UNIT TITLE: Who are our heroes?
YEAR: 9
CURRICULUM LEVEL/S: 3/4/5
DURATION: one term
Introduction
This unit encourages students to explore ideas about heroes within a range of cultures and
communities. Oral, visual and written non fiction texts, both teacher and student selected, can be
used to suit a range of interests and achievement levels. Questions worth asking could be:
ƒ What is a hero? What qualities does a hero have?
ƒ What is bravery/courage? Are all heroes ‘brave’? Are all heroes ‘strong’?
ƒ Who are our leaders/heroes? Who do we recognise as heroes? [personal, local, NZ, world]
ƒ Are there differences between heroes and celebrities?
ƒ Do heroes and heroines have the same qualities?
ƒ Is it possible for the same person to be viewed as a hero and a villain? Why?
ƒ Do heroes make good role models?
Questions should encourage students to challenge their own and society’s beliefs, and to respect
the views of others. Exploration of the reasons for the above answers is crucial to understanding
their own and others’ thinking.
Opportunities should be provided for students to create texts in ‘real life’ contexts e.g. letter to
council/principal/ organisation/media recommending that someone be recognised for an
award/celebration.
This unit could also be widened to include fictional heroes.
The focus in the creating meaning strand is on appropriate language selection and use. It would be
possible to assess this in other modes apart from writing. Students could do an oral or multi-media
presentation, individually or collaboratively. Some choice of presentation mode and media could
be provided to accommodate student interest.
Values highlighted in this unit
Excellence – aiming high, persevering ‰
Innovation, enquiry and curiosity ‰
Diversity – culture, language, heritage √
Respect – for themselves and others √
Equity – fairness and social justice ‰
Community and participation for the common
good
√
Care for the environment ‰
Integrity – accountability, honesty, acting
ethically ‰
How students will be encouraged to
develop the selected value or values
during the unit
The texts/people used in this unit will reflect
the bi-cultural nature of NZ, the diverse
cultures of their own school/local community,
and the wider world.
Students will make connections to their own
experiences and share these with others.
There will multiple opportunities for students to
take part in small group discussions and to
work collaboratively.
The characteristics of effective discussion will
be made explicit through modelling and the use
of strategies that encourage all students to
contribute.
Trish Holden — Secondary English and Literacy y UC Education Plus y College of Education y University of Canterbury
[email protected] [03] 367 0756
1
Key competencies highlighted
in this unit
Managing self – self-motivation, personal goals,
appropriate behaviour, resourcefulness, sense of
self and importance of heritage ‰
Relating to others – listen actively, recognise
different points of view, negotiate, share ideas.
√
Participating and contributing – balancing
rights, roles and responsibilities, and responding
appropriately as a group member. ‰
Thinking – using creative, critical,
metacognitive and reflective processes, drawing
on personal knowledge and intuitions. √
Using language, symbols, and texts –
interpreting language and symbols, using ICT,
recognising how choices of language and
symbol affect people’s understanding. √
How students will be encouraged to
develop the selected competency or
competencies during the unit
Relating to others:
Through discussion/reading/viewing, students
will be encouraged to listen to, and share ideas
with their peers and others. Through
collaborative tasks they will recognise common
understandings, while also learning to respect
differences.
Thinking:
Exploring and challenging assumptions is a key
aspect of this unit. Students’ ideas about heroes
will be explored at the start, and students will
reflect on these at key stages in the unit to see if
they are still ‘valid’. They will ‘test’ these
ideas as they read a range of texts.
Using language, symbols and texts:
Students will consider how images and
language are used to communicate ideas about
heroes in a range of written, oral and visual
texts.
They will select a range of appropriate
images/language to communicate ideas about a
person in oral/written/multi-modal texts.
Trish Holden — Secondary English and Literacy y UC Education Plus y College of Education y University of Canterbury
[email protected] [03] 367 0756
2
ACHIEVEMENT OBJECTIVES
Making meaning
Creating meaning
Listening √Reading √ Viewing√
Processes and strategies √
Thinks critically about texts
Purposes and audiences ‰
Ideas √
Makes connections by exploring ideas across a
range of non-fiction texts.
Makes and supports inferences
Language features ‰
Structure ‰
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
Speaking ‰ Writing √ Presenting ‰
Processes and strategies √
Creates text by integrating sources of
information
Purposes and audiences √
Constructs a written text to inform and
persuade a particular audience.
Ideas √
Communicates ideas that show awareness of a
range of viewpoints
Language features √
Uses a range of precise vocabulary [factual,
descriptive, persuasive] to communicate
meaning
Structure ‰
LEARNING OUTCOMES
How students will learn
Students will be able to
For example:
Through the use of effective literacy strategies,
thinking tools, co-operative activities …
Creating a supportive learning environment;
Show understanding that people have
facilitating shared learning
The cultural backgrounds of all students and
different views about heroes and
their families will be recognised in a range of
heroism
ways: looking at diverse understandings of
Connect similar and different ideas in a
heroes across cultures and time; displaying
range of texts.
Use content as well and prior knowledge photos of heroes from diverse cultures, inviting
speakers from a range of cultures
to understand ideas that are not explicit
in texts.
Rules/roles for effective group discussion will
be modelled and established. Strategies such as
Select and use appropriate language to
inform and persuade in a piece of formal think/pair/share, placemats will give students
opportunities to be actively involved.
writing
Making connections to prior experience
Use a range of strategies to surface students’
present beliefs and understandings – individuals
identify their heroes, with reasons. Groups and
class reach consensus – what qualities are
always present, sometimes present, never
present, in a hero.
Teacher uses this information of the learners to
select some ‘big questions’ for further study.
Enhancing the relevance of new learning;
encouraging reflective thought and action
Qualities of heroes will be identified and
Trish Holden — Secondary English and Literacy y UC Education Plus y College of Education y University of Canterbury
[email protected] [03] 367 0756
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displayed early in the unit. These will be
constantly refined. Students will reflect on any
changes in their thinking. The choice of context
for the summative writing activity will arise out
of the knowledge gained during that study and
be relevant to the school or wider community.
Providing sufficient opportunities to learn
This unit is designed to last a term. Students
will be exposed to a range of visual, oral and
written non-fiction texts that will give them
opportunity to make connections and to
consider a range of viewpoints. Making
meaning of these texts will build their
understanding of how language is used to
inform and persuade an audience for a range of
purposes. The writing task will be a natural
follow on from the reading, listening, viewing
activities.
Resources
Willie Apiata – The Reluctant Hero
The Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom
Zealandia’s Brave [Royal Humane Society’s centenary production]
No Mean Feat – Mark Inglis
I have a dream
Doc Pac; The last of the Anzacs [ Visual Learning]
The Best 100 Speeches of the 21st century
Current news stories
New Zealand at War [Selections]
Heroes [Choices]
Websites
ƒ http://www.giraffe.org
ƒ http://www.myhero.com/myhero
ƒ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjTyyn5hVh8 [Royd Kennedy]
ƒ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sUdvlrRka0 [Apiata]
ƒ http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/03/27/heroes.sandra.andersen.cnn
ƒ www.nzedge.com/heroes [range of NZ heroes written, images]
ƒ www.royalhumanesociety-nz.com
ƒ http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/overview/onz.html
ƒ http://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/overview/mzon.html
Key vocabulary
Hero, heroine, qualities, characteristics, courage, bravery, gender, stereotype, role
Trish Holden — Secondary English and Literacy y UC Education Plus y College of Education y University of Canterbury
[email protected] [03] 367 0756
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model, celebrity, inference, assumption, cultural, factual, descriptive, persuasive
Teaching and Learning Activities – an overview:
ƒ Surfacing and challenging students’ understanding of heroes and their
qualities, reaching a consensus on common qualities.
ƒ Reading and analysing a range of non-fiction texts e.g news reports,
Humane Society reports, biographies and autobiographies, speeches,
visiting speakers, interviews to explore ideas of heroism across a range of
cultures.
ƒ Reading for inference using reading strategies/approaches such as
prediction, 3 level guides, question dice, and questioning based on the
deeper features of the SOLO taxonomy, or higher level of Bloom’s
taxonomy.
ƒ Researching – who does school, community, country recognise as ‘heroes’
and what does this suggest about the values of these communities.
Where are the gaps?
ƒ Devising an evaluation sheet with criteria to assess heroes.
ƒ Building vocabulary knowledge – factual, descriptive [adjectives and nouns
to suggest point of view], modals, by using strategies such as clines,
clustering, and by referring to written samples.
ƒ Writing a letter to promote a presently unrecognised hero or groups of
heroes.
ASSESSMENT
Note: “Assessment” is not synonymous with formal testing
Diagnostic
Formative
Summative
What do they know?
What can they do?
Individual and group
feedback & feedforward What are they learning?
What do they need to
learn?
What have they learned?
Can the students explain how they
learned it? (Opportunities for
metacognition and student evaluation
of activities.)
Initial activities used to
elicit present beliefs and
knowledge of heroes.
Refer to asTTle data for
knowledge of reading
levels. May need some
further data re ability to
read for inference –
could use ARB.
Refer to previous writing
samples – strengths and
weaknesses in
language use
Revisiting the hero
qualities identified at the
start of the unit to show
if students are using
new ideas to refine their
ideas.
Teacher observation of
group discussion and
written work will form
the basis of ongoing
feedback.
Peer, self and teacher
feedback will be an
integral part of the draft
writing process.
Ongoing monitoring of
the effectiveness of
group work may indicate
the need for further
modelling/ structuring.
Students will produce a piece of
formal writing that will be
summatively assessed.
They will also evaluate to what
extent they have changed their
ideas about heroes and describe
what led to these changes.
Trish Holden — Secondary English and Literacy y UC Education Plus y College of Education y University of Canterbury
[email protected] [03] 367 0756
5
Extension/enrichment activities provided for
the following students:
Activities provided:
Further support provided for the following
students:
Support provided:
Teacher reflection and evaluation: What impact did my teaching have on
student learning? What evidence do I have?
What do the students still need to learn/do/practise/understand?
Trish Holden — Secondary English and Literacy y UC Education Plus y College of Education y University of Canterbury
[email protected] [03] 367 0756
6
CREATING MEANING
Processes
and
strategies
Level Three
Level Four
Level Five
Integrate sources of
information,
processes, and
strategies with
developing
confidence to
identify, form, and
express ideas.
Integrate sources of information, processes, and strategies confidently to identify, form, and express ideas. Integrate sources of
information,
processes, and
strategies
purposefully and
confidently to
identify, form, and
express increasingly
sophisticated ideas.
By using the above processes and strategies, students will
Purposes Show a developing Show an increasing understanding of how understanding of
and
audiences how to shape texts to shape texts for different purposes and for different
audiences. purposes and
audiences.
Select, develop, and Select, form, and
Ideas
communicate ideas communicate ideas on a range of topics. on a range of
topics.
Use a range of Language Use language
language features features features
appropriately, appropriately,
showing an increasing showing a
understanding of their developing
effects. understanding of
their effects.
Show an
understanding of
how to shape texts
for different
audiences and
purposes.
Select, develop, and
communicate
purposeful ideas on a
range of topics.
Select and use a
range of language
features
appropriately,
showing an
understanding of
their effects.
Trish Holden — Secondary English and Literacy y UC Education Plus y College of Education y University of Canterbury
[email protected] [03] 367 0756
7
Year 9 Creating meaning - writing
Unit Who are our heroes?
Name:____________
level 3
Purposes
and
audiences
☺
Ideas
Language
I try to persuade the
audience to my point of
view.
I have selected some
relevant ideas and most of
my language is appropriate
for my audience.
I have some ideas, but I
need to choose more details
to support these.
I have used
ƒ some words that
show my point of
view
ƒ some factual words
that give clear
information
ƒ some descriptive
words that add
interest and detail
class:________________
level 4
level 5
I try to persuade my
audience, particularly with
my opening statement.
I have selected ideas and
language that are
appropriate to the audience.
I have a clear idea of my
audience and I am aware of a
range of viewpoints.
I have selected ideas and
language that are appropriate
for my audience.
I have supported my ideas
with relevant details.
I have stated my reasons
clearly at the start and
restated these at the end.
I have used
ƒ words that clearly
show my point of
view
ƒ precise, factual
words to give clear
information.
ƒ descriptive words
that add interest
and detail.
I have a strong central idea and
this is linked to other ideas and
a number of well-chosen details.
I used
ƒ a variety of well-chosen
words that will persuade
the audience
ƒ a wide range of factual
and descriptive
vocabulary
ƒ modal verbs to add
weight to my argument
Comments: Student:
I feel pleased with …..
An example of this is…….
I think that I still need to ……
I would like feedback on……..
Teacher:
You have ……….
Next step[s] …….
Trish Holden — Secondary English and Literacy y UC Education Plus y College of Education y University of Canterbury
[email protected] [03] 367 0756
8