Unique resources created by an experienced Secondary English and History teacher. These are academically rigorous resources that target children between 13 and 18 years of age.
Unique resources created by an experienced Secondary English and History teacher. These are academically rigorous resources that target children between 13 and 18 years of age.
This lesson was taught in the phase of the unit where students were prepping for their upcoming essay exam.
It begins with a worm up where students had to look at a list of 5 characteristics and consider which characters from the novel Deadly Unna? had them.
This was followed by an explanation of citing conventions (how to in text reference). Examples were provided to show how to punctuate direct quotes properly. Then students were shown a table which contained quotes from the novel – they had to turn this into a sentence with appropriate referencing. This was followed by information about how to embed quotes into essay paragraphs – with examples for another text. 2 x poor examples and 2 x good examples are provided for ‘Rabbit Proof Fence.’ This is followed by time for students to plan their response to the practice exam question - Are the male characters in the novel realistic, outdated or stereotypical representations of Australian men?
Resources designed for 10 English in Queensland, Australia. It is part of a novel study unit which culminates in a 90-minute examination (500 to 800-word essay). Students had 1 week notice of the question and could bring 100 words of notes in with them.
Within this unit students explored how an author’s use of language features, images and vocabulary contributed to the representation of themes in the novel. They also gained a deeper understanding of key literary techniques, including (but not limited to) characterisation, plot, and setting.
2 practice exams (with scaffolding prompts).
Resources designed for 10 English in Queensland, Australia. It is part of a novel study unit which culminates in a 90-minute examination (500 to 800-word essay). Students had 1 week notice of the question and could bring 100 words of notes in with them.
Within this unit students explored how an author’s use of language features, images and vocabulary contributed to the representation of themes in the novel. They also gained a deeper understanding of key literary techniques, including (but not limited to) characterisation, plot, and setting.
This lesson is designed as part of an Australian year 9 English unit. The first assessment for this unit is a persuasive essay. This PowerPoint first explains the assessment and the criteria students will be marked against. Subsequently, it goes through essay genre conventions (defining terms like thesis statement, explaining what should go in an intro, body and conclusion, explaining how texts should be referenced in text and in a bibliography). This PowerPoint also includes example paragraphs from a range of texts which show Australian stereotypes including The Simpsons Australia episode, Crocodile Dundee and men of the open spaces.
Handout - planning steps to be completed prior to writing
Handout - scaffolding for essay which tells students what they must write for each paragraph.
A unit designed in an Australian Catholic school which could be easily modified for other contexts. The unit entitled 'Walking in Christ's Footsteps' poses two big questions to students - Do people in my community walk in Christ’s footsteps? Why should I walk in Jesus Christ’s footsteps?
It then outlines the learning activities which will occur. The unit has been designed to follow the TELSTAR method of inquiry and has drawn on a range of recommended Inquiry Based Learning pedagogy. It has been designed to be as interactive as possible.
Within the unit students will explores how Jesus lived on Earth and the examples he left for us. They will learn how lay people from various Christian churches within their local community walk in Christ’s footsteps (aka live their Christian vocation. They will discover why we have the sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation and the eucharist.) They will see how Christians serve Christ through worship and prayer but also through charity (living his mission by serving other people and speaking out against social injustices.)
Their final assessment is to interview lay people from a range of churches in their local area and write a report to demonstrate their findings.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
This is a PowerPoint designed to assist students to complete the Inquiry Booklet Section 5 (strategies which students can recommend for conflict resolution). It begins by looking at ‘forgiveness’ and the pros and cons of this strategy. It talks about the benefits of letting go of a grudge. It also talks about the concept of forgiving yourself. Following this students need to pick 4 conflict resolution strategies which could be applied to the scenario argument between person A and B they have been provided. There is a graphic organiser for students to fill in. (There are 2 teacher examples to help them. Afterwards, there is a checklist for students to use to help them to write their ‘recommend and justify’ section of the report. This is followed by a teacher example for a different conflict (Everybody Loves Raymond) and a student example for the ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ conflict scenario which can be evaluated (pros and cons) and checked against the ‘I can’ statements for criteria 2.3.
A word document of sentence starters to assist students to write the recommend and justify paragraph
Three completed report exemplars for the 2 conflict scenarios given to the students. These all did quite well (High B’s to A’s).
A final lesson for use before the practice exam. The focus is on inclusivity and the importance of stopping discrimination and harrassment in our communities. It begins with a warm up (completing a cloze passage about Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act). This is followed by a review of this act and the additions that were made in 2013 making it unlawful to discriminate against a person on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status under federal law.
Students have to read an article(LGBT-inclusive education: To teach or not to teach?) and fill in a graphic organiser identifying the different viewpoints within the article.
This is followed with a discussion about what is being taught in the Australian curriculum (in particular in terms of the sexual education curriculum). A question is posed: ‘What does LGBTQi±inclusive sexuality education look like?’ Answers from the United Nation are discussed.
This is followed by a practice exam-style question. Students have to read the sources and identify the viewpoints within them about inclusive education. They use these to write a TEEL paragraph summarising the key points made in these sources which answers the question: “Why is inclusivity important? Explain what experts recommend should be done to make Australian schools more inclusive of LGBTQIA+ students.”
The sources are provided on the subsequent slides.
At the end of this lesson, students should be able to: define sex discrimination and provide an example, explain how the Sex Discriminatino Act applies to workplaces and education institutions and list some steps a person can take if they think they are experiencing discrimination.
For many decades women were marginalised from texts about life in the bush. If they were mentioned at all they were the wives waiting back at the homestead and played no real role in the text. One exception is the short story ‘The Drovers Wife’ (1894) written by Henry Lawson.
This PPT and Work Sheet guide students to read and analyse the story and the effect of its language features and descriptions on readers.
This lesson is designed to teach students what a ‘cooking philosophy’ / ethos is. Students will be choosing a specific celebrity chef for their upcoming assessment to create a brochure about. Within the brochure, this is one element they must include. It begins with a written definition which students must add to their glossary. There are screen shots of quotes from Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver to use as examples. The remainder of the PPT is dedicated to engaging with some written and video content about various chefs and determine what attitudes, values and beliefs they hold and how this influences their cooking. The first chef is Mark Olive (a First Nations chef). There is a video clip and some screen shots from his Instagram which students use to extract information to summarise his ethos. This is followed by Australian chef Maggie Beer – there are 3 short videos as well as extracts from a Magazine article about her and information from the front of one of her cook books. Thirdly, British Chef Jamie Oliver (3 clips, 2 quotes and information from one of his cooking courses). Fourthly, Chinese-Australian Chef Kylie Kwong (1 video, 2 quotes). Finally, Australian chef Matt Moran (1 video and screen shots from his restaurant’s website).
Resources designed for use in an 11 Hospitality Practices class in Australia (2019 curriculum). My school has 70-minute lessons. (2 x theory and 1 x prac). The assessment at the end of this unit was an event (pop up café) and a written portfolio of their preparation for this event.
A copy of the task sheet and scaffolding booklet for the Celebrity Chef unit. It includes a list of celebrity chefs that the students are allowed to choose from (for ease of coordinating prac lessons – only a certain number of recipes can be trailed).
The scaffolding booklet is designed to follow an Inquiry based approach. Students must research the celebrity to learn about their signature dish/dishes, select an appropriate dish (based on the duration of our lessons, cooking budget and other factors), find out about the ingredients, utensils and cooking skills needed (in order to provide a brief explanation in a brochure designed to be given to students in a cooking class). follow this, students must write a justification for why they chose this dish and a brief bio of the chef which includes what they are famous for. There are also instructions for creating their brochure and for reflecting on the prac lesson where they re-create and plate the signature dish.
A template for the brochure with pre-populated headings.
A checklist used to assess students in the practical component of the lesson (the lesson where they cook the signature dish).
Resources designed for use in an 11 Hospitality Practices class in Australia (2019 curriculum). My school has 70-minute lessons. (2 x theory and 1 x prac).
This lesson is designed to teach students what a 'signature dish’ is. Students will be choosing a specific celebrity chef for their upcoming assessment to create a brochure about. Within the brochure, this is one element they must include. They will provide information about the cuisine, cooking methods and the recipe. They will also cook the recipe and photograph how they have presented it.
The PPT includes a term for students add to their recipe. The term ‘cuisine’ is also explained. Some information from Encyclopedia Britannica about world cuisine is provided. information about how cuisine evolves is also included (including the term ‘fusion cuisine’). There is a video from Gardening Australia about Kylie Kwong which shows how she incorporates First Nations ingredients in her Cantonese cooking. Following this, students are instructed to use the retrieval chart (also included in this resource) to research the celebrities we are focussing on in the unit and their signature dishes.
Resources designed for use in an 11 Hospitality Practices class in Australia (2019 curriculum). My school has 70-minute lessons. (2 x theory and 1 x prac).
About the PPT:
The PPT begins with a checking for understanding question to see what students recall about narrative structures. This is followed by information about different types of plot structures – chronological, flashback and in media res. There is an explanation of Freytag’s pyramid which should be familiar from previous years. This is followed by an explanation of gap and silence. Students are then introduced to the second story for the unit – Henry Lawson’s ‘The Loaded Dog.’ After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. Students then consider what gaps or silences they could draw on in a short story. The cool down activity is a list of words for students to look up and define in their glossary.
Other resources:
A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart
Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.
About the PPT:
The lesson begins with information about what setting is and how writers reveal setting. There are 3 brief excerpts of text with really different settings which students can read to see how the authors establish the setting whilst introducing the protagonist. There are some tips about developing indoor and outdoor settings. Then there are a series of clips from Australian television shows which we view and students take notes about things which appear in the setting. This is followed by information about imagery and using the five senses within your writing. Following this, I suggested other language features which could be used to establish setting including similes and metaphors. I also discussed the concept of extended metaphors. I also provided examples of settings which can be used symbolically. Then I introduced the story for today ‘Black Saturday’ and some context about the 2009 bushfires. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. Afterwards there was a short YouTube clip for students to view. In the following lesson we watched an episode of the ABC TV series ‘Fires’ about the 2019/2020 bushfires.
Other resources:
A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart
Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.
About the PPT: this lesson was designed to remind students of some language features they are already familiar with which they could utilise in their short story and some brief writing activities. Those I defined and provided examples of were adjectives, emotive language, internal thought, negative description, personification, onomatopoeia, metaphors and similes. Following this the story for today ‘My Father’s Hands’ was introduced. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. Afterwards, students read through the story on their own and annotate the language features that stood out to them. The following slides include some examples of 5 senses, figurative language, emotive words and adjectives from the text. Students were also asked to consider why the author opted for direct speech more than reported speech in this story.
Other resources:
A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart
Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.
Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.
About the PPT: the first PPT in the final unit of 12 Essential English. It begins with some details about the IA4 assessment and a breakdown of what lessons are to be taught in the term. The Unit Learning Intentions and Success criteria are displayed. This is followed by a recap of what the term ‘representations’ means. Students need to brainstorm some ‘ways of being Australian’ this is used to introduce students to Australian social groups and some that they may not think of {marginalised/silenced perspectives}. I then introduced the first short story – Tim Winton’s Neighbours. There is a retrieval chart students will be completing for each story they will read. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. We then discuss what the key themes of the story are. Following this, I introduce students to the ideas of gaps and silences. We view two trailers for films which are an example of this type of tale (Cruella and Rosaline). Afterwards we learn about 3 types of narrators and discuss which type was used in the original story, and what other viewpoints they could use. The cool down for the lesson were 3 terms to add to their glossary.
Other resources:
A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart
Unit plan designed for a 10-week term of 12 Essential English. It includes a subject description, a description of the unit, a list of unit objectives (from the syllabus), my planned teaching and learning cycle, the unit learning intentions and success criteria, assessment task details and a list of recommended resources.
Also included is the Learning Intentions & Success Criteria handout which students glue in their books + a more comprehensive Know-Do-Think table which teachers developed as a shared understanding of what we were looking for when marking the assessment.
A PPT explaining the Soweto uprising and its aftermath.
The last slide contains a homework activity which requires students to research differing interpretations of the Soweto uprising and write a response to questions.
Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The syllabus objectives would also be useful more broadly for English students in other states and countries with an interest in the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa (1948-1994).
A Scope and Sequence suggesting topics to be covered throughout the term.
A revision booklet to help students prepare for the external exam. Some elements are not complete but I left the formatting in just in case you had the time to add them (the evaluation and synthesis questions).
Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The syllabus objectives would also be useful more broadly for English students in other states and countries with an interest in the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa (1948-1994).
A PPT to help students to learn about key figures including: H. F. (Hendrik Frensch) Voerwoerd, B. J. (Balthazar Johannes) Vorster, Joe Slovo, Ruth First, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Albertina Sisulu, Chief Albert Luthulli, Steven Biko, Kalushi Drake Koda, Desmond Tutu etc. It includes images and information from various websites including Encyclopaedia Britannica and South African History Online.
Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The syllabus objectives would also be useful more broadly for English students in other states and countries with an interest in the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa (1948-1994).
A list of suggested activities and instructions for how they work
These include;
KNIGHTS, MOUNTS & CAVALIERS
Pictionary (with suggested words)
Cat and mouse
Charades (with suggested activities, people, television programs, films and characters)
Substitute (singing tune of a song to words from a book)
Celebrity heads
Evil stick of gum
Space Jump
What if
This PPT was used to introduce an alternative sequence class (11 and 12 students in the same class) to the external assessment. It includes information from QCAA’s subject reports which explains the assessment conditions. This is followed by a series of slides explaining each criterion and looking at example questions. For some of the question types there are recommended response structures and sample answers.
Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The syllabus objectives would also be useful more broadly for English students in other states and countries with an interest in the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa (1948-1994).