A resource which I think Legal Studies / Civics teachers will find helpful. If you use it, and like it, please give me a positive star rating / review. It is designed to help students revise content for their short response exam. It includes terms to revise and some practice questions. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

A PowerPoint which I think Legal Studies / Civics teachers will find helpful. If you use it, and like it, please give me a positive star rating / review. It is designed to simultaneously introduce students to the topics for their practice exam (voter apathy) and their real exam (lack of representation in parliament). It begins with unpacking Australia’s demographics using results from the census (August 2021). This includes information about the percentage of Australians in each generation, the percentage of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander citizens, the percentage of Australians who speak another language at home, the various religious affiliations of our citizens, the types of households, percentages of home owners vs renters, information about long term health conditions experienced, the educational qualifications we hold & the hours worked and common professions. Then there is an infographic which shows the make up of parliament (2016-2019) which shows the breakdown using categories of Australia, house of reps, senate, the liberal /national coalition party and Labor party. The categories shown are gender age, sexual orientation, education level, non-English speaking background and Indigenous. This is followed by an explanation of party allegiances and how party members rarely “cross the floor.” Afterwards the term apathy is introduced as well as voter apathy aka political apathy / electoral disengagement. There is a graph showing the number of people who lodge a vote as a percentage of all who are enrolled to vote from 1925-2016 showing a decline since 2007. There is a clip from YouTube where Craig Reucassel discusses voter apathy. Information is provided about the fact that in other countries, voting is optional and some of the cons of this. Following this, students are given their seen sources for their practice exam which they are to look at in class and for homework. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

A PowerPoint which I think Legal Studies / Civics teachers will find helpful. If you use it, and like it, please give me a positive star rating / review. It begins with a quick recap of the two houses of parliament – The House of Representatives (lower house) and The Senate (upper house). Some information about Australia’s mixed system of government is provided. here the terms democracy, representative government, constitutional monarchy and federation are introduced. Next students are introduced to the term MP (short for Members of Parliament). They take notes about what they do. There is a timetable for a typical Monday in parliament house which is used to explain what they do while they are in Canberra. This is followed by an explanation of how MPs are elected. There is a video from the 2022 elections which gives a run down of the main political parties in Australia. Information about backbenchers and their work on committees is provided. This is followed by an explanation of the skills MPs need and a recap of the process for taking a Bill from its initial draft to becoming a law. There are then clips from the news in 2024 showing some topical issues – Tax Cuts and the possibility of removing ‘Negative Gearing.’ The lesson ends with some checking for understanding questions. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

A worksheet which I think Legal Studies / Civics teachers will find helpful. If you use it, and like it, please give me a positive star rating / review. It contains questions for watching episode 2 and 4 of Ms Represented {available on ABC iView and ClickView.} This is intended to introduce student to the concept of representation in government and why it is important to have female politicians. Episode 4 in particular looks at a method which was used to raise the number of females in parliament (quotas). This is a concept that I wanted my students to be familiar with for their exam. It also shows some of the difficulties which female politicians have experienced in the past. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

Warm up worksheet – labelling cognitive verbs {Infer, Discuss, Interpret, Decide, Recommend, Apply, Select, Define}. Handout – a series of sources about a break in to a business (Jb Hi Fi) – newspaper article, crime scene photograph, extract from Criminal Code Act 1989, a criminal history, victim impact statement, interview transcript & textbook excerpt. It includes a retrieval chart for planning a response to an extended response exam question. A PowerPoint which I think Legal Studies / Civics teachers will find helpful. If you use it, and like it, please give me a positive star rating / review. It begins with a discussion of the criteria being assessed in their exam and what it means to ‘analyse’ and ‘evaluate’ in legal studies. Students are taught what to look for to determine the ‘nature’ and ‘scope’ of a legal issues. They are shown what a source might look like in their exam. As a class we go through the sources and complete the graphic organiser. Following this the structure for an extended response is explained. Students must write their response and if it is not completed in the lesson, it becomes homework. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

A PowerPoint which I think Legal Studies / Civics teachers will find helpful. If you use it, and like it, please give me a positive star rating / review. A warm up question for students to answer in paragraph form about the importance of impartiality and fairness in legal trials. This lesson begins by defining criminal law and its purpose. It introduces the main source of laws in QLD – the Criminal Code of 1899. The categories of criminal law are explained – offences against the person; offences against property; drug crime and motor vehicle offences. The different reasons for punishment are explained – retribution; deterrence; rehabilitation; denunciation; community protection. Then students learn how to navigate legal documents and how to read the subsections. This is modelled for students using ‘Wilful Damage’ in the QLD criminal code. Students have to write a summary of what they learn (teaching synthesis skill). Following this, public order offences are explained. A list of illegal activities from the Summary Offences Act (2005) are shown in dot point form. Students then have to look up ‘public nuisance’ and write a summary of what it involves and what the punishment is. The meaning of the term penalty unit is explained. Finally, there is a viewing activity about public nuisance. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

A match the definitions warm up activity where students have to identify the correct meanings of various cognitive verbs. A PowerPoint which I think Legal Studies / Civics teachers will find helpful. If you use it, and like it, please give me a positive star rating / review. I usually get students to copy the underlined text. The lesson then focuses on how the adversarial court system works in comparison to an inquisitorial system. There is an explanation of which section of the constitution provide for the creation of federal courts. There is an explanation of the various types of courts in Australia. The following roles are explained: magistrate, judge, jury, Prosecution, defence, solicitor, barrister, bailiff, interpreter, media, clerk, defendant and witness. Information about specialist courts and tribunals is also provided e.g. the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

A PowerPoint which I think Legal Studies / Civics teachers will find helpful. If you use it, and like it, please give me a positive star rating / review. A PowerPoint which begins by showing the rule of law pyramid and explains it. Requirements for laws are explained. Some elements of the pyramid are further explained including ‘presumption of innocence.’ Subsequently the 3 levels of government and their responsibilities are explained. As are the three pillars of the rule of law (judicial, legislative & executive). Information is provided about who enforces the law and the court system. There are some graphs of crime trends in Queensland. This is followed by an explanation of ‘statutory interpretation.’ The terms ‘onus of proof’ and ‘standard of proof’ are explained. Information is provided about the difference between criminal and civil cases. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

A PowerPoint which I think Legal Studies / Civics teachers will find helpful. If you use it, and like it, please give me a positive star rating / review. This is the first lesson in a unit designed to introduce student to legal concepts and terms. It begins with an explanation of laws and how they differ from rules and customs. Information about who has authority to make laws in Australia is provided. Students are introduced to an acronym for writing short response questions (as students will sit an exam at the end of the unit). They apply this structure to answer a checking for understanding question. Following this there is information about the two main sources of law in Australia: Statute Law and Common Law. Within this section, students learn terms including: constitution, Bill, amendment, House of Representatives, Senate, fair and reasonable. Also included: two copies of the learning intentions and success criteria for the unit (poster and handout style). NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

A writing booklet which I made to scaffolding the writing portion of the assessment. Tip: I keep these in the classroom so that I have evidence of student work for if they are absent on the due date. I also share this booklet to students electronically on the class One Note for if they would prefer to type into it. A PowerPoint to take students through the first writing session – developing their thesis statement and writing body paragraph 1.

A PowerPoint taking 12 Essential English students through another exemplar persuasive speech. The lesson begins with a settling activity – there is a jumbled-up list of persuasive techniques, definitions and examples. Students have to match them up correctly. There is a placemat which shows the skill ‘arguing/persuading’ and contains some suggested conjunctions and sentence starters. The parts of the speech and “I can” statements are reviewed. Then students go through a persuasive speech about climate change and consider how it was structured, the language features used and the suggestions made. This is followed by information about the good and bad parts of this exemplar and what they could have improved.

A PowerPoint taking students through the assessment task (a 4-6 minute multimodal presentation). It includes a list of possible issues under the following categories: environmental issues; human rights issues; mental health issues and cultural / heritage issues. The requirements for filming their speech are included. Information about devices available to film their speeches on are provided. information is also provided about the live presentations and the requirement to submit a recorded draft. The importance of not getting an N is explained. Following this, the criteria is explained (I have turned these into student friendly “I can” statements.) Following this there is an exemplar speech about “Youth Mental Health” to read as a class. Afterwards the various parts of a persuasive speech are explained [thesis > introductions > body paragraphs > conclusion]. Then students are shown the specific structure intended for their 4 body paragraphs. Then they have time to work on their planning booklet. A copy of the “I Can” Statements The planning booklet which students used (it contained research prompts and planning steps before they began writing)

A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 3: “Language that influences.” During this unit students learned how to create and shape perspectives on community, local and global issues in texts. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute persuasive multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded about an issue of their choice. A PowerPoint which structures the lesson. It begins with a reminder of what we are learning about and persuasive techniques (the P.E.R.S.U.A.D.E Acronym). Students are asked to list some persuasive texts which they encounter in their daily lives. A review of the 3 types of appeal (reason, character and emotion) is included. Following this, students have 4 questions to write down for as they view the “You Can’t Ask That” episode about Indigenous Australians on iView. There are some answers providing on the subsequent slides. There is also a viewing activity (an anti-racism PSA called “The Invisible Discriminator”) which is good for generating discussion. To conclude the lesson, there is a paragraph writing activity for students to write a paragraph a out the social issues which Indigenous Australians experience. I included additional information for if the lesson finished early. It includes information about kinship, the role of elders and texts which are useful for gaining an understanding of Indigenous histories.

A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 3: “Language that influences.” During this unit students learned how to create and shape perspectives on community, local and global issues in texts. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute persuasive multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded about an issue of their choice. A PPT which structures the lesson. It begins with a cool down viewing activity – an emotive video from Green Peace which showcases the impacts on Orangutan’s. This is followed by some underlined notes for student to copy (a definition of palm oil). There are some pictures to aid visual learners. A brief history of the uses of palm oil through time is provided as well as information about the two types of palm oil (crude oil and kernel oil). The links to deforestation are then explained and images of endangered species are provided. Some other causes of deforestation are shown as well as information about air pollution and soil erosion. There are some short videos from Better Homes and Gardens from when Dr Harry visited organisations which assist with Orangutan conservation. There is also a short video from Behind the News (an Aussie kids TV program). Afterwards students need to read an article called “How the world got hooked on palm oil” and identify & label the persuasive language features within it. Afterwards, some information about suggested solutions are provided along with an explanation of why boycotting palm oil is not the answer. This is followed by a writing activity where students must write a body paragraph about the issue. There are some suggestions of what to include on the slide and some sentence starters. There is also a sample answer paragraph that I wrote to go through with students after they share their answers.

A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 3: “Language that influences.” During this unit students learned how to create and shape perspectives on community, local and global issues in texts. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute persuasive multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded about an issue of their choice. A PPT which structures the lesson. It began with a think, pair, share activity to define mental health. This is followed by some online definitions from the WHO and Beyond Blue & a 2-minute viewing activity. Some information about the benefits of staying well are provided. Students are then to brainstorm some strategies they could use to maintain good mental health. There are some tips that I’ve saved over the years from various places (e.g. Headspace) which I have scanned and use as discussion prompts. Then there is some information about stress and some stress triggers and anxiety and some symptoms of anxiety. There is a visual infographic from Beyond Blue containing statistics about Australians impacted by anxiety or depression. This is followed by a viewing activity about Post Natal depression from ABC iView (an episode from Season 7 of “You Can’t Ask That”).

A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 3: “Language that influences.” During this unit students learned how to create and shape perspectives on community, local and global issues in texts. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute persuasive multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded about an issue of their choice. A PPT which structures the lesson. It began with 10 minutes of silent reading as a settling activity. This is followed by expectations for the viewing activity and a link to the clip on iView (You Can’t Ask That’s Alcohol Episode). Students have 9 questions which they need to listen out for as they view the episode (on PPT but also on a worksheet). After the viewing activity there are some answers which can be used to prompt a discussion. This is followed by information about where students can learn more about this topic if they choose to focus on it for their speech. After this, students are tasked with creating a PSA (public service announcement) poster about alcoholism. There are some prompts on the slide and some examples on the subsequent slides for before students get started. A worksheet with the viewing questions

A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 3: “Language that influences.” During this unit students learned how to create and shape perspectives on community, local and global issues in texts. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute persuasive multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded about an issue of their choice. A PPT which structures the lesson. It began with 10 minutes of silent reading as a settling activity. This is followed by a reminder of what social issues are. This is followed by a viewing activity on ABC iView – You Can’t Ask That’s episode on ‘Domestic Violence’ (from series 4). There are 7 questions for students to answer as they watch. This is followed by some slides of research I found. It includes a definition of domestic violence and the types. There is some information about the QLD Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act (2012). Some key points from the Act are included in dot point form. After this students were split into groups and had to design a poster. There were 7 different options. This was followed by some information about conjunctions as a cool down. A worksheet with the viewing questions

A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 3: “Language that influences.” During this unit students learned how to create and shape perspectives on community, local and global issues in texts. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute persuasive multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded about an issue of their choice. A lesson plan – designed for a supervision teacher. A worksheet of viewing questions for while watching the documentary. Lines are provided for students to write their notes on. Tip: If you have a small printing budget, worksheet can be copied and pasted into Class Note book and distributed to students that way.

The PowerPoint which guides the lesson. There is a viewing activity from ABC iView about Juvenile detention and some research which I found online. At the end of this PPT are some slides taking students through our school’s oral assessment policy and rules for submitting pre-recorded speeches. A handout which contains two settling activities to use at the beginning of the lesson. Firstly, there is a jumbled-up paragraph about recycling. Students need to read this and number 1-6 the correct order. Secondly, there is a persuasive text about climate change. Students need to identify and label the persuasive language features in this stimulus text. A homework task [retrieval chart] where students are to research juvenile detention (in Australia). A lesson plan – designed for a supervision teacher.

A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 3: “Language that influences.” During this unit students learned how to create and shape perspectives on community, local and global issues in texts. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute persuasive multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded about an issue of their choice. The lesson begins with a settling activity where students copy terms into their glossary (inform, describe, explain and persuade). This is followed by a Viewing Activity: How shopping Apps dominate fast fashion and appeal to young people. Students are given some tips for how to reduce their expenditure on new clothes (ideas came from a podcast I listened to.) There was a brainstorming activity (to see what students retained from previous lesson about fast fashion). Students had to draw a table in their books to complete as they watched a report made by the ABC program ‘Foreign Correspondent.’ They had to make a list of environmental impacts and social impacts (impacts on the people). Following this, students learned about 3 types of appeal that they can use in a persuasive speech. We then discussed why teenagers should care about the environment (linking this to values, attitudes and beliefs). Finally, we reviewed the P.E.R.S.U.A.D.E Acronym (which lists 8 different persuasive techniques which students can use in their assessment and in the writing activities in class this term). Then students had to write a TEEEL paragraph about ‘Fast Fashion’ which was both informative and persuasive (to consolidate their knowledge).