Intro Quiz: Examining thoughts and feelings: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

Video: Examining thoughts and feelings: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

﻿I'm Mrs. Crompton and welcome to today's English lesson. And our focus today is examining thoughts and feelings in the text. You will need a pen and paper. Take a moment to make sure you have cleared any distractions away and have everything you need to hand. Okay, to begin with then, let's start with a quick summary of what we read yesterday. Can you draw four boxes on your piece of paper with the title summary. And in those boxes, can you try and sequence your ideas and also prioritise the bits of information that you include? I want you to either place a word or ideally an image into each of those boxes that tell the story of what has happened so far. Okay, so that's four boxes on your piece of paper. I want you to think about your sequence. I want you to prioritise what information you include and ideally if you can do it as an image, that would be brilliant because we're just trying to make sure that we're thinking about all of those different ways of recalling information. You have two minutes, and I should time that out for you. Over to you. That's one minute done. And if you can just finish off with your final details, hopefully that has helped you recall the events from yesterday's session. Okay, just moving on then. Let's have our reminder of the skills that we're going to be covering during the course of this week. And moving forward over the next few weeks, we will be focusing on summarising main events, considering thoughts and feelings, which is of the particular focus of today's lesson. Thinking about the writer's perspective, considering the writer's methods and exploring big picture ideas. Next little thinking point before we look at today's extract is just to now pinpoint Ralston's feelings in the extract that we've just had. So that our various words on the screen there for you from angry through to pragmatic as a word. And what I'd like you to consider are two words that you would choose to describe his feelings during the course of the passage. I'd like to remind you, that when we worked through the passage yesterday, we did talk about the fact that the tone changed. And consequently, I want you to make sure that you are thinking about any changes, alterations in those feelings. So just have a little look at the screen. If you can choose two words, what two words would you select? Are you there? Okay, I'm going to share mine with you. And then you can have little think about how you've made your choices too. So the first word I would choose would be resigned because I do think at the beginning when he said, all I could do was wait, even though it was just a small moment of the extract was quite crucial points. I would use that in my choice. So I would have the word resigned there. And then I think the other interesting word that I might select is the word pragmatic. And I like the word pragmatic because it suggests that he's solution focused and he goes into a zone and he gets on with what he has to do and approach is everything, not in an emotional way. I didn't feel that he was particularly overwhelmed. However, I would acknowledge that the pragmatic tone is not always completely consistent. And even though he presents a surface of being pragmatic or showing pragmatism in his actions, we learn as the passage develops, that that is a little bit of a facade and that underneath he is feeling quite distressed and fearful too. So I'd pick those two words as anchors for my comment. And I think it's an interesting exercise to remind ourselves to be really precise in our choice of words as we move on. And these words that are currently on the screen might be words that we see as we move through the passage too. So we could come back to some of this vocabulary and it is worth just taking this moment. But you will see me using the word pragmatic later on. Okay, let's have a look at our next extract. So we left him having made his decision. And as we move through, we have the following for today. The next part of the events split again into three sections. We have prompt questions, again to help us activate the ideas we're looking at. And then the request for you to record those responses on lined paper. Finally, there'll be the review moment where you can use a different coloured pen to self assess and check your progress. So very similar to the routines we've been following throughout, but a reminder that we are considering thoughts and feelings, and really thinking about precision within our articulation of how Ralston is feeling at different points within this next part of the extract. Let's start. So first extract we're going to focus on two aspects. What does Ralston do and what do the language choices suggest? So again, we have things picked out. We've got the doing in orange so we can track what is actually happening. And then we have got some interesting language choices potentially for you to comment on picked out in the pink as we progress through the slides, okay? So track the writer's thoughts and feelings, focusing on what he does and what the language suggests. I'll take you back to the initial screen, hand over control to you. Remember absolute ownership of the controls right now, but do challenge yourself to give us full a response as possible. I'll be waiting for you as soon as you are ready to resume the video on completion of this task. Welcome back. So what did you notice? Here are a few suggestions of the types of things you may have noticed. Let's start with my first act. And my note tells me that I noticed at this point that there's quite a controlled tone that picks up a little bit on that very pragmatic approach that we discussed at the beginning of the session that seemed to characterise certain points of the previous extract. Where Ralston goes into almost like an automatic mode. My first act also implies a sequence of events to come. And so you've got him now recounting and working through the steps of what happened. Maybe that has got something to do with the fact that this is an autobiographical extract. So there's another additional comment to make that. Moving on to the language choices, sever and sawing contrast to language like noodle-like veins and poke, which is quite a gentle action. You don't consider poking to be as dramatic as sever and sawing. And the note that I have made is that we have got graphic language that's really quite brutal contrasted with noodle-like veins and perk, which are quite gentle and domestic again. And we've got perhaps that control wavering. We've got that juxtaposition of choices that we saw previously. Sorting through the bizarre and unfamiliar textures, I make a mental map of my arms inner features. Again, adds to that sense of control. It suggests organisation and concentration. Sorting, present participle verb there. And it's an immediate action. Even when he's recounting, he's remembering it as this active, very controlled moment. And these are actually tracking and mapping the inside of his arm. So I'm digging through the flesh, which is a really a typical way of describing something we wouldn't expect this clinical distanced tone. Working my fingers behind them. Working again is reinforcing the idea that Ralston has a mission to complete. And we talked about this as Ralston, almost depicting himself as a hero on a quest. He has a puzzle to solve, a moment to resolve. And that idea of working is again, very much about this is my job. This is my mission. Now I know that soon I will be free of the rest of my crushed dead hand. Again, we've got this rationalising of his experience and a logical step by step sequence is continuing. We had first, and we've got now. It shows he is thinking about his progress and success in overcoming his obstacles. Okay, over to you now. Opportunity for you to refine your response, take onboard some of the feedback add to and improve. Now you'll notice I didn't give you full sentences for this particular section. I'm going to allow you to generate those yourselves. However, do add any further detail that you wish to. As soon as you're happy with your response and then continue with the video. Welcome back. So thoughts and feelings are focal points. So now we're going to really concentrate on what is he thinking about and what emotions does he show. And as we're doing this, I'd like you to keep an eye on the use of verbs. And also to think about the way that sentences are being constructed, the sentence types, the actual wording and phrasing within the sentences, okay? I'll just show you the first screen so that I can point that out to you. So what is he thinking about and what emotions does he show? So we've got words picked out. Prodding, pinching, salt, pinch, rotate, slice. They are in the pink. What do you think of those verbs? Then we've got the sentence constructions. I can distinguish. I should avoid. I decide. What do you even notice that? Okay, so it's over to you, back to the main screen, and then you can take control from this point and I'll be waiting for the review section as soon as you are happy with your responses. Welcome back. So have you noticed the following? Before we go on, just to sort of say that there was quite a lot of technical sort of climbing new language in there in terms of bits of equipment and that the reference to a tourniquet is more of a medical implement. And usually it's used to cut off the flow of blood during a surgery. So he uses that combination of his tools of his trade as a climber alongside this medical language within there. And there was a purple, deeper thinking point as well, which I'm sure you spotted. So let's have a look at the types of things that you may have noticed. And again, at this point, add to what you've already written, reward yourself, nice take. Make sure that you're recognising all of these things that you're including in your responses. And in this instance, particularly if you're starting to use some of the technical terminology, that's brilliant. It just means that it's starting to become part of the toolkits of observation. So I can distinguish. I decide declarative sentences and I should avoid that modal verb is being used. And it's all very procedural language. I'm going to do this, I can do that. I will then do that with the focus very much on steps. I am engrossed in making the surgical work go as fast as possible. Again, absolute focus on the task. Remember, we've talked about this as a quest narrative and the point that I know I mentioned very briefly at the end of last session when we were coming to the reflection point, remember he is on a journey. It's not a special journey. He's not moving from A to Z, but it is definitely a mental journey for him too. He is now having to divorce himself in terms of emotion and pain and all of the things that we would normally associate if somebody told us that this was the event and he is on this quest to control a situation and to overcome this obstacle. Yes, this will work just fine. I tackle the most brutish. Notice it's quite an understated term. It's not dramatic. He's not building this up, but there's no screaming. There's no gore even though it's graphic in the precision of the detail, it's not gory. He does describe it as brutish. And that could be considered an emotive word, but I have suggested here that it's downplayed by the reference to this being a task. So brutish suddenly becomes the norm. Yes, it's unpleasant, but we will get on with it. And there's definitely a control going on. And overall, I considered that to be quite an understated section, bearing in mind what could have been written in that moment. And again, that is a design choice by Ralston when he's remembering this. This is how he wants to present how he was actually behaving in that moment. So there are various decisions being made, and this is the turn that he wishes to communicate. Now, the purple thinking point. I don't think to verbalise the pain; it's a part of this experience. And I thought this was interesting because there's no point in him even screaming. And not because nobody will hear him, he describes it as being pointless because it's a part of this experience. And it occurred to me that if this is a quest narrative, then this is his moment of abyss. And if we remember that term and I've given you the definition here, when our hero reaches his moment of abyss, it is a moment of potential death, rebirth and revelation in order to achieve atonement. Now that word atonement means to make amends for a sin or a wrong. So does Ralston feel he has been guilty of maybe making foolhardy choices? Not really taking his status as a mere man in the face of nature seriously enough potentially? I just thought it was something that we could just pause on and really start to push our interpretations with, okay. So pause the video now, refine your responses. What I will do is to give control to you and let you go back through those screens particularly so you can pause on that final, big picture thinking points. So I'll track it back. Control is over to you and you can refine your response, but also have a look at the notes as you go. Right, so final parts of our extract and final part of this incident. So as we come into this, we're going to look at any changes in the final stage. And in order to do this, I want you to notice what's similar or different. And that's a really useful technique when you're looking at on scene nonfiction texts, couldn't get those words out there. On scene nonfiction texts and particularly any extracts that you might get presented with in that circumstance. They are either going to be consistent in tone, or you're going to notice change. So let's actually track that. So what's similar, what's different both in tone and in technique. And then I would also ask you to look at the internal voice that comes through in this section, which is something that is different and the external actions, okay? So are there any changes in the final stage? That's what we're thinking about globally and then we're going to break it down by tracking what's similar, what's different internal technique. And then also notice that we have got internal voice and external actions being used as a method. Control is over to you. I'll be waiting for you to go through the review. And welcome back. So few things again, make sure that you are rewarding yourself for things that you actually managed to notice, and then making those notes of anything extra that you could be thinking of. And what we're aiming to do is to start connecting all of these different things together, generating our overview of the text as a whole, and then stepping outside of it and considering what Ralston wanted to communicate. But let's work through it step by step. So we've got the methodical approach, still continuing. Grip, squeeze, twist, tear. It's now literally just one word instructions, isn't it? So we've got that command tone in those words. And we have got Ralston talking himself through what the procedure needs to be in order to achieve his quest. The domestic images continue, the medical soft procedure tone to it is continued. And again, that distance from the action is still present, isn't it? It would feel like he's almost watching himself do this. And again, the reminder that he is recounting and therefore what remembering himself. So you can almost imagine him visualising, what did I do? How did I go about it? And I wonder whether, it's a traumatic event whether you have that as an added layer, when you look back on those moments. However, I thought this sentence was different and interesting. It's as though I've thrust my arm into a cauldron of magma. Now that language is very different. And the feeling and emotion is very different. We get pain, we have got the account of what it actually felt like. And is this his moment of atonement? It's the final ordeal that he has to go through in order to achieve the quest. So again, using the terminology of the quest narrative, I thought this could be defined as his moment of atonement. But definitely if you notice this as being different it's as though I've thrust my arm into a cauldron of magma as being really quite evocative. And now we get that sense of extremity that he's kept back all the way through. Well done for noticing that. Time references are used throughout the text, and it becomes quite apparent at the end. It is 11:32 a.m, so precise. Thursday, May 1, 2003, the clock is running, Aron. And he realises at that point that he needs to get to safety. And you can tell at this point, that Ralston is aware of his fragile physical situation. Getting to safety is his means for survival. And the man versus nature conflict is implied in that sentence. Finally, internal thoughts are presented through his use of speech for the first time. We've not had that throughout the extract. And we can see here in these final moments, he actually does need to motivate himself and to really push on one more time. And is that a sign that he's feeling a little bit weaker? Is that a sign that he's really experiencing the fragility, and the extreme pain? And we just see that coming through the surface of the text. Okay, so pause point again for you to refine your responses. I will give you control of the slides so that you can review them and take down any additional notes that you wish. And then I will be waiting for you for our final activity of the lesson. Welcome back. So to finish our lesson today, what I would like us to do is to produce a reflective piece of writing. So our final reflection is going to be our response to the question, how does Ralston respond to his experience? So we're really focusing on his thoughts, his feelings, and how he is responding to the events. Let's have a look at the sentences that I've put on the screen for you. Now, these are there to help you like Paris stabilises that are there if you need them to get you started, but you can reject them if you want. And don't feel like you're constrained to these words and sentence constructions. But they are to guide you through the type of things that you could be commenting on. So Ralston's overriding thoughts throughout the experience is? Okay, so Ralston's overriding thought throughout the experience is? So we've got the overview statement. We've then got initially he feels? His thoughts then turn to the importance of? The language he used his reveals? And then Ralston's action share the power of man versus? So you can see I've given you almost like a writing frame that goes from overview statement at the beginning, big picture ideas at the end and then it's systematic in the middle by thinking about where does it start? And then where does it end up and tracking through the changes, okay? So this is your final task of the session. Keep this screen paused so that you can put together your final reflection on the extract. As soon as you are happy with the work that you have completed, then please do resume the video and you'll find me there waiting for you. Well done. So we have read our passage for the week and we have looked particularly at thoughts and feelings in today's session. Keep your reflective work. That's going to be really important. And I would recommend that you bring each of your pieces of writing from one session to the next, so that it can help you cue in to the next lesson as we come to the next point of focus. Next time we're going to be looking at the writer's perspective. All that remains for me to say is thank you for your focus today and enjoy the rest of your learning.

Exit Quiz: Examining thoughts and feelings: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

Completed: Examining thoughts and feelings: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

In this lesson, we’ll complete the reading of this climactic moment from Aron Ralston’s autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place. During the session, our focus will be on defining the writer’s thoughts and feelings and tracking how the writer communicates this. We will work through the text systematically, using our reading strategies to support us in unpicking the text and drawing our final conclusions at the end.

English

Y9 English

Key Stage 3

Year 9

Examining thoughts and feelings: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

Non-Fiction Texts and View Point Writing

UNIT

Reading unseen non-fiction texts: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

Exploring the writer’s perspective: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

Close analysis of writer’s methods: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

Evaluative response: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

Reading process: Non-fiction texts

Examining thoughts, feelings and perspective

Close analysis of language: Touching the Void – Joe Simpson

Summarising ideas across two texts: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston and Touching the Void – Joe Simpson

English

Examining thoughts and feelings: Between a Rock and a Hard Place – Aron Ralston

Introductory Quiz

Video

Final Quiz

Lesson Complete