Writing – Year 6/7 (2018)

Learning Area: English

Topic Focus: Response writing
Year Level/s: 6/7

Australian Curriculum Links:

Strand:
Literacy
Descriptor:
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts,
selecting aspects of subject matter and particular language, visual, and
audio features to convey information and ideas (ACELY1725)
Analyse and explain the ways text structures and language
features shape meaning and vary according to audience and purpose
(ACELY1721)
Sub-Strand:
Expressing & creating
Achievement Standards:
Students explain issues and ideas from a
variety of sources, analysing supporting
evidence and implied meaning. They select
specific details from texts to develop their
own response, recognising that texts reflect
different viewpoints. They listen for and
explain different perspectives in texts.
Students understand how the selection of a
variety of language features can influence
an audience. They understand how to draw
on personal knowledge, textual analysis and
other sources to express or challenge
a point of view. They create texts showing
how language features and images from
other texts can be combined for effect.
Students create structured and coherent
texts for a range of purposes and audiences.
When creating and editing texts they
demonstrate understanding of grammar, use
a variety of more specialised vocabulary and
accurate spelling and punctuation.

Learning Focus:

- Analyse and explain issues/ideas from a news article

- Select specific details from texts to develop their own response to a certain viewpoint
Learning
- Use personal knowledge/prior knowledge to express and challenge a point of view
Intention:
- Create structured and coherent text
- Demonstrate understanding of grammar, vocabulary, accurate spelling and punctuation
- Reflect and review the differences between a review and a response
Lesson - Write a response to a news article
Objective: - Understand how to construct a response
- Look at the elements and structure of a response

Learning Experience: This will consist of one - two explicit teaching sessions and students will then
have several sessions over 2 weeks to construct, edit and publish a response to a news article.

1
 Structure/Tim
Process: Differentiation Resources:
e:
Discussion Ricky will have PPT
Michelle’s support
• What is a review? during class time and Review structure
• What is a response? will attend Ms Paris poster
• What might be the differences? writing group where
• What are things we review? he will have this work Response structure
• What are things we respond to? scaffolded. poster
• How do we know which one to use?
• What is the structure of a review? Students in Ms Paris’
• What might be the structure for a group will write half a
response? page.

Have students turn & talk (think:pair:share) for Students who work
questions that require more complex answers. in my group will
extend themselves to
Allow students to pass if they don’t understand the the best of their
Introduction:

question. ability, they will need

to incorporate the
Answer questions as you go and follow PPT. aspects of grammar
learned during weeks
Ensure all students are engaging with the 6 – 8 and write a full
conversation. page.
News article (first response)
• Give students the news article, this is the
writing stimulus Students who work
• Students will read the article with Michelle / Ms
• Reflect on the article as a group Paris will be taught
• Have students create a continuum in the explicitly again on News article
classroom the structure of a
Learning Experience:

• Do you agree? Why/why not? report and what they

will need to include.
• Have students justify their answers
• Allow students to change their minds after
hearing others speak
• Write a short response
This will form the basis for their proper report.
Students will either agree/disagree with the article
and need to write why.

2
 Discussion + further instruction for independent
Conclusion/Reflection Time:

work
• After writing, students will share their
responses with a partner
• Students will then identify what their next
steps are to turn their piece of writing into
an actual response following the structure
we created during the lesson
• Students will then keep the article,
response structure and their first response
to continue working over the next few
weeks
- Students were able to engage with the recap of the review and the response
- Students responded to the recapping better as it helped them understand what a
response is and how they need to structure it
- Students enjoyed sharing their opinions with each other and justifying themselves
Self-evaluation

- Students felt confident as they are confident with a review, I just needed to reiterate
that a response is more so their own reaction/opinion
- We have read the article before twice and responded to it verbally, the students who
struggle and usually go to a different writing group with Ms Paris or Michelle were able
to use their verbal response and write this down
- All students began writing their response other than 2 students
- Session went well for a whole class lesson this isn’t the norm
- It was challenging for them, lots of vocabulary they haven’t been exposed to
Supervising

evaluation

- It was meaningful and relevant to this (considering the behaviour in this classroom and
teacher

the issues over the past few weeks)

- Students are transferring summarising skills, even verbally
- Understood the expectations because you structured the lesson perfectly
- Students reflected that it was good giving them verbal feedback, so they knew what to
change
feedback
Student

- students liked engaging with different types of texts to read

- Students liked engaging with different types of texts to write
- Students felt they could summarise better

3
 I{ews
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