Lesson summary
In this English lesson, students will begin by reflecting on their understanding of disasters and disaster resilience in Australia, before engaging with excerpts from a New York Times article focused on the Black Summer bushfires and subsequent floods. Students will practice their summarising and evaluating skills before engaging in a gallery walk to explore the thinking of their classmates.
Learning intentions:
Students will...
- build on their understanding of the disasters that Australia faces and challenge their misconceptions surrounding these.
Success criteria:
Students can...
- read, comprehend and summarise a media text.
- evaluate language for positive or negative intent.
- work together to complete a task.
Lesson guides and printables
Curriculum links
Select your curriculum from the options below.
Lesson details
Curriculum mapping
Australian curriculum content descriptions:
Year 7 English:
Identify and explore ideas and viewpoints about events, issues and characters represented in texts drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts (ACELT1619).
Year 8 English:
Explore the ways that ideas and viewpoints in literary texts drawn from different historical, social and cultural contexts may reflect or challenge the values of individuals and groups (ACELT1626).
Syllabus outcomes: EN4-8D.
General capabilities: Literacy.
Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability.
Relevant parts of Year 7 achievement standards:
Students demonstrate understanding of how the choice of language features, images and vocabulary affects meaning. Students explain issues and ideas from a variety of sources, analysing supporting evidence and implied meaning. They select specific details from texts to develop their own response, recognising that texts reflect different viewpoints.
Relevant parts of Year 8 achievement standards:
Students explain how language features, images and vocabulary are used to represent different ideas and issues in texts. Students interpret texts, questioning the reliability of sources of ideas and information. They select evidence from the text to show how events, situations and people can be represented from different viewpoints.
Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – the teacher must facilitate introductory activity and encouraging thinking in students, as well as support the transition to text immersion and the gallery walk.
Resources required
- Copies of the news articles excerpts – printed across two A4 pages or one A3 page, enough for pairs/triads to have one of the three excerpts each
- Student Worksheets – one copy per student
Skills
This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:
- Communication
- Creativity
- Critical Thinking
- Problem Solving
- Social Skills
- Collaboration
Additional info
We encourage you to undertake the free PD Course How to teach a unit on fire and flood resilience for tips on how to best deliver this lesson.
If you’re concerned about the challenging nature of these topics, consider the free PD Course How to approach trauma in the classroom for information on how best to support your students.
This lesson was made in partnership with
Minderoo Foundation (www.minderoo.org)
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