I’ve had a bit of a delay writing my first post for this year. I spent a lot of time catching up and spending quality time with my family over the summer break, but also thinking about what my goals are going to be for this year. After five years, I decided it was time for me to go to another school, so I’ve started teaching at a new school this year and I feel rejuvenated and petrified at the same time.
Like many teachers, I suffer from imposter syndrome and feel like I’m just faking it. Do I know enough? Am I good enough? Do I actually know what I’m doing? Am I really qualified to be giving advice to all these students about VCE English? But, I do know what I’m doing and I love teaching my subject and seeing my students improve, and I’m so excited about starting a new adventure in a new school with new students and new colleagues.
Many of you are probably feeling very apprehensive and nervous about what will be your final year of high school. There will be so many ‘last moments’. The last formal, the last swimming carnival, the last athletics carnival, the last assembly, the last SAC, etc. But it’s not the last time for you to succeed, as there will be many more opportunities for you to continue to kick those goals that you set for yourself in your future. Year 12 is not the be all and end all, but for you during this moment in your life, you feel like it is the most important year, and at this stage of your life, it is. But, you still have so many exciting years ahead of you that will lead to different paths and journeys, with some planned and some totally unexpected.
If you asked me at your age what I was going to do after I finished high school, teaching wasn’t the answer that I would have given you. I wanted to be a journalist. That was my dream. I wanted to work for ‘Rolling Stone’ magazine, I loved music and that was my goal. The universe had other plans though. I didn’t get into the course I wanted to and ended up doing a media studies course instead. I dabbled in film production, radio production, journalism, and analysis. I loved the course and had a lot of fun, but at the conclusion of my degree I realised that I didn’t want to do that forever and I needed some stability.
So, after speaking to a friend and having an existential crisis, she convinced me to enrol in a Graduate Diploma of Teaching. I thought I’d be teaching media studies, so chose that as one of my methods and my other method was English. Back then the course was completed within a year and the next year I was standing in front of a class teaching my first lesson as an English teacher… in London. I never taught Media Studies and have only focused on teaching English.
The point I’m trying to make is that there is no set course that your life will take. There will be twists and turns and what you may think is a setback, may actually be the best thing to actually happen to you. I’ve been teaching for over 20 years now and I am forever grateful that this was the path that I eventually chose. I’ve had some ups and downs, but they are moments that have allowed me to grow and learn certain lessons in life. Not everything has been easy, but it’s in those moments where I’ve picked myself up and said that I will prove people wrong and I’ll be better. And it was one of those moments which led to me developing Ronnie’s Ramblings.
Two years later and this website has grown and been received in such a positive way that I never would have imagined. I keep getting messages from both teachers and students alike letting me know how my posts have helped them understand the VCE English course and provide them with ways to teach or write according to specific areas of study. After 20 years of teaching, I don’t think I know it all, but I do want to share my experience and knowledge as well as continue to learn and become a better teacher for my students.
One of the reasons why I developed the website was to get my head around understanding the current study design for English. While there have been some hiccups and changes to the way that I teach units, we overcame the obstacles and finally in 2024 students sat the first exam for this study design.
The new course continued to examine students ability to analyse text and argument, but the new inclusion of Creating Texts challenged both teachers and students. We were all uncertain about what exactly was needed and there were more SACs than previous years. Teachers were marking three SACs for the Creating Texts area of study and there was an extra requirement for the Analysing Argument area of study which including an audio visual text. After reviewing these changes and listening to concerns from teachers, VCAA made tweaks to the course for 2025 which will impact Year 12s from 2025 (in a good way).
The first change is with the Creating Texts area of study. The VCAA English study design stipulates the following:
How is it different?
You are only required to write one piece responding to ‘a specific context and audience to achieve a stated purpose’. Previously you were required to write two responses worth 20 marks each. Now, you will write one but it will be worth 40 marks for Unit 3. You are still required to write a commentary explaining your writing choices and decisions that you made through the writing process.
The second change to the study design is in the Analysing Argument area of study in Unit 4.
Previously, students were required to analyse argument in print, visual and audio/visual. Now, the study design stipulates that you analyse one written text which includes a different mode within it being visual OR audio/ audio visual. This means that schools have a choice as to whether to include a visual with the written text OR an audio visual text. Many schools found the logistics of implementing the audio visual component difficult and assessed it as a separate SAC. With the change, schools can make their own choice but it is most likely that the SAC will include a written text with visual. This emulates what will be in the exam for Section C.
With these changes, that eliminates two SACs that were required last year. This puts the pressure off you, but also your teachers. It allows you to work on perfecting your writing by completing more practice work and refining your skills for these areas of study.
You are still required to write two text responses for two different texts and an oral presentation.
I will be making the relevant changes to the posts for those areas of study so keep an eye out for any changes and I’ll provide you with some more resources as the year goes on.
I also want to focus on including some specific text posts. Stay tuned for them.
My last piece of advice includes what I’ve been saying for the past two years about making the most of this year and the best way to approach it.
- Don’t leave work until the last minute. If you don’t have time to write a full essay, write a paragraph and ask your teacher for feedback. Focus on smaller tasks before trying to conquer the bigger ones.
- Develop a positive relationship with your English teacher. They are your best friend and greatest opportunity for success. They are more than happy to help you because they want to see you achieve your very best.
- Form study groups and chat with other students about concepts and texts to get different interpretations and approaches to your understanding of the texts.
- Develop your own study guides in your own words
- Put together vocab lists with the relevant metalanguage for each area of study
- Practice statements explaining an author’s intention and how they achieve their intent (what, how, why)
- Balance the study of all your subjects.
- Balance your academic and personal goals looking after your own wellbeing
- Read and watch the texts that you’re studying
- Have fun. Not everything needs to be serious. Laugh at your mistakes, spend time with friends and family, and make the most of every opportunity, especially those ‘lasts’ for this final year of secondary schooling.
Remember that if you have any questions, please get in touch via email or through my social media channels on Instagram and TikTok.
And… as I always say… ‘Keep it zesty’!
Ronnie
Ronnie's Ramblings 