Unit Overview

COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING

EXPERIENCES
(provide the number)
Unit Orientation To give the students motivation to learn
about the topic of the Gold Rush and
Eureka Stockade, the teacher will begin
the unit with a practical experience. This
experience will give students the chance
to learn how miners panned for gold and
there will be a discussion about the
chances of finding gold, why people came
to the goldfields once the practical
experiences have been completed.
LE. 1

Building knowledge of the
field
The teacher will help build students
knowledge about the topic through various
online, book and practical experiences in
the first three lessons.
For the first lesson there is the
motivational experience and a
discussion.
For the second lesson students will
be completing a webquest and
timeline about the Eureka Stockade
and the Gold Rush. They will find
out about important people, their
jobs, the dates of the gold rush and
general life in that period of time
making sure students take notes
and write descriptions/explainations
of what they have found in their
own words.
In lesson 3 students will continue
building on their knowledge using
the My Place game which will give
them a deeper understanding of the
time and activities that took place
during the Gold Rush
LE 1
LE 2
LE 3

Utilising the non-fiction
focus text
Wilkinson, C., & Ciaffaglone, S. (2013).
The Night We Made the Flag (1st ed.).
Newtown, N.S.W.: Walker Books
Australia.

This text will be used throughout the unit
to support students understanding of
different peoples points of view in the time
period and will form the basis for the final
assessment piece. While the book is not in
journal form, the perspective of people in
LE 4
LE5
LE 6
COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING
EXPERIENCES
(provide the number)
the book can be used by the students
when writing their journal. The text also
gives information about what occurred in
that time and has various themes which
can be drawn upon for students journals.

In Lesson 4 the book will be
introduced through probing
questions then read in full. The
book will be read twice. First time
for students to listen.
o What can you tell me from
the front page. What do you
think the book is about?
o Whose point of view is the
book written in?
o Where is the book set?
o What is the flag on the front
cover?
o When do you think the book
is set?
In Lesson 4 students will also be
taking notes in their reading journal
when the book is read the second
time taking note of themes and
roles mentioned.
In Lesson 5 students will read the
book again and discuss the
characters, setting and theme in a
large brainstorm taking note of
characteristics etc.
In Lesson 6 students will research
the themes found in the book
o Social
o Political
o Economic
These themes will form the basis of
their understanding of the events at
the Eureka Stockade as well as the
web quest undertaken in Lesson 2
and 3

Responding to texts Students will be responding to the text in
lesson 5 because they will be discussing
and comprehending themes, characters
and settings found within the book. These
use the strands of literacy and literature in
the Australian Curriculum because
students will be discussing sequences of
images, vocabulary and point of view.
LE 5

COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING
EXPERIENCES
(provide the number)
Exploring texts In Lesson 6 and 11 studnets will be
exploring texts through understanding
themes and events in the book. In lesson
6 students will be looking at the themes
found within the book social, political and
economic. Lesson 6 will allow for students
to relate information they find in the book
and on the internet and compare and
contrast what is found which covers the
literature and language strands.

In Lesson 11 students will be recapping
their knowledge of the events using the
book and other resources to form the idea
for their journal which focuses on the
literature strand.
LE 6
LE 11

Examining texts including: In Lesson 8 students will be exploring
journal genre and narrative genre to build
their knowledge which includes revising
recount structure and aligning events and
events leading up to it.
In Lesson 9 students will be learning
researching journal entries and the genre,
making notes about the structure and
alignment of events.
LE 8
LE 9
Text structure and
organisation
In Lesson 8 students will be
learning about journal genre and
the structure and how to align
events. Lesson 8 will also talk
about recount structure which
aligns with journaling
LE8
Expressing and
developing ideas
Lesson 10 students will be developing
their ideas for their character that their
journal is being written by. They will be
looking to express their ideas through a
character profile which will state the
following questions
What is their name
What do they look like
What was their job
Where did they live
Who was in their family
Which event did they witness
What was their role in this event
LE10
Visual and
multimodal features
of texts
Lesson 9 students will be researching
journal entries and looking at the visual
and multimodal features such as
presentation, structure and the different
modes.
LE9

COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING
EXPERIENCES
(provide the number)
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
In Lessons 12 to 15 students will go
through the process of research, drafting,
editing and final presentation.

Lesson 12 will be time for students to
continue researching the event that their
character witnessed using the book and
other online or text resources and their
notes

Lesson 13 students will begin the drafting
process of their journal, planning the
alignment of events and how many entries
they will include.

Lesson 14 will be the finalization of the
drafting process and the editing process
where peers will help each other edit their
work in preparation for the final product.

Lesson 15 is when the final product will be
completed either through a hard copy
journal or an audio/visual journal.
LE 12
LE 13
LE 14
LE 15

Assessment
Formative (one
strategy and
instrument)
The strategy which will be used for the
formative assessment in Lesson 7 is a
comprehension worksheet which requires
students to recall the knowledge which
they have learnt so for using the book and
background information found in the
research and background phase of the
unit. Formative Assessment Questions
(LINK)
LE 7
Summative (one
strategy and
instrument)
The summative assessment strategy will
be a journal detailing the point of view of a
person who witnessed the events at the
Eureka Stockade. Students will need to
have an understanding of the journal
genre in order to complete the assessment
task effectively. (See Rubric for details)
LE 15

Significant demonstration
of learning.
The expectations for achieving the
standards of the Receptive modes will be
that students can effectively create a
journal using language features,
vocabulary, settings and characters based
off their knowledge of the book and
LE 13
LE 14
LE 15
COMPONENTS EXPLANATION/DETAILS LEARNING
EXPERIENCES
(provide the number)
research which covers the listening,
reading and viewing standards. The
demonstration of this mode will also be
shown in the formative assessment piece
where students need to recall facts learnt
in the background elements of the unit.

To effectively show their understanding
of the productive modes, students will
need to be able to show they can
develop a point of view in their journal
and explain the events through that
point of view (eg. Whether they agree
or disagree with the events,
explanation why found in the text
through description and speech found
in the text.