A reading comprehension activity which utilises the QAR reading strategy. Students will read an article entitled “Teenagers and social networking – it might actually be good for them” and then complete the questions.

This PPT was designed for an English staff meeting but could be modified for use in other departments. It is especially useful when mentoring beginning teachers. It explains the three types of assessment: Assessment of learning (summative). Assessment for learning (formative). Assessment as Learning (learning from reflections after completing the task). It looks at why all three forms are important and how to make each type meaningful. It includes example scaffolding for an assessment task (including how to explain the criteria to your students). It includes an example template for students to write their assignment into (that teacher’s can then model their own templates off of). It includes an example of a draft checklist which can speed up a teacher’s draft time. It explains the importance of providing timely feedback on final assessment and includes example feedback and an explanation of the sandwich model.

3 resources 1) A worksheet which explains the QAR strategy. It then includes a passage (excerpt) from The Time Machine followed by a series of QAR questions. 2) some posters suitable for a year 6-9 English classroom (explaining the QAR terms) 3) a PDF explaining the QAR process for teachers.

Part of a set of resources created for a year 10 English class in Australia (ACARA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store – Aussie_Resources. A PowerPoint designed for use in a 70 minute lesson. A warm up game of real news vs fake news. This is followed by several slides which explain what students need to do to get good marks for their spoken presentation. This is followed by a variety of prompts for ‘30 second speeches’ every student has the opportunity to practice using the verbal and non-verbal speech techniques they learned earlier in the lesson.

A PowerPoint for an English meeting - offering advice to new staff in the department. It includes an example scope and sequence. It lists ideal opening and closing procedures that we would expect to see teachers completing at the start and end of each lesson. Bloom’s taxonomy - a list of verbs useful when writing questions / tasks for school. Two templates for a lesson sequence Three lesson plan templates A feedback form I use when observing other teachers

Introduction to the hard-boiled genre of crime fiction (Set in1930s - 1950s America) This PowerPoint examines the genre conventions of hard-boiled fiction, the typical protagonist of these tales & events that were occurring in American society at the time these tales were written, and how these influenced these texts. Students will watch a trailer for The Maltese Falcon Trailer (a famous example). The movie of The Maltese Falcon is dated 1941, during the War, but the story was published in 1930: it’s a tale of the roaring ‘20s. The PPT also includes a trailer for a recent example (the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire) which recreates this era.

This PowerPoint includes: a synopsis of film and information about the author of the novel: Dashiell Hammett. This ppt introduces the femme fatale and film noir and explores its defining features and how they influenced crime films. It also looks at societal influences on writers and filmmakers of the time. Within the lesson there are a few viewing activities including an excerpt from The Maltese Falcon and the trailer of Postman always rings twice (another well-known example). If I have time I usually show the trailer of Gone Baby Gone as a modern example. For homework, students consider how they could incorporate some of these elements into their own short story.

A lesson designed for a flipped classroom approach. The content of the Word Document was put onto the class One Note with sources attached so that students could work through the lesson independently at their own pace. (Ideal for leaving as a cover or during school closures). The resource includes: The word document referred to above A warm up where students receive the definitions for a range of Features of Evidence (used when analysing). They have to use their prior knowledge to match the definitions to the correct term. A word document version of the History Skills explanation of Explicit vs Implicit meaning (in case the website link goes dead) Questions for students to answer as they read chapter 14 of the 2015 Cambridge Textbook (see note below) An explanation of the COMA acronym which can be used to interrogate visual sources and communicate your findings Please note: your school will need access to the following textbook in order to complete one of the activities - Sowdon, T. (2015). Analysing the Chinese Revolution. [2nd e.d.]. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The end of term assessment for this unit was an Independent Source Investigation. The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the China (1931-1976). The other resources are also available in my store – Aussie_Resources.

Two resources: a PowerPoint presentation and a lesson plan designed for use in a year 11 Modern History class. Within this lesson I revisited the historical concept of ‘empathy’ through the use of passages from a biography about Phan Thi Kim Phuc (who was caught in a NAPALM attack in 1972). By engaging with biographical sources I hoped to contextualize the experiences of those who lived in the past and to also encourage students to consider how historical conditions shaped the perspectives and decision-making of people who lived in Vietnam from 1945-1975. Lastly, I wanted them to be able to evaluate the relevance and reliability of biographical sources as they may come across these in their own research for their historical essay. This PowerPoint includes a warm up (quick quiz) to settle students and to discern their prior knowledge. This is followed by some answer slides which include an explanation of why empathising is an important skill for historians. Afterwards there is a viewing activity to introduce students to the subject for today’s lesson and the infamous photograph taken of her. This video is used to broach a discussion about ‘perspective’ and what factors can shape a person’s perspective. Subsequently, the differences between biography and autobiography are included on a slide side-by-side for comparison. This is useful for determining the level of reliability and usefulness of these two genres. Following this, there are some dot points about the biography ‘The Girl in The Picture’ written by Denise Chong. There is information to establish what life was like for Kim Phuc’s family and how their life was impacted by the Vietnam War. There is an extract about her mother’s encounters with the Viet Cong on her way to and from work. These extracts show how civilians were impacted by the war and include descriptions of the modus operandi of the Viet Cong (a group which students may wish to research for their assessment). After reading the source and asking students what stood out to them from the passage, we talk about whether this source could be utilised in the assessment. Students are asked to consider to what extent is it ‘useful’ and ‘reliable’. To help students learn how to articulate an evaluation, they are introduced to the terms ‘subjective’ and ‘objective.’ They are also provided with some information about the author Denise Chong and her writing process. This can help students make a more educated assessment of the source’s reliability. This is followed by a discussion of how a historian might corroborate the information found in this source. A third extract (showing the photographer’s perspective) is provided as a point of contrast. This passage is useful for discussing writing techniques used as these are a means of evaluating source reliability (e.g. neutral vs persuasive, facts vs opinions).

PowerPoint: This lesson includes a definition of setting and tips for descriptive writing. There is Students will learn how to develop setting in their story by reading extracts from a very famous crime story called ‘Memento Mori’ to see how the author developed setting and character simultaneously. There is a lot to be learned from this text as it is an unusual story told in a nonlinear fashion. There are two distinct voices used – one is in second person, the other is in third person. As the protagonist only has a 10-second memory span, the third person voice often re-establishes the setting (but pointing out different things each time). This serves to develop the character and create suspense. Extracts from the text are also discussed in terms of how the author establishes the time of day and atmosphere along with the setting…

This resource includes: A copy of the task sheet for the unit that includes the instrument-specific marking guide (showing the criteria that students work will be marked against). The task is a historical essay based on research. A handout of sentence starters which are grouped based on what skill the student needs to do e.g. introduce the essay, showing historians viewpoints, defining key terms / concepts, quoting, talking about visual sources, explaining concepts / ideas / quotes / evidence, analysing sources, evaluating the reliability of sources, evaluating the usefulness of sources and explaining how one source corroborates another. It also includes a list of words that students can use instead of ‘said’ when quoting from a source and a list of conjunctions (linking words). NB: These sentence starters are not one size fits all. These are intended to help students; however, they will need to think about how these will fit in with the purpose of what they are trying to say. These will be useful for any historical essay regardless of topic. NB: Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the Vietnamese Independence Movement (1945-1975). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. The end of term assessment for this unit was an essay.

A peer review handout for students to use to provide feedback to a peer prior to the draft due date. Excellent for increasing student assessment literacy. NB: to avoid plagiarism the students should bring a printed copy of their essay to class which will be returned to them at the completion of the activity. The handout includes a table with the assessment objectives in the first column & some questions in the middle column which expand on the criteria giving the student prompts for things to comment on if they are missing from their peer’s essay. In the final column they must rate the student for each cognitive verb being assessed (1 – excellent, 2 – satisfactory, 3 – needs attention). There is room for the student to write reasons / suggestions beneath this. At the base of this document is a PMI chart for students to fill in prior to handing the sheet back to their peer. Students then have time to read their feedback and seek clarification from their peer before making modifications to their draft ready to submit to the teacher in the following lesson. A drafting feedback checklist - This checklist was created to aid the teacher to provide consistent feedback to students about their assessment in a timely manner. It has comments for the various parts of the assessment and also includes some proofreading and editing steps. This style of feedback is not indicated on the actual draft itself, but as a separate document, which means that the learner has to locate the issues in their draft for correction. A lifesaver for busy teachers! You can reduce the number of points or use this document as a template to modify to suit your own tasks. Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the Vietnamese Independence Movement (1945-1975). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. The end of term assessment for this unit was an essay.