Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

5 minutes – Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
10 minutes – Part B: Reading Mini-Lesson
30 minutes – Part C: Independent Practice
15 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Activating prior knowledge prompts students to bring existing knowledge on a particular topic to the forefront of their minds. This is like opening the 'folder' ready for new information to be 'saved'. This assists students to smoothly integrate new learning into their existing schema. Before beginning, ensure students have notepaper and a pen or pencil to write with.

Step 1.

Ensure students have 3 sticky notes each and a pen or pencil to write with then display a piece of poster paper with ‘The Royal Melbourne Show’ (or the name of your closest show) written in the middle of the page. Explain to students that this lesson is going to be a reading lesson using texts related to the Show.

Provide students with one minute to close their eyes and either imagine their last experience at the Show, or what they think it would be like to go to the Show.

Step 2.

Invite students to write something about their Show experiences on each of their three sticky notes and then place them on the poster page. You will then have a poster showing the class' understanding of experiences at The Show.

Step 3.

Briefly read through the sticky notes, commenting on common themes and pointing out different or interesting factors noted. Work with the class to develop a summary of what they believe the Show to be, and write it on a smaller piece of paper. Display this summary somewhere near the initial poster. You will return to these at the end of the lesson.

Part B: Reading Mini-Lesson

The reading mini-lesson is designed to explicitly demonstrate skills to students in a clear and concise manner. The mini-lesson should occupy no more than 10 minutes, to enhance students’ ability to focus and ensure they have adequate time to practise demonstrated skills independently.

Step 1.

Ensure that the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are displayed or written on the board and read them aloud to students.

Students will...

I will be able to connect an image to a fact, event or description found in the text.

Students can...

...explain the focus or impact of an image in a text.
...find explanations or descriptions in a text that connect to an image.

Note: Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are rephrased into statements and more student-friendly language to increase the likelihood of them internalising learning goals.

Step 2.

Display the text Welcome from RASV President. This can be printed A3 or displayed on an interactive whiteboard. Also have accessible the Connect the Pictures Teacher Worksheet. This should be printed A3 for the teacher to fill out while modelling to the class.

Explain to students that you will be reading the text aloud and then trying to figure out why the author has chosen each image and what written information the pictures are supporting. Be explicit about the process you will follow, stating that you will:

Read the whole text to understand purpose and meaning.
Consider each picture.
Select one image at a time and look back through the text to find the information it relates to.

Read the text aloud, then state what it was about and what sorts of things it described.

Step 3.

Select the image of the young girl interacting with the goats. Point to it and state to the class 'I am going to focus on this picture first. In this picture the girl looks like she is having fun meeting the goats. I am going to look back through the writing and find parts of it that connect to this image.'

Skim back through the text, commenting on certain parts as you pass through them, e.g. you might say:
'The first paragraph is just telling me about what the Show is, it’s not that… The second paragraph is saying when the Show is… Oh, look at this, the third paragraph says “Only at the Show can you get up close to thousands of animals…” This girl is getting close to animals.'

In the relevant section of the Teacher Worksheet, record the text quote to demonstrate what that image connects to.

Repeat process for the next 3 images.

Note: During your modelling, be sure to comment when one image may relate to multiple facts/descriptions from the written text, or when one aspect of the written text has multiple images that relate to it.

Step 4.

The final image included on the worksheet is the portrait of the RASV President Matt Coleman. When you reach this image, be sure to explain to the students the concept of a letter from a key position holder and that typical text structure will include a portrait of the person writing the letter. Explain that there is an implied connection here, that the text does not clearly state the image is Matt Coleman, however, this is assumed.

Record this explanation of this in the relevant section of the Teacher Eorksheet.

Part C: Independent Practice

Students will progress through two activities while working independently of the teacher. The first activity involves students collaborating with a partner, the second is an independent activity. The independent activity will require students to demonstrate the learned skill by describing connections as demonstrated by the teacher, and also through a multiple choice format more reflective of a NAPLAN style scenario.

Step 1.

Support students to organise themselves into pairs. Explain that together they will be doing the same thing you demonstrated using a text about the animal nursery and farmhouse.

Provide students with the Connect the Pictures: Paired Worksheet worksheet and the Animal Nursery and The Farmhouse text, and begin the activity.

Hold a class discussion to review students’ answers to the Connect the Pictures: Paired Worksheet. Suggested answers below:

Image Description	Connection to Written Content
Black lamb. (bottom left)	“Surround yourself with fluffy, cuddly, adorable baby animals in the Animal Nursery”
Young girl holding chick. (large image on left)	“Make magical memories to last a lifetime as you pat and feed your farmyard favourites”
Young child and adult patting young goat. (Top right)	“Get up close to lambs, ducklings, chooks, goats and more…”
Young child harvesting vegetables. (Top right)	“Create memories, or re-live them, in The Farmhouse. Packed with exciting educational shows and interactive activities, your Farmhouse experience is sure to be unforgettable.”
Duckling (Top right)	“Surround yourself with fluffy, cuddly, adorable baby animals in the Animal Nursery”

Farmer with parrot on head.
(Bottom right of centre)

“Friendly Farmer Darryl will answer questions…”

Note: Alternative responses are possible for some images. As long as student responses are logical and can be explained, they can be considered correct.

Step 2.

Provide each student with the Connect the Pictures: Independent Worksheet , the Unforgettable Animals and Dogs texts. Invite students to complete the activities independently.

Hold a class discussion to review students’ answers. Suggested answers below:

Image Description	Connection to Written Content
Pig (top)	“... the Show is the only place you can get up close to your favourites.”
Young girl holding chicken. (bottom left)	“Life on the farm can be fun - milk a cow, shear a sheep, pat a pig or a chook”

Note: Other responses are possible in the above table. As long as student responses are logical and can be explained, they can be considered correct.

Part 2: To be used with the text Unforgettable Animals Up Close and Dogs

1. The purpose of the image of the dog catching the frisbee is to show...

an example of a dog competing.
an example of a talented pup/dog.
a well trained dog.
all of the above.

2. The two pictures of cats featured on the right-hand side have been included to show…

different types of cats will compete in the best show competition.
people carry their cats in different ways.
some cats match their accessories.

3. The image of a person, head to head with a smaller dog supports the statement:

“...everyone’s favourite pooches can be seen at the Royal Melbourne Show...”
“The talented pups will be on show Saturday September 23-Sunday October 1...”
"...perfectly groomed and well-trained dogs on display."

Reflection

1. Support students to organise themselves into pairs, encouraging them to find a partner that they haven’t yet worked with during the lesson. Provide time for them to discuss the following questions:

What reading skill did we learn today?
What did you do well while practising this skill?
What things did you find challenging?
What will you continue to practise?

2. Have students view the poster developed at the beginning of the lesson describing the Show and what it is like. Read aloud the summary that the class created. Pose the following questions to the class:

Are there any new things about the Show we could add after reading more about it?
Are there parts of the Show we forgot to mention?
What is the main purpose of the Show?

Differentiated Learning

Provision for extension – Students who complete the task with time to spare should be encouraged to find another student who has finished to compare and discuss their responses with.

Provision for learning support – Students who may have difficulty decoding the texts presented to them are encouraged to work with partners who can support them in the paired task. For the independent task they can come to a designated area of the room where the teacher will work with a group of students to support them.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

The Show - NAPLAN - Connecting Text and Images

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Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

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