This unit is designed to have students think critically and use the strategies taught to form a balanced argument and counter-argument. The theme of Sustainability and Climate Change runs throughout the entirety with students producing a visual letter to someone in power asking them to think about an issue they feel powerfully about. Via this citizenship approach, students are encouraged to recognise not only the persuasive powers of others, but also acknowledge and empower their own persuasive thinking and reasoning.

This program was designed to cater to the needs of an Australian SSP (School for Specific Purposes) class for students who exhibit challenging behaviours. The program was written for an Australian Stage 4 class (Years 7 and 8) but could easily be adapted for younger or older students. The outcomes are from the Australian Curriculum (mainstream) with adjustments made throughout to cater for students’ highly personalised learning and behaviour needs.

This unit has been designed to introduce students to the function of the brain and its development from early childhood to adulthood. Particular attention is paid to adolescence as it is a time of significant brain development and obviously most relevant to our students. By adolescence, the part of the brain associated with emotions, impulses, aggression and instinctive behaviour – the amygdala (groups of neurons in the brain) – is well developed. However, the part of the brain that controls higher-order or executive functioning – the prefrontal cortex – matures last and isn’t fully developed until we reach our 20s. The prefrontal cortex takes care of decision making and manages our ability to plan and think about the consequences of our actions, solve problems and control impulses. This explains why young people can’t always make complex rational decisions or understand the consequences of actions in the way adults can. This study is intended to teach students these features and stages so that they can acknowledge in their future reactions and emotions that they are still learning and growing. Students are encouraged to form a growth mindset and seek out a learning opportunity in any mistakes or setbacks.

The focus of the Unit of Study is to demonstrate to students the major importance of online safety. As C21st learners, students are susceptible to a variety of dangers when using the internet, communicating electronically and being active followers on numerous social media sites. The main intention of this unit is to outline potential risks and dangers to their privacy and safety via their digital footprint and to understand that there are many precautions they can take in ensuring their digital safety. Our students are particularly vulnerable to many features in this space and they requite explicit instruction in understanding, interpreting and evaluating how much and what sort of information they post online. This Semester-based program covers different areas of learning such as: • Internet Safety • Cyber Bullying • Emailing and Messaging • Online Gaming • Social Media • Your Digital Footprint • Being Cyber Smart • Digital Citizenship

This is a comprehensive study of William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ broken down into 30 lessons in which key scenes from each of the five acts, are analysed by students using the original text. Students will annotate their understanding of the bard’s words and in some lessons, modernise these to enhance understanding. Students will explore not only language devices such as juxta positioning and dramatic irony, they will also work with the concepts of the themes love, hate and fate. Students will learn to express their interpretation of the play via a PEEL (Point, Evidence, Explanation and Link) formula and this will be used as part of their Summative Assessment. Various scaffolds and prompts are available consistently throughout this close study of the tragic text.

This unit of work is designed to have students explore various dinosaurs, their habitats and the food chains that existed before their extinction. Students will be required to complete numerous Fact Files on dinosaurs of their choice alongside being creative in designing and recreating dinosaurs of their choice. This unit is particularly creative to be assessible to all students throughout the Support Faculty alongside engaging student interest. Students will conclude the unit by focussing on researching, planning, evaluating and presenting a dinosaur of their choice to the class.

This resource was developed to meet the needs of an IO class within a Secondary Support Unit (SEN). It has been constructed for a Year 9-11 class who experience an intellectual disability and adjustments can easily be made to meet the needs of your learners. Any reviews or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The unit engages students in the study of two films, ‘Despicable Me’ and ‘Megamind’ as the Anti-Hero and what that entails. Students will learn the Visual and Film techniques both use in depicting their central characters and will then start using their knowledge in annotating key scenes from this. Students will again be reintroduced to the PEEL formula whereby, they will compare and analyse both films for their similarities and differences. Students will be looking at; the process of character development; narrative structure and indicators (especially quotes); film techniques and their impact on the audience. Students analytical skills will all come into play by the end of the unit, where they compose a complete 5 paragraph modelled analysis of the films and the themes and techniques used to show their character development.

This is a wonderful introductory lesson on students thinking about what makes them unique and wonderful. They use the Collage pictures to create a cubist -style collage and compose a Cinquain Poem that is highly scaffolded to then publish their work. The collage and poem can be pasted onto some coloured A3 paper or card and put on display in your classroom. A fantastic activity that creates truly unique representations of your student’s interests and qualities. Any reviews would be appreciated.

This Life Skills Program of Study was constructed for students in Stage 4, 5 and 6 within a Support Unit. Resources are taken from various websites and the booklet used is a TES resource (thank you!) Teachers within a Support, Special Education or even mainstream setting, can easily adjust this program to suit the needs of your learners. Any reviews would greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The unit allows students to become readers, writers and performers of written news. This program follows the otline of the wonderful BBC News Unit of Study on TES. Students will access a variety of news articles so that they can identify the common features and apply these when composing their own recount news article. Students will then extend this understanding into the realm of television, whereby they will learn to write and read a script. Students will work collaboratively as class to create a Falcon News broadcast. Students will: • understand the key features and organisation of a news story • To understand the differences between fact and opinion • To compare written news / TV news • To use language which is appropriate to the task, reader/audience and purpose • To use skills learned in written news and apply them to TV news

This mind-map demonstrates how a Thematic Unit of Study can be designed using key questions as Learning Intentions for your students. Cross-Curricular Thematic Units of Study work incredibly well when working with students who experience challenging behaviours and barriers to their learning.