Hi PikaPika !
Yes the new Crafting/Creating Texts AOS is quite different! I've taken your initial question and broken it down into 2 sections with my thoughts:
'what crafting texts mean' - the underlying intent of this AOS is really about giving students the opportunity to write in various ways about an idea (or 'framework' as it is known in Year 12) that is true to your voice, within certain boundaries. These boundaries are form, audience and purpose - you will need to demonstrate to your teacher that you have mastered them. But beyond that, the tasks are actually much more about the journey of thinking and writing as well as final product. So I think you're right in that you'll need to spend a lot of time thinking about your topic, whatever it may be, and developing a voice that is authentic to you in expressing the nuances of your thoughts and feelings.
'how to deal with it' - In Year 11, I suggest you try out different forms of writing and see what comes more naturally to you, and then work on your mastery of that form in achieving various purposes (listed by VCAA) and for different audiences. I also suggest thinking deeply about your topic and considering how you personally relate to it. For example, if your topic is Food and Identity, you want to think about how food has shaped you - culturally, religiously, socially, relationally, personally, etc. Why do you feel the way you do? What are the implications of it? What would happen if food isn't there anymore and everyone got fed via IV drips? What does it say about you that you feel XYZ about food? Who would you be without culturally specific foods? It's hard to write authentically if you don't know how the topic is relevant to you!
In terms of extra thoughts - I personally think it levels the playing field. I run a small tutoring company and in the past years it's been very discouraging that the old study design is so focussed on analysis - the vast majority of students need a lot of external support in order to improve. It's great for business but we feel that it's quite unjust. With the new Crafting/Creating texts section, the shift away from analysis is refreshing because students can just be good writers, which doesn't necessarily demand a lot of tutoring. Perhaps it's not as good for business (we'll see!) but we feel that it is way more fair for way more students.
