Sample scope and sequence – Year 8 English, 2015 (Note: AHISA term dates for 2015 used)

Term 1 / Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5 / Week 6 / Week 7 / Week 8 / Week 9 / Week 10
Unit 1: Urban Lines – a themed poetry study
This unit focuses on the way poetry has been used to represent cities of the world. Students examine how poetic​ features​​ are used to shape a range of meanings about urban experiences in different cities and time periods.
Core text: poetry
Types of Texts: visual texts, multimedia
Outcomes: EN4-1A, EN4-3B, EN4-5C, EN4-7D
Assessment: Critical annotation of TWO poems 15% / Unit 2: Film Study: Studio Ghibli and Cultural Expression in Anime
This unit of work will focus on a study of the Japanese animation company, Studio Ghibli through the prescribed text Grave of the Fireflies and extracts from a range of other films produced by director Hayao Miyazaki. Students will examine and evaluate a range of specific devices employed in anime film in order to understand the cultural and historical context of this form and its place in the broader animation context.
Core text: film Types of Texts: visual (animation and manga) and spoken texts
Outcomes: EN4-1A, EN4-2A, EN4-6C, EN4-7D, EN4-8D
Assessment: Directorial Commentary on Key Scene; analysis of screenshots and interpretation of cultural representation 25%
Term 2 / Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5 / Week 6 / Week 7 / Week 8 / Week 9
(15-19 June) / Week 10
(22-26 June)
Unit 3: Future Worlds/New Worlds
Through a close study of the novel Divergent by Veronica Roth, as well as Gary Ross’ film The Hunger Games, students will explore various dystopian worlds and analyse how composers construct imagined, futuristic settings that examine contemporary issues and concerns. Students will also focus on their own creative compositions, using a variety of speculative fiction texts as models. / Year 8
camp / Unit 3: Future Worlds/New Worlds continued
Core text: fiction and film
Types of Texts: film, graphic novel/picture books; nonfiction, multimedia
Outcomes: EN4-1A, EN4-2A, EN4-3B, EN4-4B, EN4-5C, EN4-6C EN4-7D, EN4-9E
Assessment: Creative Writing Task 30% /
Term 3 / Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5 / Week 6 / Week 7 / Week 8 / Week 9 / Week 10
Unit 4: Is Shakespeare still relevant to contemporary audiences?
This unit serves as an introduction to Shakespearean theatre as well as his writing and plays. Students will consider how plays written over 400 years ago can powerfully portray universal ideas about human behaviour and society today.
Core text: Drama (eg A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
Types of Texts: nonfiction, media, documentaries and multimedia websites
Outcomes: EN4-1A, EN4-2A, EN4-5C, EN4-7D, EN4-9E
Assessment: Group Performance and Critical Reflection Tasks (Peer and self assessment) / Unit 5: Our Own Backyard . . . continued in Term 4
This unit focuses on the representation of Australian society as we take a close look at “our own backyard”. Students explore how Australian culture and people, stereotypes, iconic figures, heroes and cultural landscapes are depicted in our literature and media.
Term 4 / Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5 / Week 6 / Week 7 / Week 8 / Week 9
(30/11-4/12) / Week 10
(7-11 Dec)
Unit 5 Our Own Backyard continued:
A close study of the Dust Echoes website and anthology True Blue? On Being Australian (ed Peter Goldsworthy); true story novel Nanberry: Black Brother White by Jackie French, TV documentaries and picture books (eg Window, My Place, Walking With the Seasons in Kakadu)
Core text: nonfiction, fiction, media/multimedia
Types of Texts: poetry, visual texts
Outcomes: EN4-2A, EN4-5C, EN4-6C, EN4-7D, EN4-8D
Assessment: in examination / Exam Block
30%
(inclusive of Units 4 & 5)
/ Unit 6: My Own Backyard: Research project
Students research “their own personal backyard” and cultural heritage and create a digital text that represents it. (Students to choose the form of their digital text and investigate its features eg creative; blog, documentary, picture e-book etc.)
Types of Texts: nonfiction, media, multimedia websites
Outcomes: EN4-4B EN4-9E
Assessment: Digital Text: “My Own Backyard” - Peer and Self Assessment /

Text requirement mapping of Year 8 scope and sequence

CLOSE reading, viewing, listening of at least two texts per stage / In each year:
Fiction / Unit 3: Divergent
Unit 5: Nanberry: Black Brother White / ·  Spoken
·  Print
·  Visual
·  Media,
Multimedia
and digital texts / Films, dramatic performances, TV documentaries
Poems, fiction, play, nonfiction anthology, media articles
Film / Unit 2: Grave of the Fireflies
Unit 3: The Hunger Games / Anime film, manga, picture books, images of cities and Australia,
Drama / Shakespeare play / Our Own/My Own Backyard units’ texts: Dust Echoes website; TV documentaries; blogs, e-books
Shakespeare internet research; Shakespeare DVD documentaries,
Animation texts
Poetry / Unit 1: Urban Lines
Nonfiction / Unit 5: Dust Echoes website; True Blue anthology

Across the stage, students must be given experience of:

·  Texts which are widely regarded as quality literature / Core texts for Units 1-4
·  Widely defined Australian literature
·  Insights into Aboriginal experiences / True Blue Anthology; Australian poetry in Urban Lines unit
Nanberry, Black Brother White; Dust Echoes website
·  Literary texts from other countries and times including
poetry, drama scripts, prose fiction and picture books / Shakespeare
Japanese texts (Unit 2)
·  Texts written about intercultural experiences / Nanberry, Black Brother White
·  Insights about peoples and cultures of Asia / Studio Ghibli study and Grave of the Fireflies film study
·  Everyday and
·  workplace texts / Our Own Backyard unit
·  a wide range of ultural, social, gender perspectives, popular and youth cultures / Divergent and Future World texts
Manga, anime texts; Our Own Backyard texts
·  texts that include aspects of environmental and social sustainability / Urban Lines unit
Future Worlds/New Worlds unit
·  Nonfiction, picture books, graphic novels / True Blue? anthology
Picture books for Future World and Our Own Backyard units
manga texts
·  An appropriate range of digital texts, including film, media and multimedia / Dust Echoes website; TV documentaries; Shakespeare DVD documentaries

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