Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
This literacy sequence is suited to grade four and has been developed around
the book The Two-Hearted Numbat by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Ezekial
Kwaymullina. The book tells the story of a numbat who had one heart that was a
stone, which made him strong and brave and a second heart that was a feather
which made him gentle and soft. The numbat decides to choose between which
heart he should have forever but in the end, decides on using both hearts at the
same time so that he has the qualities of both hearts always. Through using this
book as a resource, the sequence will focus on building comprehension
strategies as well as the skills associated with the construction of genre,
specifically language features and text structures. This literacy sequence will
eventuate in a play where students can demonstrate their knowledge through
dance, music and speaking. This sequence will address the Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander histories and cultures priority.
Sequence 1: Frontloading
Teaching
Focus 1
Strategic
Questions
Whole
Class
Activities
to Engage
the
Students
To find
out
whether
students
can
identify
key
features
of
Indigeno
us
stories.
What
similarities
between
these
stories can
you see?
What
differences
between
these
stories can
you see?
What can
you tell
me about
the
illustration
s?
Is there a
recipe to
The
students
will sit on
the floor
while the
teacher
reads How
the Birds
got their
Colours by
Mary
Albert.
Students
will also
watch the
video Why
Koala has
a Stumpy
Tail.
Teacher
Follow on
activities
(either
small
group or
independe
nt)
Following
on from
that, the
teacher
will give
the
students
details of
an
Indigenous
story that
has not
been
written yet
and ask
the
students
to draw
the first
page of
Assessme
nt
Resources
Teacher
will listen
to the
students
views and
responses
that were
expressed
during the
class
discussion
as well as
taking
note of
how the
students
have
created
the front
page of
How the
Birds got
their
Colours
(Mary
Albert
2011)
Why Koala
has a
Stumpy Tail
(Martha
Hamilton
2012)
http://www.
youtube.co
these
stories and
if so what?
Who are
the main
characters
in the
stories?
Teaching
Focus 2
will
discuss
the two
stories
(See
Strategic
Questions)
and as a
class,
create a
mind map
on the
board of
the
similarities
they
found.
Strategic Whole
Questions Class
Activities
to
Engage
the
Students
To build
What do
Students
an
the
would sit
understa hearts
on the
nding of
represent floor
the literal ? Would
while
and
most of
teacher
inferred
us use
reads
meaning more
The Twoin the
than one
Hearted
text as
heart at
Numbat
an
once?
by
introducti What
Ambelin
on to
might
and
compreh those
Ezekial
ension
hearts
Kwaymull
strategy
be? When ina. As a
might we class,
the story
with an
introductor
y line/s
that would
compleme
nt the
picture.
the story
ie. Have
the
students
included
features
that are
typical of
Aboriginal
stories
m/watch?
v=itszep0d
uwI
Follow on
Activities(ei
ther small
group or
independe
nt)
Assessment
Resources
Individually
, students
will then
complete a
cloze
passage
that
summarise
s the story
that was
just read
and asks
students to
fill in the
blanks.
Teacher will
observe
discussion
responses
to gauge
whether the
students
understood
the
meaning
behind the
story and
the pictorial
representati
ons. The
cloze
passage
The Two
Hearted
Numbat
(Ambelin
and Ezekial
Kwaymullin
a 2008)
use our
stone
heart?
When
might we
use our
feather
heart?
they
would
then
discuss
the book
and the
meaning
behind
the
pictures
and what
they
represent
. (See
Strategic
Questions
)
(See
Appendix 1)
will also be
analysed to
check
whether
students
were able
to fill it in
with
appropriate
words.
Elaboration
Practice
Review
Resources
Elaboration
Practice
Review
Resources
In small groups, the students will be given either The One in the
Middle is the Green Kangaroo or The Magic Brocade A Tale of China
to rehearse as a play. This will allow them to work independent of
the teacher as a practice for the assessment task. Students will also
be encouraged to take note of the type of genre that their story
falls into and as such use tone and expression that would be
befitting.
This assessment will take the form of a role play whereby students
have to direct, narrate and act out the story of How the Birds Got
Their Colours. The idea of this role play is to make the audience feel
like they are reading an interactive version of the book. As such,
one of the students will be playing the part of the reader and will
be able to stop the play using a signal, to point out different
Part 2: Rationale
This sequence is designed to suit a grade four level as it was centred on
the book The Two-Hearted Wombat by Amber and Ezekial Kwaymullina
(2008). The Two-Hearted Wombat provides for the literacy needs of a
students in grade four in a number of ways. Firstly, a language feature of
Indigenous Australian narratives is that they use simple language when
telling the stories. This makes the book flow well when accompanied with
the illustrations but also allows the audience to focus on the meaning
hidden in the words and the illustrations. As text comprehension was a
focus in this literacy sequence, it was important to find a book that could
provide opportunities to point out literal and inferred meaning in the text
without unnecessarily getting the students caught up with the vocabulary
of the text. Secondly, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and
cultures priority is the cross-curriculum priority that was chosen to be
focused on. This was largely due to the fact that Indigenous Australian
history is integral to Australian history and students at a grade four level
will be able to appreciate the wide variety of Australian childrens
literature about Indigenous Australians. Students will also be able to pick
up on the different text structure and language and visual features that
are apparent in Indigenous Australian books and as such be able to
compare the nuances of the genre. It is the unique features of Indigenous
Australian literature that teachers and students would find motivating and
in turn inspire them to Create literary texts that explore students own
experiences and imagining (AusVELS 2013). This AusVELS link which can
be found in the literature strand of the English domain captures the
inspiration that Indigenous Australian texts turn in you. If The TwoHearted Numbat was not read aloud, it could be swapped with the video
called Why Koala Has a Stumpy Tail which was resourced in the first
References
Edwards-Groves, C 2002, Connecting Students To Learning Through
Explicit Teaching, retrieved 28/9/2014, http://www.myread.org/explicit.htm
Kwaymullina, A & Kwaymullina, E 2008, The Two-Hearted Numbat,
Fremantle Press, Western Australia
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2013, English, Victorian
Curriculum and Assessment Authority, retrieved 28/9/2014,
http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/English/Curriculum/F-10#level=4
Winch, G, Johnston, R, March, P, Ljungdahl, L & Holliday, M 2010, Literacy
Reading, Writing and Childrens Literature (4th edn), Oxford University
Press, Victoria
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
One hot and sunny day, Peter and his friends went to the beach for a
swim.
The planes were roaring as they hit the landing strip. Judy was incredibly
sad. Her father stood at the departure gate and soon she would have to
say goodbye.
I stood outside, dripping with water. When was this rain going to stop?
Heidi was furious! How could she have failed this test?