toms) then send an email to support@rocksolidstudy.com). Let me know your teen’s current year group and I’ll let you know how they can get this kind of coaching on a regular twice-weekly basis plus additional support and resources.

And if you want exams specific training then go check out the Exam Mastery Workshop at www.gradetransformation.com/emw

Have a wonderful rest of your week.
Bye.