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Dust Echoes is a series of twelve beautifully animated Dreamtime stories from Central Arnhem Land, telling stories of love, loyalty, duty to country and Aboriginal custom and law.

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Education resources for schools teachers and students - ABC Education

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ABC Education has 4000+ educational games, videos and teaching resources for schools and students. Free Primary and Secondary resources covering history, science, English, maths and more

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A Knight's Tale (2001) - Love Letter Scene (5/10) | Movieclips

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Stereotypical "tourist"

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Stereotypical "Aussie"

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Stereotypical "nerd"

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How to write descriptively - Nalo Hopkinson

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This activity emphasises:

an interest in expanding the range of materials listened to, viewed and read, and in experimenting with ways of expressing increasingly subtle and complex ideas to create effective and innovative texts

It aims to achieve the following curriculum content descriptor/s:

Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features (ACELY1746)

Elaboration/s:   creating imaginative texts with main ideas developed through the interconnections of plot, settings, characters, the changing of chronological order, foreshadowing in written, spoken and digital texts

OBJECTIVES:   Students will have the skills and knowledge to transform their understanding and create a short story following viewing/listening to different stimulus.

Students will spend some time listening to Chapter Four of the Dust Echoes series, titled Morning Star.  Students will first be required listen to the presentation, acknowledging the music and narration, taking individual notes in their books or on their device.  Following this, students will listen again to the  short clip but this time will also be allowed to watch the visual presentation.  Again, students will be encouraged to take notes and record anything that they may find interesting or of value.
The teacher will lead discussions on the notes taken following the listening/viewing activities.  Students will be encouraged to consider the main ideas that are developed throughout the short clip, Morning Star.  The educator will collaborate the discussion ideas on to the interactive whiteboard for all students to visualise.

Ultimately, students will be required to create an imaginative short story based on what they have just listened to and viewed.  Students will be required to consider what they have learnt in previous activities to produce an innovative and fluent text with a specific underlying theme.  The teacher will explicitly remind students to consider their vocabulary choices and will prompt students to write their short story using appropriate and effective language for a teenage audience.
Students will be required to submit or hand in their work.  In effect, they must include an annotation explaining to the teacher what the theme of their short story is, and how they chose to develop this theme.

This activity is well rounded and offers students the opportunity to draw upon and consolidate the skills and knowledge that have been constructed in previous learning activities. The use of the technology throughout this activity not only enhances the learning, but is also considered to transform it.

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This activity emphasises:

the skill and disposition needed to analyse and understand the philosophical, moral, political and aesthetic bases on which many texts are built

It aims to achieve the following curriculum content descriptor/s:

Interpret and compare how representations of people and culture in literary texts are drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts (ACELT1633)

Elaboration/s:

exploring and reflecting on representations of values (for example love, freedom, integrity) in literature drawn from cultures and times different from the students’ own

OBJECTIVES:   Students will be able to identify the inherent role that characters play in the construction and representation of important values throughout a number of texts.  Students will be able to analyse and explain how characters contribute to the development of themes throughout a text.

Students will participate in an activity that involves them viewing, reading and listening to a number of examples of 'love scenes' from a range of different texts.  The activity is developed in order to highlight how profound love is, as a theme underpinning texts of all different modalities.  Students will be able to identify how love is represented through texts from contexts and times that differ from their own.

Students will watch the shot clip from the film, A Knight's Tale, showing a male character scribing a love letter to the woman that he admires. In small groups, students are to deconstruct the love letter, analyse what is being 'said' and reword it in modern day, 21st Century language. This information is to presented in the form of a text message or 'Facebook' Messenger message. Students are required to annotate their revolutionised love letter explaining and justifying their evaluation and decisions.

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This activity emphasises:

fluency and innovation in listening to, reading, viewing and creating texts for different purposes and contexts

It aims to achieve the following curriculum content descriptor/s:

Experiment with the ways that language features, image and sound can be adapted in literary texts, for example the effects of stereotypical characters and settings, the playfulness of humour and pun and the use of hyperlink (ACELT1638)

Elaboration/s:

making language choices and choosing particular language devices to achieve intended effects, for example building in a surprise or twist in the ending of a short story or final scene of a film

OBJECTIVE:  Students will be fluent and innovative with their ability to use a range of literary devices to construct characters that both support and challenge expected stereotypes. Students will be able to describe already constructed characters with the use of appropriate literary devices.

Activity two will begin with students being asked to enter the classroom with their device/notebook and pen ready.  They will be instructed to individually consider two examples of stereotypes known to them and explain, describe, make notes of these stereotypes.  Students are encouraged to consider what these stereotypes look like, feel like, sound like etc. What ways can you describe these stereotypes? After the appropriate time, students will be shown a number of examples of common stereotypes that are evident throughout society, whether politically correct or not. Students will be asked to share their answers/ideas and recognise what ideas and answers were the same as others.

Students will then be required to watch a  Four minute video by Nalo Hopkinson, on How to Write Descriptively.  They will be expected to take notes during the video and will be expected to able to recall some, if not all of the literary devices suggested and advice given.

Following this, the teacher will move forward with explicitly teaching literary devices to the class with specific focus on:
onomatopoeia, metaphor, simile, personification and description.

I DO/WE DO/YOU DO

Now using these literary devices, the teacher will provide an example to the students of how a stereotype can be upheld or challenged when creating characters. The teacher will work with students to develop and describe a character that upholds an agreed stereotype. The teacher and students will work together to decide on appropriate literary devices to add to the description of this character.  Students will finish the activity by individually employing the literary device/s of their choice to develop and describe a character that will either support or challenge a stereotype.

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This activity emphasises:

an expanding vocabulary and grasp of grammatical and textual patterns sufficient to understand and learn from texts encountered in and out of school

It aims to achieve the following curriculum content descriptor/s:

Identify how vocabulary choices contribute to specificity, abstraction and stylistic effectiveness (ACELA1561)

Elaboration/s:

Comparing and contrasting vocabulary choices in informative and narrative texts, considering how they are used to create precise information, abstract ideas and/or stylistic interpretations of texts.

OBJECTIVE:   At the completion of this learning activity, it is encouraged that student's should have a wider understanding and confidence in association to adjectives and verbs in a narrative genre.  Students will know how to utilise online resources in order to check and improve their vocabulary choices in a narrative genre.

The activity is initiated with students working in pairs. They are instructed to use the template provided (paper or on hard-drive for device) to brainstorm and create two mind maps. On one mind map, students are prompted to record the features that they think are integral to narrative writing (purpose, structure, language choices etc). While on the other mind map, they must record the same for a newspaper article (purpose, structure, language choices etc). The teacher can scaffold the activity by providing prompts and initiating questions for students to consider.

Moving forward, students will collaborate their answers with the rest of the class as the teacher records their input onto a universal mind map.  The findings should be discussed and consolidated to ensure understanding from all students.

The teacher will then project onto the interactive white board an example of an online news article.  The teacher will use the points gathered on the mind map to make connections with the article.  Students will be able to identify the vocabulary choices and how they are used to convey information.  Students will be prompted to participate in discussion on the way they would describe the language choices throughout the article (matter of a factual, serious, formal).  Now consider, how do you want a narrative to be read, in comparison?
There is more than one characteristic differentiating a narrative from an article, but for this activity - students are to consider how vocabulary contributes to engaging and entertaining their audience as opposed to informing them.  How would you describe the language of a narrative? (in comparison to matter of a factual, serious, formal).

NOW - The teacher will project an example of a 'narrative text' to the interactive whiteboard for students to see. The teacher will read the passage out loud in order for students to appreciate the effect of the vocabulary choices.

Students will receive another handout (electronic or paper) with an example of narrative text that is not as strong or engaging. With guidance from what is projected on the board, and with the use of the Google Search engine and the thesaurus built into their word documents, students are instructed to rewrite the passage on the handout with more emotive and engaging vocabulary. Students will be required to save and submit their work, or hand in their worksheet at the end of the lesson. This will act as an exit ticket to inform the teacher on the level of student engagement and understanding.

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The year 9 English class are participating in a unit of work surrounding speculative fiction. The summative assessment task associated to this unit will require students to produce their own speculative fiction short story, using an information text as stimulus.
Therefore, learning activities have been developed in order to ensure students have appropriate knowledge and skills for achievement in the assessment task.

In creating the following sequence of learning activities, it has been assumed that each student as well as the teacher, will have access to either their own device or a device provided by the school.

***  Please note - these are examples of learning activities only.  The activities may form part of or the entirety of one or more whole lesson.

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Please move through this resource at your own pace.
You can follow the arrows to progress through the learning activities in their intended sequential order.
Along the way, you have been provided some hints, tips and points to consider.  Be sure to read and make the most of the resources that have been made available to you.

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When planning a lesson or learning activity, can you successfully integrate technology to enhance or transform learning?
You can utilise the SAMR Framework to inform planning, integration and evaluation of technology in learning to support high levels of achievement.

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As discussed in the introduction, this resource has been developed in order to showcase how four of the key ideas associated to the concept of "Literacy is Language in Use", can be embedded into meaningful and relevant learning activities for a Year 9 English Class.
The approach of each these learning activities will promote the importance of integrated pedagogy and technology and innately emphasise:

an expanding vocabulary and grasp of grammatical and textual patterns sufficient to understand and learn from texts encountered in and out of school

fluency and innovation in listening to, reading, viewing and creating texts for different purposes and contexts

the skill and disposition needed to analyse and understand the philosophical, moral, political and aesthetic bases on which many texts are built

an interest in expanding the range of materials listened to, viewed and read, and in experimenting with ways of expressing increasingly subtle and complex ideas to create effective and innovative texts.

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Before engaging with this resource, please take the time to read or listen to my personal introduction

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Before engaging with this resource, please take the time to read or listen to my personal introduction

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 WELCOME TO THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE,  TITLED "LITERACY IS LANGUAGE IN USE"                  

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 WELCOME TO THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCE,  TITLED "LITERACY IS LANGUAGE IN USE"                  

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I would like to reinforce the idea that familiarity, confidence and competence with ICTs is inherent to the success of our role, as educators in the 21st Century.  As a result of society's rapidly increasing use of technology, the needs and learning diversities of our students has remarkably evolved.  Therefore, the skills that we possess as teachers must too evolve.  In support of the General Capabilities stipulated by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, 2008, this resource highlights how technology can be integrated into learning activities in a meaningful and relevant approach.

Consider viewing the provided Policy Insights - Australian Students in a Digital World - published by the Australian Council for Educational Research in 2015.