Stimulating, engaging and promoting thinking beyond the lesson of the day - that's the support material I seek to produce in the English, Maths and Humanities areas. As a resource manager and classroom teacher for over 30 years, I want to offer practical, get-to-the-point material to broaden, challenge and deepen understanding, provide for a range of skill levels, and make teaching and learning stimulating and enjoyable.
Stimulating, engaging and promoting thinking beyond the lesson of the day - that's the support material I seek to produce in the English, Maths and Humanities areas. As a resource manager and classroom teacher for over 30 years, I want to offer practical, get-to-the-point material to broaden, challenge and deepen understanding, provide for a range of skill levels, and make teaching and learning stimulating and enjoyable.
This 20 page study guide for students is a complete unit, covering the plot, characters and themes of Ken Kesey’s “One Flew
Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in a visually rich and stimulating format. This is the product of my twenty five years of teaching the novel, and covers
Background to the writing of the book / analysis of Kesey’s purpose / socio-political context of sixties counter-culture
Comprehension on all significant parts of the novel, involving close exercises, short answers, paragraph writing and creative reflection responses
Character analysis and outline of conflicting representations (focus on point of view in literature)
Further reading and research stimulus
This is intended as a complete, step by step guide to understanding the novel in depth, using cartoons, stimulus poetry and extension activity, and can be useful in teaching to a range of ability levels, with students able to progress at their own rate to grasp the essential social commentary of the novel.
This fifteen page study guide is intended as a complete self-contained work unit for students in Years 10 to 12 studying the film “Dead Poets’ Society.” It offers a wide range of analytical and creative activities for students to fully engage with and respond to the film and its themes. The study guide has been created for maximum visual appeal, calculated to reflect the idealism and romanticism of the film, and to provide your students with opportunities for both rigorous analysis of plot, characters, themes and film techniques, as well as activities to give scope to their own self-expression in the form of poetry writing, personal argument and script writing.
The study guide is made up of
Introduction to the film with questions based on prior knowledge and preliminary reflections on the purpose
of education and the tension between conformity and individualism
Plot summary and close exercises on the storyline and conflicts
Character Analyses with questions on all major characters
Case study of Film Techniques, with analysis of scripting, camera and lighting, with comprehension questions
about scene direction
Drama writing exercise for students to create alternative endings and additional scenes to the film
Poetry analysis of verse from the film with comprehension questions
Stimulus for personal poetry writing on the themes and ideas in "Dead Poets’ Society’
Paragraph writing exercises and essay topics
Discussion and debate topics
As a unit of work, this study guide is envisaged as covering two to three weeks of work
Nine page handout for use in the study of the classic film about friendship and change, with examination of plot characters and themes. Students undertake writing activities under the following - interpreting, justifying, comparing and contrasting.
This is a colorful, professionally produced study guide of ten numbered pages, used and found practical for a range of Year 11 and 12 students. With plenty of graphics, including cartoons and a range of activities to promote active participation in watching the film, this is aimed at promoting extended writing about positioning, bias and point-of view, with comprehension questions, crossword and discussion questions aimed at vocabulary building and identifying film techniques. It includes an annotated exemplar of effective reviewing, guidance questions for the viewing process, and builds on skills in a cumulative way, from literal understanding of the content to more sophisticated concepts such as selectivity, language choices in commentary and the power of documentary film making to promote change.
Four items to use with the film JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS
1. Assessment task with exemplar film review
2.Comprehension handout
3. Crossword handout
4. Word search handout
This is a complete unit of work in the form of a student study guide covering the novel ‘All Quiet on the Western Front.’ It contains all that is needed to examine, in a comprehensive literary study, the plotting, characterization, use of language and narrative point-of-view of Erich Remarque’s novel.
It is envisaged that this will support a three to four week span of class work at senior level.
The material is 25 pages of activities, thoroughly illustrated with varied text types and graphics to stimulate engagement and understanding. The handout is intended to provide a cumulative study of writing that causes social change and the way language is used to make a social protest.
Contained in the student handout is
Background notes on World War One and Remarque’s point of view
Analysis of characters
Detailed analysis of themes
Key quotes - student comprehension testing on the use of language and dialogue to position and form representations and
symbolic meaning
Exemplar essay
Reflection activities
Exemplar of persuasive language with comprehension test
Complete unit for the drama, TWELVE ANGRY MEN, providing an engaging, varied range of student activities for rigorous analysis of plot, characters and themes. This is a unit of literary analysis, covering vocabulary of legal terms, analysis of conflicts, interpretation of cartoons related to key ideas in the text, and extension activities.
The unit can be used as
whole class, step-by-step lessons or
self-contained student-directed work program for individuals to complete at
their learning pace, complete with all questions to the varied comprehension
for student self-evaluation
**UNIT PACKAGE **
INTRODUCTION TO THE PLAY Power Point (1 - 2 lessons)
(2 copies - one TEACHER ONLY copy with all answers on vocabulary and
comprehension questions
one STUDENT copy with comprehension questions minus
answers)
Power Point contains
Understanding essential concepts - prior knowledge & vocabulary exercise
Legality, Morality and Unjust Laws - comprehension
Law making in democratic society / symbolism and law
Cartoon representations of problems with the justice system -
comprehension
**STUDENT STUDY & COMPREHENSION GUIDE (approximately 2 weeks)
(i) Fourteen comprehension activities covering all of the plot, comprehension
and interpretation of key lines, using diagrams to compare and contrast,
sequencing diagram, short answer tasks and crossword on the text.
(ii) Teacher Power Point with all answers to questions in the study guide for
class marking and assessing student understanding
3. EXEMPLAR ESSAY Handout
Annotated exemplar analytical essay
Sidebar annotation of textual construction and language features
Here is a resource parcel for your senior students aimed at giving them extensive practical help in responding in essay form to the characters and themes of Arthur miller's THE CRUCIBLE. It consists of six items which can be used together as culmination of a unit on the play prior to students writing their own analytical response.
This is practical material aimed at enabling your students to practice their writing skills using stimulating exemplars and scaffolded handouts with construction guidelines and content prompts.
1. A closely annotated exemplar of a top standard formal essay on the themes of THE CRUCIBLE, with
explanatory pointers on structure, content and wording
2. A powerpoint containing do's and don'ts when students write their essay - it contains specific parts
of THE CRUCIBLE to make the points
3.Four scaffolded practice essay handouts - two on characters and two on themes. These are colour
coded to guide construction, and have prompt points to assist in the content
Suited to Years 10 to 12, this four page activities handout examines specific advertising that is sexist and features representations based on stereotyping and narrow gender roles.
It contains
1. exemplar analyses of print advertisements displaying gender bias
2. student responses to common gender stereotypes
3. guidance on paragraph writing
4. exercises in paragraph responses to sexist advertisements
STREETS OF LONDON
Multiple Choice Levels of Meaning Listening and Reading Stimulus and Test
Suitable for early middle school Years 7/8/9
Theme of Social Commentary and Social Protest.
Along with a dramatic cover sheet with the song lyrics of Ralf McTell's famous ballad urging us to look and see the hardships of the underclass around us, there are 20 questions, structured as follows
1. Five "Right There" specific / literal questions
2. Five "Gather the Information" questions requiring longer reading across the entire text.
3. 10 Inferential questions based on the implied meaning and the writer's intentions.
Three part resource analyzing the distinctive elements of Australian humor. The focus is on the comedic techniques of satire and parody, using the hit television series, “Kath and Kim,” as the focus.
The powerpoint is a colorful animated presentation covering
(i) the premise
(ii) analysis of characters
(iii) conflicts and relationships as a source of comedy and social comment
(iv) the satire as a slice-of-suburban life /mockumentary sending up ignorant consumerism, cultural insensitivity and small mindedness.
(v) the main comedic techniques with examples from the dialogue and plotting
(vi) use of idiomatic language
The handout presents a character summary of the powerpoint findings, and uses the episode OLD as a case study to examine the elements of the humour.
The third item is an annotated exempar of an analystical essay about the episode OLD, discussing characterization, dialogue and themes in the satire. It explains the social targets and the cultural assumptions.
Here are two handout items on the anti-war poem / song lyric AND THE BAND PLAYED WALTZING MATILDA by Eric Bogle. The first contain the text of the poem / lyric which use has shown works best by playing the video version from Youtube to being to life this immensely powerful and moving lyric. There are a series of comprehension questions which can be used for formal assessment or group discussion.
The letter writing task contains an example of a letter to the editor about the thematic relevance and literary qualities of the poem. The student is then provided with a question task of their own to complete on a war poem of their choice.
This is a power point presentation intended to create a reflective response from studetns. It can be used for history teaching, although I find it works effectively as part of English teaching of war poetry and war fiction. Of course, if the class is doing John Hersey's Hiroshima, it fits perfectly.
A set of visual exemplars of sexist advertising accompany the handout which will take at least a lesson or two to complete. It includes an overview of what to identify in gender-discriminating advertising, with exemplar responses and explanations of how to write more effectively. Student exercises follow to apply the knowledge learned. A brief power point about the deconstruction of advertisements is included.
A set of five highly visual powerpoints containing ongoing focus questions, task slides and vocabulary and concept building, created to widen understanding during the class viewing of SHREK. There is also a handout on vocabulary learned during the film study. This unit of work contains most of what you will need for a close film study.
The emphasis is on a visually engaging presentation of the essential details of genre, setting, character and theme, with the slide content created specifically for student note taking and regular set questions for class discussion. There are culminating tasks on each slide set to revise and summarize what has been learned.
Set One - INTRODUCTION TO SHREK
* Reason for mass age group appeal
* Outline of origins of story
* How book is adapted to film
* Reflection task on the appeal of modernized fairy tales
Set Two - SETTING AND GENRE
* Time / Place framing
* Foreshadowing & expectations through setting and genre
* Fairy tale conventions
* Conflicts in conventional fairy tales
* Historical context - medieval society
* Shrek as a conventional fairy story - writing and discussion
Set Three - VOCABULARY
* key words from the film - slides for each viewing day
* film vocabulary with part of speech, definition and example of usage
in the film
HANDOUT based on Vocaulary PP - Crossword test of all words
Set Four - CHARACTERS
* Framing Questions on Viewing and Evaluating characters
* The difference between character and characterization
* Elements of Characterization
* Exemplar of a sympathetic animated character
* The process of animated characterization
* Characterization of Shrek the Ogre
* Flat and Rounded CHaracters in SHREK
* Character concepts - protagonist, antagonist, confidante, stock
characters
* Test of Knowledge on SHREK characterization (with answers)
* Stereotypes in Fairy Tales
* SHREK and unconventional fairy tale characterization (with tests
for understanding)
* Summarizing writing / speaking task on characters
Set Five - THEMES
* Analysis of concept of theme versus main idea
* Concept of universal and imlied themes
* analysis of key themes in SHREK ~ beauty, love, friendship,
appearance versus reality
A four page handout on the original film, containing close exercise on the plot, comparing and contrasting John Hammond and Victor Frankenstein, and an enquiry of central quotes, who said them and their significance.
This is a unit that would cover approximately four to five weeks, involving reading the S E Hinton novel, viewing the film, and completing the study guide questions on plot, characters, theme. There are a number of practice tests that would take a lesson each, in which students practice the core skills of justifying, comparing, contrasting and drawing their own conclusions. An oral assessment task is also included, with an exemplar (annotated) of a student script.
These weekly handouts are for middle school use. They comprise a weekly handout with alphabetically listed words based on themes such as cities, emotion and food. Each word has a meaning, a designated common usage part of speech and an accompanying chart shows the word again, with space for a syllable breakdown to aid pronunciation, and spaces for write outs to practice correct spelling.
This is intended as a N A P L A N or general classroom activity to get students to respond to the multiple levels of a poem and to respond in a structured way to indicate their understanding.
On the theme of growing up, friendship and the influence of peers on our development, here is a beautiful ballad about a childhood friendship by Billy Joel brought to life to show the way we change and grow apart. The lyric in full is given along with a video of the performance of the lyric.
