1

UNIT OVERVIEW: COMPONENTS, EXPLANATION/DETAILS AND LEARNING

EXPERIENCES

COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING
EXPERIENCES
(provide the
number)
Unit Orientation The unit will begin with a whole group discussion
incorporating students prior knowledge on the
subject of WWII.

Teacher will introduce the focus text Yokos
Diary and create discussion around the book
based on cover, title, and blurb - which will then
lead into an overview of the unit and the creation
of a KWL chart to assist students understanding
of expectations and outcomes.





1

Building knowledge of the
field
Students will watch a You Tube clip on the 1945
Hiroshima bombing and then will watch
comparison clips from different WWII
perspectives from both historical and modern day
perspectives. They will then discuss how this
event impacted on immigration into Australia.
They will be distributed into their groups where
they will create a descriptive word map on the
iPads from the visual experience which will assist
their understanding of vocabulary and language
features for the unit.







1,2

Utilising the non-fiction
focus text
Ham, P. (2013). Yoko's Diary: The life of a
young girl in Hiroshima during WWII.
Sydney, Australia: HarperCollinsPublishers.

Teacher will introduce the text and read some
excerpts from it allowing students can gain a
better understanding of the meaning within the
text. Whole group discussion will follow with a
focus on discussing elements of text structure,
language features and meaning making.






3,6

Responding to texts The lessons within this unit have been created
with the intention that students will be responding
to the focus text through: reading, discussing,
brainstorming, interpreting, analysing, comparing
and creating texts through the use of a variety of
literary and ICT resources.




2,3,4,5

Exploring texts Students will use the focus text and in small
groups they will be iPad explorers where they
are to find, compare and contrast other accounts

3,4,5
2
COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING
EXPERIENCES
(provide the
number)
of WWII. For example, photos; video clips and
reading personal accounts of children in WWII
England.
(Guidance and discretion are needed here when
viewing clips on war. Teacher has already pre-
viewed appropriate web pages and put them on
the iPads as an age appropriate resource).



Examining texts including: Students will examine the features of the focus
text: language features, grammar, narrative voice,
etc. and compare it with other similar text types
through whole group and small group interaction.


Text structure and
organisation
Teacher will use excerpts from Yokos Diary so
students can examine text structure and
organisation. Questions to initiate discussion
would be:
What perspective was Yoko writing from?
(narrative voice first person)
What was the overall impact that the first person
narration had on empathy and engagement of the
reader?
examining excerpts from the text written
from different narrative points of view and
discussing what information the audience
can access, how this impacts on the
audiences sympathies, and why an author
might choose a particular narrative point of
view.







3,4,6
Expressing and
developing ideas
Diary excerpts from the text will be put up on the
smartboard and in small group collaboration
students will identify the similarities or differences
between the two with a specific focus on
language features and Japanese words and their
meaning.




3,7,8
Visual and
multimodal features
of texts
In small groups students will have the opportunity
to view and read the text through photos of Yoko
and her country revealing cultural and historical
features; YouTube videos; historical photos of
immigration via Scootle app


2,6,9

Extending beyond the
focus text including:

3
COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING
EXPERIENCES
(provide the
number)
Creating texts
utilising print and
multimodal texts
Students will have the opportunity to:
- write their own recount of an event in their lives
with a focus on past tense, verb and noun groups
used to describe the event (EAL/D and
Indigenous learners are encouraged to use words
in their first language in this activity).
- create Haiku poems using their iPads



6

Assessment

Formative (one
strategy and
instrument)

After students have completed their personal
recount the teacher will use a rubric to grade
students and offer them feedback and further
scaffolding to assist them in their final blogging
task.



6
Summative (one
strategy and
instrument)
The summative piece of assessment will be an
interactive blogging task where students will take
their knowledge and understanding learnt
throughout the unit and write three diary entry
blogs (before, during, after) from a first person
perspective of a child in Japan or England during
WWII highlighting the culture, events and daily
life at this time.
A rubric will be used to assess that the students
have covered all aspects of the blogging task
through the three interrelated strands of
Language, Literature and Literacy as outlined in
the Australian Curriculum (ACARA, 2014)






8,9,10
Significant demonstration
of learning.
Receptive modes by the end of this unit
students will understand and demonstrate how
text structures can achieve particular effects as
well as how language features, images and
vocabulary are used to represent ideas,
characters and events.

Productive modes by the end of this unit
students will demonstrate their ability to contribute
actively to class and group discussions. They will
understand and demonstrate how language
features and language patterns can be used for
emphasis through creating a historical memoir
blog, elaborating on key ideas for a range of
purposes and audiences.


1-10







1-10