COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING EXPERIENCES

(provide the number)

Unit Orientation The unit will be introduced by placing students
in a convicts shoes by reading the text, The
First Fleet by Alan Boardman & Roland
Harvey. This text revolves around a young boy
making the crossing from England as a convict,
one of the first in Australia. The boy in the text
is nine years old, a similar age to grade 5. By
putting the students in a convicts shoes, they
will be more likely to be interested in learning
about the hardships they faced.

To increase students empathy for the
convicts suffering, they will write a journal
entry from the perspective of a convict.

1 & 2

Building knowledge of the field During the first lesson of the unit, students
complete a KWL chart with their teacher. This
allows the teacher to determine the students
knowledge and what they would like to learn
more about in relation to the content area.

1

Utilising the non-fiction focus
text
This text is used as the main focus text for
learning history content. It has been used in
relation to comprehension (learning about
convicts) and using information learnt to form
a persuasive text.

Tucker, A. (2002). Iron in the blood: Convicts
and commandants in colonial Australia.
Scholastic Books, Gosford.
2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Responding to texts Students will have the opportunity to respond
to texts by analysing the information they
have heard from Iron in the Blood and use
their knowledge to create a journal entry as a
convict and as a commandant.

2 & 6

Exploring texts Students have had the opportunity to engage
with three different types of text including
narratives, information but more
predominantly persuasive.
Students have engaged
with a text in every
lesson.

Examining texts including:
Text structure and
organisation
During this unit students will learn about the
structure and language features of a
persuasive text. This includes intensifiers and
9-12
COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING EXPERIENCES
(provide the number)
the use of modality to position an audience.

Expressing and
developing ideas
Students will use their knowledge of the
content gained from Iron in the Blood to take
on a perspective to write a persuasive letter
from. Students will have time to interact with
writing a persuasive letter, in a guided lesson
by their teacher before beginning to plan their
own. This will scaffold their ability of writing a
persuasive letter with correct text structure
and a cohesive use of language features.
12 & 13

Extending beyond the focus
text including:
Explain how this is planned referring to
various Strands within the Australian
Curriculum.

Creating texts utilising
print and multimodal
texts
Students will have the opportunity to create a
text, a persuasive letter.
15

Assessment
Formative (one
strategy and
instrument)
Students explain to the class their favourite
commandant and why and attempt to
convince the class to think the same. Through
a checklist the teacher can identify what
aspects of persuasive texts students are
unintentionally using or have omitted to
present their chosen favourite commandant
to the class. This will inform the next lesson in
the sequence. Teacher can take note of gaps
in knowledge across the class and adapt the
lesson sequence if necessary.
8
Summative (one
strategy and
instrument)
At the end of the unit, students are to
produce a persuasive letter from one of two
perspectives.
Perspective 1: Writing a letter to the king (as a
convict) about why they need new leadership
within the convict camps.
Perspective 2: Letter from one of the studied
authority figures as to why they should
receive an award.

Students will be marked against a provided
rubric for correct historical accuracy, using
correct grammar, punctuation, text structure
with cohesion. Rubrics provide students with
what they must achieve to give them direction
when forming their assessment piece as it
explicitly states the task and its expectations
(Bean, 2005).
15
COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING EXPERIENCES
(provide the number)

Significant demonstration of
learning.
Students will create a text and select language
features that are used in a specific text
structure. Students understand how these
language features can affect a text and its
audience and use this knowledge to their
advantage when creating a persuasive text.
14,15