A lesson designed for a senior English class to practice identifying representations (messages about sport) and identifying various character’s values, attitudes, beliefs and cultural assumptions. It includes a breif synopsis of the film, pictures of the main characters, a graphic organiser for studdents to record the VABs of the various characters and some post viewing questions.

A worksheet for use in 10 History after a unit on The Holocaust. It has during viewing and post viewing questions.

A worksheet designed for watching episodes 5 and 6 of Madiba (2017). This lesson was used when the year 11’s were on camp as a form of revision for the year 12’s. Episodes available on ClickView. Resources designed for the new senior Modern History 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 the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa (1948-1994).

This is a quiz I devised to use with pupils on the last lesson of term. The answers for each round are included after the round. There are 10 questions per round. The music clips for the music round are provided via hyperlink. For the music round, two points should be awarded for each clip; 1 point for a correct artist, 1 point for a correct song title. I used the template from a free resource on here which had the same rounds but for 2012.

Resources designed with QCIA (special needs) students in mind. These students were encouraged to choose The Incredibles. The resource includes a QCIA task sheet, a word bank and a cloze passage (to assist the Teacher’s Aide to prompt student to develop their own response). 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.” 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 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.

About the PPT: A PPT designed to develop student assessment literacy. It begins with an explanation of the criteria broken down into “I can” statements which students will understand. It then offers students two potential structures for the review (depending on whether they have the ability to synthesise or not). In this lesson I used a film that students are not doing for their assessment to co-construct a response. The subsequent slides take students through my thinking process (selecting a hero and villain to discuss). Then I show a structure for body 1 broken down into dot points. I then showed them how I would write an extended TEEL paragraph about Aquaman. Students then had to repeat this process to write body 2 (about the villain). Afterwards, we went through an example I had written. We then looked at what needed to happen in body 3 and a potential structure, before reading an example I prepared. About the word documents: Sentence Starters and an example response (written about Aqua man) I Can statements which explain the criteria in student specific terms 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 PPT designed to be used after students have viewed The Incredibles. It begins with an exploration of Mr Incredible and his two costumes. Students are to discuss what VABs they noticed in the film. I have provided some answer slides with possible options. This process continues with Elastigirl and Syndrome. Some information about supporting characters including Violet and Dash are also provided. About the word documents: 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. A teacher version of the report card. 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 by explaining what film reviews are and their common features. Following this students watch the trailer for season one of Wednesday (the TV series on Netflix). This is followed by some questions to prompt discussion. Students then read a review and use a highlighter to note the various language features used by the reviewer. Afterwards students are introduced to the second film they will be viewing. They watch the trailer for The Incredibles and some quick facts are shown. They add the director details and others to the retrieval chart. There is a brief synopsis of the plot and some inspiration about what inspired the characters. Following this students are given a quote sheet which they can look at and complete an activity talking about what the characters words say about them (i.e. their personality, beliefs, values). About the Word Documents: A copy of a review written about the Wednesday TV series. A handout which contains some key quotes from the characters from The Incredibles for an activity explained in the PPT slide. 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.

Several word documents which are useful for teaching about The Avengers Song lyrics for ‘Everybody Knows’ Notes I took while watching the film 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. 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 PPT designed to be used after students have viewed the film Batman Forever. It begins with an explanation of Two Face and his back story. There are images of his costume which students can describe in the Language Features portion of the retrieval chart. There are slides going through colours and their meanings – maroon, yellow and black. Some information about his props is provided. Students can mention any others that they have noticed. A quote from the news reporter from the orientation of the film is included. Students are asked to volunteer what attitudes they noticed. Some key scenes from the film are summarised to generate opportunities for students to identify his Values, Beliefs and Cultural Assumptions. These scenes include – his escape from Arkham Asylum, Murdering the Flying Graysons, Forming an alliance with the Riddler & Gate crashing Nygma’s event. A similar structure is followed for Batman and The Riddler. About the Word Document: 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. 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 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.

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.

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.

A copy of the PowerPoint I used to go through the task requirements with the students (10 English, Australia). Students had to write a feature article which focused on the moral/ethical dilemmas in the text. A feature article checklist which was attached to the task sheet so provide feedback to students on missing elements (in response to their drafts) Two exemplar feature articles which can be used in handout lessons or when teaching the feature article genre. A planning document to assist students to draft their own feature article.

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 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 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 graphic organiser (worksheet) for students to fill in while watching the documentary ‘HITLER’S WORLD: THE POST WAR PLAN: NAZIFICATION’ (2017) available on ClickView at https://online.clickview.com.au/libraries/series/9204332/hitler-s-world-the-post-war-plan The documentary originally aired on SBS and funs for 45 minutes. I utilise the broadcast strategy approach (Barry & King, 1998) previewing the graphic organiser prior to playing the documentary so that students know what to listen out for. I then facilitate a class discussion to go through the answers once we have finished watching the documentary. I have also included notes taken by a student as a sample response.