Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune In: How the ocean is changing

20 minutes

Find Out: We owe the ocean

25 minutes

Take Action: Appreciating the ocean with sensory writing

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions:

Students will:

learn and understand how sensory language can be used powerfully and appeal to human emotions and feelings
learn about the role of the ocean and how sensory language can be used to communicate and engage about various elements of this role in the global environment.

Success criteria:

Students can:

articulate facts about the role of the ocean and the issues contributing to ocean change
demonstrate the use of sensory language in short descriptive passages about the ocean, its beauty and the threats it faces
demonstrate editing skills in identifying grammatical errors and providing constructive feedback to their peers.

Tune In: How the ocean is changing

Step 1

Introduce the lesson by explaining to students that they will be learning about the current state and issues facing the ocean. They will also be developing their sensory writing and descriptive writing skills to communicate about the role, beauty and significance of the ocean, and the change that is occurring to it. Explain that before they use sensory language to engage audiences, it is important to understand some of the context and see some visual imagery for stimulus to draw on later in the lesson.

Watch the following clip with the class (also on the Student Worksheet). Ask students to watch carefully to be able to identify some of the key information or issues that are raised in it.

How the ocean is changing (https://vimeo.com/1056608895/2b4f630e33)

After watching the clip, facilitate a brief class brainstorm about the issues raised. Students might refer to issues such as:

Rate of change to the ocean
Temperature changes
Unforeseen consequences of ocean change
Coral reefs and algae

Step 2

Use the ‘Question Starts’ visible thinking routine on the Student Worksheet to encourage students’ curiosity, deepen their thinking and increase motivation for further inquiry. Explain to the class that this routine provides them with the opportunity to practise developing questions that provoke thinking and inquiry on the topic of ocean change while fostering a deeper understanding of the complexity of the topic. Explain the process below to the class.

Firstly, brainstorm a list of at least 12 questions on the topic of OCEAN CHANGES. Use these 'question starts' to help think of interesting questions:

Why...?
How would it be different if...?
What are the reasons...?
Suppose that...?
What if...?
What if we knew...?
What is the purpose of...?
What would change if...?

Then, students review the brainstormed list and highlight or put a star next to the questions that seem most interesting. They then select one or more of the starred questions to discuss with a partner for a few moments before sharing with the class. Finally, they reflect on any new ideas they have about the topic that they didn't have before.

Give students time to develop a list of questions. You could do this as a class or in groups, then invite volunteers to share their more detailed discussion with the class.

Find Out: We owe the ocean

Step 1

Invite students to read the Our Oceans Factsheet and the Ocean Change Factsheet. Invite students to form groups of three and allocate each group a section of the two fact sheets to read and summarise for the class. Ask students to create one summary point per group member.

Invite students to share their summary points with the rest of the class. Indicate to them that they can refer to this information in more detail in the next activity if they wish.

Note: Depending on the class and how much time you wish to spend on this, you could read through the information and highlight key features relating to the role of the ocean, especially the sections on Ocean Life, Oceans and People and Oceans in Trouble. Discuss some of this information with the class, encouraging students to ask questions about the content.

Step 2

Watch the following clip with the class and explain that it provides some more information about the role of the ocean in our world.

We owe the ocean (https://vimeo.com/1056609166/f127af1031)

After watching the clip, ask students for any thoughts they have. Your could facilitate a brief 'See, Think, Wonder' visible thinking routine (see previous lessons in this unit) and discuss with the class.

Step 3

Explain to students they will now complete the ‘Connect-Extend-Challenge’ visible thinking routine. After having read some factual information and watched the visual footage, this thinking routine will help them to synthesise their understanding about ocean change and the role of the ocean. Inform the class that this thinking routine helps them make connections between new ideas and prior knowledge about an issue. while also encouraging them to take stock of ongoing questions, puzzles and difficulties as they reflect on what they are learning. There is space on the Student Worksheet for students to complete the routine.

Once students have completed the routine, encourage some volunteers to share their thinking with the group, focusing on drawing out students' responses to the extend and challenge phase. You could facilitate any discussion these provoke.

Take Action: Appreciating the ocean with sensory writing

Step 1

Explain to the class that one of the most effective ways to describe something and engage audiences is to use sensory language. This allows the writer to provide sensory detail about the event, experience, person etc. that is being described. Explain to students that sensory and descriptive writing works to connect readers with issues by appealing to the senses, and that in doing so, readers are influenced to care more about the issue and potentially take some kind of action.

Demonstrate this by projecting the Sensory Writing Example on the whiteboard. Read the first example with the class and ask students to evaluate how effective it is in engaging the audience in what is happening.

Next, read the second example that includes sensory language, and again, ask students to evaluate how effective it is in engaging the audience (also on the Student Worksheet). Challenge students to identify where the five senses have been used in the second example. Circle the examples of each in the version projected on the whiteboard.

Touch/feel = breathing her hot breath on the damp hair at the base of his neck
Sound = the only sound was his grandmother's labored breathing and the mournful creak of the wooden stairs
Smell = She smelled of wet cigarettes and bacon
Taste = His mouth filled with the sweet, coppery taste of blood
Sight = lurched over and grabbed the pale skin of Randal’s thin forearm with her leathery hand AND fidgeted with a small hole in his baseball jersey, and bit his lip.

Step 2

Project the Sensory and Descriptive Writing Factsheet on the board. Read through the information together, and explain to the class that they will be using some of these tips to write a short, creative passage about the ocean and ocean change using sensory language. Where possible, ask student volunteers to write a short example of writing with a different sense on the whiteboard.

Explain to students that while creative writing can seem difficult, it is a skill developed through practice and thinking about the different techniques that can help with writing. Depending on your class, you could model some examples as well.

Step 3

Ask students to think about what they have seen and know of the ocean, and the elements of ocean change that they could describe in a short descriptive passage. Explain to the class that they will now write a short (150-200 words) descriptive passage about an element of the ocean, using the prompts and techniques on the Sensory and Descriptive Writing Factsheet.

Invite students to open Ocean Stimulus Images, or use the footage from either clip on the Student Worksheet to help prompt their writing. Give students enough time to plan and draft a short passage, monitoring their progress and offering feedback and encouragement accordingly. Let them know they can include characters and create a short narrative if needed.

Step 4

Once students have drafted a response, remind them that an important part of any writing process is the editing stage, where grammatical inaccuracies and errors can be fixed and clarity of meaning can be enhanced. Invite students to form pairs, and explain that they will conduct a self-check and a peer-check to edit their work. Explain that while they might find errors in their own work, often, a fresh and objective set of eyes reading through the work can pick up on simple errors, while offering new insights into how the work can be improved.

Invite students to use the Editing Checklist. Give students time to read through their own work first, using the checklist to make any changes, corrections or additions.

Students then swap their work and checklist with their partner, and read through their partner’s work carefully, using the prompts on the checklist to give each other feedback. Point out to students that the peer check side has some additional questions and space for suggestions and comments.

After this is completed, students can use the remaining time to redraft or make some of the changes that their partners have identified. Remind students that this work is not something that they are assessed on, and it is okay if it isn’t perfect. The learning needs to be in applying and practising both writing using ‘show, don’t tell’ techniques and editing for grammatical accuracy.

Step 5

Depending on time, you could facilitate a brief reading of student writing, encouraging some volunteers to share their descriptive passage with the class.

Learning extension: Depending on the routines of your class, students could engage with the Our Oceans Factsheet or Ocean Change Factsheet and use some of this information to complete the thinking strategies utilised in the lesson. Alternatively, students can revise and enhance their creative writing from the Take Action of the lesson by incorporating some visual images and presenting it on an A3 poster.

Reflection

Invite students to complete the reflection activity routine for this unit on the Student Worksheet. This is a short 3-2-1 activity that encapsulates their thinking and learning at the end of the lesson. This can be about the topic or the skills and thinking routines. Students are asked to reflect on what they have learnt and participated in this lesson, and identify:

3 things they have learnt
2 things that were interesting
1 question they now have.

Blue - Ocean Health Creative Writing

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

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Resources Required

UN Sustainable Development Goals

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