English Lesson Plan 1

Class: Year 8 English Time: 60 minutes

Materials
 PowerPoint Presentation
 Student workbooks
 Butchers paper
 Pens and glue
 Images from ‘The Breadwinner’

Legend
Student task Teaching Points Inquiry Questions Differentiation

Time Teaching/Learning Activities Organisation

0-5 Hook: The Breadwinner Trailer (1:47mins). Classroom Layout:
mins Students sit in groups of 4 at a table.
Lesson Objective
Resources:
Teacher asks students to unpack what they
thought about the trailer.  Class Roll
The teacher now presents the lesson objective:  Hook:
Student will be looking at the theme Students watch
‘Representation’ through different modes of texts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p64O8KAHHaQ

5-20 Brainstorming themes in ‘The Breadwinner’ Resources:

mins
In groups of 4, students use butchers’ paper  Butchers paper and pens
and pens to brainstorm the themes represented in  Student workbooks and pens
The Breadwinner trailer. The teacher goes around
the classroom and each table provides their
responses. The classroom discusses their answers
and the teacher writes questions on the board to
be answered in workbooks:
 Why does the protagonist change her
identity from a girl to boy?
 What is the time and place of this film and
what does it represent?
 What does ‘breadwinner’ mean?
Students discuss different societies around the
world that where these themes and experiences
are still present.

20-40 ‘The Breadwinner’ image analysis Resources:

mins
 After brainstorming themes in the trailer, the
teacher hands out images from the ‘Breadwinner’
film to each student. Some students may be given
the same image, and others will be given different
images.
 Images from ‘The Breadwinner’ printed out for
students
 Student workbooks, pens, glue

Each student glues their image in their workbooks.

Students write down what each picture represents
by looking at:
 Facial expressions, body language
 Setting/environment of the image
 Scene of the image – what is represents

Student’s may volunteer to share their

interpretation with the class. Student’s with the
same picture will be asked to share their ideas to
demonstrate how one image can be interpreted in
different ways.

40-55 Parvana’s Perspective Resources:

mins
Using the images provided in the previous activity,  Images from previous activity
students are now instructed to write a short diary  Poem exercise worksheets
passage from Parvana’s perspective.

Using the images provided in the previous

activity, students can write from their own
perspective about Parvana’s journey.

55-60 Students can offer to share their diary entries. Resources:

mins
The teacher discusses what will be their homework  Workbooks
for the next lesson.
Homework
Students are to go online and search for ‘Still I Rise’ poem by Maya Angelou. They are to write down in dot points the
motifs, genre and imagery in the poem in their workbooks.

Evaluation/ Extension

To further develop student’s ability to deconstruct a visual text, they are given a film trailer
analysis grid with questions on the left such as “what genre is it?”, “what can you see when
you watch it?”, “who would like to watch this movie?” and blank grids on the right side to
note their answers. Furthermore, students may only be provided with the sound effects of
the trailer and make judgement from the sounds, voice, music and discuss what different
sounds represent or sound effects muted, and students make judgement about what is
occurring through the visuals. EN4-7D - analyse how combinations of words, sound and
images can create particular perspectives of the same event or issue such as environmental
sustainability.

English Lesson Plan 2

 Class: Year 8 English Time: 60 minutes

Pre-service teacher’s Objectives

The objectives for this lesson are for students to read a text and closely engage with its
features such as tone, imagery and motifs to understand what it represents. A classroom
discussion about the poem enables students to build on their understanding of
representation and how it may be subjective or objective. Student’s create meaning by
composing a visual representation which reflects these representations through symbols,
images and words.

Materials
 Still I Rise poem – Maya Angelou
 PowerPoint slides
 Workbooks
 A3 paper
 Magazine cut-outs

Legend

Student task Teaching points Inquiry question Differentiation

Time Teaching/Learning Activities Organisation

0-10 Teacher allows a student to volunteer to reiterate Classroom layout:
mins what happened in the previous class and asks on a few
students to discuss their answers from the assigned Students sit in groups of 3 at a table.
homework.
Resources:
Hook:
The teacher hands out copies of Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I  Hook:
Rise’ poem to each student. Student’s can volunteer to ‘Still I Rise’ poem by Maya Angelou
read out one stanza each.  Student’s workbooks
Students read the poem again, this time with a strong
emotion or attitude that matches the emotion of the
words in the line.

10- Resources:
Students are instructed to underline the lines that
20mins
represent power and highlight the lines/words that
ignite interest.  Still I Rise poem
 Highlighter and pen
One by one students come to the board to write down
what they have underlined and highlighted, creating a
mind map.
20- Resources:
The teacher hands out worksheets with questions
35mins
about the poem.
 Still I Rise poem by Maya Angelou
The classroom discusses their answers, what they
thought about the poem, themes, and what it
represents through language and imagery.

35- Visual Representation Resources:

60mins
Students compose a visual representation on A3  A3 Paper
paper which communicates the themes, motifs,  Coloured pens
imagery and tone represented in ‘Still I Rise’ poem.  Magazine cut-outs
 PowerPoint presentation
Refer to PowerPoint presentation for instructions.

Homework
Students complete their visual representations at home, ready for the next class to be posted on the wall.

Evaluation/ Extension
To extend on student’s interest of visual representations, students write an accompanying
reflection statement outlining the reason behind their design choices, images and colours to
further enhance their understanding of words having more than just verbal effect, but visual
and emotional also. EN4-9E - reflect on and assess their own and others' learning against
specific criteria, using reflection strategies, e.g learning logs, blogs and discussions with
teachers and peers.
 English Lesson Plan 3

Class: Year 8 Time: 60 minutes

Pre-service teacher’s Objectives

The objectives for this lesson are for students to combine the two texts that were studied in
the previous classes and create a connection between them, through analysing their ideas,
themes and perspectives. Students will engage in creative activities that enables them to
create these links through a storybook and poem which combines both texts and emphasise
on what ideas they represent.

Materials
 PowerPoint presentation slides
 The Breadwinner trailer and Still I Rise poem
 Storybook booklet
 Colouring pencils

Student task Teaching points Inquiry questions

Differentiation

Time Teaching/learning activities Organisation

0-5 Teacher asks a student to volunteer to Classroom Layout:
mins reiterate what was learnt in the previous Students sit in groups of 4 at a table.
classes.

5-10 Teacher plays ‘The Breadwinner’ trailer to refresh Resources:

mins student’s memory.
 The Breadwinner trailer (1:47mins)
Then teacher instructs different students to read https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p64O8KAHHaQ
out ‘Still I Rise poem’.  Student workbooks with ‘Still I Rise poem glued

The teacher writes down themes that were

previously explored in ‘The Breadwinner’ and ‘Still I
Rise’. Students begin to discuss the connection
between these texts.

10- Resources:
35min Students now create a storybook with 4 pages
s with drawings about Parvana’s experience and  PowerPoint Presentation
choose a stanza from Still I Rise that best suits each  Storybook booklet
page.
 Colouring pencils
 Workbooks to refer back to ‘Still I Rise’
Refer to PowerPoint presentation slide for
instructions.

Students show their storybook to the class and

explain why they chose certain drawings, what
they represent, etc. They also discuss why they
 chose a particular line from the poem to match
with that drawing.
35- Resources:
55min Now, students choose one line from the poem, Still
s I Rise. From this line, students create a short poem  PowerPoint presentation
about Parvana’s life/experiences.  Poem worksheet

Every second line in the poem must rhyme.

55-60 Students can offer to share their poem with the

mins class and read it with a strong emotion or attitude
that suits their poem.

Evaluation/ Extension
Students write a reflection on how they believe the story of The Breadwinner will/should
end. They reflect on what they would do if they were in the shoes of the protagonist and
how they would deal with her circumstances. With this reflection, students consider the
message Still I Rise represent and write about the protagonist while incorporating the
themes of strength and power in Still I Rise.

Rationale
The Breadwinner trailer provides a glimpse into the life of a young girl from Afghanistan
who must cut her hair and change her name to alter herself as a boy so she can provide for
her family because she lives in the Taliban era where woman have no rights. Furthermore,
Still I Rise is a poem about oppression, and standing up against that oppression by fighting
for one’s rights and continuing to grow and stand one’s ground. These texts are imperative
for understanding the world we live in today. The Breadwinner is a text which captures
student’s attention to war, courage, freedom, power, as well different places in the world
which continue to oppress women. Still I Rise contains similar values and themes yet tries to
break from the shackles of oppression. Each lesson plan examines both texts separately,
then combined in the final lesson plan. As John Hattie writes, “the visibility of learning from
the students’ perspective needs to be known by teachers so they can have a better
understanding of what learning feels like for the students” (2009, pg. 116). Each lesson plan
was designed for students to be engaged with the work, find it interesting and stimulating,
and link back to the textual concept ‘representation’.

The sequenced lesson plans were designed with the incorporation of student’s producing
their own work, so they gain a greater appreciation for representation through various
activities. AITSL Standard 2.1 writes “demonstrates knowledge and understanding of
teaching strategies of the teaching area” (2017). This Standard has been incorporated within
the lessons because students deserve the right to have content which is meaningful,
relevant and engaging. So, one of the activities is centred around writing a diary passage
where students can experiment which writing from the perspective of the protagonist,
another is creating a visual presentation around themes and imagery in the poem, another
activity is for students to integrate the texts into one by composing their own poem and a
storybook activity where once again, students identify the connection between texts, as
outlined in Syllabus Outcome 6. In the beginning of the lesson, discussions between the
teachers and students take place to enable students to begin thinking about particular
ideas. “The teacher needs to give pupils clear guidelines on what the discussion is about… it
is very important to summarise and review during and towards the lesson” (Nagler, 2016,
pg. 168). Through these discussions with set questions, students can begin to think critically
about what they are learning about, therefore allows for a smooth lesson. Discussions were
also included as a form of inquiry, to assess what students already know or to refresh their
memory about what was learnt previously.

In these lesson plans, student’s look closely at the conventions of the genre of both texts
and look through the perspective of the protagonist in The Breadwinner and the writer in
Still I Rise. As written in The Artful English Teacher, students look at the context of these
texts and how their circumstances continue to resonate across centuries and cultures (Boas
& Gazis, 2016). From these activities, students are required to shift from looking at the
issues within the text, to looking from the point of view of the protagonist. This idea has
been integrated in the diary passage of lesson 1, where students taken into consideration
the cultural, societal and emotional factors of Parvana, and place themselves in her shoes.
The Breadwinner trailer was the perfect choice for the textual concept ‘representation’, as
every scene conveys different messages to the audience such as oppression, strength,
courage, family. Students also have the opportunity to engage in creativity throughout the
sequence of lesson plans. Creativity was especially emphasised in these lesson plans as it
provides students the opportunity to engage in different modes of expression, such as diary
entry, poem writing, creating a storybook and composing a visual representation. Utilising
their creativity enables students to explore different ways of expressing what they have
learnt, as well as maintaining engagement.