Lesson+3+of+10

Lesson 3 A lesson using resource two which will focus on the visual grammar required to develop students knowledge of the HSIE focus outcome. There’s Nothing Like It! |||| **Curriculum Link:** English || **Stage/Year Level:** Stage 2/ Year 3 ||
 * **Unit Topic:** Australia:
 * **Lesson Number:** 3/10 |||| **Lesson Topic:** Introduction to visual literacy || **Learning Area(s):** HSIE Creative Arts ||
 * **Unit Aim:** The aim of the unit is to develop student’s understanding of the natural, heritage and built features in Australia. The unit will provide opportunities for student’s to investigate and evaluate the significance of particular sites and places and what people value about them. ||
 * **Lesson Outcome:**

//Human Society and it’s Environment//

**ENS2.5** Describes places in the local area and other parts of Australia and explains their significance.


 * Locates and names the capital city of Australia and of each State/ Territory, and major regional centres.
 * Names and locates natural, built and heritage features in Australia and evaluates their significance.
 * Gives reasons why particular activities may be associated with particular natural, built and heritage features and places.

//English//

**TS2.1** Communicates in informal and formal classroom activities in school and social situations for an increasing range of purposes on a variety of topic across the curriculum.


 * Describes people, places and things in detail.
 * Follows directions to a particular location.
 * Justifies a point of view with supporting evidence.
 * Discusses and reflects upon a variety of responses and views.
 * Participates in class discussions on a variety of topics

**RS2.7** Discusses how writers relate to their readers in different ways, how they create a variety of world through language and how they use language to achieve a wide range of purposes.


 * Makes general statements about how visual texts such as illustrations enhance or detract from meaning.

//Other KLA//

//Visual Arts//

**VAS2.3** Acknowledges that artists make artworks for different reasons and that various interpretations are possible. ||
 * **Resources:**


 * Interactive Whiteboard
 * Australia: A multi-layered country Poster Resource 2
 * Cardboard
 * Colour pencils, textures, crayons, oil pastels
 * Map of Australia Appendix 3
 * Detailed map of Australia Appendix 4
 * Map of Australia cut out Appendix 5 ||
 * **Lesson Outline**

In this lesson, students will be learning about visual literacy using a poster which has a great amount of detail emphasising the diversity of Australia. By deconstructing and analysing the visual information students will be able to identify the representational, compositional and interactive features that are prevalent and their ultimate purposes- which are to create meaning. Learning experiences which allow students to think critically about how images convey meaning should be essential inclusions in the classroom literacy programs, as in our society, we are being constantly bombarded by visual messages, through non-print media such as television and the internet (Visual literacy and picture books, 2011, [].This resource assists students in constructing and interpreting visual literacy; inevitably providing them with skills in doing so. Students will ultimately create their own visual poster of a specific landmark, where they will be able to consolidate the skills taught by their teacher. ||
 * __Introduction:__

//How best to motivate and explain the importance of this lesson? This should be for about 5 minutes with links to prior learning or experiences.//

The teacher will explain that the following lesson will be on visual literacy and what it means when people say: ‘a picture can speak a thousand words’. Students will be focusing on Australia and it is significance and the natural, built and heritage features. As this is the 3rd lesson within the unit, students will be familiar with Australia and a number of characteristics and landmarks which are found in Australia and their significance. Therefore, the teacher will be able to focus the attention on the visual side of information and foster students representation, analytical and compositional thinking skills.

The teacher will place on the interactive whiteboard a map of Australia which is divided into it states and territories, although these are not labelled. Refer to Appendix 3 The teacher will ask students:

//What do we call this image and why do we use them?//

//What country is this? What have we learnt from previous lesson about Australia and its significance?//

//Where can we find one of these images?//

//Where on this map are we located and what is this state called?//

This activity reiterates their knowledge from previous lesson and gets them thinking about the Australian continent.

As a class, the teacher will ask students to label on the interactive whiteboard the different states and territories.

Using the Interactive Whiteboard provides students with a means to view the image as a whole and input information whilst producing error free text than they could with pen and paper (Winch, 2006, p. 318). || Maps of Australia- A comprehensive Australian maps for each city and region throughout Australia. [] Refer to Appendix 4 Being able to read and understand a map is an important analytical skill (Eyes on the sky, 2011, p. 1). The teacher will Teacher will question students on what they already know about these particular features and what they mean. Ask students: //What does a key represent?// //What is the relevance of having a scale on maps?// //Who can show me, where the legend is located? Can you come and point to it.// By using the interactive whiteboard, the teacher is able to zoom in and out on specific areas which he/she wants her students to focus on. More so, students will not be distracted by the whole image. **//Group Activity//** These resources will have many visuals. This will provide students with deeper background knowledge that they will be able to use for the next activity. This is used as an approach to enable students to collaborate with their groups and with the rest of the class on Australia and its significance. Cooperative learning is effective as it allows students to add onto their understanding and express their knowledge to students (Solomon, Watson, Schaps and Battistich, 1990, p.129). **//Class activity//** Ask the class: //What do you this the illustrator of this poster is trying to tell us? What is its meaning?// //What grabs your attention?// When we first look at this image what captures your attention? Brainstorm on the board with the class what features the illustrator has used to convey their meaning. For instance, Vectors they create patterns, direct gaze’; colour, Angles, Layout, offer or demand. The teacher will pick a few they feel are used in this image and Ask students: //What does the word vector mean? Where have we used this word before?// //What vectors are used in this image?// //What colours has the illustrators chosen and why?//
 * __Teaching strategy/Learning Activity:__ ||
 * **Teacher will...** |||| **Students will...** ||
 * **//Class Activity//**
 * A detailed map of Australia will be placed on the interactive whiteboard. This map will have be detailed in terms of where the each state and territory, and major regional centres, are situated, also different landmarks, keys, scales, legends and the divisions of Australia.
 * The teacher will ask students to come up to the board and point to specific features on the map. For instance:
 * In groups of 5, students will be provided with a state or territory (poster) which is in the shape of the state or territory. They will use the resources provided by the teacher to write 5 facts on this given area’s landmarks and other information they find significant. Refer to Appendix 5
 * Groups will be asked to come and place their piece of the puzzle on the board and share with the class their 5 facts.
 * A poster “Australia: A multi-layered country” by Sherley Visinoni, Wilari Tedjosiswoyo, and Salvatore Mangiafico will be placed on the board. This poster captures the diversity of Australia and uses a great deal of visual literacy.
 * Explain what Representational, interactive and Compositional meanings are and what they include. These will be listed on the interactive whiteboard.

Explain to students, visuals are used to support written information. This is a key feature of Information reports which they will be their multimodal activity. The goal of the question-and-answer method is to draw students into active participation in teaching and learning processes. The technique also ‘encourages students to move beyond memorisation to higher levels of learning that require clarification, expansion, generalisation, and interference (Smith, 1995, p. 34). **//Individual Activity//** For example, Ayres Rock- They may choose to make the rock the centre of the image, as it is the main focus, they may choose to use shades, place the Aboriginal flag... |||| * Listen and respond to teachers questions. > > > > > >
 * Provide students with a blank cardboard paper- A3. They are to choose from an Australian landmark they have previously learnt, which may include one from the group activity. They are to draw and colour an image of that landmark. They are to use the skills they learnt from the preceding activity and ultimately develop their own view of this landmark. They should provide a title.
 * Students come to the board and point to specific features on the map.
 * Get into groups of 5 and use the resources to find 5 facts on their given state or territory.
 * Groups come to the front of the class and place their piece of the puzzle on the board and share their 5 facts.
 * Listen and respond to questions.
 * Listen and respond to questions.
 * Design their own poster on their chosen landmark. ||
 * __Concluding strategy:__


 * Students are to sit on the floor and the teacher is to choose students to come and present their posters.

Ask students:

//What makes these posters meaningful?//

//How can you tell?//

//What would you change about your poster?//

//What does the class like about this poster?//

Teacher places these posters around the classroom, so that students work is valued and appreciated. Students feel they have completed work which is valuable (Winch, 2006, p. 95). ||
 * **Assessment:**

To assess student’s understanding of the outcomes, a range of assessing strategies should be considered, including:
 * //Formative Assessment:// Walk around the classroom when students are discussing with their group and researching 5 facts about their state or territory, to see whether they are on task and they have their 5 facts written down. Observation of students ability to work cooperatively (working in groups). Listen to students present their posters and what visual features they have used to create theirs. Determine whether they have consolidated the skills from the class activity.
 * //Summative Assessment:// at the end of the unit, students will create an poster including an individual information report on a significant tourist attraction in Australia accompanied by a collaborative visual representation. This task will be an indicator as whether the unit was successful in students ability to meet the outcomes.
 * Diagnostic assessment: the information that is gained from the assessment, will allow the teacher to determine whether the students were able to effectively combine their knowledge of a significance place in Australia and literacy components to create a multimodal text. This diagnosis will determine future planning and programming (BOS, 2007, p. 88) and whether students were effectively able to achieve the outcomes of the unit. ||
 * **Any special considerations or contingency plans:**

When considering students with special needs such as ESL students, it is important that the teacher provides discussion throughout the lesson as ‘talk allows students to think aloud, to formulate ideas, to set up an evaluate hypothesis in a context that is not restricted by the formal demands of written language’ (Gibbons, 2001, p. 27).

It is vital that teacher continuously model and guide students in all lesson as it involves students in structured demonstration and demonstrates specific teaching points (Winch, 2006, p. 172).

Teachers should employ a range of strategies and techniques, as each student’s bring with them their prior knowledge and learning styles before they attend classes. Therefore, teachers have a vital role in developing lesson which caters to all students. When taking this into consideration, teachers should employ a range of strategies and resources such as technology, hands on activities, make use of concrete materials etc as a means to support students learning. Each of these will foster student’s development and may engage and motivate students. ||
 * **Self-reflection**

In order to make judgements about the effectiveness and appropriateness of the lesson and the overall unit of work, the following questions will be asked:


 * Were students able to achieve the intended outcomes of the lesson?
 * Were all the student’s needs catered for?
 * Was there enough time allocated for each activity?
 * How can I manage my time more effectively in the next lesson?
 * Was I asking closed questions and limiting responses? Or, were my questions open to many responses?
 * How effective was the unit of work in providing students with the necessary knowledge to successfully create a multimodal text?
 * Did students enjoy the unit of work? If not, how could it be made more interesting and motivating? ||