Karen Yager 1

Concept: Persuasion
Question:
Why does
“Everybody Needs a Little
Controversy”?
Key Ideas

How context shapes perspectives and ideas

The power of language and music to persuade and position others
Assessment Tasks
Assessment Task 1:
“Knock on
Wood” - Original Poem or Song &
Critical Reflection, Outcomes: 1, 9 &
10
Assessment task 2: A Protest
Poetry/Song Australian Exhibition,
Outcomes: 1 & 9
Cross Curricular
Civics & Citizenship
Aboriginal & Indigenous
Literacy
Spelling, Vocabulary, Critical Reflection.
Writing skills: using imagery and descriptive devices
Language modes
Reading/writing/speaking/listening
School to Work
Assign different tasks to team members to meet deadline
Set priorities
Work independently and effectively
Texts
A variety of protest songs and poetry by composers such as:
Eminem
Archie Roach
Bob Dylan
David Hallett
Outcomes
A student:
1. responds to and composes increasingly sophisticated and sustained texts for understanding, interpretation, critical analysis and pleasure.
9. demonstrates understanding of the ways texts reflect personal and public worlds.
10. Questions, challenges and evaluates cultural assumptions in texts and their effects on meaning.
"I do say things that I think will shock people," he says. "But I don't do things to shock people. I don't know how long I'm going to be on this planet.
So while I'm here, I might as well make the most of it." Eminem
This stage 5 unit employs a range of protest songs and poetry by a variety of composers to critically focus on the use of language features, form and music to convey meaning and ideas. The context of each composer is carefully considered as are the issues that reflect their times such as the Vietnam War or racial prejudice. A variety of exercises that are informally assessed invite close and critical analysis of the power of language to raise significant issues that are relevant and current.
You will be composing an original song or poem that focuses on a current issue you are concerned about, and critically evaluate your poem or song. The second task involves you working in a group to recommend the protest poems and songs the group would place in an Australian exhibition. (NOTE: Please replace some songs each year with more current ones!)
Karen Yager 2

Syllabus content
1.1
1.3
1.4
1.5
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.5
10.4
10.6
1.7
1.8
1.11
1.12
9.6
9.7
9.8
9.10
10.7
10.8
10.9
Learning content and activities Quality teaching
Students learn to :

Respond to and compose a range of imaginative, factual and critical texts which are increasingly demanding in terms of their linguistic, structural, cognitive etc complexity

Analyse the effectiveness and impact of texts on responders in terms of ideas, perspective and
Higher-order thinking
Deep understanding originality

Explain their responses to texts and their widening personal preferences within and among texts

Respond to texts from different reading positions as an aspect of their developing moral and ethical perspectives

Compose texts that reflect cultural attitudes other than their own
Connectedness
Problematic knowledge stances on issues

Respond to and compose texts that reflect their expanding worlds from the personal to the public

Relate the content and the ideas to the world beyond the text

Describe ways in which their own responses to texts are personal and reflect their own context
Connectedness
Connectedness
Connectedness

Draw conclusions about their values in relation to the values expressed and reflected by texts, etc Higher-order thinking

Engage with details of texts to respond and compose from a range of social and critical Higher-order thinking
Cultural knowledge
Students learn about:

The ideas, information, perspectives and ideologies presented in increasingly demanding imaginative texts and the ways they are presented

The features of increasingly complex imaginative texts, including the cognitive, emotional and moral dimensions of the text and its linguistic and structural features

Their own emerging sense of style, personal preference and discernment in responding to and composing texts

How inference, figurative language can be used in complex and subtle ways

The ways different and changing views of the world shape meaning

The ways personal perspective is shaped by social, cultural and historical influences

The ways personal perspective shapes meaning
 How alternative readings of texts reflect responders’ personal and public worlds and what they value in the text.

The language used to express contemporary cultural issues

The effects of personal, social, historical perspectives on language and communication

The ways in which particular texts relate to their cultural expressions and the culture of others
Higher-order thinking
Problematic knowledge
Deep knowledge
Connectedness
Higher-order thinking
Deep knowledge
Deep knowledge
Connectedness
Problematic knowledge
Cultural knowledge
Deep knowledge
Cultural knowledge
Karen Yager 3

“The unexamined life is not a life worth living for a human being”
Socrates, 420 BC.
Learn to:
1.1
1.3, 1.4
Learn about:
1.7, 1.8
9.6, 9.7
9.8, 10.7
Learn to:
1.5
9.1
9.5
10.4
Learn about:
9.10
Content:
Learn to:
1.4
9.3
Learn about:
1.7
9.7
9.8
Learn about:
1.8
1.12
Learning and teaching activities
Spelling
– look, cover and write. Find 15-20 challenging words you encountered in the extracts.
Find the meaning of 5 words.
Lesson 1 - Introduction to the unit :
Socrates would have agreed with Eminen that people need to knock on wood, to question and challenge what happens in life. One way to make a comment about an aspect of society that you feel needs to be questioned is through protest songs or poetry.
Discussion questions :
1. Discuss the singers or songs you have come into contact with that raise a concern about some aspect of life or humanity.
2. If you were to compose a protest song or poem what would you write about? Explain why.
3. In pairs select an issue and compose a mind map that shows the areas of concern about this issue.
Lesson 2: Revisiting Language Features &
Responding to a Poem or Song:
Complete the exercises on the sheet provided. It is imperative that you when you respond to a poem or a song that you are able to use the metalanguage to analyse them.
Lesson 3: Eminem ‘Without me’
Read the contextual information on Eminem, listen to the song, and then complete the activities on the lesson 3 sheet.
Lesson 4: Class Debate
Eminem – Everyone needs a little Controversy
Emin em’s music is controversial as it is designed to shock and provoke thought. Read the news article that reports of groups in Australia who tried to stop the 2001 tour. Form two groups in the class representing his supporters and critics, and debate whether
Eminem’s music should be banned. You will have 5 minutes to come up with your arguments before the debate begins. Two people should be selected to control the debate ensuring that everyone has a chance to express their point of view.
Quality teaching
Metalanguage
Connectedness:
Link understanding to current issues
Background knowledge:
Connecting learning to prior knowledge
Substantive communication:
Meaningful discussion
Background knowledge
Metalanguage:
Using poetic devices
Deep understanding:
Focus on textual details and features
Substantive communication: class debate on the controversial issue of censorship
Problematic knowledge:
Considering others’ perspectives
Karen Yager 5

a. Tone: this is how the composer feels about the subject of the poem. The word choice, poetical devices and symbolism will convey the tone of the poet.
There are many words that can be used to describe tone. E.g: angry, concerned, frustrated, critical, mocking, bitter, cynical, etc.
Exercise:
Take an issue that you feel strongly about and carefully select your words to create a tone that is critical and frustrated in a short written piece:
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- b. Word Choice: words are very powerful and persuasive when used effectively.
The words used convey the composer’s attitude and message. The words in a protest song or poem can be emotive (stirring emotions) and/or satirical
(mockingly making a comment abou t society’s flaws).
Exercise:
Select two of the poems or songs in this unit and write down 9 emotive or mocking words or phrases:
---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- -----------------------------------------
-------------------------- ---------------------------------- ---------------------------- ---------------------
-------------------------------- ---------------------------- -------------------------------- c. Structure: a song usually has a repeated chorus and the words may or may not rhyme. Protest poems can be free verse or lyrical with a rhyming scheme. d. Poetical Devices: there are so many poetical devices that a composer can use. Below are some of the main ones you need to know: i.
Similes: a comparison using ‘like’ or ‘as’. E.g. “He floats like a butterfly .” ii.
Metaphors: where one thing becomes the other. Eg. “War is a destructive monster.” iii.
Personification: giving human qualities to a non-human object.
E.g
. “The hydrogen bomb left behind a sinister calling card.” iv.
Oxymoron: two contradictory words placed together to make a dramatic point. E.g
. “cruel tears” and “sweet sorrow” v.
Hyperbole: dramatic exaggeration. E.g
. “I am so hungry I could eat a horse.” vi.
Apostrophe: addressing an inanimate object or a dead person as if they were alive. E.g
. “Death be not proud though some have called thee mighty…” vii.
Repetition: repeating key words. viii.
Alliteration: repeating the first letter (consonant) at the beginning of a number of words. E.g
. “The rifles rapidly fired and r eloaded.” ix.
Consonance: repeating the consonant anywhere in a number of words. E.g
. “Deadly destruction of the world.”
Karen Yager 6

x.
Assonance: repeating the vowel sound in a number of words.
E.g
. “It is a sin.” xi.
Onomatopoeia: a word that echoes the sound it represents. E.g.
“The bullets whistled past his head.” xii.
Sibilants: repetition of the ‘s’ sound in a number of words. E.g.
“Silent gas suffocated the sleeping soldiers.” e. Other Features: i.
Irony: saying one thing but meaning another. E.g
. “War doesn’t hurt anyone.” ii.
Symbolism: a representation. E.g. The rose for beauty and love. iii.
Pathetic Fallacy: using nature to reflect human feelings. E.g.
“Brent’s ribs were painful and he winced in pain when he turned to look at the bruised and angry storm clouds building in the East.” iv.
Person: 1 st : ‘I’; 2 nd : ‘You’; 3 rd : ‘He’ or ‘She’ or ‘They’ v.
Imperative Voice: forceful verbs, ordering someone to do something. E.g
. “Open your mind to injustice.” f. Rhyme and Rhythm: i.
Repetition: A powerful way to place emphasis on the key words and the message of a poem or song. ii.
Rhyme: A rap employs rhyme to make it catchy and more memorable. g. Musical Features: i.
Vocals: comment on the pitch, pace and tone of the voice. ii.
Pace: comment on the speed, slowness, etc. iii.
Instrumental: comment on the choice of instruments and their impact on the sound of the song and the message.
Exercises:
Identify the following features: a. “The river was choking on the rubbish.”____________________________ b. “Slowly, silently and stealthily he crept…”__________________________ c.
“You missed the target by a mile.” ________________________________ d.
“The urge to kill is like a barb in the soul.” __________________________ e. “She was a fair, frail child.” ________________________________ f. “The monstrous anger of the guns.” __________________________ g. “And each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds.” ________________________ h. “The clubbing of the gun.” ____________________________ i.
“As the battle reached its climax, the terrifying storm erupted in the sky.”
_________________________ j. “He waded through the waist deep water.” ___________________
__________________________ k.
“Oh glorious sun shine on this beauty!” _____________________ l. “Men marched asleep.” __________________________ m. “An arm twist, a combat boot against the skull, a .45 jabbed into the mouth”
___________________________________ n. “Sunlight throws scythes against the afternoon.” ___________________
_________________________________ o. “Oh beautiful, beautiful child now you are free…” _____________________
____________________________
Karen Yager 7

You will need to comment on some or all of the following when you respond to the poems or songs: a. Context: The times, values and concerns of the composer and what role they play. b. Purpose: E.g. persuade, express an opinion, create, entertain or inform. c. Audience: Whom the poem or song was intended for and how this impacts on the subject matter and language features. d. Issues or Concerns: State what the issues or concerns are and discuss how these reflect the times or context of the composer. e. Tone: How the composer feels - describe the tone (note any shifts in tone) and give examples of the words or devices that convey the tone. f. Language Features: Identify them, comment on their impact on the reader or listener and discuss why the composer uses them. g. Music & Vocals : Describe the pace, delivery, tone, instruments, etc. h. Your personal response: Do you agree or disagree with what is being said and do you feel that the text effectively conveys its message?
Karen Yager 8

Born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, on October 17, 1972, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Eminem spent a good deal of his childhood moving back and forth between Kansas
City and the Detroit metropolitan area; when he was 12, he and his mother moved permanently to Warren, Michigan. A fan of rap music from a young age, Eminem began performing at age 14. Although he dropped out of high school and worked at odd jobs for a number of years, his focus remained on his music.
Eminem first recorded as half of the Detroit rap duo Soul Intent, and made his solo debut in 1996 with the independent release Infinite . The album was soon followed by
The Slim Shady EP —both releases made quite a splash in the hip-hop underground, and soon Eminem was being praised both for his exaggerated, nasal-voiced rapping style and the bluntly controversial nature of his lyrics. Not in the least, he gained notice becaus e of his skin colour, and was soon hailed as rap music’s next “great white hope.”
After performing in a freestyle rap competition on a Los Angeles radio station,
Eminem came to the attention of Dr. Dre, a powerful player on the rap music scene.
Dr. Dre signed Eminem to his Aftermath label and began working with the young rapper on a full-length CD that would include many of the tracks from the previously released Slim Shady EP . Eminem’s debut with Aftermath, The Slim Shady LP , was released on February 23, 1999. Driven by the success of the hit single “My Name Is,” the album shot to No. 2 on the Billboard chart within a few weeks. It eventually went triple platinum, and earned Eminem two Grammy Awards, for Best Rap Solo
Performance ("My Name Is") and Best Rap Album.
Eminem had similar critical and commercial success with his second major release,
The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), which sold close to two million copies in its first week of release and became the fastest-selling rap album of all time. Critics almost universally praised the album as smart, ironic, and edgy, but as an inevitable result of such wide exposure (especially among young rap fans), the album generated a good deal of controversy for its content, which included graphic violence, explicit sexual references, and anti-homosexual slurs. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation (GLAAD) organis ed a protest of the Music Television (MTV) network’s support of Eminem during the MTV Video Music Awards, held in September 2000.
Eminem, performing at the head of a swarm of bleached-blonde, look-alike Slim
Shadies, took home MTV awards for both Video Of The Year and Best Male Video
Karen Yager 9

categories for his smash hit single, "The Real Slim Shady". The top-selling solo artist of that year, Eminem won Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo
Performance ("The Real Slim Shady").
In 2002, Eminem again courted controversy by moving up the release date of his third LP, The Eminem Show , in order to frustrate attempts by Internet pirates to distribute his album for free. Though the album won a Best Rap Album Grammy, the perennially controversial singer was booed at the MTV Video Music Awards before walking away with four trophies at New York's Radio City Music Hall. His first
Hollywood movie, 8 Mile, debuted in November 2002 to rave reviews. The film's hard-charging rap hit, "Lose Yourself," scored a surprise Academy Award for Best
Original Song in 2003. Beating out such mainstays as U2 and Paul Simon, it was the first Oscar ever bestowed on a hip-hop artist.
The controversial rapper’s tumultuous personal life and legal struggles made headlines beginning in June 1999, less than a week after the platinum debut of The
Marshall Mathers LP , when he was arrested after a brawl outside a Detroit nightclub.
After pleading guilty to carrying a concealed weapon, a Michigan judge sentenced the rapper to two year's probation and ordered him to undergo counselling and drug testing. In September 1999, Eminem's mother, Debbie Mathers-Briggs, filed a $10 million lawsuit against her son. Mathers-Briggs alleged that Eminem had slandered her on The Slim Shady LP , implying she was an unstable drug user.
Two trailer park girls go round the outside; round the outside, round the outside
*scratches*
Two trailer park girls go round the outside; round the outside, round the outside
*scratches*
Guess who's back
Back again
Shady's back
Tell a friend
Guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back guess who's back, guess who's back, guess who's back.. {*Eminem hums*}
[Verse 1: Eminem]
I've created a monster, cause nobody wants to see Marshall no more
They want Shady, I'm chopped liver
Well if you want Shady, this is what I'll give ya
A little bit of weed mixed with some hard liquor
Some vodka to jump start my heart quicker than the shocks when I get shocked at the hospital when the doctor when I'm not co-operating
When I'm rockin the table while he's operating
You waited this long, now stop debating
Cause I'm back, I'm on the rag and ovulating
I know that you got a job Ms. Cheney
Karen Yager 10

but your husband's heart problem's complicating
So the FCC won't let me be or let me be me, so let me see
They try to shut me down on MTV
But it feels so empty, without me…..(censored by Mrs Yager. Sorry!)
Chorus:
Now this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
Cause we need a little, controversy
Cause it feels so empty, without me
I said-this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
Cause we need a little, controversy
Cause it feels so empty, without me
Little Hallions, kids feelin rebellious
Embarrassed their parents still listen to Elvis
They start feelin like prisoners helpless
'til someone comes along on a mission and yells BITCH!!!
A visionary, vision of scary
Could start a revolution, pollutin the airwaves
A rebel, so just let me revel and bask in the fact that I got everyone kissin my ass
And it's a disaster, such a catastrophe for you can see so damn much of my ass; you asked for me?
Well I'm back, na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Fix your damn antenna tune it in and then I'm gonna enter in, under your skin like a splinter
The centre of attention, back for the winter
I'm interesting, the best thing since wrestling
Investing in your kid's ears a nest egg
Testing, attention please
Feel the tension, soon as someone mentions me
Here's my ten cents, my two cents is free
A nuisance, who sent? You sent for me?
Chorus:
Now this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
Cause we need a little, controversy
Cause it feels so empty, without me
I said-this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
Cause we need a little, controversy
Cause it feels so empty, without me
A-tisket a-tasket, I go tit for tat with anybody who's talkin this shit, that shit
Chris Kirkpatrick, you can get your ass kicked
Karen Yager 11

worse than those little Limp Bizkit bastards
And Moby? You can get stomped by Obie
You thirtysix year old boy…………………….
You don't know me, you're too old, let go
It's over, nobody listens to techno
Now let's go, just gimme the signal
I'll be there with a whole list full of new insults
I been dope, suspenseful with a pencil ever since Prince turned himself into a symbol
But sometimes the shit just seems everybody only wants to discuss me
So this must mean I'm dis-gus-ting
But it's just me, I'm just obscene
And though I'm not the first king of controversy
I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley do black music so selfishly and used it to get myself wealthy
Here's a concept that works
Twenty million other white rappers emerge
But no matter how many fish in the sea
It'll be so empty, without me
Chorus:
Now this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
Cause we need a little, controversy
Cause it feels so empty, without me
I said-this looks like a job for me
So everybody, just follow me
Cause we need a little, controversy
Cause it feels so empty, without me
Kids!
1. Eminem has been condemned for his controversial lyrics and attitudes. Do you believe that there is a place for musicians like Eminem and for their songs? Justify your reasons.
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2. Why does Eminem believe that the world is so empty without him?
Karen Yager 12

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3. Identify the following poetical devices and explain why Eminem used these devices: a.
“under your skin like a splinter”: ----------------------------------------------------
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- b.
“suspenseful with a pencil”: ----------------------------------------------------------
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- c.
“I’m chopped liver”: ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- d.
“Guess who’s back. Guess who’s back…” ---------------------------------------
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4. What is Eminem protesting about and do you agree with his message?
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5. Describe the vocals (tone, pace and delivery) and the music. How do they help convey Eminem’s message?
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Karen Yager 13

BBC NEWS: Tuesday, 26 June, 2001
By Anita Kazmierczak in Australia
The first Australian tour by notorious rapper Eminem is under threat, as family and women's groups lobby the government to deny him a visa to enter the country.
The Australian Family Association said the performer and the promoter were exploiting young people by cashing in on violent messages.
"Some of the messages he portrays - the violence, and especially the sexual violence, certainly doesn't help with our high suicide and drug abuse rates," said national secretary, Bill
Muehlenberg.
It's pretty naive and unrealistic that all artists and performers are
The association is pushing for the Immigration department to reject any application for a visa, on the basis of Eminem's past criminal activities, but especially because of his suggestive, homophobic and misogynistic lyrics. going to paint the world with a rosy glow.
Highest price
Michael Gudinski,
Frontier Touring
Fans down under are desperately hoping Eminem will be granted a visa to enter the country to play two dates in late July - one in Sydney and the other in Melbourne.
Eminem's album, The Marshall Mathers LP, released last year has sold more than 16 million copies worldwide.
The promoter, Frontier Touring, will pay around $1 m Australian (£370,000) for each show - the highest price ever paid for an indoor gig in Australia.
Frontier Touring's Michael Gudinski, who most recently promoted Kylie Minogue's massive Australian tour, defended the Grammy Award winner, saying he was "the most relevant artist in the world today".
"Let's face it, we don't live in Pleasantville, and most people in the world never lived there in the first place. It's pretty naive and unrealistic that all artists and performers are going to paint the world with a rosy glow," Gudinski added.
A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said Eminem's character and past convictions would be weighed up against the perceived entertainment value, as well as local employment opportunities provided by the tour, before a decision on his visa was made.
Karen Yager 14

Learn to:
1.1
1.3
9.1
10.6
Learn about:
1.7
1.8
9.6
10.7
10.8
10.9
“The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be
broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation” Martin Luther King
Content:
Learn to:
1.1
1.3, 9.1
Learn about:
1.7, 1.8
9.6, 9.7
9.8
Learning and teaching activities
Spelling: look, cover & write. Select 15 – 20 striking verbs and use five of these verbs in the following sentences: a. Complex sentence b. Simple sentence c. Fractured or truncated sentence d. Rhetorical sentence e. Exclamatory sentence
Lesson 1: Bob Dylan – ‘Hurricane’
Read the contextual information on Dylan, listen to the song, read the lyrics and complete the exercises.
Quality teaching
Metalanguage
Deep understanding:
Focus on textual features and details
Learn to:
1.5
9.1
9.5
10.4
Learn about:
9.10
Lesson 2: Others’ perspectives
Read the article that challenges Dylan’s support of
Carter’s innocence and complete the exercise. View an extract from the film Hurricane and participate in a class discussion about who is right about Carter.
Extension:
Research the Carter case and present your perspective based on your research.
Problematic knowledge: others’ perspectives
Substantive communication:
Class discussion
Lessons 3 - 4: Archie Roach
Archie Roach is an Aboriginal poet and singer who has drawn attention to the plight of his people in the past and in the present.
Listen to and read the two songs and discuss: a. The key issues of the songs. b. The use of language and aural features and how they convey the key issues.
Compose the journal entry based on one of the songs.
Extension:

View extracts from the film Tracker that features Roach’s songs

Read more works by Australian protest singers and poets such as:
- Judith Wright
- Midnight Oil
- Paul Kelly
- Eric Bogle
- Redgum
Deep understanding:
Focus on the key issues
Connectedness
Substantive communication:
Journal entry
Karen Yager 15

Bob Dylan
Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. Driven by the influences of early rock stars like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard
(whom he used to imitate on the piano at high school dances), the young Dylan formed his own bands, including the Golden Chords and Elston Gunn and His Rock
Boppers. While attending the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, he began performing folk and country songs at local cafés, taking the name “Bob Dylan,” after the late Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.
The 1963 release of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan marked Dylan’s emergence as one of the most original and poetic voices in the history of American popular music. The album included two of the most memorable 1960s fo lk songs, “Blowin’ in the Wind”
(which later became a huge hit for the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary) and “A Hard
Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” His next album, The Times They Are AChangin’ , firmly established Dylan as the definitive songwriter of the ‘60s protest movement.
Over the course of the next three decades, Dylan continued to reinvent himself.
Following a near-fatal motorcycle accident in July 1966, Dylan spent almost a year recovering in seclusion. In 1974, Dylan began his first full-scale tour since his accident, embarking on a sold-out nationwide tour with his long time backup band, the Band. An album he recorded with the Band, Planet Waves , became his first No. 1 album ever. He followed these successes with the celebrated 1975 album Blood on the Tracks and Desire (1976), each of which hit No. 1 as well. Desire included the song “Hurricane,” written by Dylan about the boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, then serving life in prison after being wrongly convicted of a triple murder in 1967. Dylan was one of m any prominent public figures who helped popularise Carter’s cause, leading to a retrial in 1976, when he was again convicted.
In 1989, when Dylan was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Bruce
Springsteen spoke at the ceremony, declaring that “Bob freed the mind the way Elvis freed the body….He invented a new way a pop singer could sound, broke through the limitations of what a recording artist could achieve, and changed the face of rock
Karen Yager 16

and roll forever.” In 1997, Dylan became the first rock star ever to receive Kennedy
Centre Honours, considered the nation’s highest award for artistic excellence.
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall.
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood,
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane,
The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see
And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously.
"I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hand
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand.
I saw them leavin'," he says, and he stops
"One of us had better call up the cops."
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin’
In the hot New Jersey night.
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around.
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that.
In Paterson that's just the way things go.
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops.
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around
He said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates."
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head.
Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty men.
Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in,
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs.
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
Says, "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!"
Yes, here's the story of the Hurricane,
Karen Yager 17

The man the authorities came to blame
For somethin' that he never done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame,
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame.
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
"Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?
"Don't forget that you are white."
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure."
Cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow.
You'll be doin' society a favor
That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver.
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim."
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much.
It's my work, he'd say, and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
And ride a horse along a trail.
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger.
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
And though they could not produce the gun,
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.
Rubin Carter was falsely tried.
Karen Yager 18

The crime was murder "one," guess who testified?
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride.
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell.
That's the story of the Hurricane,
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Exercises: “Hurricane”
1. What is Dylan protesting about in this song? In your answer refer to his tone, and key phrases or words in the song that convey his attitude towards what happened to Carter.
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2. Identify the following language features and explain why Dylan used these features: a. “pistol shots ring out”: -----------------------------------------------------------------
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Karen Yager 19

c. “The trial was a pig-circus”: ----------------------------------------------------------
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- d. “While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell”: -------------------------------
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3. Dylan has used emotive words to support his protest. Find 6 examples of emotive language:
-------------------------- -------------------------- --------------------------
-------------------------- -------------------------- --------------------------
4. What has Dylan claimed to be the main reason why Carter was convicted? In your response refer to key words and phrases from the song.
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Read the following article from the we b that disputes Dylan’s protest:
Another Readi ng of “Hurricane
Mr. Dylan takes poetic license with the facts throughout the song, particularly in his descriptions of what people said and did. His quotes are not real (according to the real "Miss Patty Valentine," who was interviewed for this report).
It was four months later when Bello admitted to police that he had taken cash from the register. Bello DID NOT step over bodies to go steal money from the cash register. He went to the register to get a dime to call police and took an extra $60 in cash -- which he fully admitted at trial. Yes he stole it; no, that was not his reason for going to the register. Pat Valentine said on 1/12/00 that none of this exchange between her and Bello actually happened. BOTH Bello and Valentine called the cops. Bello was so rattled while he was on the phone that he couldn't remember what street the bar was on and ran outside to look for a sign. He couldn't find it -- even though it was right there on the corner.
Carter was not "far away in another part of town." He admitted he was only a few blocks away at that hour, in a bar called the Nite Spot. This implies that it was a casual drive, but prosecutors believe that after the shootings Carter rendezvoused with accomplices, dumped the guns at an apartment and was trying to get home when he was first stopped by police.
Karen Yager 20

Number One Contender??? In 1965, the year before the murders, Carter dropped to
No. 5 in the rankings, according to "The Ring Record Book and Boxing
Encyclopaedia." Carter was arraigned for murder on Oct. 15, 1966. Two days later
The Paterson News reported: "In the last few years, Carter has slowly dropped in the official standings. Despite several losses, Carter still ranked fourth as late as last year." As noted earlier, Carter's record was a dismal 7-7-1 in 1965 and 1966.
Ring Magazine's rankings for Carter:
1962: Unranked
1963: No. 3 contender
1964: No. 3 contender
1965: No. 5 contender
1966: Unranked
This is the first of several verses in which Dylan uses racism over reason in an attempt to discredit those who prosecuted Carter. His use of racism is coupled with generalizations that don't address the facts. No act of racism by prosecutors has ever been documented. The judge who freed Carter said the use of the racial revenge theory, which calls the murders retaliation for the earlier killing of a black man, appealed to "racism over reason." But a black legislator (working with a black investigator) who examined the case for the N.J. governor said racial revenge was the only plausible explanation for the murders.
Carter's car was pulled over because it matched the description of the getaway car
— perfectly. The description of the car was much more precise because it included the distinctive butterfly taillights. It was so precise that two police officers immediately recognized Carter's car from the description because they had pulled it over minutes before. Valentine also described the getaway car, its distinctive taillights, and its outof-state plates. Within an hour of the crime, she positively identified Carter's car as the killers' getaway car.
Carter was stopped just 10 minutes after the murders and let go. Minutes later, after getting a full description of the getaway car, police went looking for him. They picked him up just 30 minutes after the murders. Marins was too scared to identify Carter publicly, but privately he told his brother and two friends that it was Carter and Artis who did the shooting. Significantly, Marins NEVER SAID it was NOT Carter and
Artis. Carter reports that fact in his own book on Page 329.
The cops had no need to put the screws to Bradly because his partner Bello had already identified Carter by name. After Bello gave his statement, detectives went to interview Bradley — who was 100 miles away in a reformatory and therefore could not have coordinated stories with Bello. During the interview, Bradley was afraid to identify Carter while a guard was present, but said the killer "has many fans" and said his initials are "R.C.," Bradley's full statement about the events of that night matched
Bello's Bradley was already IN jail (a reformatory) when he was approached by detectives.
According to the investigating detectives' report: "The guard went out of the room for a short period and Bradley said the he saw Rubin Carter come around the corner
Karen Yager 21

with what he thought was a rifle. ... Bradley confirmed the story told to us by Alfred
Bello."
Dylan is again trying to discredit police by attributing their actions to racism without citing facts. The "braver" line is an allusion to Carter's comments in the Saturday
Evening Post about shooting cops. Carter blames the story for bringing the cops down on him — but then, he blames others for virtually everything bad that ever happened to him.
Carter left his wife at home and was hanging around and drinking in Paterson bars that night. He spent so much time at the Nite Spot he had a special table.
This is a lame attempt to portray Carter — who was convicted of beating and robbing people before he became a convicted murderer. Months after Dylan released this song, Carter beat up a woman who was the leader of the "Free Carter" campaign in New Jersey.
Doesn't it strike you as odd that no credible evidence of a conspiracy has been revealed in over 35 years? The jury that convicted Carter in 1976 had two blacks. Of course, that trial occurred after this song was written. Prosecutor Burrell Ives
Humphreys, the man who at the 1976 trial said Carter "did the deed," was a civil rights activist and a member of the NAACP. Lt. DeSimone was by all accounts a decent, honest and sensitive man, and not a racist. The attacks in this song were very hurtful to DeSimone and his family.
(From Cal Deal's "Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter: The Other Side of the Story" website)
Exercise:
Now having heard the song and read the article which one is more convincing and why?
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Karen Yager 22

Archie Roach was born in 1956 in Mooroopna, north Victoria, lived at Framlingham in south western Victoria and was taken from his family at an early age. He moved from foster home to foster home, before settling with a family who had emigrated from Scotland to Melbourne.
His love of music blossomed in their home, with their daughter teaching him the basic rudiments of piano. In his teens, a lett er from a sister he didn’t know he had sparked an angry search for his real identity.
Leaving home, he spent over a decade as an alcoholic living on the streets. During this period, Archie met Ruby Hunter, a Ngarrindjeri woman from South Australia, who had also been forcibly removed from her family. The pair fell in love and started their own family. It is
Ruby that Archie credits for the couple’s decision to give up drinking and make a life for themselves. They went on to raise a family, which included two children of their own, and three foster children, plus a revolving door of children in need of shelter and refuge.
Although he had been performing within his own community for many years, it was in 1988 that he caught the attention of Paul Kelly and (the late) Steve Connolly, guitarist with The
Messengers. Archie open for a Paul Kelly And The Messengers show at the Melbourne
Concert Hall, and Kelly and Connolly went on to produce "Charcoal Lane”.
“Charcoal Lane”, his 1990 debut album was a landmark release that highlighted many of the social issues that were at the forefront of Aboriginal life in Australia. It featured the moving tracks "Took The Children Away" and "Down City Streets", which were co-written by his partner Ruby Hunter. The album cemented Archie’s place in the musical community of
Australia, with a veritable who’s who of musicians joining him in the studio, with guest appearances from Neil and Tim Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz), Vika and Linda Bull and members of The Messengers. "Charcoal Lane" went on to win ARIA (Australian Record
Industry Association) Awards in 1991 for Best Indigenous Album and Best New Talent.
The song "Took The Children Away" also saw Archie Roach receive the Human Rights
Achievement Award; the first time the award has ever been presented to a songwriter.
Archie and Ruby did their first American tour in 1992 around the release of “Charcoal Lane”
(through Hightone Records). The tour included opening for Joan Armatrading and Bob Dylan, for which they collected rave reviews. US Rolling Stone named "Charcoal Lane" as one of their Top 50 albums for 1992.
Karen Yager 23

In 1993, "Jamu Dreaming" became the next chapter in Archie's career. Featuring the singles
"From Paradise" and "Walking Into Doors", the album was recorded in the latter part of 1992 and was produced by David Bridie (My Friend The Chocolate Cake, Not Drowning Waving).
Guests on the album included Paul Kelly, Ruby Hunter, Tiddas, Vika & Linda Bull and Joe
Geia. The album was critically acclaimed and reached the Top 40 in the Australian charts. It also marked Archie and Ruby’s first UK visit – a guest appearance at the Corroboree Festival at London’s Southbank Centre, which was followed by a UK tour. The following year, they toured the UK again. Around this time, Harper Collins published a book of Archie Roach song lyrics entitled “You Have The Power”.
In the four years between the release of “Jamu Dreaming” and his third album “Looking For
Butter Boy”, Archie continued to work – in his own community, the musical community and the broader Australian community. He appeared with Yothu Yindi at the 1994 AFL Grand
Final, performed at WOMADelaide twice (making him the only artist to appear at three festivals – 1992, 1994, 1995) and embarked on a major international tour that took in
America and Europe.
In July 1997 Archie released "Looking For Butter Boy”. Produced by Malcolm Burn (Iggy Pop,
Emmy Lou Harris, Patti Smith, Midnight Oil, Aaron Neville), it featured the singles "Hold On
Tight" and “A Child Was Born Here” and stand out tracks “Reach For You”, “Give Unto
Caesar” and “Beggar Man”. The album won three ARIA awards, starting in 1997 when the single “A Child Was Born Here” won Best Indigenous Release.
In the aftermath of the success of “Butter Boy”, Archie continued to focus on the issues of the
Aboriginal community, using his profile and his music to educate, inspire and assist his people. In 1997 he undertook a pioneering tour of the Aboriginal communities of
Queenslands’ Cape York and along with Ruby undertook a tour of Queensland gaols. He visited innumerable schools to perform and conduct workshops, regularly touring to the remotest Aboriginal communities around the country. Recently released is the soundtrack to
Rolf de Heer’s acclaimed new film “The Tracker”, which opened nationally in August.
Beautiful Child
Oh my beautiful child
My beautiful child
The brightest of stars, couldn’t match your sweet smile
But you grew up too soon, far beyond your young years
Now all that remains is your memory and tears
You were always to blame
And they put you through hell
Then they locked you away in a dark lonely cell
But you weren’t really bad, just a little bit wild
Now they’ll hound you no more, oh my beautiful child
Beautiful, beautiful child now you are free
Free from this heartache and pain and misery
When that I found your body that day, some said you’d smiled
And I wish I was with you right now my beautiful child
You’d been locked up before
But you always came back
With your head held high and so proud to be black
Karen Yager 24

But the last time they came, how could I have known
When they took you away, that you’d never come home
Yeh, they pushed your around ‘ cause your skin wasn’t white
And although you were gentle, you learnt how to fight
And you fought all your life though you didn’t fail
But you deserved better than to die in some jail
Oh beautiful, beautiful child now you are free
Free from this heartache and pain and misery
When they found your body that day, some said you’d smiled
And I wish I was with you right now my beautiful child
And I wish I was with you right now my beautiful child
Took The Children Away
This story’s right, this story’s true
I would not tell lies to you
Like the promises they did not keep
And how they fenced us in like sheep
Said to us come take our hand
Sent us off to mission land
Taught us to read, to write and pray
Then they took the children away,
Took the children away
The children away
Snatched from their mother’s breast
Said it was for the best
Took them away
The welfare and the policeman
Said you’ve got to understand
We’ll give to them what you can’t give
Teach them how to really live
Teach them how to live they said
Humiliated them instead
Taught them that and taught them this
And others taught them prejudice
You took the children away
The children away
Breaki ng their mother’s heart
Tearing us all apart
Took them away
One dark day on Framlingham
Came and didn’t give a damn
My mother cried go get their dad
He came running fighting mad
Mother’s tears were falling down
Dad shaped up he stood his ground
Karen Yager 25

He said you touch my kids and you fight me
And they took us from our family
Took us away
They took us away
Snatched from our mother’s breast
Said this is for the best
Took us away
Told us what to do and say
Told us all the white man’s ways
Then they split us up again
And gave us gifts to ease the pain
Sent us off to foster homes
As we grew up we felt alone
Cause we were acting white
Yet feeling black
One sweet day all the children came back
The children came back
The children came back
Back where their hearts grow strong
Back where they all belong
The children came back
Said the children came back
The children came back
Back where they understand
Back to their mother’s land
The children came back
Back to their mother
Back to their father
Back to their sister
Back to their brother
Back to their people
Back to their land
All the children came back
The children came back
The children came back
Yes I came back
Exercise : “Beautiful Child” and “Took the Children Away”
Archie Roach protests about the terrible treatment of his people. Children were still being taken from their natural parents as late as the 1960’s and Aboriginal people are still dying in custody despite the Muirhead Inquiry. In the space below, transform either song into a journal entry. “Beautiful Child” could be an entry by the mother or father of the child who died in custody and “Took the Children Away” could be an entry by Archie Roach or another Aboriginal person who suffered the same fate.
Karen Yager 26

Journal Entry by………………………….
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Karen Yager 27

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Karen Yager 28

Learn to:
1.1
1.3
1.4, 9.3
Learn about:
1.7
1.8, 1.12
9.6, 9.7
9.8, 10.9
Learn to:
1.1
1.3
Learn about:
1.11
1.12
9.7
9.8
: "Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form, truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder. It is a howling reproach” Ted Koppel.
Content: Quality teaching
Learn to:
1.1
1.3
1.4
Learn about:
1.7
1.8
1.12
9.6, 10.7
Learning and teaching activities
Spelling
– look, cover and write. Select 15-20 adjectives that could be used in a protest poem or song about an issue that concerns you. Place five of these adjectives in a short paragraph about this issue.
Lessons 1- 2: David Hallett
Hallett is a local performance poet who often satirises aspects of society that concern him such as racial prejudice or the Palestinian situation. Read both poems and analyse as a class the subject matter and the language features of the two poems. Compose the critical response on the poem you preferred.
Extension:
Compare and contrast the two poems.
Metalanguage
Connectedness:
Local performance poet
Higher-order thinking: critical response
Lesson 3 - 4: Yusef Komunyakaa
Komunyakaa is an ex-Vietnam vet who has written numerous poems about the damaging impact of war.
Read and discuss as a class his two poems and them complete the exercises.
Deep understanding:
Focus on textual features and details
Assessment Task 1:
“Knock on Wood”
Original Poem or Song & Critical Reflection
Task:
(Begin working on this task)
You are required to compose your own protest song or poem about an issue that concerns you. It could be an issue that has been explored by one of the composers we have studied or a current issue such as the Iraqi war or youth unemployment. Discuss why you chose to write about this issue and include an analysis of your song or poem. Explain how the poem or song reflects your context, values and perspective. Examine your song or poem’s language features, tone, purpose, intended audience and give your opinion of its worth. If it is a song, also discuss the type of music you would select to accompany the lyrics.
Expectations:

Effective use of language to convey a key idea and a significant message

Critical analysis of your own poem
Outcomes: 1 & 9
(See marking guidelines)
Connectedness
Higher-order thinking
Highexpectations
Substantive communication
Deep understanding:
Focus on the powerful use of language
Karen Yager 29

David Hallett is a local performance poet living in Lismore. He has been writing since the seventies and he has performed on the Far North Coast on major venues and in local high schools. His poetry targets tourism, war, football, environmental damage, racism and materialism.
Jerusalem
A sand fight
(just sand) blowing into open graves – mother’s tears petals of sisters riots of words – holy wrecking ball pillars of salt the sand they fight
(just sand)
The Town Joke for two days he stood on the edge of town edge of the world, big black man hitch a ride? no way no takers on a no-through-road. they shouted they spat they threw they just drove. on the third day he walked to the other end of town edge of the world, big black man hitch a ride? he stood silently without food without sleep, he mediated on their meanness he withered; they showered him with flints of gravel they wore him down to the ground. on the fifth day he sat down – he saw the land turn green and the animal clouds & dreams dancing in the heat, he swam through the serpent and flew the pelican night. on the sixth day he rested he lay down in the road. on the seventh dawn he lay cold.
Karen Yager 30

Exercise: “Jerusalem” & “The Town Joke”
Select one of the poems by Hallett and in the space below write a response to this question: “Which poem do you prefer by Hallett and explain why you chose this poem?”
(Extension: compare and contrast the two poems instead of focusing on one poem.)
Paragraph 1: State which poem you have chosen and outline your reasons.
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Paragraph 2: Discuss the message of the poem and what it means to you.
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Paragraph 3: Describe the language features and discuss how they support the message.
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Paragraph 4: Sum up by stating what impact this poem has had on you.
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Karen Yager 31

http://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/komunyakaa/
“Poetry is a kind of distilled insinuation. It’s a way of expanding and talking around an idea or a question. Sometimes, more actually gets said through such a technique than a full frontal assault.”
Yusef Komunyakaa was born on 29 April 1947 in Bogalusa, Louisiana. He is the eldest of five children. Komunyakaa uses his childhood experiences to inform many of his works: his familial relationships, his maturation in a rural Southern community, and the musical environment afforded by the close proximity of the jazz and blues centre of New Orleans provide fundamental themes.
After graduating from Bogalusa's Central High School in 1965, Komunyakaa enlisted in the United States Army to begin a tour of duty in Vietnam. While there, he started writing, sometime between 1969 and 1970. As a correspondent for and later editor of the military newspaper, The Southern Cross, Komunyakaa mastered a journalistic style which he would later use in poetic efforts to assess objectively his time spent engaged in warfare. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his work with the paper.
Fourteen years after leaving Vietnam, Komunyakaa began recording his war experiences in verse. The two collections that specifically chronicle those experiences, Toys in a Field (1987) and Dien Cai Dau (1988), place him among the most notable of the soldier-poets. The latter volume made the 1988 Young
Adults/American Library Association "Best Books for Young Adults" list.
Usually at the helipad
I see them stumble-dance across the hot asphalt with crokersacks over their heads, moving toward the interrogation huts, thin-framed as box kites of sticks & black silk anticipating a hard wind that'll tug & snatch them out into space. I think some must be laughing under their dust-coloured hoods, knowing rockets are aimed at Chu Lai--that the water's evaporating & soon the nail will make contact with metal.
How can anyone anywhere love these half-broken figures bent under the sky's brightness?
The weight they carry is the soil we tread night & day.
Who can cry for them?
I've heard the old ones are the hardest to break.
An arm twist, a combat boot against the skull, a .45 jabbed into the mouth, nothing
Karen Yager 32

works. When they start talking with ancestors faint as camphor smoke in pagodas, you know you'll have to kill them to get an answer.
Sunlight throws scythes against the afternoon.
Everything's a heat mirage; a river tugs at their slow feet.
I stand alone & amazed, with a pill-happy door gunner signalling for me to board the Cobra.
I remember how one day
I almost bowed to such figures walking toward me, under a corporal's ironclad stare.
I can't say why.
From a half-mile away trees huddle together,
& the prisoners look like marionettes hooked to strings of light.
Thanks for the tree between me & a sniper's bullet.
I don't know what made the grass sway seconds before the Viet Cong raised his soundless rifle.
Some voice always followed, telling me which foot to put down first.
Thanks for deflecting the ricochet against that anarchy of dusk.
I was back in San Francisco wrapped up in a woman's wild colours, causing some dark bird's love call to be shattered by daylight when my hands reached up
& pulled a branch away from my face. Thanks for the vague white flower that pointed to the gleaming metal reflecting how it is to be broken like mist over the grass, as we played some deadly game for blind gods.
What made me spot the monarch writhing on a single thread tied to a farmer's gate, holding the day together
Karen Yager 33

like an unfingered guitar string, is beyond me. Maybe the hills grew weary & leaned a little in the heat.
Again, thanks for the dud hand grenade tossed at my feet outside Chu Lai. I'm still falling through its silence.
I don't know why the intrepid sun touched the bayonet, but I know that something stood among those lost trees
& moved only when I moved.
1. What is the persona’s attitude towards the prisoners of war?
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2. How do you know that he is conveying this attitude? Refer to at least three language features in your response.
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Karen Yager 34

3. The imagery in “Thanks” is evocative, conveying the persona’s feelings about being a soldier in the Vietnam War. What do these images say to you about the war and how he felt about being a soldier?
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4. Which poem do you find to be the most powerful? Justify your choice by referring to the use of language and the subject matter.
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Karen Yager 35

: “It is not by great acts but by small failures that freedom dies. . . . Justice and liberty die quietly, because men first learn to ignore injustice and then no longer recognize it" Charles Morgan Jr.
Content: Learning and teaching activities
Spelling – look, cover and write. Select 15-20 words
Quality teaching
Metalanguage
Learn to:
1.1 that you have encountered during this unit of work.
Lesson 1: Student direction:
1.3
Learn about:
Assessment Task 1:
Work on original poem or song. Brainstorm the issue you are focusing on and the key words that you will use to convey your message. Share your ideas and the composing original song
1.11
9.7, 9.8 words and phrases you have chosen. Begin to compose your poem and song.
Learn to:
1.3
1.4
9.1
9.2
9.3
Learn about:
1.7
1.8
1.11
Lessons 2 - 4:
Assessment task 2: A Protest Poetry/Song
Australian Exhibition
Task:

Two research lessons

One preparation lesson
Your group has been asked to recommend the protest poems and songs that should be included in an
Australian exhibition. Decide as a group after research what songs and poems you would include.
Present the recommendation to the class providing a justification for their inclusion in the exhibition. You could use power point or Movie Maker 2 including images to justify the group’s selections. The group has to discuss the: a. The poems and songs – include brief extracts b. Their key messages and why these messages are significant to future Australians c. Language and aural features
Expectations:

Clear and effective justification

Effective understanding of the poems or songs
’ messages and language/aural features

Interesting and lively presentation

Task due:
Present the recommendation in week 6, lessons 1-2.
Higher-order thinking: challenging task inviting synthesis
Highexpectations: deadlines and working collaboratively
Deep understanding:
Focus on key idea of the power of language
Student direction: assessment task open
Inclusivity
Karen Yager 36

Excellent
High
Substantial
Satisfactory
Demonstrated
Working Towards

Insightful analysis of the effectiveness and impact of your poem on responders in terms of ideas, perspective and originality

Skilful use of language features, form and structure

Skilful explanation of how the poem or song reflects context, values and perspective

Thoughtful analysis of the effectiveness and impact of your poem on responders in terms of ideas, perspective and originality

Effective use of language features, form and structure

Effective explanation of how the poem or song reflects context, values and perspective

Sound analysis of the effectiveness and impact of your poem on responders in terms of ideas, perspective and originality

Sound use of language features, form and structure

Sound explanation of how the poem or song reflects context, values and perspective

Limited description of the effectiveness and impact of your poem on responders in terms of ideas, perspective and originality

Limited use of language features, form and structure

Limited description of how the poem or song reflects context, values and perspective

Elementary description of the effectiveness and impact of your poem on responders

Elementary use of language features, form and structure

Elementary description of how the poem or song reflects context or values or perspective
Karen Yager 37

Excellent
High
Substantial
Satisfactory
Demonstrated
Working Towards

Insightful explanation of the group’s personal preferences for songs and poems

Skilful appreciation of language features, form and structure

Insightful understanding of the context, ideas and perspectives of the songs and poems

Effective explanation of the group’s personal preferences for songs and poems

Effective appreciation of language features, form and structure

Effective understanding of the context, ideas and perspectives of the songs and poems

Sound explanation of the group’s personal preferences for songs and poems

Sound appreciation of language features, form and structure

Sound understanding of the context, ideas and perspectives of the songs and poems

Limited explanation of the group’s personal preferences for songs and poems

Limited description of language features, form and structure

Limited description of the context, ideas and perspectives of the songs and poems

Elementary description of the group’s personal preferences for songs and poems

Elementary description of language features, form and structure

Elementary description of context, ideas and perspectives of the songs and poems
Karen Yager 38

Bob Dylan – Bob Links, http://my.execpc.com/~billp61/boblink.html, Accessed 17 th
September, 2006. (Links to sites on Dylan and his works).
Eminem Planet, http://www.eminem-planet.com/biography.html, Accessed 17 th
September, 2006. (Pictures and Bio).
Eminem’s World, http://www.eminemworld.com/, Accessed 17 th September, 2006.
(Lyrics, bio and pictures).
Freedom and Protest Songs of the United States, http://www.sbgmusic.com/html/teacher/reference/historical/freedom.html, Accessed
17 th September, 2006. (Links to composers such as Dylan and Guthrie).
Hurricane Carter the Other Side of the Story, http://www.graphicwitness.com/carter/,
Accessed 17 th September, 2006.
Top ten Myths about Rubin Hurricane Carter, http://members.shaw.ca/cartermyths/,
Accessed 17 th September, 2006.
Vibe Australia - Archie Roach, http://www.vibe.com.au/vibe/corporate/celebrity_vibe/showceleb.asp?id=29,
Accessed 17 th September, 2006. (Bio on Archie Roach)
Yusef Komunyakaa, http://www.ibiblio.org/ipa/komunyakaa/, Accessed 17 th
September, 2006 (Poetry and bio)
ZNet’s Selected Anti-War Songs, http://www.zmag.org/Songs/songarchive.htm,
Accessed 17 th September, 2006. (Lyrics of anti-war songs)
Karen Yager 39