YEAR 11 ENGLISH - Ballarat High School 2009
Outcome 2 – Creating & Presenting
On completion of this unit the student should be able to create and present texts taking account of audience, purpose
and context.
Context
JUSTICE
COURSEWORK
You will complete a range of activities from Sections 1 & 2 as directed by your teacher. All students
will complete Section 3.
Section 1: Exploring the concept
1.
Definition: What is justice? Use a dictionary or Wikipedia to write your own definition.
2.
Types of justice: What is meant by the following terms?
a)
criminal justice
b)
social justice
c)
retributive justice
d)
global justice
e)
restorative justice
f)
procedural justice
3.
Build a word bank of terms and phrases associated with the term “justice”.
A thesaurus may help you with this exercise. You will add words to your word bank
throughout the unit. Below are some associated words and phrases to get you started.
How many other words and phrases can you think of?
injustice
4.
victim
revenge
right and wrong
Symbols of justice
Left: Statue of Justice, Dublin, Ireland
Middle: Justice with wings – Parliament House, Victoria
Right: Justice holding her scales and sword is a familiar image. The scales are the very symbol of justice. The
judge has to weigh his decisions.
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Make a poster which demonstrates your understanding of the first four areas.
Definitions
Words/phrases
Justice
Types of justice
Images of justice
Did you know?
A common representation of Justice is a blind-folded woman holding a set of scales. The origin of the Goddess
of Justice goes back to antiquity. She was referred to as Ma'at by the ancient Egyptians and was often depicted
carrying a sword with an ostrich feather in her hair (but no scales) to symbolize truth and justice. The term
magistrate is derived from Ma'at because she assisted Osiris in the judgment of the dead by weighing their
hearts.
To the ancient Greeks she was known as Themis, originally the organizer of the "communal affairs of humans,
particularly assemblies." Her ability to foresee the future enabled her to become one of the oracles at Delphi,
which in turn led to her establishment as the goddess of divine justice. Classical representations of Themis did
not show her blindfolded (because of her talent for prophecy, she had no need to be blinded) nor was she
holding a sword (because she represented common consent, not coercion).
The Roman goddess of justice was called Justitia and was often portrayed as evenly balancing both scales and a
sword and wearing a blindfold. She was sometimes portrayed holding the fasces (a bundle of rods around an ax
symbolizing judicial authority) in one hand and a flame in the other (symbolizing truth).
5.
Writing Activity
Write a description about a time when you were a victim of injustice OR when you were witness to an
injustice. The incident of injustice may have occurred within the school, home or local environment.
The aim of this task is to explain the nature of the injustice and to bring to life the various emotions
associated with the act of injustice.
6.
Justice in the media
How are matters concerning justice reported in the print media?
Choose one recent media article to share with the class
 What aspect of justice or injustice has been noted in this item?
 Which words in the text have been chosen to create an emotional response to the reader?
 What other persuasive techniques or images have been used? Why?
7.
Key ideas
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What is justice?
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Is there a universal definition of justice? Can one definition of justice apply to all
circumstances?
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How do we know when justice has been achieved?
Does justice mean the same thing to all people? What factors may effect a person’s perception of
justice?
What types of circumstances or events give rise to injustice?
Which groups of people support injustice? What are their reasons for doing so?
Are we, as a society, supportive of people who seek justice?
What role do religions, laws and declarations etc. have in ensuring that justice is maintained?
Does the idea of justice vary over time, place and society?
What strategies have humans put into place to ensure justice for individuals and for society as a
whole?
What are some of the consequences if justice is denied?
Should people obey the law if they consider that the law is unjust?
Section 2: Medea
We will read Euripides play, Medea, together in class. You will draw ideas from this text to produce
your own writing on the context, Justice.
Focus questions
1. As we read the play, identify three key passages and explain how they relate to the concept of
the justice.
2. “To punish Jason will be just.” Why? What crimes has he committed? Explain this statement.
3. Describe Medea’s version of justice. Is she justified in creating her own form of justice? Are
her actions justifiable?
4. Explain the notion of “divine justice” and dike in relation to Medea.
5. How does Euripides use the Chorus to shape the way we understand the idea of justice in the
play?
6. “As a character, Jason may not excite the sympathy of the audience, but it is he rather than
Medea, who suffers the greatest injustice.” Do you agree?
7. “Injustice is systematic in Greek society where women are concerned.” Do you agree?
8. “Medea has confused justice with revenge.” Do you agree?
9. “The only people we feel sorry for in Medea are the children. Everyone else gets what they
deserve.” Discuss
10. How does the notion of justice in Medea differ from our modern day notions of justice? How
are they similar?
Section 3: Writing task
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Your writing must be either imaginative, expository or persuasive in style.
A written explanation must accompany each piece of writing.
Your piece of writing must be 600-800 words in length.
Prompt
‘Justice can mean different things to different people.’
Use the prompt as the basis for a piece of writing exploring the idea that ‘Justice
can mean different things to different people.’ Your piece is to be published on a
wiki for Ballarat High School VCE English students who are also studying the
Context, Justice. You must draw on ideas and issues suggested by Medea.
Suggested topics for addressing the above prompt:
Imaginative
Expository
Persuasive
Drawing on ideas from Medea, write a short story about a relationship between a
male and female character which explores notions of inequality or injustice between
the sexes.
Drawing on ideas from Medea, write a speech about the notion of justice and how
this has changed over the ages.
Drawing on ideas from Medea, write a persuasive letter to a member of parliament
where you try to convince them to change some aspect of our justice system.
Your own topic
Unit 1 Creating & Presenting SAC - Justice
Task
One sustained piece of writing, created for a specific audience and context, of 600-800 words, written
in response to a set prompt. (Same as Section 3 Writing Task). Your writing is to be accompanied by
a written explanation of decisions about form, purpose, language, audience and context.
Date: The SAC will be held under exam conditions over 2 periods in Term 2 – Week 6.
For the SAC you be given a prompt on the Friday before the SAC so you can prepare.
For the SAC you can only bring in a dictionary.
Assessment: You will receive a grade which is worth 20% of your Unit 1 score.
Assessment criteria
The extent to which the response is characterised by:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Understanding and effective exploration of the ideas, and/or arguments relevant to the prompt
Effective use of detail and ideas drawn from the selected text as appropriate to the task
Development in the writing of a coherent and effective structure in response to the task,
showing an understanding of the relationship between purpose, form, language and audience
Controlled use of language appropriate to the purpose, form and audience
An effective written explanation of personal choices relating to form, language, audience,
purpose and context, with the use of appropriate metalanguage.
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Written explanation: discussing and explaining decisions about writing
Students must provide a written explanation discussing and analysing decisions made about form, purpose,
language, audience and context, and reflecting on the ways their writing has been informed by discussions of
their reading.
Drawing on their notes, students could reflect upon the language choices they have made in their own writing,
for example:
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narrative voice, including first person and third person narration
vocabulary choices, including synonyms
use of metaphor and imagery
sentence structures and clauses
verb tenses
ways of naming characters
use of dialogue
speech making strategies, including repetition of clauses, phrases, words.
They might also reflect on the process of creating their texts, for example:
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decisions about effective introductions
selecting key ideas in developing an argument
using of other texts as models for their own writing
rewriting texts after receiving feedback from audiences
decisions to omit parts of a piece, or to change its focus.
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