7 resources created for a year 8 English Unit studying war poetry. A PowerPoint explaining the assessment - creating a poetry anthology featuring a minimum of 3 poems. It explains what an anthology is, its components (e.g. title page, table of contents, etc.), what they are being assessed on, planning steps and some homework to get them started. An example analysis of the poem Beach Burial (in a table outlining the structural requirements and expected langauge features) A PowerPoint lesson designed to take students through the example analysis of Beach Burial. A document with the STEP UP acronym for students to use to analyse their 3 poems. A PowerPoing to help students write their analysis of poem one. A PowerPoint explaining how to write the preface and reference list (with examples) A completed anthology exemplar (created by a student)

PowerPoint. Learning about William Blake and British Colonial Expansion. They will learn about a fundamental ideology of the period: The divine right of kings. Students will read ‘A War Song to Englishmen’ which is accompanied by my annotations (which they may copy into their poetry booklets if they wish). Discuss how everything he wrote was infused with religious meaning so you will see that this poem operates on two levels. We will then compare this to another First World War poem written by American poet Robert Frost. After reading the poem, students will research Frost to gain further context. Afterwards they will highlight the poetic devices used in ‘Not to Keep.’ Venn Diagram for comparing the two poems a table used for analysing the poems to prepare students for their exam (these will become their revision tools)

POWERPPOINT: Learning about the key concept socio-cultural context, what it means and how to use it when analysing poems. The difference between worldview and mindset (plus the factors which influence these). Intro to some other key terms you will need to know for this unit. An explanation of critical literacy terms including intended reading, connotation, marginalised, silenced, form, theme, symbol, atmosphere and tone. Afterwards there is a cloze strategy to check whether students havee understood and remembered these terms. Extra resource: The Poetry Booklet used for this unit which includes poems from The British Colonial Expansion period, The Crimean War, World War 1, World War 2 (specifically Hiroshima), The Vietnam War and more contemporary conflicts. Each section includes a brief spiel which provides historical context. For some of the more famous poets, information has been provided about their background. Images and a reference list are included.

6 resources developed for a year 8 English Unit. a task sheet explaining their assessment (a multimodal presentation that explains a current social issue and uses poetry to challenge how people think and feel about the issue. ) An example PowerPoint created by a student for their assessment. A written exemplar in a table (which highlights the structural requirements and expected language features) A planning booklet for students to use as they prepare to write their assignment A PowerPoint for a lesson taking them through what to write for body paragraph 1 A personal checklist for the student and parent to use once they have completed their first draft to make sure they have everything they need.

Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). This lesson includes: 1 x PowerPoint 1 x Booklet containing sources and activities which help students to practice synthesising and forming historical arguments based on information from sources 1x synthesis poster that I made on the Canva website Context: My school runs this program in Alternative Sequence (yr 11 and 12s in together) due to the small size of the school. The sequence of this lesson: This lesson followed on from a lesson about evaluating sources. It begins with some advice about evaluating taken from the QCAA’s 2021 Modern History subject report. This is followed by a warm up where students are shown 5 example exam questions and they have to explain what they believe the question is asking them to do. This is followed by viewing a visual source and students have to suggest what the explicit and implicit meanings are. This is followed by another visual source where they have to suggest the intended reading and the ideologies showcased by the source. Following this, the learning intentions and success criteria are unpacked before turning our attention to the core skill for the lesson: synthesis. It begins by defining this term and looking at some words which may appear in a question which would hint that you are being asked to synthesise. This is followed by a 6 step process that students can use when synthesising. This is followed by an example student response to IA1 (essay under exam conditions) taken from the QCAA’s 2021 Modern History Subject Report. After reading this exemplar the class discusses the merits of this work. Following this, the year 12s begin working through the synthesising work booklet while I take the year 11’s through some more explicit teaching. It begins with what questions to ask yourself when interrogating sources. This is followed by tips of how to introduce the authors of sources (as this helps the reader know how credible the points are). There are tips for how to talk about two sources simultaneously. We then unpack how synthesising is assessed in the QLD Modern History criteria (guide to making judgements). The importance of creating a sophisticated historical argument is emphasised. This is followed by an example historical argument for a different topic. This is followed by instruction on how to create a purposeful topic sentence for each body paragraph. Next information about what should be featured in supporting sentences and the final linking sentence is provided. Then year 11’s begin working on the independent work booklet while I go through the answers with the year 12s. Students complete any unfinished portions of the booklet for homework.

PowerPoint contains summaries of scenes, key quotes, questions about the scenes

A lesson designed for 12 Authority (now 12 General) English in Australia. It includes: Chapter summaries Key Quotes Questions to check for understanding One video excerpt from Patrick Stewart Macbeth Film I have also attached an updated PPT which includes more group work activities to build discussion and knowledge of text in preparation for External Exam (unknown question)

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 began with a checking for understanding brainstorm – students had to think of types of characters who commonly appear in stories. After sharing their responses, I have a list for students to copy. There is information about the types of things authors need to plan and consider before they begin writing. I have a slide defining characterisation which gives examples of direct and indirect characterisation. Following this the text for today’s lesson ‘Soil’ is introduced. I provide some information about the author Ellen Van Neerven who was awarded the 2015 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize for the collection ‘Heat and Light’. 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. This is followed by some information provided by one of the Bundjalung teachers from our school about some of the sensitive issues raised in this story. Students then consider what gaps or silences they could draw on in a short story. I located images from children’s picture books and the internet which students could draw on to develop their setting. Following this, students were given a writing prompt which they had to plan for (which they would write about in the literacy lesson). The slides from the literacy lesson are also included. 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.

Resources designed with QCIA (special needs) students in mind. These students were encouraged to choose The Loaded Dog. The resource includes a QCIA task sheet, and a specific planning booklet with images from the picture book based off of Lawson’s story. The student this was designed for was at a grade 3-4 level. 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: A PPT designed to be used after students have viewed Wonder Woman. It begins with a warm up activity where students watch a 5-minute video which goes through visual techniques including size, salience, vector, juxtaposition, colours, gaze and symbols. I have included some key points from the video to unpack on the next few slides. This is followed by a list of Language Features and students are asked to volunteer some of the things they observed in the film which they believe were impactful. This is followed by a list of Text Structures. Students are asked which they could use to show how the hero/villain has been portrayed {they only focus on one in their speech}, and that characters VABs {values, attitudes and beliefs}. Students are prompted to discuss what VABs they noticed in the film. I have provided some answer slides with possible options (about heroes and villains in general) which students can use to help them. Students are to take notes about the VABs of both Wonder Woman and Ares as, at this point, they will not have selected which character they are going to write about. Students are asked to consider what stereotypes {cultural assumptions} are challenged/reinforced by the film. They are also asked to consider what the film’s intended reading {overall message} is. This is followed by slides going through the Essential English criteria which have been turned into student-friendly “I can” statements. Then there is a slide explaining what is meant by evaluative language. We then looked at a negative review of the Hunger Games Prequel from Time Magazine to make a note of the author’s word choices. 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.” During this unit students learned about Hero and Villain films and how filmmakers use cinematic techniques to portray them and create an intended message. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded reviewing one of the three films shown within the unit. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse

A table I made containing quotes from key characters in the film which students can come back to when writing their review for evidence of character VABs (Values, Attitudes and Beliefs). To save on printing, I put one copy on the word wall in the classroom and one copy on the class One Note for students to access digitally. 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.” During this unit students learned about Hero and Villain films and how filmmakers use cinematic techniques to portray them and create an intended message. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded reviewing one of the three films shown within the unit. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse

A PPT to introduce students to one of the two films they can write a film review about for their assessment {a multimodal presentation}. It includes: some quick facts about the comic-book origins of the character and the creator. Information about Ares and his origin story in the comics. The inspiration for the film. A chronological timeline for films in the DC universe (2017-2023). A link to the trailer is included for introducing who the key players in the film are. Students are provided with information about the director, producer etc. to add into their retrieval chart. This is followed by images of her costume so that students can take notes about colour & props. A brief synopsis of the plot and how the film begins {present day > flashback} is provided. The lesson ends with viewing a segment of the show The Secret History of Comics: The Truth about Wonder Woman. A film viewing report card (retrieval chart) to be used in subsequent lessons while viewing the film 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.” During this unit students learned about Hero and Villain films and how filmmakers use cinematic techniques to portray them and create an intended message. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded reviewing one of the three films shown within the unit. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse

A table I made containing quotes from key characters in the film which students can come back to when writing their review for evidence of character VABs (Values, Attitudes and Beliefs). To save on printing, I put one copy on the word wall in the classroom and one copy on the class One Note for students to access digitally. Context: A resource designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts.” During this unit students learned about Hero and Villain films and how filmmakers use cinematic techniques to portray them and create an intended message. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded reviewing one of the three films shown within the unit. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse

A PPT designed to teach students about the purpose of a film review and where you might hear/see them. There is a sound bite from SBS’s ‘The Movie Guy’ and a video clip from the now discontinued ABC show ‘At The Movies.’ There are some viewing questions for students to complete as they watch David and Margaret review The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1. Then I provided information about the language of a film review. I then unpacked the structure which their spoken review would follow. We went through an example written by a student in 2023 about Batman Forever (1995). We then looked at the PowerPoint slides that this student used to support her speech while she presented to see a high-level example. 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.” During this unit students learned about Hero and Villain films and how filmmakers use cinematic techniques to portray them and create an intended message. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded reviewing one of the three films shown within the unit. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse