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.
A fun PPT I put together for the end of the year. It has 10 questions per round.
The rounds include:
Films of 2024 (identifying from pictures)
Next lines (given a line of a Christmas carol and must write next line)
Famous faces (identifying celebrities from pictures of part of their face / body)
Christmas tv viewing (identifying Xmas films from still images)
Christmas trivia
Songs of 2024 (watch a YouTube clip which has snippets of songs from this year)
News of 2024 [questions about events which happened this year]
Films of 2023
News of 2023
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)
Extracts from the Hobbit used to exemplify the different parts of a short story structure. Some clips from the film used as well.
Additional examples from the set text for this year 12 unit (An Autobiography called Slave by Mende Nazer).
Reference List
Tolkien, J. R. R. (1937). The hobbit, or there and back again. George Allen & Unwin.
Jackson, P. (Director). (2012). The hobbit: An unexpected journey [Motion picture]. New Line Cinema; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
New Line Cinema. (2012). The hobbit: An unexpected journey [Film poster]. Warner Bros. Pictures.
New Line Cinema. (2012). The hobbit: An unexpected journey [Film stills]. Warner Bros. Pictures.
Nazer, M., & Lewis, D. (2002). Slave: The true story of a girl’s lost childhood and her fight for survival. Virago Press.archive.org
Virago Press. (2002). Slave: The true story of a girl’s lost childhood and her fight for survival [Book cover].
A quiz made as a fun end of year activity but which could also be used at the beginning of a school year. It was inspired by the television show Spicks and Specs (an Australian music-themed comedic television quiz show on ABC and ABC iview). This version has 6 rounds and is appropriate for grades 8 and over as it requires students to be familiar with musical artists.
References:
Unknown. (Producer). (2010). Spics and Specs [TV program]. ABC.
About the PPT: the lesson began with a checking for understanding brainstorm – students had to think of types of characters who commonly appear in stories. After sharing their responses, I have a list for students to copy. There is information about the types of things authors need to plan and consider before they begin writing. I have a slide defining characterisation which gives examples of direct and indirect characterisation. Following this the text for today’s lesson ‘Soil’ is introduced. I provide some information about the author Ellen Van Neerven who was awarded the 2015 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize for the collection ‘Heat and Light’. Some of the terms that students may be unfamiliar with have been defined on the slide. After reading the story, there are some discussion questions which I use with the students. Students then share their responses for the retrieval chart. This is followed by some information provided by one of the Bundjalung teachers from our school about some of the sensitive issues raised in this story. Students then consider what gaps or silences they could draw on in a short story. I located images from children’s picture books and the internet which students could draw on to develop their setting. Following this, students were given a writing prompt which they had to plan for (which they would write about in the literacy lesson). The slides from the literacy lesson are also included.
Other resources:
A copy of the Short Story and the retrieval chart
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 - Topic 2: Creating representations of Australian identities, places, events and concepts.†During this unit students learned about Australian social groups. They engaged with a range of short stories representing Australia. Their assessment was to write a short story which explored a gap/silence from one of the texts they studied in class.
Reference List:
Van Neerven, E. (2014). Soil. In Heat and light. University of Queensland Press.​
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.
During this module students investigate their personality type and explore how people manage conflict. They apply conflict management strategies to real life contexts and make decisions about what strategies are most effective.
This is a work booklet pack which was designed for use during the 2020 COVID 19 pandemic. It would also be useful for students who are absent for medical / personal reasons. The content within this resource could be adapted into PowerPoints or worksheets for use in the classroom. This work pack contains three lessons worth of content.
Lesson 1 - Arguments are defined and common causes of conflict are listed. Three discussion questions are posed. Three levels of arguments are outlined. Assertive communication is explained (including examples). There is a ‘how assertive are you?’ quiz for students to complete. A list of assertion techniques are explained and examples are provided. This is followed by a classification activity - where students read examples and label them. Conflict resolution is defined along with a series of conflict resolution strategies.
Lesson 2 - focusing on conflicts in our personal lives. In particular looking at conflicts with our friends as these are a natural part of growing up. Students read tips for keeping their friendships strong. Interpersonal skills such as active listening are explained. Advice for what to do if you don’t know how to reply to something a friend discloses to you. Some ‘blocks’ to really listening are described. Looking at when it is a good idea to give people space and if it is ever ok to lie to friends. How to let people in without feeling humiliated. After engaging with these materials, a range of scenarios are presented to students. Students then complete activities in a graphic organiser which help them to a) analyse the conflict / problem & b) recommend a solution.
Lesson 3- focuses on conflict in the workplace. It includes advice about what to do if you experience conflict with your boss / manager. It includes information about why people (like customers) become challenging. There is information about what upset people want and a three prong strategy for dealing with difficult people. Tips for handling customer complaints are outlined. A series of comprehension questions follow this material.
Part of a set of resources created for a senior Social & Community studies class in Australia (QCAA syllabus). The other resources are also available in my store - lrigb4. Designed for use in 70 minute lessons.
A fun trivia PPT designed for an end of the year activity but which would also be useful if you broke it up and used particular rounds as warm ups or brain breaks throughout a year. There are 20 questions per round (12 rounds in total) - each slide features 10 questions which auto appear upon clicking. Each round has a different focus or theme. There are a couple of picture rounds (famous people, famous landmarks, celebrity singers etc.) Additional round categories include: popular culture, true or false, food and drink, science and the human body, English, Geography, History, General Knowledge, Maths and lastly Animals and Birds. After each round is a slide providing the answers for that round. Questions could also be used in a jeopardy style game.
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.
A PPT to help students to learn about key figures including: H. F. (Hendrik Frensch) Voerwoerd, B. J. (Balthazar Johannes) Vorster, Joe Slovo, Ruth First, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Albertina Sisulu, Chief Albert Luthulli, Steven Biko, Kalushi Drake Koda, Desmond Tutu etc. It includes images and information from various websites including Encyclopaedia Britannica and South African History Online.
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 PPT was used to introduce an alternative sequence class (11 and 12 students in the same class) to the external assessment. It includes information from QCAA’s subject reports which explains the assessment conditions. This is followed by a series of slides explaining each criterion and looking at example questions. For some of the question types there are recommended response structures and sample answers.
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).
Two resources:
A unit plan which includes: a unit description, key questions for the unit, a breakdown of the learning intentions & success criteria, some planning resources, key details about the assessment, scaffolding notes for the assessment {cognitive verbs, a structure, evaluative language, other expected language features}. A list of the themes in the novel. Questions for a self/peer review (student reflection). Reflection questions to be used at the end of the unit (teacher reflection prompts).
A Scope and Sequence which outlines how I taught the unit. (My school has 4 x 70 minute lessons a week).
Resources designed for 10 English in Queensland, Australia. It is part of a novel study unit which culminates in a 90-minute examination (500 to 800-word essay). Students had 1 week notice of the question and could bring 100 words of notes in with them.
Within this unit students explored how an author’s use of language features, images and vocabulary contributed to the representation of themes in the novel. They also gained a deeper understanding of key literary techniques, including (but not limited to) characterisation, plot, and setting.
Reference List
Gwynne, P. (1998). Deadly unna? Penguin Books Australia.
Penguin Books Australia. (1998). Deadly unna? [Book cover].
Harris, P. (Director). (2002). Aussie Rules [Motion picture]. Becker Entertainment.
Becker Entertainment. (2002). Aussie Rules [Film poster].
Becker Entertainment. (2002). Aussie Rules [Still image].
A PowerPoint which provides an image and summary for the following characters from Deadly Unna? (pictures taken from the film Aussie Rules).
Bob Black aka The Old Man
Gwen Black (Blacky’s mum)
Gary Black
Dumby Red
Pickles
Coach Robertson aka Arks
Tim Black aka Best Team-Man
Darcy
I printed these up and used them as posters in the classroom.
Reference List
Gwynne, P. (1998). Deadly unna? Penguin Books Australia.
Penguin Books Australia. (1998). Deadly unna? [Book cover].
Harris, P. (Director). (2002). Aussie Rules [Motion picture]. Becker Entertainment.
Becker Entertainment. (2002). Aussie Rules [Film poster].
Becker Entertainment. (2002). Aussie Rules [Still image].
This lesson was taught in the phase of the unit where students were prepping for their upcoming essay exam.
It begins with a warm up where students had to look at a list of 5 characteristics and consider which characters from the novel Deadly Unna? had them.
This was followed by an explanation of citing conventions (how to in text reference). Examples were provided to show how to punctuate direct quotes properly. Then students were shown a table which contained quotes from the novel – they had to turn this into a sentence with appropriate referencing. This was followed by information about how to embed quotes into essay paragraphs – with examples for another text. 2 x poor examples and 2 x good examples are provided for ‘Rabbit Proof Fence.’ This is followed by time for students to plan their response to the practice exam question - Are the male characters in the novel realistic, outdated or stereotypical representations of Australian men?
Resources designed for 10 English in Queensland, Australia. It is part of a novel study unit which culminates in a 90-minute examination (500 to 800-word essay). Students had 1 week notice of the question and could bring 100 words of notes in with them.
Within this unit students explored how an author’s use of language features, images and vocabulary contributed to the representation of themes in the novel. They also gained a deeper understanding of key literary techniques, including (but not limited to) characterisation, plot, and setting.
Reference List
Gwynne, P. (1998). Deadly unna? Penguin Books Australia.
Penguin Books Australia. (1998). Deadly unna? [Book cover].
Harris, P. (Director). (2002). Aussie Rules [Motion picture]. Becker Entertainment.
Becker Entertainment. (2002). Aussie Rules [Film poster].
Becker Entertainment. (2002). Aussie Rules [Still image].
2 practice exams (with scaffolding prompts).
Resources designed for 10 English in Queensland, Australia. It is part of a novel study unit which culminates in a 90-minute examination (500 to 800-word essay). Students had 1 week notice of the question and could bring 100 words of notes in with them.
Within this unit students explored how an author’s use of language features, images and vocabulary contributed to the representation of themes in the novel. They also gained a deeper understanding of key literary techniques, including (but not limited to) characterisation, plot, and setting.
Reference List
Gwynne, P. (1998). Deadly unna? Penguin Books Australia.
Penguin Books Australia. (1998). Deadly unna? [Book cover].
Harris, P. (Director). (2002). Aussie Rules [Motion picture]. Becker Entertainment.
Becker Entertainment. (2002). Aussie Rules [Film poster].
Becker Entertainment. (2002). Aussie Rules [Still image].
A list of suggested activities and instructions for how they work
These include;
KNIGHTS, MOUNTS & CAVALIERS
Pictionary (with suggested words)
Cat and mouse
Charades (with suggested activities, people, television programs, films and characters)
Substitute (singing tune of a song to words from a book)
Celebrity heads
Evil stick of gum
Space Jump
What if