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.

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).

Part of a set of resources created for a year 7 English class in Australia (ACARA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - Aussie_Resources. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons (with extra activities as a back up if the class is advanced). The focus text is ‘Black Snake: The Daring of Ned Kelly’ by Carole Wilkinson. 1) Lesson PowerPoint The beginning of the PowerPoint introduces students to some of the key language features used in the novel Black Snake with definitions, examples and examples from Black Snake. The language features are colloquialisms, idioms, figurative language {similes / metaphors} & descriptive language {adjectives.} Afterwards there are some comprehension questions. Afterwards we look at a picture book – ‘Ned Kelly and the Green Sash’ written by Mark Greenwood and illustrated by Frane Lessac. As we read the story, students are encouraged to think about the language and visual features used and the effects they create in telling the story. Afterwards, the students can read the remainder of chapter 1 filling in the retrieval chart. If there is time at the end, there is a slide about how to identify factual information from evaluative language and a slide summing up the events in chapter 1. 2) A retrieval chart for students to summarise what they have learned while reading Chapter 1.

This lesson is designed as part of an Australian year 9 English unit. The first assessment for this unit is a persuasive essay. This PowerPoint first explains the assessment and the criteria students will be marked against. Subsequently, it goes through essay genre conventions (defining terms like thesis statement, explaining what should go in an intro, body and conclusion, explaining how texts should be referenced in text and in a bibliography). This PowerPoint also includes example paragraphs from a range of texts which show Australian stereotypes including The Simpsons Australia episode, Crocodile Dundee and men of the open spaces. Handout - planning steps to be completed prior to writing Handout - scaffolding for essay which tells students what they must write for each paragraph.

1) An exemplar feature article 2) A PowerPoint designed to teach students about the genre they need to write for their assessment. It includes tips for the exam and the criteria students have to demonstrate. It specifies the codes and conventions of a feature article (in terms of structure, visuals, paragraph length, cohesive ties, vocabulary etc.) It includes a suggested structure followed by a student's example. Afterwards there are questions about the article's intended reading, tone, use of language features etc. Examples of types of statements they may come across in their exam. If time there is another feature article example (resource 1) also copied into the final few slides.

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 a practice exam containing 6 short response questions around things like: • The role of the upper and lower house • The independence of the judiciary • How statute laws are created I have also included a sheet that contains sample answers which I made to unpack with students after the practice and the PowerPoint that goes with it. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

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 a practice exam for 10 Legal Studies containing 1 extended response question and specific scaffolding (graphic organisers) for students to use in their exam planning time. The topic for this one was voter apathy. I have also included the 8 sources which were provided to students a week before the exam (and a fresh copy in the exam). I have also included an exemplar for a different question.

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. A PowerPoint designed for use in the lead up to the exam to teach students about quotas and referendums. After defining each of these terms, an explanation is provided of the double majority requirement for passing a referendum and the reason for this. It also goes through the steps for a referendum to occur using the 2023 ‘Voice to Parliament’ debate as an example. I include the draft question and the final question, screen shots from social media in the lead up to the vote, screen shots from the yes/no pamphlet produced by the government as well as screen shots I took on the night of the vote calculation showing the progressive count. This is followed by some multiple-choice questions to check for understanding. Then just for interest there is an infographic about the other unsuccessful referendums in Australia’s history. Following this there is some specific information about Part B of the exam (extended response) as students will be given their seen sources during this lesson (a week prior to the actual exam). Their exam topic is on the representativeness of parliament. The slides contain an example response for a criminal law topic: drug possession so that students can see the skills in practice but with a different context. NB: My lessons have been designed for use in Australian classrooms and will often feature examples from Queensland legislation.

My school runs a 10 Legal Studies elective designed to give students a taste of Senior Legal Studies. This is a Unit Plan for a unit designed to give students foundational knowledge about Australian law and government. It contains: • Subject description • Unit description • Assessment details (formative and summative) • Suggested resources (textbooks, websites, videos etc.) • Teaching and learning cycle • Learning intention & success criteria • Reflection questions for teachers at the end of the unit

Unit plan designed for a 10 week term of 11 &12 Modern History. It includes a subject description, a description of the unit, a list of unit objectives (from the syllabus), inquiry questions to guide the unit, the recommended teaching and learning cycle from QCAA, a topic specific learning intentions and success criteria, assessment task details and a list of recommended resources. Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The syllabus objectives would also be useful more broadly for English students in other states and countries with an interest in the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa (1948-1994).

A Scope and Sequence suggesting topics to be covered throughout the term. A revision booklet to help students prepare for the external exam. Some elements are not complete but I left the formatting in just in case you had the time to add them (the evaluation and synthesis questions). Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The syllabus objectives would also be useful more broadly for English students in other states and countries with an interest in the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa (1948-1994).

About the PPT: This lesson was designed to teach students about dialogue and how it can be used to reveal the personality of the characters. It begins with a definition of dialogue and an explanation of reported and direct speech. Some examples of each are provided and students need to identify which is which. There is an excerpt from the anthology ‘Growing up Asian’ which students can read as an example of how characterisation is driven through dialogue. There was also information about placing dialogue tags at the beginning, middle and end of a quote for variety. There is an activity sheet for variants to the word said. After checking the answers, there is information about how to punctuate dialogue correctly. Following this the story for today ‘Big World’ was introduced. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. The lesson ends with a 5 question multi-choice quiz about punctuating dialogue correctly. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

About the PPT: The PPT begins with a checking for understanding question to see what students recall about narrative structures. This is followed by information about different types of plot structures – chronological, flashback and in media res. There is an explanation of Freytag’s pyramid which should be familiar from previous years. This is followed by an explanation of gap and silence. Students are then introduced to the second story for the unit – Henry Lawson’s ‘The Loaded Dog.’ After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. Students then consider what gaps or silences they could draw on in a short story. The cool down activity is a list of words for students to look up and define in their glossary. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

About the PPT: the lesson began with a checking for understanding brainstorm – students had to think of types of characters who commonly appear in stories. After sharing their responses, I have a list for students to copy. There is information about the types of things authors need to plan and consider before they begin writing. I have a slide defining characterisation which gives examples of direct and indirect characterisation. Following this the text for today’s lesson ‘Soil’ is introduced. I provide some information about the author Ellen Van Neerven who was awarded the 2015 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize for the collection ‘Heat and Light’. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. This is followed by some information provided by one of the Bundjalung teachers from our school about some of the sensitive issues raised in this story. Students then consider what gaps or silences they could draw on in a short story. I located images from children’s picture books and the internet which students could draw on to develop their setting. Following this, students were given a writing prompt which they had to plan for (which they would write about in the literacy lesson). The slides from the literacy lesson are also included. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

About the PPT: The lesson begins with information about what setting is and how writers reveal setting. There are 3 brief excerpts of text with really different settings which students can read to see how the authors establish the setting whilst introducing the protagonist. There are some tips about developing indoor and outdoor settings. Then there are a series of clips from Australian television shows which we view and students take notes about things which appear in the setting. This is followed by information about imagery and using the five senses within your writing. Following this, I suggested other language features which could be used to establish setting including similes and metaphors. I also discussed the concept of extended metaphors. I also provided examples of settings which can be used symbolically. Then I introduced the story for today ‘Black Saturday’ and some context about the 2009 bushfires. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. Afterwards there was a short YouTube clip for students to view. In the following lesson we watched an episode of the ABC TV series ‘Fires’ about the 2019/2020 bushfires. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

About the PPT: this lesson was designed to remind students of some language features they are already familiar with which they could utilise in their short story and some brief writing activities. Those I defined and provided examples of were adjectives, emotive language, internal thought, negative description, personification, onomatopoeia, metaphors and similes. Following this the story for today ‘My Father’s Hands’ was introduced. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. Afterwards, students read through the story on their own and annotate the language features that stood out to them. The following slides include some examples of 5 senses, figurative language, emotive words and adjectives from the text. Students were also asked to consider why the author opted for direct speech more than reported speech in this story. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class. About the PPT: the first PPT in the final unit of 12 Essential English. It begins with some details about the IA4 assessment and a breakdown of what lessons are to be taught in the term. The Unit Learning Intentions and Success criteria are displayed. This is followed by a recap of what the term ‘representations’ means. Students need to brainstorm some ‘ways of being Australian’ this is used to introduce students to Australian social groups and some that they may not think of {marginalised/silenced perspectives}. I then introduced the first short story – Tim Winton’s Neighbours. There is a retrieval chart students will be completing for each story they will read. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. We then discuss what the key themes of the story are. Following this, I introduce students to the ideas of gaps and silences. We view two trailers for films which are an example of this type of tale (Cruella and Rosaline). Afterwards we learn about 3 types of narrators and discuss which type was used in the original story, and what other viewpoints they could use. The cool down for the lesson were 3 terms to add to their glossary. Other resources: A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart

Resources designed with QCIA (special needs) students in mind. These students were encouraged to choose The Loaded Dog. The resource includes a QCIA task sheet, and a specific planning booklet with images from the picture book based off of Lawson’s story. The student this was designed for was at a grade 3-4 level. Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.” During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.

Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts.” During this unit students learned about Hero and Villain films and how filmmakers use cinematic techniques to portray them and create an intended message. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded reviewing one of the three films shown within the unit. About the PPT: A lesson designed to help prepare students to analyse and evaluate the films they view in class. The lesson begins with an explanation of visual features. There are mini activities where students have to describe things they see in still images or clips e.g. the costumes in the Incredibles film and Spider-Man (2002). Students then learn about non verbal communication including body language and facial expression – they are then shown 4 pictures to describe. They then view a clip from Spider-Man which they will discuss after viewing. This is followed by an introduction to soundtrack (music and sound effects). They watch the trailer for Aquaman and list the sound effects they heard and the types of musical instruments which were featured. They then view a scene from Spider-Man (2002) and do the same. Then students learn about 6 main shot sizes. They then have the opportunity to identify these using stills from Wonder Woman 1 and 2. The next technique is camera angles (eye level, high angle and low angle). This is followed by a checking for understanding activity. Students are then taught about camera movement (panning, tilting, tracking and zooming). They then view clips which exemplify some of these techniques. Next up are editing techniques (montage, transition, simultaneous time, slow motion). These are exemplified via short clips (hyperlinks included in case embedded video does not work). If time, there is also information about traditional language features including characterisation, figurative language and emotive language.

Resources designed with QCIA (special needs) students in mind. These students were encouraged to choose The Incredibles. The resource includes a QCIA task sheet, a word bank and a cloze passage (to assist the Teacher’s Aide to prompt student to develop their own response). The student this was designed for was at a grade 3-4 level. Context: A lesson designed for use in a 12 Essential English classroom in Queensland, Australia as part of Unit 4: “Representations and popular culture texts.” During this unit students learned about Hero and Villain films and how filmmakers use cinematic techniques to portray them and create an intended message. Their assessment at the end of this unit was to write a 4-6 minute multimodal (speech) to be delivered live or pre-recorded reviewing one of the three films shown within the unit.