The Oral Commentary 15% of your IB Grade

The OC SL and HL students are both required to undertake an individual oral commentary that involves presenting a formal literary analysis on an extract from one of the works studied in part 2. For SL students the 10-minute oral commentary is the whole of their part 2 assessment. For HL students, the 10-minute oral commentary is immediately followed by a 10-minute guided discussion on one of the other part 2 works.

Standard Level Rubric Criterion Marks A Knowledge and understanding of the extract 10 B Appreciation of the writer’s choices 10 C Organization and presentation 5 D Language 5 Total 30

Higher Level Rubric Criterion Marks A Knowledge and understanding of the poem 5 B Appreciation of the writer’s choices 5 C Organization and presentation of the commentary 5 D Knowledge and understanding of 5 the work used in the discussion E Response to the discussion questions 5 F Language 5 Total 30

The OC The suggested length is 20–30 lines. You will only have around 10 minutes for your commentary and around two minutes of this will be taken up with subsequent questions. overly long. Your poem will be a piece of a longer poem but may also be a complete poem. A poem with fewer than 20–30 lines may be entirely acceptable, providing it is of sufficient complexity. Timing for the preparation (20 minutes) begins once the extract has been selected.

During the oral commentary You must try to talk without interruption for up to 8 minutes. Subsequent questions will then be put to you. These should give you an opportunity to cover aspects that you may have missed (or have handled incompletely) in your commentary – “Can you discuss more fully the use of theme in the passage?” If you do not manage to speak for the full 8 minutes, 10 minutes will still be used, as I will be forced to pose direct questions. Try to avoid this! The focus of the task is detailed comment on the extract, not the whole work. Some contextualization is important to show understanding of how the extract is related to the work as a whole, but the main part of the commentary should be detailed literary analysis of the extract itself.

Conduct of the Discussion My role is to give each of you every chance to show your ability to engage in an independent literary discussion. The ideal is an authentic literary exchange between us – with you dominating that discussion As indicated by the level descriptors for this section of the assessment task, the aim of the discussion is to you an opportunity to show your knowledge and understanding of a second part 2 work and to demonstrate your ability to engage in an independent critical literary discussion. The discussion should last close to ten minutes and you will be prompted (a general comment or question) at the beginning and if/when the conversation stops – “Can you identify some of the features of the writer’s technique that you find to be particularly effective?”

Sample Oral on “Churning Day” Quickly annotate the poem “Churning Day” by Seamus Heaney While listening to the Oral, evaluate the student based on the rubric Guiding questions that the student was given: Comment on the significance of the title of this poem. How effectively does Heaney use imagery to convey meaning in this poem? Post How do your findings or points of discussion compare to the sample piece? Compare your observations to the following evaluator’s comments and marks.

Moderator’s comments General Commentary The student initially does not place the poem or the poet’s work within a context but eventually does succeed in doing so as he proceeds with the commentary. He is also quite adept and assured when answering questions. He engages successfully and sensitively with the imagery and meaning conveyed in the poem. The structure of the commentary is carefully laid out at the very outset, though not always successfully maintained.

Moderator’s comments General Discussion The discussion that follows the individual oral commentary is based on Hemingway’s short fiction. The discussion on Hemingway demonstrates a good knowledge and understanding of the writer’s work and specific stories. The analysis is for the most part relevant and intelligent, though there are some unusual comments that are not explained adequately.

Rubric Criterion A: Knowledge and understanding of the poem - 4 The student has a good knowledge and understanding of the poem. He demonstrates this through an exploration of the writer’s approach to his subject matter, from which he develops an interpretation of the poem that is closely focused on well-chosen references. Criterion B: Appreciation of the writer’s choices - 3 On balance, the student shows adequate appreciation of the writer’s choices, although his appreciation is somewhat uneven. He pays close attention to the use of imagery in the poem, but gives little attention to other techniques, or to the structure of the poem. Criterion C: Organization and presentation of the commentary -3 The structure of the commentary is carefully laid out at the very outset, although it is not always successfully maintained.

Rubric Criterion D: Knowledge and understanding of the work used in the discussion - 3 The discussion on Hemingway demonstrates an adequate knowledge and understanding of the writer’s work and specific stories. Criterion E: Response to the discussion questions - 3 The analysis is for the most part relevant and perceptive although some comments are not explained adequately. Criterion F: Language - 4 The student uses clear and appropriate language, and his grammar and sentence structure show a good degree of accuracy. Register and style are effective and appropriate despite some hesitation and repetition.