Teacher Preparation

Students will...

Students will understand that people living in a community are diverse.
Students will learn to empathise with others.
Students will use a typical narrative structure to develop a story that is engaging for readers.

Students can...

Students can explain the viewpoint and experiences of someone other than themselves.
Students can describe the emotions and perspectives of someone who has been held back by social structures.
Students will plan and write a narrative which follows the 8-point story arc.

Teacher content information:

Creating the AFL Women's League | Jan Cooper https://youtu.be/7Ja2NVpNc4U

"Without recognition women lose their history. They do these extraordinary things, and then they are forgotten and denied to ever have existed, so women keep reinventing the wheel."
– Dr. Marjorie Snyder, the Senior Director of Research at the Women’s Sports Foundation.

Introducing AFLW
In 2015, AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan announced that the AFL would launch a national women’s competition, fast-tracking plans from 2020 to 2017. This wasn’t only a courageous moment for the game and the wider sports industry, it opened a new world for the 350,000 girls and women who were playing the game at a grassroots level. And even more, it signalled a new direction of the game – one that was more progressive, inclusive and open to change.

The Real Story
The birth of AFLW was the result of over a century of trailblazing women who paved the way for a new generation of players and fans. It was an opportunity to not just tell the story of Australian rules football as we know it, but to reflect on the women who came before, as well as the next generation of talent.

The launch of the AFLW competition contributes to building a positive female culture, an inclusive culture, across the entire community and normalises what it means to be a ‘female athlete’.

Click here for more AFLW inspiration!

This lesson is designed to provide valuable practise for NAPLAN, the national literacy and numeracy text held in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. It focuses specifically on structure, exploring the progress of the protagonist’s journey throughout the story. Effectively and purposefully structuring a narrative is vital to success in NAPLAN as it links to the key criterion Audience, Text Structure and Ideas as shown in the table below.

NAPLAN Narrative Marking Criteria

Marking Criterion	Description of NAPLAN narrative writing marking criterion
Audience	The writer’s capacity to orient, engage and affect the reader.
Text Structure	The organisation of narrative features including orientation, complication and resolution into an appropriate and effective text structure.
Ideas	The creation, selection and crafting of ideas for a narrative.
Character and Setting	Character: The portrayal and development of character. Setting: The development of a sense of place, time and atmosphere.
Vocabulary	The range and precision of language choices.
Cohesion	The control of multiple threads and relationships over the whole text, achieved through the use of referring words, substitutions, word associations and connectives.
Paragraphing	The segmenting of text into paragraphs that assists the reader to negotiate the narrative.
Sentence Structure	The production of grammatically correct, structurally sound and meaningful sentences.
Punctuation	The use of correct and appropriate punctuation to aid the reading of the text.
Spelling	The accuracy of spelling and the difficulty of the words used.

Teaching sequence

10 minutes – Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
30 minutes – Part B: They Player’s Stories
45 minutes – Part C: Narrative Writing
5 minutes – Reflection

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge

Step 1. Start by ensuring all students have an understanding of the AFL and its links to Australian culture and history. Write the following question on the board and ask students to respond to it using the ‘Think-Pair-Share’ visible thinking routine:

"What is Australian rules football?"

When students ‘share’ their ideas, note them own on the whiteboard.

Ensure that the following key points are identified:

Australian rules football has been around since the 1850s
The AFL is the professional competition for men’s Australian rules football.
The AFL was originally founded as the VFL, the first season commencing in 1897.
The VFL became the AFL for the 1990 season after expanding to other states during the 1980s.
The AFL is the best attended sporting league in Australia.
The AFL is said to have the 4th highest attendance figures of any professional sport in the world.
Victoria now has a public holiday associated with the AFL grand final.

Step 2. Project the AFLW Logo Display and facilitate a discussion using the prompts below as a guide:

What competition does this logo represent?
What do you know about the AFLW?

While students are sharing what they know, write their ideas up on the whiteboard. Ensure the following key points are covered (either by the class or through explicit teaching):

The AFLW’s inaugural (first) year was 2017.
The women’s competition was initially planned to commence in 2020, but was brought forward due to higher than anticipated levels of public interest.
The first AFLW season included teams from 8 AFL clubs: Adelaide Crows, Brisbane Lions, Carlton Blues, Collingwood Magpies, Fremantle Dockers, GWS Giants, Melbourne Demons and Western Bulldogs.
The inaugural season involved seven rounds of competition followed by a Grand Final.

Part B: The Player’s Stories

Step 1. Explain that the class will be exploring the story of Darcy Vescio, a Marquee Player in the 2017 inaugural AFLW season.

Darcy Vescio | Player Stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOvGOtJcG2k

Step 2. Invite students to form discussion groups of 3-4 people and write the following questions on the whiteboard:

Towards the end of the video, Darcy states that: “You can’t be what you can’t see.”
What do you think she means when she says this?
To what extent do you believe this statement is true (in more general terms)?
To what extent do you think this statement is true for Darcy?

Highlight for students that Darcy was able to succeed as one of the first ever AFLW players, despite not having other female professional AFL players to look up to.

Time permitting, you could further showcase Darcy’s success in the inaugural AFLW season by showing the following clips:

Darcy Vescio wins Mark of the Year https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El_AzvSH3hY

Step 3. Invite students to create groups of 3-4 and work together to watch the player stories below, discuss the characteristics that they observe in each of the players and note the main points of their discussion in the space provided on the Student Worksheet:

Katie Brennan | Player Stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8s14pXmTRw

Moana Hope | Player Stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ihlfC6Dzg4

Ebony Marinoff | Player Stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrgC40c7_7s

Next, ask students to work together to discuss and note on the Students Worksheet the similarities they observed in each of the players.

Step 4. Invite groups to share their observations in a quick class discussion.

Part C: Narrative Writing

Step 1. Highlight for students that the professional AFLW players featured have shown that it is possible to succeed despite not ‘seeing’ people do so before you.

Highlight for students that this is a theme in some narratives (in novels, TV shows and movies). The following characters have all become something they previously didn’t think possible, or entered a world they previously had no awareness of:

Hermione Granger - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Lucy, Peter, Edmund and Susan - The Chronicles of Narnia
Buffy Summers - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Explain to students that what is notably different in many fiction tales is that the characters are chosen and/or that mystical forces play a part in their growth, experiences and success. For our real life heroes, such as the AFLW players and administrators, their success is based firmly in reality.

Step 2. Refer to the lesson’s learning intentions and success criteria - you may have written them on the whiteboard for the lesson, or they can be projected for students to see using this display.

Explain that the class has already considered the perspectives and challenges that AFLW players have faced in their journey and will now move on to exploring narrative structure.

Step 3. Invite students to refer to the 8-Point Story Arc table on the Student Worksheet. Invite them to complete the sheet while watching the following video:

How to Write a Great Story - The 8-Point Story Arc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0HEqI3pJIM

Allow some time for students to discuss the structure and complete their notes.

Step 4. Encourage students to consider the attributes noted in our AFLW players that enabled them to attain a goal they never thought possible and consider how these could shape the outcomes for the story’s protagonist. Explain to students that the task for the lesson is to develop a narrative using the 8-Point Story Arc in which the protagonist (main character) overcomes a challenge, changes their world or makes a great achievement without the support of magical or mystical forces.

Step 5. Encourage students to spend a little time developing their own protagonist by responding to the prompts on the Student Worksheet.

What is your character's name?
What does your character look like?
How old is she?
What is her nationality?
What does her voice sound like?
Does she have an accent?
When, where, and to whom was she born?
Does she go to school, work, uni?
What are her goals?
What are her skills and talents?
Who are her friends?
What makes her angry?
What makes her feel joy and happiness?
What is she afraid of?
And anything else relevant to your story...

Step 6. Ask students to refer to the 8-Point Story Arc framework on the Student Worksheet. Encourage students to think about the structures and norms of the society in which their character lives and the obstacles that they may have to overcome to pursue their chosen path. Provide students with time to complete their template, encouraging discussion of ideas with peers.

Note: Planning time should allow for discussion with peers about stories and time to record a writing plan onto the template. Some students will find they can express their ideas orally with greater ease, and providing the opportunity for discussion will enhance their ability to clearly plan and write their narratives.

Learning Support: During this planning time, roam around the classroom, ensuring that you speak with students who may feel challenged to develop ideas. Ensure all of these students have completed plans so they are ready to write in the next phase of the lesson.

Step 7. Invite students to share their plan with a peer for feedback to discuss how well it fits into the 8-Point story arc.

Students should:

Read their partner’s plan.
Consider if each point included in their plan matches the associated stage of the 8-Point Arc.
Provide positive comments and suggestions for development of their plot.

Step 8. Provide students with time to write their stories. Some students will not complete their writing during this lesson. They should complete it as a homework task.

Reflection

Provide students with time to reflect on their learning from the lesson by completing a 'Think-Pair-Share' visible thinking routine in response to the questions:

What did you learn about overcoming challenges today?
What have you learnt about narrative writing?

Differentiated Learning

Extension: Confident writers can be encouraged to consider developing a story which reflects a current issue within our own society, making a comment on the current state of affairs through the context of a fictional narrative.

Provisions for Learning Support: Students who may find it difficult to develop story ideas are supported by the teacher during the planning stage.

Teacher Reflection

Stories of Strength - NAPLAN Style Narrative Writing

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