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

About the PPT: A PPT designed to be used when handing out the assessment. It visually displays key information from the task sheet. There is some information about what I look for in a multimodal spoken presentation. I also have information about how to structure a PowerPoint (particularly if students plan on incorporating their spoken delivery into the slide). There are details from the school’s oral assessment policy – particularly around pre recording their submission. There is an example PPT which I created for Aquaman. There are also instructions for how to record themselves. About the Word Documents: A planning scaffolding document to be completed before students begin writing. A writing scaffold with lines for students to write on as students are required to handwrite their drafts to avoid AI usage. A B standard exemplar for The Incredibles A B standard exemplar for Justice League 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.

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 is the Learning Intentions & Success Criteria handout which students glue in their books + a more comprehensive Know-Do-Think table which teachers developed as a shared understanding of what we were looking for when marking the assessment.

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.

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.

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.

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: the PPT begins with an explanation of the unit and the upcoming assessment. There are some terms for students to add to their glossary and a brainstorming activity to see what films students have seen in recent years which feature heroes / villains. Some sample answers grouped under Marvel, DC and Warner Brothers are provided. Students are introduced to definitions of terms including hero, superhero, anti-hero, antagonist and villain. Students are introduced to the Gallery of Modern Arts which is part of the context for their assessment. They see images of the building and photographs I took in 2017 when I went to a Marvel specific exhibition. This is followed by information about the origins of super heroes (comic books). Specific references are made to Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. There are some clips of early TV and film versions of these characters.

About the PPT: The lesson begins with an activity which asks the students to brainstorm some attitudes they associate with heroes. The slide includes a reminder of what an attitude is and some answers which pop up when you click. There is a viewing activity from YouTube about heroic archetypes which goes for 11 minutes which you can watch to gather further heroic traits from. This is followed by an explanation of what a nemesis is and some of their qualities. Next some common conventions of hero texts are explained. Joseph Conrad’s hero’s journey monomyth is explained. Some information about criticism of this monomyth is provided as well as information about the emergence of films which have female leads. Subsequently student are introduced to a music video report card which they will fill in as we watch the 3 films this term. Screen shots are included on the slides so I could explain the various parts. We quickly recap language features (especially cinematic devices) discussed in earlier lessons. More information is provided about music and sound effects (diegetic and non diegetic sound). Information about factors which influence the listener are explained and list of words for describing music care provided. Next the impacts of light and shadows are explained. The following are explained: high-key lighting, low-key lighting, backlighting and shadow. Next the following transitions are explained in more detail – fade, dissolve, wipe and cut. Themes are explained with a visual showing common themes. Lastly, students are introduced to the film they will watch in future lessons – Batman Forever. They watch the trailer, get some contextual information to add to their report card, are shown images of each of the characters and read a brief synopsis of the plot. About the Word Doc: A movie review retrieval chart for students to fill in during subsequent lessons. 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.

A reading comprehension activity which utilises the QAR reading strategy. Students will read an article entitled “Teenagers and social networking – it might actually be good for them” and then complete the questions.

A reading comprehension activity I made using the THREE LEVEL GUIDE structure The article is about the effects of social media on teens.

About the PPT: A PPT designed to be used after students have viewed Wonder Woman. It begins with a warm up activity where students watch a 5-minute video which goes through visual techniques including size, salience, vector, juxtaposition, colours, gaze and symbols. I have included some key points from the video to unpack on the next few slides. This is followed by a list of Language Features and students are asked to volunteer some of the things they observed in the film which they believe were impactful. This is followed by a list of Text Structures. Students are asked which they could use to show how the hero/villain has been portrayed {they only focus on one in their speech}, and that characters VABs {values, attitudes and beliefs}. Students are prompted to discuss what VABs they noticed in the film. I have provided some answer slides with possible options (about heroes and villains in general) which students can use to help them. Students are to take notes about the VABs of both Wonder Woman and Ares as, at this point, they will not have selected which character they are going to write about. Students are asked to consider what stereotypes {cultural assumptions} are challenged/reinforced by the film. They are also asked to consider what the film’s intended reading {overall message} is. This is followed by slides going through the Essential English criteria which have been turned into student-friendly “I can” statements. Then there is a slide explaining what is meant by evaluative language. We then looked at a negative review of the Hunger Games Prequel from Time Magazine to make a note of the author’s word choices. 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. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse

A table I made containing quotes from key characters in the film which students can come back to when writing their review for evidence of character VABs (Values, Attitudes and Beliefs). To save on printing, I put one copy on the word wall in the classroom and one copy on the class One Note for students to access digitally. 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. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse

A PPT to introduce students to one of the two films they can write a film review about for their assessment {a multimodal presentation}. It includes: some quick facts about the comic-book origins of the character and the creator. Information about Ares and his origin story in the comics. The inspiration for the film. A chronological timeline for films in the DC universe (2017-2023). A link to the trailer is included for introducing who the key players in the film are. Students are provided with information about the director, producer etc. to add into their retrieval chart. This is followed by images of her costume so that students can take notes about colour & props. A brief synopsis of the plot and how the film begins {present day > flashback} is provided. The lesson ends with viewing a segment of the show The Secret History of Comics: The Truth about Wonder Woman. A film viewing report card (retrieval chart) to be used in subsequent lessons while viewing the film 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. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse

A table I made containing quotes from key characters in the film which students can come back to when writing their review for evidence of character VABs (Values, Attitudes and Beliefs). To save on printing, I put one copy on the word wall in the classroom and one copy on the class One Note for students to access digitally. Context: A resource 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. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse

A PPT designed to teach students about the purpose of a film review and where you might hear/see them. There is a sound bite from SBS’s ‘The Movie Guy’ and a video clip from the now discontinued ABC show ‘At The Movies.’ There are some viewing questions for students to complete as they watch David and Margaret review The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1. Then I provided information about the language of a film review. I then unpacked the structure which their spoken review would follow. We went through an example written by a student in 2023 about Batman Forever (1995). We then looked at the PowerPoint slides that this student used to support her speech while she presented to see a high-level example. 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. Films focused on in this particular year: Wonder Woman & Into the Spiderverse

Appropriate as a diagnostic tool at the beginning of term 1 of general english