6 resources developed for a year 8 English Unit. a task sheet explaining their assessment (a multimodal presentation that explains a current social issue and uses poetry to challenge how people think and feel about the issue. ) An example PowerPoint created by a student for their assessment. A written exemplar in a table (which highlights the structural requirements and expected language features) A planning booklet for students to use as they prepare to write their assignment A PowerPoint for a lesson taking them through what to write for body paragraph 1 A personal checklist for the student and parent to use once they have completed their first draft to make sure they have everything they need.

4 resources designed for a year 8 poetry unit. The first is a PowerPoint which takes students through the STEP UP acronym which they will use to analyse poems in their upcoming assessment: subject matter, theme, emotions, poetic devices, your interpretation, purpose… It includes prompting questions that students should ask themselves to help guide their response for each category. It then includes a poem about a refugee and slides which work through the STEP UP process. The second is a worksheet for modified students which has most of the notes written so that they only have to write a few. The third is a handout which explains STEP UP which could be used as a poster. The fourth is a typed version of the analysis of the refugee poem (in a Word Doc)

A year 8 Eng PowerPoint designed to introduce students to the concept of intended reading while touching on the idea of resistant reading. It includes questions they should ask themselves when reading a poem to help them identify the intended meaning of the text. It includes the words to Donald Bruce Dawe’s poem Homecoming and some follow-up questions to help the students learn to do this together. They are then given a poem to read independently and suggest what the author’s intended reading might be.

The PowerPoint includes definitions and examples of poetic devices including rhyme, repetition, simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, assonance, symbolism etc. There are also slides with famous examples from songs (some oldies but mostly contemporary). The homework sheet is a match the terms handout to consolidate learning.

A PowerPoint which includes a list of questions for students to ask themselves every time they analyse a poem. The poems to be explored show people’s feelings and emotions about war and the toll it takes on human lives. While some poems talk about bravery, patriotism and pride, this collection challenges this perspective. Both poems contest the notion of war showing it as a senseless waste of young lives. Students read one poem and there are set of writing activities and questions for them to respond to. They then listen to the song 'And the band played Waltzing Matilda' as they read along on their sheet (also provided). Afterwards, there are 11 activities for the children to complete.

A PowerPoint presentation which teaches students how to structure a paragraph using the PEEL acronym. This will be used by students when they write their reviews of the poems they will later read. The PPT includes the words to Kidnappers by Iris Clayton which explores some of the consequences of the stolen generation. Children are asked to write a PEEL paragraph in response to a set question. Depending on the ability level of the class this can be done independently or as a group with the teacher writing their suggestions on the board. This process is repeated for another two poems. I have also provided a handout with the words for each poem and the questions (for students who need hard copies). Additional resource: homework handout - a three level guide (designed to prompt higher order thinking about the topic).

Two powerpoints used in a 8 English protest poetry unit I designed. The first explores: What is critical literacy and why do we need these skills? How will it help us to understand protest poems? It introduces key critical literacy terms (ideology, privileged, intended reading, marginalised, silenced etc.) It includes a list of things it is important to be aware of when viewing or reading a poem/text. It also begins to introduce students to Indigenous Australian issues as these are the first series of poems to be explored. It includes poems about colonisation and questions to prompt students to analyse these poems. The second is an introduction to poetic devices which includes definitions and examples of personification, rhyme, onomatopoeia, alliteration, simile, metaphor etc. Additional resource: A handout I use at the end of the poetic devices lesson to check whether the students have understood what was taught (it is a matching terms activity).

This is part of a series of resources developed for a year 8 English class in Australia. The first resource is a list of context-specific spelling words for the first six weeks of the term (24 words per week). The second is a PowerPoint introducing the unit and key terms. It specifies the difference between a theme and an issue, gives examples of specific social issues and it has a viewing activity to help students understand a particular social issue (poverty). Finally, it includes some images and creative writing prompts to get students thinking and writing themselves.

Two PowerPoints: Explaining the assessment task (Create an informative multimodal presentation that discusses how bias may be present in documentaries and written articles) and the criteria. Learning about the features of a multimodal to prepare you for this task and looking at an example introduction written by a past student. Some example quotes from Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine to use as an example (and practice analysing). Advice on where to find further quotes. A PowerPoint for the following lesson teaching students how to analyse bias in media articles. Going through the 2 types of bias in texts (over exaggeration and under exaggeration). A quick practice of analysing bias in particular examples from Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine. Afterward the PPT looks at three articles about Chernobyl and students are encouraged to determine whether we believe their portrayal was: Balanced (correct), Bias through minor under-emphasis, Bias through extreme under-emphasis, Bias through over emphasis or Bias through extreme over emphasis. Prior to this, there is a brief explanation of what happened and some images and videos. It includes some questions for students to consider as they read the article. Finally, it includes copies of a PPT made by a past student for their multimodal for students to look at and draw inspiration from. One Word Document (A task scaffold) which contains planning steps for the assignment and a suggested structure. Other resources which can be given to students during in class drafting lessons or for homework.

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 powerpoint introduces students to key terms which are necessary for a study of documentaries e.g. intertitle, masked interview etc. After these terms the lesson introduces students to audio and visual devices which are used to position audiences in documentaries e.g. narration / voice over, music, sound effects, slow motion and other visual editing effects. After copying these notes students view a small clip about climate change from a biased documentary and have to practice identifying these features.

This unit was designed for a year 10 English class in Australia. Within this unit students learn to analyse and evaluate how human experience is represented in new media texts and documentaries, including the use of images. Students will also develop a critical understanding of the contemporary media and analyse the differences between news media texts. This PowerPoint introduces students to what a documentary is and how they can have powerful social and political influence. The lesson goes on to outline the key features of a documentary and the two main types of documentaries (objective and subjective). It explains the difference and then includes a series of short clips for students to view and decide whether it is an objective/subjective documentary. It also includes a research activity (homework sheet) for students to investigate the works of Michael Moore.

A PowerPoint which was created to scaffold a short story task where students are required to, "Write an original, imaginative short story that utilises the literary techniques and literary devices that are appropriately employed in a specific crime genre." It also includes a 10-page booklet with similar information if you have students who need to be provided with a hard copy.

In order to create convincing crime fiction, students need to be able to analyse the portrayal of crime, criminals and the criminal justice system in various modern and canonical texts. This powerpoint goes through some theories of crime and includes some clips from crime films (e.g. Kindergarten Cop, A Time to Kill etc.) that help students understand these. The powerpoint covers info such as the Role of the law in society, the image of the criminal and how these can reflect their theories of human nature, beliefs about the causes of crime and information about how crime is dealt with by society.

PowerPoint: This lesson includes a definition of setting and tips for descriptive writing. There is Students will learn how to develop setting in their story by reading extracts from a very famous crime story called ‘Memento Mori’ to see how the author developed setting and character simultaneously. There is a lot to be learned from this text as it is an unusual story told in a nonlinear fashion. There are two distinct voices used – one is in second person, the other is in third person. As the protagonist only has a 10-second memory span, the third person voice often re-establishes the setting (but pointing out different things each time). This serves to develop the character and create suspense. Extracts from the text are also discussed in terms of how the author establishes the time of day and atmosphere along with the setting…

Two resources: 1) A PowerPoint which explains the assessment task, reviews the narrative structure for short stories. It includes structural do’s and don’ts, tips for developing their setting, an explanation of different types of narrator they could use & tips for making their narrative original / imaginative. 2) An exemplar short story for this task.

This PowerPoint includes: a synopsis of film and information about the author of the novel: Dashiell Hammett. This ppt introduces the femme fatale and film noir and explores its defining features and how they influenced crime films. It also looks at societal influences on writers and filmmakers of the time. Within the lesson there are a few viewing activities including an excerpt from The Maltese Falcon and the trailer of Postman always rings twice (another well-known example). If I have time I usually show the trailer of Gone Baby Gone as a modern example. For homework, students consider how they could incorporate some of these elements into their own short story.

Introduction to the hard-boiled genre of crime fiction (Set in1930s - 1950s America) This PowerPoint examines the genre conventions of hard-boiled fiction, the typical protagonist of these tales & events that were occurring in American society at the time these tales were written, and how these influenced these texts. Students will watch a trailer for The Maltese Falcon Trailer (a famous example). The movie of The Maltese Falcon is dated 1941, during the War, but the story was published in 1930: it’s a tale of the roaring ‘20s. The PPT also includes a trailer for a recent example (the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire) which recreates this era.

A PowerPoint which defines realism and how this genre emerged. It also features 3 tips for character development. This is followed by a crime writing activity with a visual stimulus (which can be used to gauge students' creative writing skills prior to handing out their actual assessment).

5 resources for a crime fiction unit for Senior English students. The first is an explanation of the cozy fiction subgenre and its codes and conventions. It includes an explanation of 'Murder on the Orient Express.' A list of more recent TV examples e.g. Rosemary and Thyme. It also includes a trailer of Identity which utilses many of the genre features but places them in a modern setting. Resource 2: Spelling list for the term - 24 words per week. Resource 3: Homework for this lesson. Resource 4: homework for the following lesson (after beginning watching Identity). Resource 5: retrieval chart for while watching identity.