The lesson begins with an explanation of what themes are, and an image of common themes in literature. Following this there are slides explaining the following themes: Masculinity (and toxic masculinity) Racism The importance of family Mateship Duty and Sacrifice Examples from the novel are provided. This is followed by a practice question + some planning activities around this question. 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 teaches students about the genre conventions of an essay. It begins with a warm up proofreading activity (an extract from p 10 of the novel). This is followed by an explanation of the term ‘Analyse’ with a QCAA poster. Following this there is information about how an essay is structured. The CAT acronym is used to explain the structure of an introduction. There is a table breaking down the structure of a body paragraph (extended TEEEL) and some tips about what should go in their paragraphs (Language features and text structures). Finally, the RAG structure is used for breaking down the elements of a good conclusion. Following this, there is a practice question which I teach with think alouds and co-construction. 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.

A lesson to inform students about what criteria I am looking for in their upcoming essay exam. The task conditions are explained e.g. what students can bring in with them to their exam. An explanation of analytical essays is provided. It includes an explanation of the cognitive verbs: Explain and Analyse. There is also information about what language features they need to use in their essay (e.g. evaluative language, high modality language, specialised language, third person, embedded clauses, synonyms and linking words). Some important punctuation rules are summarised. Some sample questions are available for discussion. The Criteria for the task is unpacked (in student friendly terms). 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.

A PowerPoint used to teach chapters 36-41 of Phillip Gwynne’s 1998 novel Deadly Unna? We would read one chapter at a time (or listen to the audio book on CD) and then students would answer the chapter questions. This PowerPoint contains a summary for each chapter and then slides with answers to the chapter questions. The PPT also includes post reading questions and some assessment preparation. It explains the major text structure of the novel (division of book into ‘summer’ and ‘winter.’) Students are asked to determine what they believe the intended reading of the novel is. There is a paragraph writing activity about the representations of Australia within the novel. There are also key terms for students to define in their glossary. 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.

A PowerPoint used to teach chapters 29-35 of Phillip Gwynne’s 1998 novel Deadly Unna? We would read one chapter at a time (or listen to the audio book on CD) and then students would answer the chapter questions. This PowerPoint contains a summary for each chapter and then slides with answers to the chapter questions. The PPT also includes links to ClickView where parts of the film Australian Rules have been snipped which illustrate events from that particular chapter (I did not show the film in its entirety as it has some parts where it differs from the novel). 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.

A PowerPoint used to teach chapters 22-28 of Phillip Gwynne’s 1998 novel Deadly Unna? We would read one chapter at a time (or listen to the audio book on CD) and then students would answer the chapter questions. This PowerPoint contains a summary for each chapter and then slides with answers to the chapter questions. It also includes a homework / fast finishers activity where students need to find evidence for 2 themes in the novel. 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.

A PowerPoint used to teach chapters 16-21 of Phillip Gwynne’s 1998 novel Deadly Unna? As these chapters weren’t crucial to the task, I summarised them rather than reading them with the class. This PowerPoint contains a summary for each chapter and then slides with chapter questions (no answers). The PPT also includes a creative writing activity for fast finishers (a way of exploring perspective). 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.

A PowerPoint used to teach chapters 11-15 of Phillip Gwynne’s 1998 novel Deadly Unna? We would read one chapter at a time (or listen to the audio book on CD) and then students would answer the chapter questions. This PowerPoint contains a summary for each chapter and then slides with answers to the chapter questions. The PPT also includes links to ClickView where parts of the film Australian Rules have been snipped which illustrate events from that particular chapter (I did not show the film in its entirety as it has some parts where it differs from the novel). This PPT also includes the questions for chapters 16-17 (no answers). 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.

A PowerPoint used to teach chapters 6-10 of Phillip Gwynne’s 1998 novel Deadly Unna? We would read one chapter at a time (or listen to the audio book on CD) and then students would answer the chapter questions. This PowerPoint contains a summary for each chapter and then slides with answers to the chapter questions. The PPT also includes links to ClickView where parts of the film Australian Rules have been snipped which illustrate events from that particular chapter (I did not show the film in its entirety as it has some parts where it differs from the novel). This PPT also includes the questions for chapters 11-14 (no answers). 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.

A student work booklet for use while reading the novel Deadly Unna? It includes: a synopsis, a list of the key themes, a retrieval chart for recording language features they encounter, a retrieval chart for recording the most effective textual structures within the novel, a table for recording key details about the characters (character names pre-filled), a set of post reading questions (for once they have finished reading the novel), some information about an event which inspired the novel & some activities to help students gather their ideas for their essay under exam conditions. 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.

A set of questions for studying Deadly Unna by Phillip Gwynne – arranged by chapter. These are a mixture of comprehension questions, questions focusing on the setting, questions about specific language features / word choices, questions about specific characters, questions about themes (e.g. racism) etc. NB: Answers to these questions are provided in the PPT slides also available in my store: Aussie_Resources. 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.

A unit introduction PowerPoint for a unit entitled Literary Representations of Australia. Within this unit, students learn about Australian identity and then consider how this is represented in the novel Deadly Unna? By Phillip Gwynne. The PPT includes an assessment overview, a discussion of what it means to be Australian and how our Australian identity is constructed and defined. Students completed a brainstorming activity based on texts they viewed in the last few weeks of the previous term. A thought-provoking poem entitle ‘How Australian are You’ is included to prompt discussion of the many ways of being Australian and some of the stereotypes which exist about us. This is followed by a think-pair-share activity. Following this, students are introduced to the term representations. They are then shown the first two verses of the Australian national anthem to explore (with 4 questions). This is followed by a paragraph writing task to consolidate what they have learned. If time permits, students are introduced to some critical literacy terms: marginalised and silenced. Students are also talked through the elements of their novel study booklet. 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.

A free lesson on using signposting in your writing. A definition of signposting is provided along with the two ways to achieve this. Some hints for signposting in an introduction and signposting in a body paragraph are provided. Just a quick lesson which can be used as a warm up before tackling unit-specific content.

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.

Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). This lesson includes: 1 x list of source types for warm up evaluation activity (can be laminated with a magnet on the back for sorting activity) 1 x PowerPoint 1 x Source Booklet with sources about Hitler Youth 1 x Independent Work Booklet with various activities designed to help students practice the evaluation skill Context: My school runs this program in Alternative Sequence (yr 11 and 12s in together) due to the small size of the school. The lesson begins with some teaching that both grades can do together before the year 12s are assigned some independent work and the year 11s are given some more focused teaching. Then the year 11’s do independent work while the year 12s share their answers and receive feedback. The sequence of the lesson: The lesson begins with a warm up activity where students have to place types of sources on a grid in terms of how reliable and useful they typically are. Next students have to brainstorm some synonyms and antonyms for ‘reliable’ and ‘useful.’ Following this, year 12s are given a booklet which has evaluation activities (starting at simple activities and building up to those styled like the short response questions in the Term 4 exam). They begin completing these while the year 11’s get a more teacher centred lesson. In this portion of the lesson we begin with defining ‘evaluate’ before zooming in on the evaluation criteria we use in modern history – reliability and usefulness. There is information about what reliability is and that there are levels of reliability. There are tips for how to write a judgement of reliability and some things to look for when determining reliability. There is a list of reasons why a source may be deemed unreliable. There is an example reliability statement which has been colour coded to show how the writer has included various features of evidence in their evaluation. Following this, the gradual release method is used to engage with the first few sources in the booklet. (I explain the first activity, we engage with Source 1 and then complete the question together – with me modelling my thinking process via think alouds. Students then do Source 2 as a pair and Source 3 on their own). This is followed by explicit teaching on how to determine the usefulness of a source. There is also information about the importance of corroboration (including a video from the History Skills website). This is followed by some sentence starters which can be used when corroborating. This is followed by completing activities from the booklet (first as a we do, then students do one in a pair, then they do one on their own). Following this, the year 11’s continue doing the booklet independently while I go through the answers with the year 12s.

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.

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. Assessment scaffolding resources A list of key terms, language features and text structures that students can use to assist them with their planning A writing booklet which includes a suggested structure for the speech along with sentence starters to prompt student responses A PowerPoint template which has been pre-filled with appropriate headings for the assessment A handout outlining how to reference the following text types in APA formatting: websites, newspaper articles, magazine articles, televised news segments

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. 3 resources: The task sheet and criteria for a year 10 multimodal task requiring students to analyse and evaluate 2 news media texts. A second task sheet with criteria for a student who is being assessed at a grade 6 level (due to being on an Individualised Education Program). A cover sheet to be placed on the front of the work of the student being assessed at below grade level with possible modifications listed on it. This makes it easy to highlight the appropriate ones and then include this as evidence of differentiation for parents / the school. Students will learn to create a multimodal presentation to articulate complex ideas (i.e. an evaluation of news media). They will learn to use persuasive vocabulary and language features, as well as evidence, to justify their opinions. They will also learn to use visual features to persuade in their presentation (i.e. effective PowerPoint images, titles, etc.). Lastly, they will learn how to effectively use non-verbal persuasive techniques to present their speech/presentation.

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. This unit teaches students to be media literate and prepares them to do a speech where they analyse 1 x print news item and 1 x audio visual news item. This lesson is dedicated to unpacking the assessment task and includes snippets from the task sheet. This is followed by information about how to structure their speech (a breakdown of the 4 body paragraphs). The C standard criteria is then displayed with a second column which explains this criteria in kid friendly terms. This is followed by information about the plan of attack for how to begin the task (starting with selecting a topic from a list of options decided by the teacher). There is information about the planning booklet which students will complete over a week before beginning to write their draft. There is also an example speech (B standard) which can be read to give students an idea of what their final product will look like. There is also information about PowerPoint do’s and don’ts and the PETAL paragraph structure that we will be using instead of TEEL for this assessment as it is specifically tailored to analysing tasks. The resources in this lesson can be broken down and used over a few lessons e.g. you could take body 1 and use this as a model in the lesson where they write body 1.

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. This unit teaches students to be media literate and prepares them to do a speech where they analyse 1 x print news item and 1 x audio visual news item. This lesson is about the features of television news. It begins with information about common sections in televised news including finance, the weather and sports. The importance of currency and getting the most interesting/important stories is emphasised. The structure of a news program is explained (info about the length of a news break and the likely the order of stories, before zooming in on the structure of a particular story (e.g. a 25-word lead + events in chronological order). There is a YouTube clip about Prince Harry to exemplify this. Students must pick out the 5W’s and 1H + determine who is shown positively / negatively. Important visuals are explained e.g. footage of dramatic events, use of computer-generated graphics, generic footage e.g. of scientists working in the lab, pictures/maps/icons etc. This is followed by some terms for students to write down: intertitles, interviews, voice overs, tight writing, camera angles, establishing shots, music, sound effects, logos and editing. Students need to know about these as any number of them could be in the news segment that they end up choosing to analyse for their assessment.