Teaching Sequence

10 minutes – Part A: Activating Prior Knowledge
30 minutes – Part B: Player Stories
30 minutes – Part C: Planning a Narrative
40 minutes - Part D: Descriptive Narrative Writing
10 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 relevance to Australian culture and history. Write this question on the board:

"What is Australian rules football?"

Ask students to respond to this question using the ‘Think-Pair-Share’ visible thinking routine.

When students ‘Share’ their ideas, note them down on the whiteboard. Ensure that these 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: Player Stories

Step 1. Explain that this lesson will focus on the personal narratives of individual players from the AFLW competition, which will inspire student's own narrative writing.

Step 2. Ask students to refer to the ‘Player Notes’ table on the Student Worksheet. Invite them to take notes while watching the player videos.

Foreshadow with the class that they should aim to think specifically about:

The experiences of each player
Their personal traits/characteristics
Their perspectives on life, the world and the game that they play

Project the following player stories for the class to view:

Tayla Harris | Player Stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eSunLTBGog

Ebony Marinoff | Player Stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj2JM2yjSTo

Mel Hickey | Player Stories https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tx6EoIadeU

Step 3. Invite students to form groups of 3-4 and share what they noticed/wrote down while watching the Player Stories. Encourage students to add to their own notes when they hear interesting points throughout the discussion.

Step 4. Invite students to view the Venn diagram on the Student Worksheet. Explain that they can use the diagram to explore similarities and differences between the experiences, personalities and perspectives of each of the players. Allow time for the students to work independently to complete the Venn diagram.

Step 5. Invite students to discuss their Venn diagrams, asking the question:

"What traits or characteristics shared by these players have helped them succeed in a traditionally male sport?"

Step 6. Discuss that there are many situations in which people are disadvantaged or held back from achieving their goals and ambitions. Highlight for students that the following video explores an example of this:

AFLW stars more than just players: Melissa Hickey and Katie Brennan https://youtu.be/RFbx90YEdDM

Step 7. Invite students to discuss the video, posing the following questions:

What was the motivation for Melissa and Katie’s climb?
What are the similarities and differences between the rights of African women and women on the AFLW journey?

Step 8. Encourage students to note down the main points of discussion on the Student Worksheet, and let the class know that they may be able to use these points as inspiration in their upcoming narrative writing.

Part C: Planning a Narrative

Step 1. Distribute a copy of the Hero’s Journey Planning Template to students. Explore the Hero’s Journey Graph by projecting a copy and revise the key elements of a narrative. Explain to students that this is the template they will be using to plan their own narrative.

What makes a hero? - Matthew Winkler https://youtu.be/Hhk4N9A0oCA

Step 2. Encourage students to develop their own ‘Hero’ character (it should still be within the context of AFLW). Their hero character could be directly involved with the AFLW or be an advocate for women’s rights, or they could be completely fictional, such as characters in popular novels like the Divergent, Hunger Games and Maze Runner series.

Invite students to further develop their character by responding to these 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 3. Explain to students that the next part of the lesson will involve using the Hero's Journey narrative framework to develop a narrative (writing a story) in which the protagonist will fight against societal norms/expectations to achieve a positive change or reach a goal.

Invite students to view the story prompt (on the Student Worksheet):

“You can’t do that!” played over and over in her head. But she knew…

Students may choose to develop a narrative around:

The journey of a female Australian rules football player who thought there was no chance of ever playing AFL at the professional level, who was subsequently picked by an AFLW team.
The journey towards AFLW for a young female Australian rules footballer who now has role models to look up to and a professional competition to strive to participate in.
A character who completes a feat that they previously thought was impossible.

Provide students with time to plan their hero’s journey, make some rough notes and discuss story ideas with their peers. They should aim to have the key events of their story mapped out. There is space provided on the Student Worksheet for students to make notes.

Support: Planning time should allow for both discussion with peers about stories as well as recording of the plan onto the template. Some students will find they can express their ideas with greater ease orally, and providing the opportunity for discussion will enhance their ability to clearly plan and write their narratives.

During this planning time, roam around the classroom, ensuring that you speak with students you know may have difficulty developing ideas. Ensure all of these students have developed clear ideas for their narratives so they are ready to write in the next phase of the lesson.

Part D: Descriptive Narrative Writing

Step 1. 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.

Note that the learning intentions and success criteria relating to empathy and personal experience have been explored already and that now the focus will be on writing descriptively.

Step 2. Project the TEDEd video below:

How to write descriptively - Nalo Hopkinson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSoRzTtwgP4

Invite students to view the Descriptive Writing Strategies template on the Student Worksheet and use it to discuss the strategies explored in the video. Student should record their ideas onto the template to refer back to while writing.

Things they might note include:

Engage the senses to create the illusion that the reader is in the story.
Use tactile language to engage the senses.
Support the reader to feel what the characters feel, not just understand what they feel like.
Avoid cliches.
Use well chosen words to engage sound, sight, taste, touch, smell and movement.

Step 3. Remind students of what has been covered throughout the lesson:

They explored the experiences of several AFLW players and learned about some of the obstacles they overcame in order to play AFL in the professional women’s league.
They have learned about the ‘Hero’s Journey’ narrative format, and planned a narrative featuring the experiences of their chosen character.
They have explored descriptive writing and considered some specific strategies that improve their narrative writing.

Step 4. Inform students that they now have the opportunity to put it all together and write their own narrative. Provide students with time to complete their writing.

Step 5. Distribute a copy of the Narrative Writing Self-Assessment Rubric to students and allow them time to complete.

Note: Students may not complete their narrative within this time frame. They could reflect on the writing they have completed and determine focus areas to improve on when completing their narrative as a homework task.

Reflection

Provide students with time to consider the following questions:

What have I learnt today about inclusion and diversity? What two things can I do differently as a consequence?
What did I succeed at when writing today?
What is one thing I will change/improve next time I write a narrative?

Differentiated Learning

Extension: Encourage students who show confidence with writing to ensure they are consistently engaging all of the senses throughout their narrative.

Provisions for Learning Support: Students are provided with the opportunity to develop their ideas through discussion with peers. Students who may have difficulty developing ideas are supported through discussion with the teacher.

Teacher Reflection

Stories of Success - NAPLAN Style Narrative Writing

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Summary

Learning intentions:

Students will...

Success criteria:

Students can...

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Curriculum Mapping

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