Lesson summary
In this lesson, students will read an informational text about common misconceptions around zoonotic diseases. They will be supported to understand specialised vocabulary and to identify ways that authors use synonyms. Then students will use close reading strategies to read and re-write a summary where necessary. Using visual processing, students will turn a written explanation into a clear and labelled image.
This lesson is designed to be completed independently by students.Â
Learning intentions:
Students will...
- learn to use specialised vocabulary
- learn how authors use synonyms to develop arguments and ideas
- use close-reading strategies to identify information in a text and respond to it
- learn how to use visual processing strategies to break down information and explain it in a new way.
Success criteria:
Students can...
- correctly define key words
- categorise vocabulary into groups
- answer true and false questions by reading closely
- break down a short description and depict it through imagery and words.
Lesson guides and printables
Lesson details
Curriculum mapping
Year 7 English:
- Investigate vocabulary typical of extended and more academic texts and the role of abstract nouns, classification, description and generalisation in building specialised knowledge through language (ACELA1537)
- Use prior knowledge and text processing strategies to interpret a range of types of texts (ACELY1722)
- Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, selecting aspects of subject matter and particular language, visual, and audio features to convey information and ideas (ACELY1725)
Year 8 English:
- Apply increasing knowledge of vocabulary, text structures and language features to understand the content of texts (ACELY1733)
- Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that raise issues, report events and advance opinions, using deliberate language and textual choices, and including digital elements as appropriate (ACELY1736)
- Use comprehension strategies to interpret and evaluate texts by reflecting on the validity of content and the credibility of sources, including finding evidence in the text for the author’s point of view (ACELY1734)
General capabilities: Literacy, Ethical Understanding, Critical and Creative Thinking.
Background information:
We are living through unprecedented times and our lives have been forced to change almost overnight as a result of COVID-19. How to move forward, when a vaccine is to be developed (or may never be) is now the focus of many governments.
Resources required
- Art supplies to create a poster or digital software to do so
- Device and internet connection
- Pen, pencils and paper
- Article: Coronavirus: three misconceptions about how animals transmit diseases debunked
Additional info
This lesson has been developed in partnership with The Conversation. The Conversation’s mission is to be known as a prominent and trusted publisher of new thinking and evidence-based research, editorially independent and free of commercial or political bias. The Conversation hopes teachers will use their content as a source of truthful information, and that teachers can show their students the importance of trusted, evidence-based information in understanding the world around them and making informed decisions about their actions. Please follow the republishing guidelines when using The Conversation’s articles.
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