Unique resources created by an experienced Secondary English and History teacher. These are academically rigorous resources that target children between 13 and 18 years of age.
Unique resources created by an experienced Secondary English and History teacher. These are academically rigorous resources that target children between 13 and 18 years of age.
Resource 1: A worksheet for a documentary viewing lesson. I utilise the broadcast strategy approach (Barry & King, 1998) previewing the questions prior to playing the documentary so that students know what to listen out for. The documentary In the Turmoil of the Russian Revolution (2017) is available on ClickView.
There are 24 questions for students to record information about as they watch. Additionally, there are 5 extended response post-viewing questions for students to complete for homework.
Resource 2: A scanned copy of my handwritten answers which I completed during the lesson and then used to check students’ understanding.
A lesson designed for use over 2 x 70 minute lessons of Essential English (Australian curriculum). Students are preparing to sit a response to stimulus exam with one seen source and one unseen source (1 x written and 1 x visual).
The focus for the year was Science, Space and Technology – so this source may also be of use to teachers from other countries teaching about these topics.
This lesson focused on texts about space exploration – a transcript of John F Kennedy’s “Why go to the moon?” speech & a contemporary article about billionaires exploring space
Included in this resource is
1 x Worksheet for students (containing the 2 sources and some scaffolding)
1 x annotated worksheet (teacher answers)
1 x PPT used to sequence the lesson
The content of the lesson was around teaching students how to analyse stimulus text and locate:
Language Features
Text Structures
Values, Attitudes, Beliefs or Cultural Assumptions
Representations
A resource designed for use with Year 12 Essential English students (Australian curriculum). Students are preparing to sit a response to stimulus exam with one seen source and one unseen source (1 x written and 1 x visual).
The document includes a list of language features and text structures commonly found in written stimulus texts (along with definitions and examples).
How I used this in my teaching: I printed a class set of the LF on one colour and the TS on another colour and had them laminated. I hand them out in each lesson when students are analysing texts. I also printed one set in A3 and put them up as posters in the classroom.
A worksheet for students to complete when watching the 2009 film Mao’s Last Dancer. It includes contextual information about how ballet became popular in China. A ClickView link to the film is provided (for absent students / at home learning). There are 8 questions for students to respond to during / after watching the film. There is also some information about some areas where the film differs from the actual events.
Resources designed for the new senior Modern History syllabus (implemented in QLD in 2019). The end of term assessment for this unit was an Independent Source Investigation.
The content would also be useful more broadly for students in other states and countries with an interest in the China (1931-1976). The other resources are also available in my store – Aussie_Resources.
A useful resource for an introduction to Science Fiction and key terms.
In addition to definitions taken from a cinema subject I completed at university, there are a series of viewing activities (trailers for various films which illustrate the key features of these subgenres of science-fiction.) Most of these slides also come with questions designed to get students to think about our focus: TECHNOLOGY and the role of technology in these imagined worlds. These questions challenge students to consider how filmmakers position and influence their viewers regarding the discourse of technology in texts and whether these representations work to naturalise, reinforce or challenge prevailing beliefs and attitudes about the role of technology in society.
Document 1: A table scaffolding for students how to write an effective introduction, two body paragraphs analyzing, one comparative body paragraph and a conclusion. It also includes how to reference a print advertisement.
This scaffold was created for the following task but can be adapted for other advertisement analysis tasks.
GENRE: Expository Multi-modal Oral
ROLE/RELATIONSHIP: This is an individual task where each student will prepare and present a speech and PowerPoint to an audience of their peers.
PURPOSE: To understand how advertisers use specific techniques in order to influence and shape consumer attitudes and behaviour.
TASK: Compare and contrast the following print advertisement to a visual print advertising campaign of your choice. (An advertising campaign can be a single advertisement). Using your knowledge of AIDA, you will analyse and evaluate the various techniques used in both advertisements and draw conclusions about how the advertisers have attempted to persuade and appeal to their demographic/target audience.
• Write a 500 word speech that compares and contrasts the advertising techniques used in the different advertisements. You must draw conclusions and provide both opinions and reasons as to why each advertisement succeeds or fails in motivating the target audience.
• Create a PowerPoint presentation that discusses your findings.
• Present your PowerPoint and explain your findings to the class.
LENGTH: Use a minimum of 6 slides and 500 words, and a maximum of 10 slides and 650 words.
Document 2: Key terms including definitions of the AIDA method of analysing advertisements.
The various factors that make a story newsworthy. Definitions, written examples and film examples. Topical issues from the past e.g. Tsunami, Beaconsfield Mining, Brisbane Floods.
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.
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.
Task sheet for an assessment requiring the following things: Treatment, Making the magazine in photoshop, Reflecting on your final product, Responding to someone else’s magazine cover (critiquing)
The PowerPoint includes an example student magazine cover (annotated), the requirements for a treatment, an example treatment.
Additional resource: A scaffolding table for planning their magazine cover
Prior to students learning about moral issues in The Hunger Games, they must first learn what morals are and have a chance to identify them in other texts. This PowerPoint teaches students what terms including moral, morality and immoral mean. Students are also introduced to the news genre and its purpose. They learn about how regular news stories are structured and their common language before reading a news story with a moral issue in it. After reading the article there are a series of comprehension questions which could be answered individually or as a class depending on the abilities of your learners. These questions increase in difficulty and were written using verbs from Bloom's taxonomy.
Resource 2: A copy of the newspaper article students explored in this lesson (taken from an Australian newspaper in 2017).
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.
PowerPoint one: appropriate for senior classes (years 10-12)
- includes tips to help students improve their verbal and nonverbal presentation skills
- includes clips of famous speeches to help students identify the techniques
PowerPoint two: appropriate for junior classes (years 7-9)
- includes public speaking tips
- includes tips for Power Points including visual pictures of what not to do
- includes an example PowerPoint presentation created by a student that presents the information effectively
- includes a list of topics for 30 seconds speeches (to get students to practice the skills they've learned
Resource 1: PowerPoint
This lesson introduces the concept of lying broadly before zooming in to focus on how the moral issue is shown in the novel. Students are introduced to the types of lie (white lie, fabrication, bold faced lies). Discussion questions are posed on the PowerPoint to encourage students to share their views on the issue. There is a short clip from the film Liar Liar to provide a humorous stimulus for discussion. Following this students will read the feature article 'Are white lies dead in the age of social media?' As they read the various language and visual features will be pointed out to them (as they will be writing a feature article for their mid term assessment). After reading the article there are activities for students to complete including defining some terms from the article and answering literal, inferred and applied level comprehension questions. Subsequently, the lesson introduces the various types of lies in the novel. The PPT includes extracts from the text where people are shown discussing lying or telling a lie. These extracts are followed by discussion/comprehension questions.
Resource 2: a feature article taken from 'The Australian' (newspaper) in 2017 about white lies which students will explore in this lesson.
A task sheet for a year 10 English assessment (Australian curriculum). Also provided is the planning and writing steps in a scaffolding document. The scaffolding is invaluable as it helps students to plan to address the key criteria prior to writing the task. In particular they evaluate how text structures and language features can be used to influence audience response.
A PowerPoint with pictures and explanations of:
· Photoshop tools
· How to create a new canvas
· How to use layers
· Background colour
· How to add text
An explanation of the elements of photography to consider when planning a photo shoot. An explanation of the following concepts (with images as examples) e.g. Framing, Rule of Thirds, Composition, Layering, Light, Perspective, and Viewpoints. Also some advice about what not to take
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.
A PowerPoint defining the following terms:
● Shape
● Line
● Colour
● Point
● Value
● Balance
● Perspective/Scale
● Harmony
● Movement
● Texture
● Unity
● Variety