UNIT OUTLINE

Subject: English Course: Year 11 English standard. Number of Weeks: 4

Unit title: Reading to
write
Key Concepts/ Big Ideas The importance of this learning
Learning how point of view, language structures Make students more empathetic to others’ point of view, specifically to that of other
and imagery can change the way events are cultures.
perceived.

Unit context within Scope and Sequence/ Syllabus Outcomes

Purpose
EN11-9: Reflects on, assesses and monitors own learning and develops individual and
collaborative processes to become an independent learner.
N/A EN11-8: Identifies and explains cultural assumptions and values in texts and their
effects on meaning.
EN11-7: Understands and explains the diverse ways texts can represent personal and
public worlds.
EN11-3: Analyses and uses language forms, features and structures of texts, considers
appropriateness for purpose, audience and context and explains effects on meaning

Literacy Focus Numeracy Focus ICT Focus

Differentiation
Students are required to Page numbers.
write creatively and
critically.
Week/ Syllabus Content
Sequence
EN11-8: Identifies and explains
cultural assumptions and values in
1 texts and their effects on meaning.
- Assess and reflect on the ways
values and assumptions are
conveyed.
- Analyse and discuss the ways
ideas, voices and opinions are
represented.
EN11-7: Understands and explains
the diverse ways texts can
represent personal and public
worlds.
- understand how contexts
influence the perspectives
represented in texts and how
audiences respond to them.
- Speculate on the possibility of
different interpretations of texts
when they are considered from
different perspectives.
Students create a Venn - Students can choose texts that interest them.
diagram using a computer. - Students can write texts that vary in complexity
- Templates provided to students that struggle to
understand concepts.
Teaching and Learning Strategies including Resources
assessment for learning.
- “Intergration - Yes!”

- Talk about how the ability to see from someone else https://
perspective can help you in real life. www.poemsearcher.com/
- Read “Intergration - Yes!” (or ask me if you can use images/poemsearcher/
another text instead). 39/39817995277096dddbf
- Discuss how culture has influenced their point of 4aafd55e0a1b8.jpeg
view and how it affects the way they interpret - Original resource 1.
events.
- Re-write the poem from the perspective of
Europeans/other character(s), how does this change
the perception of events?
- Create a Venn diagram on computer showing how
your characters (see point below) may see the world
differently.
- Create an original poem/short story/series of diary
entries involving two characters from different
cultures. Write it once from the perspective of one
character, and a second time from the perspective
of the other.
 EN11-8: Identifies and explains
cultural assumptions and values in
texts and their effects on meaning.
 - Watch “please resist me” by Luka Lesson.
2 - Identify cultural assumptions in
their own texts and in their
responses to the texts of others.
- Analyse and discuss the ways
ideas, voices and opinions are
represented.
- Describe and explain cultural
assumptions in texts, including
texts by and about Aboriginal
and/or Torres Straight Islander
People(s), and people with Asian
heritage.
Lesson 1: - “please resist me - Luka
Lesson”

https://
- Perform a close reading of a segment in order to www.youtube.com/
understand who it is focalised through and what watch?v=D-HED2UXwbw
their message is. - (Original resource 2).
- Write down a profile for the kind of people Luka is - (Original resource 3)
responding/talking to. What kind of upbringing did
they have? What factors caused them to hold the
views that they do? (Original resource 2)
- Swap with the person next to you and see if you had
similar ideas. Give constructive feedback.
- How does who it is focalised through change the
content?
Lesson 2:

EN11-9: Reflects on, assesses and - Write a poem/short story/ series of diary entries
monitors own learning and develops from the perspective of the profile you created in
individual and collaborative which you portray the attitudes that Luka is talking
processes to become an about. Show their traits through indirect
independent learner.
 characterisation. (Original resource 3).
- Swap with the person next to you and edit their
- Support the learning of others by work.
objectively assessing their strengths - What cultural assumptions does the protagonist
and needs as learners and offering make?
constructive feedback as
appropriate.
 EN11-3: Analyses and uses language Lesson 1: - The Body Snatcher -
3 forms, features and structures of Robert Louis Stevenson

texts, considers appropriateness for - Read “The Body Snatcher - Robert Louis http://
purpose, audience and context and Stevenson” (or ask me if you can use another text www.eastoftheweb.com/
explains effects on meaning. instead). short-stories/UBooks/
- Analyse how the author uses punctuation to create BodySnat.shtml
- Explore the ways text structures, tension, “I walked forwards. Left foot. Right foot.” - “The signal-man - Charles
language features and stylistic - Write a short story with two people from different Dickens”

choices are used in different cultural backgrounds. Write from the perspective of http://www.online-
types of texts. one character using punctuation to create tension. literature.com/dickens/
- Understand and explain how 2941/
language forms, features and Lesson 2: - (Original resource 3)

structures are effectively 

integrated in a range of quality - Read “The signal-man - Charles Dickens” (or ask me
literature and other texts. if you can use another text instead).
- Use language forms, features and - Analyse how the author uses imagery to elicit
structures to shape meaning, emotions.
influence responses and achieve - Write the same story as last lesson from the
particular effects. perspective of the other character, using imagery to
elicit emotions that portray the same events with a
polarisingly opposite tone than the first time. (Using
imagery, show how this character perceives events
differently due to culture)
 EN11-3: Analyses and uses language - Write a short story involving people from different
forms, features and structures of cultural backgrounds. This time, instead of using
4 texts, considers appropriateness for punctuation for one and imager for the other, use
purpose, audience and context and punctuation AND imager for EACH character. This
explains effects on meaning. should allow for much more depth.
- Swap with a partner and explain how they have used
- Explore the ways text structures, the techniques mentioned above to convey how
language features and stylistic people from different cultures can have different
choices are used in different perspectives.
types of texts.
- Understand and explain how
language forms, features and
structures are effectively
integrated in a range of quality
literature and other texts.
- Use language forms, features and
structures to shape meaning,
influence responses and achieve
particular effects.

EN11-9: Reflects on, assesses and

monitors own learning and develops
individual and collaborative
processes to become an
independent learner.


- Support the learning of others by

objectively assessing their strengths
and needs as learners and offering
constructive feedback as
appropriate.
5 *Do assessment*
Assessment Details Outcomes

Write a short story involving at least two characters
from different cultural backgrounds. Through the
use of punctuation and imagery, show events from
the perspective of both characters. (1000 words).
How did you use language in order to show how
culture can change the way an individual perceives
events and the world?
Evaluation of the Learning and Teaching
EN11-3: Analyses and uses language forms, features and structures of texts,
considers appropriateness for purpose, audience and context and explains effects
on meaning.
EN11-8: Identifies and explains cultural assumptions and values in texts and their
effects on meaning.

EN11-7: Understands and explains the diverse ways texts can represent personal
and public worlds.
Formative assessments will take place throughout
the entirety of the unit in the form of me engaging
in substantive communication with students and
judging their understanding and comprehension.

I will read the summative assessment at the end in

order to judge whether students:

- Understand how culture can impact one’s
ontological view and perception of events.
- Can apply punctuation and imagery in order to
achieve particular results.

Original resources:
Original resource 1:

Original resource 2:
Do you think they belong to a particular nationality or culture? Why?


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What other factors could have contributed to their views apart from culture?


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Do you think their views are informed by the aspects stated above, or have they come to these cultural assumptions on their own?

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Original resource 3:

Your writing should contain all the usual components of a story such as a beginning, climax, and conclusion. It should also contain a segment

BEFORE the two characters interact with one another where the protagonist’s character traits are shown. 


For example, if your character is a Christian from a high socio-economic area it may look something like this:

The bench at the bus stop was a grimy cesspit in comparison to the polished church benches I usually found myself on. I originally

planned on leaning against it, but once I noticed the many pieces of gum stuck to the underside of the surface I decided to take my

chances standing up. My eyes were stuck in a continual cycle of checking the time, which was moving more slowly than ever, and

looking at the bus timetable to confirm that the bus was in fact ten minutes late. The cycle came to a screeching halt when an elderly
 man in ripped clothing sat on the bench as though there was nothing wrong with it.

From this we can already tell that the protagonist is used to a high standard of living, and can then infer other assumptions about their

background/upbringing and how that relates to their culture. 


All educators have a series of professional beliefs that influence the way they teach their lessons and design their units. My beliefs are as

follows: units and lessons should be designed with the intention of achieving syllabus outcomes and maximising student engagement and quality

of work. It will be argued that the attached unit outline has achieved this. This will be done in two segments. First, by asserting that the unit is

inline with syllabus aims and outcomes. Secondly, scholarly literature will be explored to show that effective pedagogical strategies have been

intentionally implemented to maximise student engagement and quality of work.

The Board of studies NSW (2017) states that the primary aims of the English standard syllabus are to assist students in appreciating and

reflecting on the English language, and make meaning through the use of creative, interpretive and critical thought. It is also designed to assist

students in communicating effectively in a “diverse global world” (P. 15). The attached unit of work achieves these objectives, as students are

required to interpret the texts being studied, think critically about how differing perspectives change the perception of events, and finally,

compose a piece of creative writing that shows their understanding. The unit assists students in navigating a diverse global world as it requires

them to empathise with and understand the perspectives of a diverse range of cultures. Therefore, the unit is in line with the syllabus aims, and

also attempts to improve students’ confidence when faced with cultural difference, which is something Kress (as cited in Stevens, 2012) asserts

should result from English pedagogy. Furthermore, the unit also achieves many of the syllabus’ key objectives. It ensures students have the skills

to “express themselves and their relationship with the world” (P. 16) as it requires them to write about events from their own perspective, and

then write about those same events from the perspective of someone with different cultural values. When they write from their own perspective,
they are expressing themselves, and when they write from the second perspective, they are required to think critically about how their own

cultural values impact their relationship with the second character. As a result of this, students come to appreciate language’s capacity to express

their own personal views as well as the “cultural dimensions of human experience” (p. 16), which is another key objective (board of Studies

NSW, 2017). They also learn to develop and apply contextual knowledge (board of Studies NSW, 2017), as they must consider how cultural

values and beliefs have different effects in many contexts by focalising through the lens of varying cultures in multiple scenarios. Throughout all

of this, students gain an intercultural understanding that allows them to empathise with differing cultural values, beliefs and attitudes, which

assists them in empathising with the perspectives of others as a whole, both of which are expected outcomes of learning in stage six English

standard (board of Studies NSW, 2017).

At the very core of the syllabus is the expectation that students will learn to “make meaning through language” (p.23), through the

responding to and composing of texts. This principle is the foundation of every lesson within the attached unit. Students are consistently required

to read texts, respond to those texts either through writing or discussion, and then compose their own text, drawing on the principles they have

just learnt. In their composed texts, they are expected to use language forms and structures to express different ideas, elicit different emotions,

and show different values, which are the key ways students are expected to respond and compose (board of Studies NSW, 2017). However, the

unit is designed with more in mind than simply meeting syllabus outcomes.
 Upon designing the unit, effective pedagogical strategies were also taken into account. In the first lesson it is shown how the content

students are about to learn transfers into everyday life. This is done as students show lower levels of engagement when they perceive content as

irrelevant to their every day lives (Douglass, 1979; Dunn et al., 2010). In the majority of the lessons, the option is given for students to examine

self-selected texts as opposed to the one recommended by the teacher. This is an attempt to allow students to integrate their own interests into the

lesson, which, according to Dunn et al., (2010) will result in higher levels of engagement and learning. If students are more engaged, they are

likely to be more interested in English as a subject, therefore increasing their chances of staying enrolled in school (Fran, 2014). Allowing

students to choose their own text will give them an increased sense of belonging when they realise that their interests are seen as important. This

is an intentional pedagogical strategy, as students are more likely to engage academically if they have a strong sense of belonging (Neel &

Fuligni, 2013).

Within the lessons students are provided with outlines of how to structure their work. This is done in an attempt to guide their writing and

show them exactly what is expected, which many students find helpful (Dunn, Thies & Honigsfeld, as cited in Dunn et al., 2010). Students are

also expected to produce a high quality of work, as it has been shown that high expectations by teachers positively affect the quality of students’

work (Hallinan & Kubitschek, 1999; Chaplain and Peterson, as cited in De Nobile, Lyons and Arthur-Kelly, 2017).

The final intentional pedagogical implementation is the scaffolding of information. In the unit, students first learn to view events from

other perspectives, they then re-apply these skills in the next lesson with the added layer of using punctuation and imagery. This is an attempt to
connect the new information being learnt with the concepts learnt in the previous lesson, which is an efficient way to create effective learning

(Clark, 2018a; Clark, 2018b; Sadker, Sadke & Zittleman, as cited in Keengwe & Onchwari, 2008).

In summation, not only is the attached unit outline in-line with syllabus aims and objectives, but it also intentionally implements effective

pedagogical practices that have been shown to increase engagement and students’ quality of work.