Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Part A: Role Models

25 minutes

Part B: 2014 Australian Of The Year

30 minutes

Part C: You’re A Celebrity

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students understand...

characteristics that Australians see as important in a role model
the role that celebrities can have in advocating for social issues and change
the way in which Australian of the Year recipients contribute to civic life
factors to consider when a celebrity uses their fame to advocate for change.

Students can...

navigate the Australian of the Year Awards Honour Roll
use a PMI evaluation tool
create a plan to raise awareness and advocate for change
provide feedback to others and use feedback received to improve ideas
articulate the impact that celebrities can have on social change.

Part A: Role models

Step 1

Introduce the lesson by asking students what they think a role model is.

Note: This general discussion prompt is designed to get students thinking about characteristics they associate with role models but it may also provide an opportunity for them to give examples of people they see as role models in society.

Step 2

Hand out the Student Worksheet and draw students’ attention to the definition given.

A role model is someone that others look to as a good example. They are someone who inspires others to imitate his or her good behaviour (Source).

Step 3

Using the Student Worksheet, and using the brief discussion and role model definition as a starting point, invite students to draw the people that they believe society respects as role models. Students may choose to use symbols to help represent people.

Step 4

Ask students to annotate their drawings to show what these role models do to contribute to civic life/make society better. For example, a paramedic could be represented by a red cross and annotated to suggest that they contribute to society by helping all people when they are vulnerable and in need.

Encourage students to discuss their ideas in pairs or small groups as they complete their drawings and annotations before sharing their responses with the class.

Step 5

Once students have shared their examples of respected role models, ask students to share what they already know about the Australian of the Year Award. Depending on their prior knowledge, an explanation of the purpose of the award may be required.

Each year our nation celebrates the achievements and contributions of eminent Australians through the Australian of the Year Awards by profiling leading citizens who are role models for us all. They inspire us through their achievements and challenge us to make our own contribution to creating a better Australia.

The Awards honour an exceptional group of highly-respected Australians who ignite discussion and change on issues of national importance.

The Australian of the Year Awards provide everyone with the opportunity to recognise any Australian who makes them proud. The four Australian of the Year categories are:

Australian of the Year
Senior Australian of the Year (those aged 65 years or over)
Young Australian of the Year (ages 16 to 30)
Australia’s Local Hero

(Source)

Step 6.

Project the Australian of the Year Awards Recipients webpage for all students to see and select the most recent year to use as an example.

Read through the brief descriptions of each category winner and highlight the ways in which they have been a role model and contributed to civic life.

Option: Invite students to select a year to read through the recipients’ profiles and make note of how each winner has been a role model and contributed to civic life.

Part B: 2014 Australian of The Year

Step 1

Navigate to the 2014 Australian of the Year Awards Recipients webpage and click on the national winner, Adam Goodes.

Ask students to share what they already know about him and his achievements on and off the football field. You can view this Adam Goodes Profile for more information.

Step 2

Ensure students are aware that before winning the 2014 Australian of the Year Award, Adam Goodes was well known for his AFL football career with the Sydney Swans. His high standing in the AFL enabled him to use his celebrity and fame to promote his views on social issues, in particular the challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Step 3

Explain to students that they will now be watching a short clip from the documentary The Final Quarter, which documents the last three years of Adam Goodes’ AFL career.

Show this clip from The Final Quarter of Adam Goodes’ Australian of the Year acceptance speech:

Australian of the Yearshort (https://vimeo.com/350234853/7ac647cec1)

Step 4

As a class, read through Adam Goodes’ achievements and reasons for winning the award on his 2014 Australian of the Year profile page. After reading through his profile, ask students to identify characteristics or reasons why Adam Goodes could be a role model.

Note: Students might want to learn more about Adam Goodes’ work with the GO Foundation: https://www.gofoundation.org.au/

Step 5

Play the following clip from The Final Quarter:

Adam on Utopia (https://vimeo.com/378671274/f14e0344ea)

Step 6

Facilitate a brief class discussion about the clip and how Adam used his celebrity status to highlight some challenges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples face in Australia.

Prompts could include:

What do you think the main message was from the clip? Provide examples to support your ideas.
Why do you think Adam Goodes was so outspoken in his newspaper article about John Pilger’s film, Utopia and the lack of understanding about Australia’s past? What was he trying to achieve?
Do you think it was an effective method to draw attention to the issue? Why/why not?
What do you see as the benefits for Adam Goodes to work with the AFL and the Australian Human Rights Commission for the ‘Recognise’ and ‘Racism. It Stops With Me’ campaigns? Are there any negatives?
Why do you think Adam Goodes was attacked in the media for “selling our country short” and suggesting that “our constitution is racist”? What impact do you think this had on Adam Goodes as a person and his campaign for change?
Why do you think Adam Goodes is asked about recent racist incidents rather than the Indigenous Round and jumper the press conference was held for?
Do you think it is fair for one person to be the spokesperson for change? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a role model speaking for everyone?

Step 7

Using the example of Adam Goodes to help guide them, invite students to complete a PMI on the Student Worksheet to evaluate the positives (PLUS), negatives (MINUS) and the interesting things to consider when using a celebrity status to advocate for social change.

Example:

P = A strong following/audience that is keen to hear what you think on social issues.
M = Views or ideas can be discredited by influential people who don’t like you (known as ‘tall poppy syndrome’). You could risk only being known for certain comments/views rather than as a whole person.
I = Celebrity views can reach people who wouldn’t usually engage in certain social issues and this creates interesting possibilities.

Step 8

Invite students to share their responses in their table groups and assess which ideas are the strongest and/or would impact the celebrity the most.

Ask students to put a smiley face next to the strongest pluses for using celebrity status to advocate for change.

Then place a frowny face next to the strongest minuses that may stop celebrities using their fame to advocate for social change.

Step 9

Once students have assessed the pluses and minuses of using celebrity status or fame to advocate for change, invite students to share their strongest with the class.

Record student responses on the board for students to refer to in the following activity.

Part C: You're a celebrity

Step 1

Explain to the students that they will now have an opportunity to take on the role of a celebrity and consider how they would use their status and fame to advocate for a social issue. To help students think of important issues relevant to young people and provide inspiration, show the following clip of the 2019 Young Australian of the Year finalists. Play the clip, stopping at 2:25 minutes.

Australian of the Year Awards 2019: Young Australian of the Year | ABC News (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHF41affOvw)

Step 2

Draw the students’ attention to the You’re A Celebrity section on the Student Worksheet (also below) and read through together.

Imagine you are a celebrity in your chosen area of society. You might choose to be a famous musician or singer, sports star, fashion designer or even a political leader. Because of your celebrity and fame, you have an opportunity to draw attention to an important social issue and advocate for change in your local community, state or across the nation. Ideally you want to help make Australia a world leader and role model for other nations to respect and follow.

Your task is to identify the social issue you want to support and explain how you will use your celebrity status and fame to help make change occur. It is important that your approach uses what you have learnt from your earlier PMI evaluation to ensure your actions are successful. Be creative in your plan for action – the sky is the limit.

Use the following questions to help guide your plan and then evaluate it using the PMI table:

What area of society are you a celebrity of?
What important social issue do you want to draw attention to?
How will you use your celebrity status and fame to ensure change occurs?
What are the pluses, minuses and interesting factors of your approach?

Option: Depending on the needs of your students this task may be completed individually, in pairs or in small groups.

Step 3

Provide each student or group with an You're A Celebrity Worksheet to complete their plan and evaluation. Explain to students that once completed, each sheet will be displayed around the room for students to participate in a gallery walk. This will give all students an opportunity to receive feedback on their ideas.

Step 4.

Allow students 10-15 minutes to complete their celebrity plan and evaluation.

Display students’ work around the classroom and place a piece of blank paper next to each work to collect feedback on. Invite students to move around the room viewing each other’s work and leaving feedback.

Suggested feedback could include:

one thing they like about the idea
one thing they wonder
one thing that may improve the work.

Step 5.

Once students have had an opportunity to read each other’s ideas and provide feedback, ask students to collect their own A3 poster and feedback sheet and return to their seats. Allow another 5-10 minutes to read through the feedback and make improvements to their approach.

Step 6.

Bring the class together and facilitate a brief discussion about the social issues and ideas presented. The following questions may be useful to prompt student discussion:

Which social issues were most prominent? Why do you think this may be?
Which ideas were the most creative, interesting or different? How did these ideas stack up when completing the PMI evaluations?
Which ideas were the simplest but have the opportunity for the biggest impact?
Can any of these ideas be put into action without being a celebrity or famous? Which ones? Why could they work?

Reflection

Invite students to reflect on the impact that celebrities can have on raising awareness and helping to create change by responding to the following questions:

How important do you think it is for celebrities to use their fame to advocate for social change?
- Circle the most appropriate answer on the scale from very important to totally unimportant.
- Explain why you think this and provide examples where appropriate.
How important do you think it is for young people to advocate for social change?
- Circle the most appropriate answer on the scale from very important to totally unimportant.
- Explain why you think this and provide examples where appropriate.

Differentiated Learning

Extension -

In Part B, after students watch Adam Goodes’ 2014 Australian of the Year speech, invite them to make notes on the social issues that were important to him and the change that he wanted to see in society.
In Part C, students could create a complete celebrity profile for themselves (potentially including a photo shoot), and write an interview script or article for a magazine that outlines their views on their chosen issue.

Provisions for Learning Support - In Part C, place students in mixed-ability groups to complete the You’re A Celebrity task so that students with stronger literacy skills can support others in the written component of the activity.

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 Final Quarter - Celebrity Influence

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Students understand...

Success criteria:

Students can...

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