English: Curriculum Studies (EDUC4636)

You are preparing Junior Secondary students for an assessment task - creating either a narrative or a persuasive speech. This preparation involves three parts:

• A concise overview of a six-week teaching and learning sequence that prepares students to complete the assessment task.
• A lesson plan aligned with the year level and relevant sub-strand/s from the AC:E (version 9)
• A microteaching demonstration of a lesson segment (performed in small groups).

Part 1: Overview of a six-week teaching and learning sequence (individual written response) (800 – 1000 words)

The focus in AT1 is on creating tasks (as opposed to responding tasks). Choose one of the assignment task sheets provided on Blackboard (either a narrative or persuasive speech). Backward mapping from this task, plan a six-week teaching and learning sequence overview using the template and guided by the examples provided on Blackboard. This overview should be organised according to the five stages of the teaching and learning cycle and provide a concise overview of the teaching and learning strategies to be used in each stage of the cycle leading up to and preparing students for the assessment task you have selected. Clearly identify the lesson you are submitting as your detailed lesson plan (see Part 2, below).

Part 2: Lesson plan (individual written response) (1200 – 1500 words)

Using the lesson plan template provided on Blackboard, develop a comprehensive 70-minute lesson plan from the Modelling / Deconstruction stage of your unit overview. Your lesson must be focused on one or a few related specific language features of either the narrative OR persuasive speech. Your goal is to support students to analyse the language feature/s so they can deploy the language feature/s in their summative assessment (Independent construction).

• Your lesson plan should deploy teaching and learning strategies that showcase your capacity to support student learning and be inclusive of diverse learners across a range of abilities.
• You should explain and justify your chosen teaching strategies and learning experiences, supported by appropriate scholarly and professional sources.
• Your lesson plan should incorporate appropriate resources, including ICT and a high-quality model text. If you cannot find an appropriate model text online, you can use AI to produce one. Note that you will need to ‘tweak’ what is produced to ensure it is fit for purpose. You also need to acknowledge any use of AI in relation to the model text (and/or any other aspect of your submission).
• You can also draw on other relevant resources, as appropriate. Include resources either as an appendix (acknowledging any sources as appropriate), or as hyperlinks within the lesson plan (or a combination of both). Appendixes are preferable to hyperlinks in the Turn It In platform.
• Use APA style referencing as appropriate e.g., for teaching strategies gleaned from books or journal articles.
• You must use the lesson plan template provided on Blackboard.

Part 3: Microteaching activity (group task, individual pass/fail grade)

N.B. This is a hurdle requirement – you cannot pass the assignment unless this activity is completed.

Working in groups of four, present a segment from one of the lesson plans developed by one of your group members. You should collaboratively decide which segment to present.

Your presentation should go for a maximum of 15 minutes and should consist of:

• a brief (two or three minute) overview which (i) outlines where and how your segment fits into the lesson and (ii) how the task/s in your segment tightly backmap to the summative assessment task.
• delivery of a segment of the lesson (approximately 12 minutes).

Please note:

• You are not required to present the full lesson in the workshop – just a segment of the lesson
• All group members must contribute equally – both in terms of planning and organisation as well as to the presentation itself i.e., each person presents for the same amount of time.

A note about group work

All group members should contribute equally to the design and delivery of microteaching segment. However, the phenomenon of ‘social loafing’ is acknowledged as a frustration to some students. Social loafing is also known as ‘free-riding’ i.e., when one or more group members contributes little and ‘rides’ on the extra efforts of their co-workers (Walker & Angelo, 1998).

If your small group is experiencing dysfunction, including ‘social loafing’ by one or more members, it is your responsibility to bring this promptly to the attention of your tutor/course coordinator, who will then support the group to resolve the problems in a respectful way. If no resolution can be found, the tutor/course coordinator can remove the non-contributing student/s from the group and require student/s to complete the task either individually or in another small group with other ‘social loafers’.

Context

In meeting the unit specifications and requirements of senior syllabuses, schools often choose to prepare semester-long units for Years 11 and 12 using Teaching and Learning Plans (TLPs). Framed by the relevant syllabus and developed to meet the unique context of a school and student cohort, these documents provide a common direction and purpose for a school’s subject teachers and students. For example, using the unit specifications and requirements of the English General Senior Syllabus (2025), a school may plan TLPs for Semester 1 and Semester 2 of Year 11, by backward-mapping to their school-designed assessment instruments and the syllabus text requirements for Unit 1: Perspectives and texts and Unit 2: Texts and Culture. These TLPs would use texts, resources, and teaching and learning experiences that cater to the needs and interests of the school’s Year 11 students in subject English. For AT2, you will develop a teaching and learning sequence for a Year 11 English class, using an assessment instrument and a TLP scaffold, as provided on Blackboard.

Description of task

Using the Unit 1 or Unit 2 assessment instrument and Teaching and Learning Plan (TLP) scaffold, develop an eight-week teaching and learning sequence that you and fellow Senior English teachers could implement.

Your teaching and learning sequence needs to:

1.     tightly backward-map to the assessment instrument you select from Blackboard. Both assessment instruments:

• focus on responding to texts (as opposed to creating texts) in Year 11
• require study of a novel or collection of short stories that have been sourced from the English/EAL General senior syllabus prescribed text list (2026-2029)
• require students to submit/complete their assessment responses by Week 9 of your teaching and learning sequence

2.     use the TLP scaffold on Blackboard to:

• develop a teaching and learning sequence comprising 24 lessons (3 x 70 minute lessons per week)
• include a description of the social context of your own mixed ability Year 11 English class, including their strengths and needs, based on existing assessment information and your own observations. You might draw on a real class you have taught on practicum or describe a fictitious but authentic-sounding class (150-200 words).
• provide a rationale that describes and justifies the value of your chosen focus for students at this point in their English studies. To justify your focus, you should draw on the relevant unit learning objectives and subject matter, as well as your understanding of relevant learner characteristics (150-200 words)
• ensure that all parts of your submission are uploaded to TurnitIn as ONE file only (your completed TLP).

3.     For the first five weeks (Lessons 1 to 15), provide an explicit teaching and learning sequence for Stages 1 and 2 of the teaching and learning cycle (Building knowledge of the field and Supported reading of the focus text/s).

4.     For the final three weeks (Lessons 16 to 24), provide a more succinct overview of how you will support learning in the final three stages of the teaching and learning cycle (Modelling/Deconstruction, Joint Construction, and Independent Construction).

5.     Reference all text-based sources using APA style (e.g., to reference the novel or collection of short stories for study, other texts or sections of texts for use). Online sources can be acknowledged either by creating a hyperlink to that source or using APA conventions.

In completing this task, ensure that your teaching and learning sequence includes experiences that:

• tightly backward-map to the task throughout the teaching and learning cycle
• provide evidence of relevant pedagogical models (e.g., gradual release of responsibility model)
• use ICTs to support and expand teaching and learning experiences
• provide specific opportunities to develop literacy and numeracy skills
• provide specific opportunities for diagnostic and formative assessment
• cater to the needs of diverse learners across the full range of abilities.

And, because TLPs are sizeable documents, do NOT prepare or approach this task by preparing individual lesson plans:

• include only enough information to allow another teacher to understand and implement the common goals and plans of your teaching and learning sequence
• view the model TLP on Blackboard as a guide to the amount of detail required in Weeks 1 to 5 (explicit sequence) and Weeks 6 to 8 (succinct overview)
• you may find it helpful to use the AT1 unit overview template as an ‘at a glance’ planning tool (but don’t include this in your TLP submission)
• briefly describe accompanying resources, provide them in appendixes or as hyperlinks, or snip and paste them into the TLP ‘Resources’ column, as appropriate. For example, if you are using a PowerPoint, you aren’t expected to develop accompanying slides, but you might state that you’ll display the learning goals using PowerPoint, or that you’ll display a selection of writing prompts. If you are adapting a retrieval chart from The Beginning Teacher's Companion, you could create this in Word and then, providing it is still legible, snip and paste this as a small jpg file in the Resources column. If you are using an online resource, you can include this as an appendix or a hyperlink (please note, appendixes are preferable to hyperlinks in Turn-It-In)

Extension requests must be made using the official online procedures before the due date.

APST: 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3

This task recognises your learning and practice as a soon-to-be graduate teacher of secondary English. It requires you to create a multimodal professional learning plan (PLP) for your first year of teaching that (i) outlines and reflects on a focus area you need to further develop, and (ii) details the professional learning you will undertake to develop your knowledge and practice in this area.

Your PLP will be documented as a video and annotated bibliography, and will need to focus on one of the following areas:

Area 1: teaching works created by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Area 2: for a specific text type of your choice (e.g. poetry, novels, plays, film, other), teaching students to analyse:

1. perspectives and representations of concepts, identities, times, and places in texts OR
2. use and effects of aesthetic features and stylistic devices in texts OR
3. the ways cultural assumptions, attitudes, values, and beliefs underpin texts and position audiences.

Area 3: teaching students to create texts in a specific text type of your choice (e.g., analytical essay, feature article, short story, persuasive speech, other).

Area 4: an alternative focus of your choosing, in negotiation with your tutor.

Part 1: Video component

The video component of your PLP is to be 4-5 minutes in length. It must include:

• a brief introduction and overview of your chosen focus area, including how you identified it as an area in which you need further development APST 1.2; APST 6.3). This could include e.g. feedback from your supervisor/s and other teachers, critical self-reflection from practicum and/or coursework, feedback on assessment tasks.
• why this focus area is important to students’ educational outcomes in secondary English (APST 1.2). You will need to justify your focus and support your contentions by:
• making links to relevant curriculum documents and
• identifying impacts for teaching and learning, using current and relevant academic and professional sources.
• description and justification of 3–4 strategies, specific to your chosen focus area, which you will use to develop your professional knowledge and skills in your first year of teaching (APST 6.3; APST 6.4; APST 7.4). This should include how you will engage with others, e.g., teaching colleagues, professional teaching networks and/or other communities as relevant.
• explanation of how you will evaluate your professional learning and demonstrate improved teaching practices in this focus area. (APST 6.3; APST 6.4), e.g., seeking and applying feedback from supervisors, colleagues, students, parents/carers, the broader community; analysing student responses.
• a brief conclusion/summary statement.

In producing your video, you will need to:

• select and use a range and balance of multimodal elements to communicate your subject matter and engage your audience (e.g., images, text, narration, animation, video, other)
• narrate using your own spoken, recorded delivery of original script (video and/or audio)
• if included, ensure any photos of student work or other artefacts are de-identified
• use APA7 referencing conventions and attribute multimodal elements appropriately
• select and learn how to use production software as required.

Please note:

• Your video can use but is not limited to the sources required in your annotated bibliography. 
• No time will be provided on how to use software to produce your video. Many online tutorials are available for this purpose.
• Select and learn how to use appropriate software before returning from your final practicum, to ensure you have enough time for this task.
• You are not expected to purchase production software. There is free software that will meet the requirements of this task, e.g. PowerPoint, PhotoStory 3, iMovie and others. 
• Some online tools only offer a limited free trial (e.g., VideoScribe and Powtoon). Carefully check subscription details before investing too much time. 

Part 2: Annotated bibliography

To support and extend your professional learning in teaching secondary school English, Part 2 of your PLP requires you to select and annotate six sources you will use to further develop your knowledge and skills in your stated focus area.

When choosing and documenting your sources:

• they must be current (published within the last five years) unless you are including a foundational text on which more recent scholarship is built
• at least four must be scholarly, peer-reviewed books, book chapters or articles
• include no more than two reliable professional or government sources (e.g., articles, blogs, podcast transcripts)
• if they meet requirements and will be key in implementing your PLP, consider whether you need to include sources used in your video component (Part 1)
• follow APA 7 formatting guidelines (provided in the template on Blackboard).

To annotate your chosen sources:

• you have 800-1000 words (total) for annotations, excluding bibliographic details
• provide an annotation for each, summarising the chosen source and detailing why it will be of significant value in developing your professional knowledge and skills in your chosen focus area
• annotations should continue to develop your PLP beyond the content of your video, rather than simply restating it.

Referencing other sources

You will need to acknowledge sources used in researching and preparing your PLP, additional to those chosen for your annotated bibliography.

To do this:

• as well as in-text referencing of sources and attribution of multimodal elements in Part 1, bibliographic details of sources should be included in a reference list at the end of your video.
• include any other sources used in researching and preparing your PLP in a reference list after your annotated bibliography.  
• in all instances, use APA 7 formatting guidelines (provided in the template on Blackboard).

Task description

Most weeks, in place of a lecture, there will be a learning module comprising short videos and activities in Blackboard (e.g., quizzes, polls, reflections). Because this content replaces a lecture, engagement with the learning modules is critical to your success in this course.

Criteria & Marking

Each completed activity is worth one point. The overall grade for this task is calculated as a percentage by taking the points scored across all the graded items and comparing it to the total points possible e.g.,

• 42 activities completed out of 50 total activities: 42/50 x 100 = 84%

This percentage is mapped to the UQ grading schema to display a grade (1 - 7).

Submission

Completed each week via the relevant learning modules in Blackboard. To receive credit, the activities must be completed by 5pm on the following Tuesday i.e., Week 1’s online learning module must be completed by Tuesday 5pm of Week 2. Ideally, however, you should complete the learning module before attending that week's tutorial so that you are prepared to participate fully. 

APST: 1.2, 1.5, 2.1, 2.5, 3.3, 3.4, 6.4