-+Lesson+Sequence



**Lesson 1 - Int****roduction**

The first lesson of the Mini Beasts unit is designed to integrate an introduction to insects and the rich multimodal task. To establish students’ prior knowledge, students will be using a 4 column graphic organizer to write down what they already know about insects and documentaries. Then, students will be identifying what features make an insect, some environments that some insects live in and the prevalence of insects in relation to other life on Earth. Concurrently, students will identify the main semiotic features of a documentary by viewing two short documentaries on “What is an arthropod?” ([]) and “What is an insect?” ([]). Students will be placed into table groups before the lesson of 4 to 5 students, which will form the groups for the multimodal task. Finally, as a class, students will construct a description of an insect and an arthropod. This will help them establish their understanding of the difference between the two terms, facilitating their group selection of an insect.

**Lesson 2 - Development of students’ field of knowledge of the focus outcome **  Students will be engaged actively in this lesson as the tasks involve achievement of the focus outcome. Initially, the students will recall the meanings of the terms “arthropod” and “insect” and the difference between “insects” and “bugs”. This comes in line with students learning about the taxonomy of mini beasts.

This will lead to an activity that involves students sorting images of mini beasts under the headings “insect” and “bugs “, which will develop their understanding of insects. Students will be working in their groups that they will remain in for the documentary assessment. The aim of keeping students in their groups is so that students develop working relationships with the members of their groups and to resolve any issues of conflict that arise early in the unit.

The students will then locate and identify insects in the playground, paying strict attention to safety rules around insects. Students will draw and factually describe the insects that they have found.    **Lesson 3 - Written Grammar ** In this lesson, students will learn about the whole text structure of an information report. They will identify the main ideas of different paragraphs in a Ladybug information report ([]). This will help students understand that different sections of an information report focus on different aspects of the subject. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In groups, students will then organise sentences and paragraphs according to different headings of an information report. Students discuss and compare their constructed information report with other groups and the original Ladybug information report. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students will then use their understanding of text structure to create their own worksheet. This will be to be used for researching their insect and developing an information report in the next lesson. This will provide the basis for the written aspect of their rich task. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Lesson 4 - Research** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In this lesson, groups are given the opportunity to research, using the library's resources, the mini-beast they will be exploring in their documentary. Groups will allocate members headings to research based on their A3 worksheet from last lesson. Students will record their research on palm cards. Once students have finished researching their particular topic the group will come together and have each member report on the information they have found. Once this has been completed the group will then decide how they will organise their information by pasting their palm cards on their A3 worksheet. Students research regarding the structure of their insect will be used in the next lesson. Additionally, the constructed information report will be developed further in Lesson 7.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Lesson 5 - Visual Grammar** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students will examine a number of Conceptual Analytical Structured texts, and will use associated information cards to identify the features of visual grammar prevalent in the images. The students will create a 'checklist' out of these features. The teacher will then display a Conceptual Analytical Structured visual of an insect, and students are to use the 'checklist' to label the features on the stimulus text. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Following this, students will work with their group to produce their own Conceptual Analytical Structured visual of their insect. Students will be provided with an information card on an insect, that has an associated photograph, from which they are to produce a Conceptual Analytical Structured visual. Students may also use any relevant research from the last lesson to help them. Students use the 'checklist' created in the introductory activity to ensure adherence to the chosen mode of visual literacy. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students scan their visual text to the class computer in an image format (as a Jpeg), which will later be used in the documentary, at the end of the unit <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Lesson 6 - Multimodal text** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students will recall the knowledge they have about multi-modal texts and how they are shaped by their purpose. Students will then examine a specific multi-modal text - documentaries. This will be done by viewing 3 documentaries and as a class identifying and describing the features used and the reason for their use. This discussion will then lead to an activity where students will be given the opportunity to apply this knowledge. A scenario-based problem will be given to students - their Guatemalan peer support class has created a fact-file on Aardvarks and have requested that their Australian friends help them use their information to create a documentary. Students, in groups, are to give suggestions to their Guatemalan peers by planning a 2 minute documentary. Students will then present their ideas to the class who will in turn identify and discuss the features that were incorporated.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Lesson 7** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students will use their information reports to create a more coherent sequence, i.e a script for use in their documentary. They will be introduced to the idea of sequence and order through a short ordering activity where they will, as a class, order the stages of a life-cycle of an animal. This will aid them in realising the importance of sequence, and provide a solid foundation for understanding how to use sequence in a documentary. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Following this, students will re-group into their documentary groups and collaboratively "pull-apart" the information from their previous information reports, ordering it in a sequence on a provided storyboard template. This will allow student to focus on the written aspects of their planning process, consequently forming the basis of visual planning in later lessons. Students should be able to appropriately select which information is necessary for use in their documentary voice-overs. Following this, students will share with their peers their written script and their peers are able to provide constructive feedback.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Lesson 8 - <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Scaffolding and Constructing ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students will continue working on their scripted storyboards and use it to rehearse. Students will be encouraged to make changes to their storyboards based on what they think works and does not work during the rehearsal process. After this, the teacher will scaffold how to use the video cameras for filming. Groups will then have the opportunity to begin filming their documentary.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Lesson 9 - Scaffolding and Constructing** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students will continue to work on filming their documentary. The teacher will continue to provide assistance to groups on how to use the video cameras. After filming, students will be scaffolded on how to use Windows Movie Maker to edit their film and add text. This will continue into the next lesson.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">**Lesson 10- Constructing and Presenting** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Students continue working on their rich multimodal task. They are to refine and edit the documentary, to ensure that all relevant aspects have been included in the final product. Students ensure that all content areas explored in previous lessons have been incorporated into the documentary, and refer to the compositional aspects of the documentary, as discussed in previous lessons. Students present their documentary to the rest of the class and complete a peer assessment on another group's final product.