english - yr 8 - unit 2 - vels unit planner

8/14/2019 English - Yr 8 - Unit 2 - VELS Unit Planner

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VELS Unit Planner Year 8 Novel Study Team: Year Level: 5

Step 1

1. What is worthy and desiring of understanding? (Identify desired results)

2. What is evidence of understanding? (Determine acceptable evidences)

3. What learning experiences and teaching promote understanding, interest and excellence? (Plan learning experiences and instructions)

Key Concept

(Generative topic / why? /

big idea)

Why read?

Focus Essential Learning

Domain

(Including dimensions)

Domain: EnglishReadingTheReadingdimension involves students understanding, interpreting, critically analysing, reflecting upon, and enjoying written and visual,

print and nonprint texts. It encompasses reading and viewing a wide range of texts and media, including literary texts such as novels, short

stories, poetry and plays as well as popular fiction and non-fiction works, newspapers and magazines, illustrations, posters and charts, film and

television and the texts associated with information and communications technology. Reading involves active engagement with texts and thedevelopment of knowledge about the relationship between them and the contexts in which they are created. It also involves the development of

knowledge about a range of strategies for reading.

At Level 5, students read and view imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that explore ideas and information related to challenging

topics, themes and issues. They identify the ideas, themes and issues explored in these texts, and provide supporting evidence to justify their

interpretations. They produce personal responses, for example, interpretive pieces and character profiles. They infer meanings and messages intexts, analyse how social values or attitudes are conveyed, compare the presentation of information and ideas in different texts, and identify

cause and effect in informative texts.

WritingThe Writingdimension involves students in the active process of conceiving, planning, composing, editing and publishing a range of texts

including writing for print and electronic media and performance. Writing involves using appropriate language for particular purposes oroccasions, both formal and informal, to express and represent ideas, issues, arguments, events, experience,character, emotion and information

and to reflect on such ideas. It involves the development of knowledge about strategies for writing and the conventions of Standard Australian

English. Students develop a metalanguage to discuss language conventions and use.

At Level 5, students produce, in print and electronic forms, texts for a variety of purposes, including speculating, hypothesising, persuading

and reflecting. They write extended narratives or scripts with attention to characterisation, consistency of viewpoint and development of aresolution. They write arguments that state and justify a personal viewpoint; reports incorporating challenging themes and issues; personal

reflections on, or evaluations of, texts presenting challenging themes and issues. Students improve the accuracy and readability of their writing,

developing confidence in the identification and use of grammatical conventions and features of language and in their use of figurative

language. They use a range of punctuation accurately to support meaning, including the use of ellipses, dashes, colons and semi-colons. They

control tenses, and subject-verb and noun-pronoun agreement. They accurately identify and use different parts of speech. They edit theirwriting for clarity, coherence and consistency of style, and proofread and correct spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors.


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Step 2




Sequence Understanding

Goals

Performances of Understanding

(What we want the students to do)

Ongoing Assessment

(Criteria, feedback & reflection)

(How we will assess the students)

Reference to

specific VELS

standards

IntroductoryPerformances

(Tuning in)

1, 3 Discussion of cover design and blurb and

students make predictions based on that

discussion as to the plot and characters in the

story.

Teacher led discussion of the context for the

novel, students to have input into the discussion

based on prior knowledge and experience.

Discuss the opening chapters, the setting (time

and place), main characters and what some ofthe major themes will be.

Class discussion

Observation of discussion groups

Class feedback on the board

Notes in book

Guided Inquiry

Performances

(Finding out /

sorting out /

going further)

1, 2, 3, 4

Reading the remainder of the novel, both in

class and for homework. Questions and

discussions in class to monitor individual

understanding of the novel. Reading can be

silent or aloud.

Character analysis and timeline can be filled inas reading progresses.

A range of short and long answer questions.

Class discussions.

Listening to discussions or text being read

aloud.

Group work on characters or themes that can

be presented to the class or written up.

Culminating

Performances

(Making

conclusions / 1, 2, 3, 4

Students may have individual or group

activities to choose from to demonstrate their

understanding of the novel.

Group performance or individual

performance.

Presenting:

They use subject-

specific language


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taking action)

Generally these tasks are creative and/or

analytical to show the students ability todemonstrate their mature understanding of the

text.

Poster, brochure, PowerPoint or worksheet

(will vary with novel studied).

An essay for the whole. Students should be

beginning to write extended pieces.

and conventions in

accordance with

the purpose oftheir presentation

to communicate

complex

information.

Step 3




Weekly Overview

(Units may vary in length. A 6 week timeframe is not prescriptive)

Week 1 Hand out novel and read the blurb, discuss predictions. Write predictions. Begin reading opening chapters and answer short answer questions.

Discussion on characters, setting (time and place) and possible themes that may arise.

Hand out LA and discuss all tasks that are compulsory.

Week 2 Reading novel either in class or for homework. Continue discussions on characters, begin to plot the main events of the novel and how they

impact of the characters. Continue class discussions and complete short and long answer questions.

Week 3 Reading novel either in class or for homework. Continue discussions on characters, begin to plot the main events of the novel and how they

impact of the characters. Continue class discussions and complete short and long answer questions.

Week 4 Reading novel either in class or for homework. Continue discussions on characters, begin to plot the main events of the novel and how theyimpact of the characters. Continue class discussions and complete short and long answer questions.

Need to choose a culminating performance task.

Week 5 Preparing for final task.


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Week 6 Viewing presentations, if any, that require an audience.

Resources

Check Novel Study folders for separate novels that are studied at this year level. Each folder should contain at least one assignment per novel. Teachers maycreate new work or combine assignments if they choose to.

Novels studied in Year 8 include

- The Hobbit

- Dougy

- The Car

- Al Capsella

- The Simpsons- Short Story (Sting in the Tale)

- Hatchet

- Harry Potter

english - yr 8 - unit 2 - vels unit planner

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