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.

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. The lesson begins with explicitly explaining the cognitive verb analyse and the process of analysing. There is an outline of some things that students will need to address when analysing in their upcoming assessment. This is followed by an exploration of some visual features which students can look out for in print and online news stories e.g. illustrations, colour, font choices, layout of text and graphics, positioning (within the newspaper/magazine), body language and facial expressions within photographs and shot sizes. After this there is a front cover of a magazine for students to view and identify the features in. the next slides include the remainder of the magazine story for students to analyse.

A PowerPoint exploring the origins and evolution of film (1895-present). Information about The Seven Ages of Film and the advent of sound. Video clips from 'Singing in the Rain' which depict how film studios began to make talking pictures. Looking at the advent of colour in films with clips from The Wizard of Oz showing the use of technicolour. Information about the introduction of The American movie rating system in 1968. The phenomena of Midnight movies - with clips from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

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.

1) PowerPoint - This lesson focuses on teaching students about the context of World War One so that they have some frame of reference for approaching the poems written in this period. Afterwards, it explores how the perceptions of war in poetry changed during this period from patriotic beliefs in its valour to disillusionment as World War One saw a complete change in the way wars were fought and the attitudes towards them. This lesson opens with checking students prior knowledge of WW1. It then explains what the world was like during the 19th Century and the imperialist ideology. The beliefs of Europe’s’ Great Powers, the major causes of WW1, The assassination of Franz Ferdinand: A Shot that Changed the World, societal beliefs about war at the time, exploring propaganda posters from World War One, new technologies used in this war and the outcomes of the war. Things we will learn by the study of poetry from the First World War.

This 32 page booklet has been designed as part of an Australian film studies unit focusing on the 2002 film The Rabbit Proof Fence. It includes activities exploring characterisation, the beliefs of the time and analysing the aesthetic features (film and language techniques) which students are to complete during and after viewing the film. While used for year 9 in this case, it could be applicable for any junior secondary grade. It could also be used during NAIDOC week. This booklet contains resources which would be useful for preparing students to write a range of genres including film reviews, feature articles, persuasive texts and analytical essays. There are questions about the events/themes/character’s perspectives and the effects of the aesthetic features. It introduces students to concepts such as textual structures, language features, visual features, film techniques and themes. It includes information about the socio cultural context of the film, articles about the women on which the film is based, key quotes from the film, scaffolded analysis activities for key scenes, an introduction to evaluative language and how it is used to describe films. The final pages include an explanation of how to structure an essay (along with planning and editing steps).

A PowerPoint designed for a 50 minute lesson which includes summaries of key scenes and important things to note in this act. It also features questions to check for understanding. An updated version of the Act One (Scenes 1-4) PowerPoint for a school with 70 minute lessons. It includes a warm up activity (definitions to copy), extra quotes and questions to check for understand. A lesson plan has also been included. A PowerPoint focusing on the Party Scene (Act One, Scene 5). It begins with a mini lesson on characterisation (with definitions and examples). Subsequently students act out the scene and discuss the perspectives of various characters. Afterwards, we watch the 1997 film version and prepare to explore the balcony scene in a future lesson. A 5 page script for the party scene which has been translated into modern language (more accessible for students). A homework sheet with questions about the party scene (Act 1, Scene 5). A handout - revision activity - a list of jumbled up events from this act which students have to reorganise into chronological order. 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 - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons (with extra activities as a back up if the class is advanced).

A ppt which explores how the literary devices are used in texts that represent teenagers. Teen specific examples of parody including clips from 'Not Another Teen Movie.' Examples of sarcasm with clips from 'The Inbetweeners' tv show (no swearing). The impact of tone of voice. Introducing other techniques: exaggeration, burlesque, irony (with a clip from the Little Rascals and Shrek). Then it looks at clips of J'amie from Summer Heights High and an example monologue about this scene written by a past student.

The first two lessons in a year 9 English unit. Within this unit, students engage with a range of Australian literary texts including short stories, films and poetry, and literature for stereotypes including bogans, Indigenous Australians and bushmen etc. We also explore concepts like multiculturalism, fair go and mateship. Students explore how events, situations and people can be represented from different perspectives and draw conclusions about characters, key ideas and Australia’s identity, justifying these with selective use of textual evidence. PowerPoint 1: Unit introduction Classroom expectations, Homework expectations, Expectations around use of laptops in the classroom and an introduction to the unit. It includes questions to prompt students to brainstorm their prior knowledge. It also includes clips from advertisements including the Australia Day Lamb Ads for fun brainstorming activities. PowerPoint 2: Introduction to key terms: multicultural, patriot, assimilate, nationalism and juxtapositon. Identifying Australian stereotypes within a music video parody Defining the term Identity and teaching students how to answer quesitons using the RAF method. It includes example responses and then questions for the students to respod to.

List of emotive words which are useful for creative writing tasks.

In addition to analysing cinematic techniques (aka visual features), students need to analyse the effect of language features in their chosen documentary. This lesson introduces students to a range of language features to watch out for with examples from Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 and Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me. These language features include high modality, rhetorical questions, emotive language, repetition and groups of three. It also includes a list of generic questions for students to ask themselves when watching documentaries.

A PowerPoint for use in a 70 minute lesson. It begins with a look at Vietnam’s geographic location and the countries which border it. This information is used to explain which countries have tried to invade Vietnam in the past. This lesson explores questions including: What was Vietnam like under French rule? & Why was communism so attractive to Vietnamese Nationalists? A key historical figure (Ho Chi Minh) is introduced to students and his ideological influences are explained. Afterwards a series of sources about Ho Chi Minh are included along with questions which students can either answer in their books or discuss as a class (teacher discretion). There is information about key events before and during WW2. Students are asked to consider why communism may have been appealing to Vietnamese Nationalists. Some key dates from the Timeline in Hoepper et al’s 1996 textbook ‘Inquiry 2’ are displayed and a range of sources are used to elaborate on these talking points. The term Viet Minh is introduced to students. Information about how this group formed, their attire and who they fought against is outlined. Another figure – Emperor Bao Dai is introduced as he is someone who is likely to come up in student research. A key source – Ho Chi Minh’s speech proclaiming independence on September 2nd, 1945 – is provided for students to read along with a series of short response questions. This is followed by a paragraph writing activity which can be done as a ‘we do’ or a ‘you do’ depending on the ability level of the class. The lesson concludes with some information about the aid the USA provided to French to try to help them regain control of Vietnam after the Second World War. The Battle of Dien is briefly touched upon as well as the Geneva Settlement and the subsequent partitioning of Vietnam into two states. At the conclusion of the lesson, successful students will be able to explain the historical concept of anti-colonialism, key individuals and groups involved in the quest for Vietnam’s independence and the factors and events that influenced them. A handout designed to go with this lesson. It includes some information about Ho Chi Minh and a range of sources about him. For instance, The path which led me to Leninism by Ho Chi Minh – a primary source which outlines his reasons for joining the French Communist Party & his speech proclaiming independence on September 2nd, 1945. The handout includes questions but does not provide space for the answers (to save on printing). **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. **

This resource was designed as an introduction to a film studies unit focusing on the moral issues and moral dilemmas that the characters faced in the film Remember the Titans. It has enough content to take a few lessons. This resource would still be useful for other films as it teaches students about various textual structures, language and visual features which directors use to influence how the audience responds to the film. It includes a summary of the film, a definition of dialogue and some examples for students to discuss (what it reveals about the characters), nonverbal communication, visual features to focus on e.g. costuming. It also goes through various cinematic techniques with a definition and an example from a famous film e.g. The Shining, Forrest Gump, Harry Potter and The Help (with post-viewing questions). The film techniques covered are panning, tracking, tilting, zooming, montage, transition, simultaneous time, slow motion, music, sound effects, shot sizes. It ends with a cloze strategy to check whether students have understood these terms. It then goes on to provide some historical context about the Civil Rights movement in the US.

PowerPoint 1: Paragraph writing. This ppt uses the I do, we do, you do approach. Firstly there is a slide explaining the PEEEL paragraph structure. There is also an example paragraph about Taylor Swift’s You Belong with Me music video. Afterwards, students watch another music video (Caught in the Crowd) and construct their own paragraph based on what they observed in the teacher example. PowerPoint 2: Explaining the assessment task (analytical essay). Document: Scaffolding booklet for assessment task.

A PowerPoint which lists each of the characters in the play alongside key points about them (with images from the Baz Luhrmann movie). Activities to check for student understanding (including filling in a character tree.) This is followed by an explanation of key themes in the play (fate, love, hate, authority, time/timing). It concludes with an exploration of The Prologue which opens the play (Act 1). An updated version of this PowerPoint which removed the key themes which has been replaced with information about the life and times of Shakespeare. (It also includes classroom rules as it was used at the beginning of a new term). 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 - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons (with extra activities as a back up if the class is advanced).

This booklet has been designed as part of a year 8 English unit of work on Parvana (a novel set in Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban). It includes activities about characters, the setting and language features which students are to complete as they read the novel. There are also questions about the events/themes/character's perspectives et cetera for each chapter. This is all in preparation for a creative writing assessment where students take what they have learned to create a written literary transformation (a short story from a marginalised character's perspective). Their short story has to focus on a moral issue within the novel. I have referenced the other study guides I drew on when creating this resource.

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 are 3 word documents which I used on my word wall. Film specific language features – shot sizes, camera angles, lighting, colour, non-verbal communication, dialogue, audio, setting, props, costumes, characterisation, camera movement and symbolism. Film specific text structures – plot, character development, flashback, simultaneous time, montage, slow motion, accelerated video, time lapse, superimposition, transition, themes Colours and what they mean – blue, red, white, black, green, yellow, maroon and brown. The learning resources (PPTs, worksheets etc.) for the unit are also available in My Store.

My school has 1 literacy lesson a week (70 minutes) taught by a different teacher than their usual English teacher. They do activities related to the unit but also spelling, grammar, reading comprehension etc. Intro to the purpose of literacy lessons and the types of activities they will be doing. Intro to ethos, pathos and logos and their historical origins. Watch a short YouTube clip explaining these terms. Copy notes about ethos and view examples (from advertising – print and tv adverts). Discuss why audiences are influenced to buy products endorsed by celebrities or experts. Copy notes about logos and engage with examples. Copy notes about pathos and engage with examples. Bookmark making. Spelling test.

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.

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. The lesson begins with a brainstorming activity where students reflect on the news they have seen recently and make a list of people, issues and events. This is a good prompt for a discussion about topical stories. This is followed by a survey of what category of news e.g. sports, entertainment news, political news etc. It also talks about the frequency of accessing the news and the ways that they engage with the news. Once students are settled introduce the major focus of the lesson: How do journalists / media companies shape our beliefs about / attitudes towards different people? The lesson introduces a key term ‘target audience’ and how this determines what specific news organisations report. Pose the question: Is the news a trustworthy source of information? Introduce terms for students to add to glossary: bias, empowerment, disempowerment Learn some ways that bias is omission, exaggeration, selective statistics, evaluative language and biased language choices Look at some famous people who have been shown positively and negatively in the media (images juxtaposed side by side). Great for discussion Look at an article (about Britney Spears) and how it creates a certain representation of a her through language choices, who is quoted, the balance between facts and opinions, whose views are silenced (omitted) After discussing what they have learned, the lesson ends with a definition of ‘hard news’ and ‘soft news’ and a list of news stories for them to classify into these two categories.