TEACHING & LEARNING CYCLE

(Identify step in the T & L cycle and

the literacy learning intention or
sessions focus )

Session 1
Building topic
knowledge:
Exploring Convict
history through
researching.

WHOLE CLASS
Tuning In
(Identify a strategy or a tool to help
activate prior knowledge and/or to
introduce the topic.)

MINI LESSON
(Explicitly model the use of a new strategy or a
tool to assist with the literacy learning
intention or focus of the session and to
prepare students for successful completion of
the set task. Reference to Wing Jan include
page details)

INDEPENDENT
LEARNING
(Extended opportunity for students to work in
pairs, small groups or individually on a set task.
Time for teacher to probe students thinking or
work with a small group for part of the time.
Reference to Wing Jan include page details)

SHARE TIME AND

TEACHER SUMMARY
(Focussed teacher questions and
summary to draw out the knowledge,
skills and processes used in the session)

ASSESSMENT
STRATEGIES
(should relate to literacy learning intention
or focus of the session. Includes how &
what you will use to make a judgment on
students attempt/work)

Read to
Teacher begins to read
Tom Appleby, Convict
Boy by Jackie French
(Wing Jan 2011, p.
223)

The teacher models note

taking (Wing Jan, 2011, p.
262) information found
about convicts using the
Convict Creations website:
http://www.convictcreations.
com/history/
(Hirst, 1999 :My Place,
Episode 20, 2013). [See
Appendix 2]

In pairs, the students decide on

ten questions they want to
research. Using the computers
the students explore the website
and attempt to answer and take
notes for these questions.

Reflection circles
Students discuss what
questions they posed and
the information they have
found from their research.

Anecdotal notes
The students will be
assessed on their ability to
pose relevant questions
and research these
questions, note taking
their answers.

Students return to their

original groups and share
the information they have
learnt from their
specialist group.

Anecdotal notes
Students will be assessed
on their ability to make
notes from the readings
and use topic specific
vocabulary.

Think- Pair- Share

The teacher asks the
students to reflect on:
What might it have
been like to be a
convict in the 1810s?

Session 2
Building topic
knowledge:
Developing a deeper
understanding of
Convicts

Read to
Teacher continues to
read Tom Appleby,
Convict Boy by Jackie
French.
How would it feel to be
sent so far away from
home?

The teacher paraphrases a

factual piece of information
from the story making text to
world connections. (French,
2004, pp.14-18) [See
appendix 3]
The teacher has the students
identifying the factual
information from the text.
Ensuring the students are not
telling the story verbatim but
demonstrating paraphrasing
of the information.

Teaching group with small

group of EAL:
The EAL students collectively
come up with questions to
research. The students explore
the website as a group on the
interactive whiteboard by
Shared Reading and the
teacher models note taking.
Independent Reading and
Discussion
Students are put in four groups
(including the EAL group).
Using the Jigsaw technique
(Scott, 2013: Gibbons, 2002)
students get in their specialist
groups and are given a reading
from the Convict Creations
website. The students explore
and paraphrase the information
in their note taking of:
Convict crimes, Mateship,
Convict escape attempts and
Female Convicts. [See
appendix 47]

Georgia Stephenson 9/5/14 3:25 PM

Comment: The unit of work is intended to
scaffold students understanding of an
Information Narrative text with an emphasis
on incorporating successful strategies for
teaching EAL/D students.

Georgia Stephenson 9/5/14 3:18 PM

Comment: In this unit of work I provide
different teaching strategies and approaches to
engage and scaffold the EAL/D students.

Georgia Stephenson 9/5/14 3:21 PM

Comment: Generally the assessments were
the same for the independent learners and the
EAL/D students. This was because although
the teaching instruction was different the
learning outcome was intended to be the same.

Teaching group with small

group of EAL:

1|Page

Session 3
Building text
knowledge/Model the
genre:
Charles 1818: Life in
the 1810s

Students review the

Charles 1818: Fencing
clip.
Teacher poses the
question: Is this an
Information report or
Narrative text? The
teacher explains about
information narratives.

Shared Writing
The teacher models using a
T-chart to write down
factual and fictional
information from the clip.
(Wing Jan, 2011, p. 261)
The students then add to the
information. [See appendix
8]

All the EAL students are in the

same specialist group. The
teacher uses Guided Reading
of the text. Students then make
notes on what they have read.
Independent Writing
The students watch the second
clip Charles 1818 The Convict
and create their own T-charts,
making connections to the past
two sessions. [See appendix 9]
Teaching group with small
group of EAL:
The EAL students will watch
The Convict and deconstruct
the text into fact and fiction
onto their T-charts through
Guided Writing.

Share Time
The class discuss the
second clip and the
fictional and factual
information the students
have put in their Tcharts. Students discuss
the difference between
fictional and factual
information, making
connections to
Information Narratives,
like Tom Appleby,
Convict boy.

Collection of Work
Samples.
Students work is
collected and assessed on
their ability to distinguish
between fact and fiction.
Roving conferences
The teacher will conduct
roving conferences
allowing students to
demonstrate their
understanding of
differentiating between
fact and fiction.

Georgia Stephenson 9/5/14 3:27 PM

Comment: Evidence of differentiating
support based on an individual students needs

Georgia Stephenson 9/5/14 3:23 PM

Comment: It is important that although the
non EAL/D students were working
independently and the EAL/D student were
working in a group that the learning outcomes
for all student in the lesson were the same.

Session 4
Building text
knowledge/Model the
genre:
Creating Story Maps
(Wing Jan, 2011, p.
261)

Read to
The teacher continues
reading Tom Appleby,
Convict Boy by Jackie
French.
What would Jackie
French have
researched in order to
write the book? Idea
adapted from (Wing
Jan, 2011, pp.256- 258)

Think Aloud
Model how to create a story
map from whats been read
from Tom Appleby, Convict
Boy, ensuring the whole text
structure of Orientation,
Complication and Resolution
are included.
[See Appendix 10]

Literature circles
Each group is allocated a
reading from Jackie Frenchs
Grim Crims and Convicts
(French, 2009). Students
Independently read the
selected text then as a group the
students create a story map for
an Information Narrative story
that incorporates information
from the reading. [See
appendix 11 & 12]

Share Time
The groups present their
story maps to the class
explaining their story
maps and paraphrasing
their short story.

Collection of work
samples
The groups work samples
will be collected
demonstrating whether
students have effectively
created a story map.
Anecdotal notes
The students will be
assessed on their ability to
contribute to the story

2|Page

Session 4
Building text
knowledge/Model the
genre:
Creating Story Maps
(Wing Jan, 2011, p.
261)

Session 5
Building text
knowledge/Model the
genre:
Developing
understanding of
Information
Narratives through
Character profiles.
(Wing Jan, 2011, p
262).

Read to
The teacher continues
reading Tom Appleby,
Convict Boy by Jackie
French.
What would Jackie
French have
researched in order to
write the book? Idea
adapted from (Wing
Jan, 2011, pp.256- 258)

Read to
The teacher continues
reading Tom Appleby,
Convict Boy by Jackie
French.
What to we know about
the character Tom
Appleby?

Think Aloud
Model how to create a story
map from whats been read
from Tom Appleby, Convict
Boy, ensuring the whole text
structure of Orientation,
Complication and Resolution
are included.
[See Appendix 10]

Modelled Writing
The teacher models writing a
character profile for Tom
Appleby that contains
historical facts. This will
facilitate the inclusion of
some appropriate sentence
and word level
understandings. [See
appendix 13]
Think Aloud
As a class the students
discuss information they
could use through their
exploration of convicts to
create a character profile.

Literature circles
Each group is allocated a
reading from Jackie Frenchs
Grim Crims and Convicts
(French, 2009). Students
Independently read the
selected text then as a group the
students create a story map for
an Information Narrative story
that incorporates information
from the reading. [See
appendix 11 & 12]
Teaching group with small
group of EAL:
The teacher takes the EAL
students for Shared Reading
of a short story and then uses
Shared Writing to take notes
on the reading and to create a
story map.
Independent Writing
Student using their T-charts
from session 3 and the
information they have explored
over the past 4 lessons create
their own character profiles,
which include factual
information and topic specific
vocabulary. [See appendix 14]
Teaching group with small
group of EAL:
The teacher models
deconstructing the character
profile identifying and labelling
information like the characters
name, setting, descriptive
language, factual information
and the fictional information.
The students are given a
character profile which they
then deconstruct. [See appendix
15]

Share Time
The groups present their
story maps to the class
explaining their story
maps and paraphrasing
their short story.

Collection of work
samples
The groups work samples
will be collected
demonstrating whether
students have effectively
created a story map.
Anecdotal notes
The students will be
assessed on their ability to
contribute to the story
maps and identify
appropriate information.

Discussion
Making a text-to-text
connection the students
will discuss how an
Information Narrative
differs from a fictional
narrative. The teacher
will discuss the
importance of an
Information Narrative
having factual and
accurate information.

Collection of work
Students working
independently will be
assessed on their
character profiles and
how well they integrated
information into a
fictional characters
profile.
Anecdotal notes
The EAL students will be
assessed on their ability to
deconstruct the character
profile and distinguish
between fact and fiction.

3|Page

Georgia Stephenson 9/5/14 3:29 PM

Comment: The implementation of
alternative instructional strategies for English
as an additional language (EAL) students
allows these students to reach the same
learning foci as the rest of the class with
greater support and scaffolding.