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.
PowerPoint 1: Defines monologue, goes through the requirements if students choose to record their monologue rather than presenting in class, prompts for what students should look for when watching Glee, post episode summary and activity,
PowerPoint 2: Explaining the monologue assessment task and requirements. Going through the structure of a monologue. Viewing a clip from Ferris Bueller's day off for inspiration. Going through expected language features.
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).
3 resources
1) A worksheet which explains the QAR strategy. It then includes a passage (excerpt) from The Time Machine followed by a series of QAR questions.
2) some posters suitable for a year 6-9 English classroom (explaining the QAR terms)
3) a PDF explaining the QAR process for teachers.
This powerpoint introduces students to the key features of magazine covers. It defines key terms including Mast Head, Main Cover Line, Cover Lines, Strap Line, The issue number, The date, Cost of a magazine, Main image, Background colour, Promotional material and Barcode. It includes pictures of magazine covers with annotations which recognise the effect these features have on the reader
100 quiz questions which can be used for a range of games including 'around the world.'
Topics include famous texts like Harry Potter, the works of Roald Dahl, Lord of the Rings, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, Jungle Book and some Greek Mythology questions.
A lesson aimed to help shape student's understanding the lived experiences of soldiers in Vietnam. It focuses on two key texts: I was only 19 and Homecoming. The PPT includes a video of the song I was only 19 which students will listen to. They will then view key lyrics and talk about the representation of the Vietnam war in this text (including the literary devices used). After this is some information to help students empathise with what this would have been like especially for the conscripts. Some brief info is provided about 'fragging' and how the treatment the Veterans received upon their homecoming severely damaged countless veterans. It briefly looks at lyrics from Khe Sanh which discuss the experiences of a returned soldier. The remainder of the PowerPoint explores the poem Homecoming (which I ran as a separate lesson).
2) a handout with questions about Homecoming.
We will then turn our focus to the major poem for this war in our booklet (Homecoming). We will talk about the difference between these representations.
3 Resources
1) A handout with questions for the three poems in the booklet about the atomic bombing (for students to complete as revision
2) A PowerPoint which first explores survivor's recounts of the bombing. This is to help students to understand how witnessing the bombing would influence the worldview of a person and be able to explain how this would insert subjectivity into poems written by survivors. View an excerpt of a documentary on the atomic bomb (which simulates the blast and includes interviews with survivors – one of which is a poet who will be studied in the next lesson. Students will read the poem 'At the makeshift aid station' together stanza by stanza, taking time to address the questions in the prompts down the side. The significance of the reference to the cherry blossoms will be explained so that students can reflect on the effect of this symbolism. It includes some other discussion questions which will help them to think like they need to for their feature article under exam conditions...
3) A PowerPoint which analyses Takashi Tanemori’s Blades of Grass in a Dreamless Field. Information about the author and something which shaped his belief system (the bushido code). What must be understood about the author in order to best interpret the poem. There are questions, discussion points and other annotations alongside each stanza of the poem.
This worksheet can be used as a one on one tutoring resource. Alternatively, you can take activities from here to use as fast finishers or homework activities.
This document introduces students to key terms like fact, opinion and embellishment. It includes sentences and paragraphs and challenges students to identify whether they are subjective/objective. It also provides some information about zoos and asks students to write a subjective and objective paragraph about the topic.
The second section explores how verbs, adverbs and well-constructed, extended noun groups can position the reader to form an opinion or judge a person. It gives an example of a famous Australian and shows how by changing a few words you can change the connotation of the text. It includes comprehension questions to check the students understanding.
In the third section, a subjective newspaper article about the Vietnam war is included for students to analyse. There are comprehension questions which follow this.
The final section introduces students to the concept of tone and gives them a list of different words to describe the tone of a text. Students then look at an advertisement and have to suggest the tone. Subsequently, they read a bias newspaper article and answer questions about this. Finally, there is a writing activity for students which encourages them to write persuasively.
A PowerPoint to guide students as they read the World War One poem ‘Aftermath.’ It includes information about the author’s background and encourages students to speculate about how that influenced him to write Aftermath. As they read the poem there are little discussion-prompting questions and annotations down the side. Afterwards, students will suggest an intended reading and explore how the language features contributed to this message. Finally, students will review what they have learned about WW1 as next lesson they will move onto a new time period.
The handout with the typed questions from the PPT.
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 - lrigb4. 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) The lesson PowerPoint
Discuss that ‘One Stray Bullet’ is one of the passages that students can choose for their written literary transformation {imaginative recount / short story}. Read this excerpt and make predictions about what the various characters would have done after this event {aka the Fitzpatrick incident}. Discuss the use of foreshadowing in the title. Discussion questions about the various characters’ viewpoints follow. There are also some short response (comprehension / analysis) questions for students to respond to. The remainder of the slides sum up the rest of the events in Chapter 3. There are video clips to cater to visual learners.
2) Handout - ‘One Stray Bullet’ excerpt of Black Snake
3) Week two and three spelling words handout (24 words per week).
For many decades women were marginalised from texts about life in the bush. If they were mentioned at all they were the wives waiting back at the homestead and played no real role in the text. One exception is the short story ‘The Drovers Wife’ (1894) written by Henry Lawson.
This PPT and Work Sheet guide students to read and analyse the story and the effect of its language features and descriptions on readers.
Two resources from a grade 9 English unit
A list of unit specific spelling words - 24 words for each week.
PowerPoint - Looking at a few different film clips (and lyrics) in order to see how identity is portrayed in music. After each clip is responding questions. Songs include My Island Home, Land Down Under, I Am Australian and Born To Survive.
As part of a year 9 English unit investigating means to be Australian, this PowerPoint looks at one of the earliest stereotypes about Australians: that of the rugged bushman. It focuses on the bushman stereotype and poems written by Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson.
This PowerPoint was designed to teach students how to:
Evaluate the use of stereotypes in the texts
explain how the poet’s use of language helps to create meaning in the poem and positions readers in a certain way.
Explain what is accurate and what may be inaccurate about the Aussie bushman stereotype
This lesson explains the origins of this bush myth and why it was adopted by Australians. It introduces students to poetic ballads including the Man from Snowy River (which they watch a youtube clip of and must then respond to a series of questions). It also includes a summary of challenges often depicted in these poems. Subsequently, students read a Henry Lawson Poem (Ballad of the Drover) to compare the writing styles of Lawson and Patterson. Poems are included in this resource (as a handout).
This PPT also explains the link between bushmen and diggers, lists recent films which continue this stereotype etc.
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.
3 practice exam booklets for use in classes so that students can develop their assessment literacy. These could be used as a mock exam and then students could give each other feedback (in a peer review).
Each paper has a front cover for students to fill in, instructions (including planning time + time allowed to write a response), a list of the assessment objectives, 2 questions for students to respond to (they select one), planning space & lined paper on which to write their response.
Resources designed for the new senior General English 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 this text.
A PowerPoint presentation designed for use in a Grade 12 English class.
It includes:
• A summary of Chapter 1 and screen shots from the movie to illustrate key characters and locations
• Important things to note about chapter 1
• Notes about how Orwell developed the setting (including quotes)
• Information about surveillance and the ministries
• Details about the protagonist Winston Smith and his diary
• Important people that we meet in this chapter – Julia and O’Brien
• The small distractions available to citizens – Victory Gin & Victory Cigarettes
• The answers to the Ch 1 questions in the student work booklet (also available in my store)
• A summary of Chapter 2 (including info about the junior spies)
• Information about Hitler Youth (who were likely the inspiration for the junior spies in the novel)
• Answers to the Ch 2 questions
• A summary of Chapter 3
• Information about the Panopticon (18th Century) which may have influenced Orwell
• Answers to the Ch 3 questions
• A summary of Chapter 4
• Answers to Ch 4 questions
• A summary of Chapter 5
• Answers to Ch 5 questions
• A map showing Oceania, Eastasia and Eurasia
• Some character profiles (to check what information students have located thus far)
Resources designed for the new senior General English 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 this text.
A 30-page booklet designed for Grade 12 students studying George Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four.
It includes:
• a character map,
• a list of themes, motifs, symbols, moral issues
• a series of graphic organisers for students to organise their notes about 6 themes, 6 specified symbols,
• a table to record noticeable values, attitudes, beliefs and cultural assumptions
• a place to record important terms (glossary) including: newspeak terms; context terms; unfamiliar terms
• a table to record key details about each character and several important settings (names pre filled)
• a diagram showing the societal structure of Oceania
• a table to record the purpose of each of the four ministries
• places to record significant aesthetic features and stylistic devices (language features & text structures)
• a set of chapter questions for all 3 ‘books’ and post reading questions and activities
Teaching tip: to save on printing, the chapter questions can be removed and added to a Class One Note / other online location.
Resources designed for the new senior General English 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 this text.
A PowerPoint presentation designed for use in a Grade 12 English class. it was designed to prepare the students for their external exam (where they have to write an essay in response to a question / statement about the text).
The lesson includes:
• A quick quiz (11 questions) to establish prior knowledge (answers pop up when clicked)
• An explanation of language features (with examples provided). Terms included: paradox, oxymoron, allusion, binary oppositions, portmanteau, motif, metaphor, extended metaphors (aka conceit), personification, simile, symbolism,
• Information about the following techniques in Nineteen Eighty Four: allusion, binary oppositions, portmanteaus, symbolism,
• A language features quiz to check for understanding (6 questions)
Bonus resource: A word document table for assigning students a specific chapter to analyse (to contribute to the Class One Note)
Resources designed for the new senior General English 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 this text.
These are the homework resources for a year 12 Authority English unit delivered in Queensland, Australia. The focus for this unit is the comprehensive study of a text that explores a different culture (the autobiography Slave by Mende Nazer). Through examining the autobiographies underlying ideologies and themes, students will be exposed to social and cultural experiences that are far removed from their own. In particular, students will explore the controversial and confrontational issues privileged in the selected text. Engaging with a culturally rich text will allow students to develop empathy and connect other cultural experiences with their own lived experience.
Resource 1: List of vocabulary (spelling words) for the term - students are to learn 24 words per week.
Resource 2: List of terms that students should know by the end of year 12 which can be used as extension for gifted students.
Resource 3: A list of comprehension questions written to assess students knowledge of each chapter of the autobiography. This is a good tool for consolidating knowledge and will be useful revision when they need to develop an idea for their assessment tasks.