ENGLISH PLANNING – Rowan of Rin
What does the data suggest we should teach?
R09 Connects ideas across two paragraphs of a simple narrative text to interpret information.
R25 Connects ideas to infer a character's behaviour in a narrative text
R21 Interprets the main character’s motivation in a narrative text
Unit overview
How does the author use language choices to develop a character and construct/communicate
the character's message in a novel?
Select relevant essential learnings linked to the data
Ways of Working
 recognise and select vocabulary and distinguish between literal and figurative
language.
 make judgments and justify opinions using information and ideas from texts, and
recognise aspects that contribute to enjoyment and appreciation
Knowledge and Understanding
Reading and Viewing
 Readers and viewers draw on their prior knowledge of language and texts when
engaging with a text e.g. readers familiar with newspapers will bring understandings
about the way news reports are written.
 Readers and viewers use a number of active comprehension strategies to interpret
texts, including activating prior knowledge, predicting, questioning, identifying main
ideas, inferring, monitoring, summarising and reflecting.
 Comprehension involves using language elements and contextual cues to interpret,
infer from and evaluate texts in personal and community contexts e.g. connecting
pronouns to the nouns to which they refer.
Writing and Designing
 The purpose of writing and designing includes entertaining, informing and describing
e.g. designing a comic strip to entertain.
 Writers and designers use a number of active writing strategies, including planning,
drafting, revising, editing, proofreading, publishing and reflecting and by referring to
authoritative sources e.g. working with a partner to proofread each other’s texts.
 Text users make choices about grammar and punctuation, to make meaning.
Language Elements
 A sentence can be either simple, compound or complex
 Text connectives signal how things, ideas and information are related
 Pronouns refer to nouns within and across sentences
 Figurative language describes settings and characters
 Conjunctions signal relationships between things, ideas and events
Literary and Non-literary texts
 Literary texts entertain, evoke emotion, and convey messages and information.
 Events can be sequenced to build tension and suspense within a text and are used to
explore ideas and feelings through the invention of characters and situations.
 Narratives have structural features that set the scene, introduce and describe
characters and plot (orientation), describe events or actions leading to a problem
(complication), and describe how and why a problem is solved (resolution).
Which text type will the students write to best display their knowledge
of the selected essentials?
Short Story narrative
Write the task
Students will construct a short story to demonstrate how authors develop a well crafted main
character (their motivation and behaviour) by connecting ideas across paragraphs, write
sentences using inference and use evaluative language elements and choices.
Write an A exemplar
See below
Identify the salient/grammar features that make the text ‘go’ (these
become criteria)
1.
2.
3.
4.
aesthetic language
nominal groups
emotive, descriptive and figurative language.
powerful processes
What text/s will you and the students read and investigate to learn the
stated essentials
To build field knowledge
 Rowan of Rin (to investigate salient/grammar features)
 'Matilda' by Roald Dahl
 Poems for alliteration and figurative language
 Power points on language elements e.g. nominal groups
To deconstruct
 Short stories
 A exemplar
Plan rest of the unit with the end in mind
Building field
knowledge
Assessment
Constructing
Deconstructing
BUILDING THE FIELD
 Use correct meta-language: powerful processes, noun groups, verb groups, figurative
language (similes), circumstances, conjunctions, tense
 Pre-reading questions about the text. Make predictions etc.
 Access prior knowledge – have you ever felt like or been in a similar situation to
Rowan
 Read a number of chapters (at least 8) just for enjoyment and to get a sense of the
story.
Deep Understandings
 What will the students learn from reading this text?
o Learn about the motivation and behaviour of people by studying characters in
novels
o That authors create characters by making choices about language
o That authors evoke emotions by using words to describe the characters
o That authors write narrative fantasy type stories to entertain us
 What would the students talk about?
o What are the strengths and weakness of Rowan and other characters
o What would it be like to walk in Rowans’ and other characters shoes
o How is the author trying to make us feel? What feelings were evoked? What
language was used to evoke emotion?
o How does learning about characters help me to understand people in my life
o How does the author create these characters
o How can I create a character
 Have discussions with students around inference. What is it? How does it work? What
evidence is in the text to infer a character motivation or behaviour?
 Does the author ‘tell’ us what Rowan is like as a character or does he ‘show’ us what
he’s like through use of language choices.
 Teach self questioning (e.g. "how do I know" and "What in the text helps me think
that?"
 Model Think aloud strategies. (E.g. model and answer "How does the author link these
two ideas?", "How words signal a relationship between ideas" "What does that link
mean?" "What does the author want me to think because of this linking in the text".)
 Model Re-read and Reading on.
 Nominal Groups - teach what a nominal group is (students will find nominal groups in
the text. eg use work sheets p.28, 29 in the text
 Figurative language - students to find examples of this in the text. p.28, 29. How does
figurative language build a character profile?
 Investigate Powerful processes. How are processes used to describe a characters
behaviour?
 Process activities - p.15 take out whirled and put in other words- how does it change
the sentence and original mood. E.g. "her horrible warnings whirled around in his
head” to “her horrible warings floated out of his head”. Do a cloze activity and take out
the powerful processes and get students to add them back in. Give the cloze a theme
– use happy words throughout, use sad words etc.
 Character profile (Rowan)- investigate Characters motivation, attitudes, actions and
how his character is developed e.g Compare strong John and Rowan (in the beginning
the story is about the power of strong John) and how Rowan takes on his character
qualities and what new language choics does the author make to describe Rowan in
the end.
 Track Rowan throughtout the text and how his character is developed - use flow charts,
make word walls
 Take chapter 2 - track pronoun refercing throughout the text "He was filled with dread"
- who was filled with dread. Is it John, Rowan or Sheba p.38,39 justify choices made
 Vocab development - make wall charts of words and their meanings, use NAPLAN
spelling words
 Forefront the assessment task. Give the students the task and discuss with them what
it is they will have to know and be able to do
Assessment


Develop a character description using nominal groups, figurative
language and powerful processes.
Give students a piece of writing and find these elements
DECONSTRUCTING
 Analyse short stories for the generic structure. E.g. short stories very quickly get into a
complication and other start with a complication
 Highlight the use of the language elements throughout the text and these work to
construct a whole text – draw from the work done in building the field
 Analyse the exemplar for language features and how some of the things students saw
in ‘Rowan of Rin’ is also replicated in other stories. (compare/contrast)
 Place students in reading groups with short story texts and analyse texts to make lists
about character development
 Analyse what language is needed to build the different parts of the genre – orientation,
complication, conclusion
 Teach cohesion and text connectives to tie the text together
 Compare the difference between a recount and a short story text type
Assessment
 Reflect on the differences between a recount and a story genre by
writing an evaluation in a journal
CONSTRUCTING





Revisit the criteria sheet and A exemplar
Model the writing of each section of the short story
Use think aloud to demonstrate the process
Allow lot’s of time for reflecting and editing work
Give students individual feedback about their work and how they could move from for
e.g. a B to an A
Assessment
 Write a short story

Criteria Sheet
Assessable Elements
Knowledge and understanding
Interpreting texts
Constructing texts
Appreciating texts
Reflecting
Midnight and the Bear!
Midnight, the playful, confident tabby cat was doing what cat’s like to do
and was chasing a wild, silver grey coloured mouse. But when the clever
rodent ran into his tiny whole, Midnight could not follow him in. Feeling
quite sorry for himself, he went to explore more of the jungle like
bushland outside. Maybe, the fun he wanted to have could be found out
there. Playing inside was fun, especially the chase of cat and mouse, but
outside Midnight could be the king of the jungle, just like a lion. Midnight
did not realise the danger that awaited him, silently seated inside a
nearby cave.
The senses of the creature hiding in the cave told him that there was
another animal lurking around. That made him angry because he didn’t
like the idea of an animal being around his cave. The grizzly bear became
furious. He lifted himself up, made his way out of the cave and stamped
heavily through the grassy bushland.
Meanwhile, the tabby cat paused, twitched his nose and sniffed the air
with curiosity. What he smelt warned him of danger. But danger didn’t
worry Midnight as he felt he was strong and courageous. The smell
seemed to be coming stronger by the minute. Midnight’s eyes went to the
darkest green they had ever been and his whole body bristled with
excitement. Then the overzealous cat heard a frightening roar close to
where he was.
The cat saw the bear and instead of the usual smell of fear, the bear
could smell a confidence not seen in smaller animals. Midnight hissed and
the bear heard the sound. As the cat leaped, the bear swung his massive
paw. It was the biggest paw that the tabby had ever seen in his entire
life. Midnight jumped like a Springbok, thinking it was a game until he got
a swipe from the bear on his left hand side. The poor pussy fell to the
ground with a hard thump.
The bear thought he had won. But Midnight, the little fighter, took an
enormous leap. He landed on the bear’s head! The bear gave a groaning
roar then swiped the cat off his head. Poor Midnight landed onto a pile
of rocks nearby like a rag doll thrown across a room. Midnight lay
senseless. He had been knocked out.
The bear lumbered off satisfied, but he was now thirsty and tired. So he
headed for the lovely blue lake with the cool refreshing water to quench
his thirst.
Meanwhile Midnight woke to find he was all alone. Not feeling so playful
or confident, he headed inside to find a comfy pillow to sleep off his sore
head.
Criteria Sheet
Assessable
elements
Constructing texts
• Writers and designers use a
number of active writing
strategies, including planning,
drafting, revising, editing,
proofreading, publishing and
reflecting, and by referring to
authoritative sources
Knowledge and
understanding
• Nouns, verbs, adjectives,
adverbs and prepositional
phrases, develop and elaborate
ideas and portray people,
characters, places, events and
things in different ways
• Vocabulary describes, labels
and sequences, and can
represent people, characters,
places, events and things
Descriptors
A
B
The student work demonstrates evidence of:
• Punctuation marks, including
capital letters, full stops,
commas, exclamation marks
and question marks, clarify
meaning
D
All writing strategies were used
carefully and effectively so that
the final product was presented
polished and published without
any errors
All writing strategies were used
well so that the final product
was presented polished and
published with only a couple of
errors
All writing strategies were used.
The final product was published
but there were some careless
errors
Writing strategies need
attention. Careful planning and
editing would improve results.
Parts are unreadable. There
were many errors.
Crafts a well developed
character personality with
carefully selected specific
language choices and through
a series of events or a
complication, the character is
altered or changed
Develops a character
personality with some carefully
chosen specific language
choices and through a series of
events or a complication, the
character is altered or changed
Develops a character
personality with some general
language choices and through
some events or a complication,
the character is altered or
changed
Characters, place and setting
was not developed.
Vocab was expertly and
carefully chosen to orientate
and elaborate on the main
character in the narrative and
the character is well developed
throughout the text.
Vocab was well used and
carefully chosen to orientate
and elaborate on the main
character in the narrative and
the character is developed
throughout the text.
Some well chosen Vocab was
used to orientate and elaborate
on the main character in the
narrative and was developed
sometimes throughout the text.
Some specific vocab was used.
Words were not well chosen
and did not describe the
character very well. The
character was not developed
throughout the text.
All sentences made sense and
were grammatically correct.
All sentences made sense and
were mostly grammatically
correct.
Compound and complex
sentences were used and used
cleverly to enhance the text
Compound and complex
sentences were used
throughout
Mostly simple sentences used
and at least 2 compound or
complex sentences were used
Only simple sentences used.
All punctuation is used
accurately and effectively and
was at times used to enhanced
the writing for impact
Most punctuation used
accurately and effectively
Most or all capitals and full
stops used accurately. Other
punctuation used, but not
accurately.
Many punctuation errors.
Punctuation often used
incorrectly.
E
Writing strategies rarely used.
Many mistakes identified. Most
parts were unreadable
Text was mostly unreadable
• Text users make choices
about grammar
• Use of nominal group and
figurative language
C
Most sentences made sense.
There were some grammar
errors.
Limited sentence structure.
Many sentences were not
grammatically correct.
No punctuation used
• Texts are produced for
particular audiences and their
interests
• Narratives have structural
features that include orientation,
complication and resolution, and
descriptions of characters and
settings.
Keep a Reflective journal
Interpreting texts
Recognise and select vocab to
comment on and interpret how
this effects the reader
Appreciating texts
Make judgements and justify your
opinions about the character using
evidence from the text.
E.g. I think Rowan is ... because the
author says....
Reflect
Reflect on learning
The narrative entertained and
engaged the reader throughout
the entire story with well chosen
ideas
The narrative entertained and
engaged the reader throughout
most of the story with many well
chosen ideas
The narrative did not engage
the reader. Choice of ideas
needs attention. Ideas
expressed were confusing
The narrative was hard to
follow. Ideas did not relate.
The text was accurately
sequenced
The narrative entertained and
engaged the reader throughout
some of the story. Had some
good ideas that need building
on.
The text showed elements of
sequencing.
The text was accurately and
cleverly sequenced
The text was not well
sequenced
Text was mostly unreadable
Effective use of structural
features to orientate the reader,
build suspense with a clever
and well crafted complication
that was effectively resolved
Good use of structural features
to orientate the reader, build
suspense with a well crafted
complication that was
effectively resolved
Structural features of
orientating, building suspense,
complication and resolution
were used but were not well
crafted.
Narrative had only 1 or 2
elements of the structure of the
genre (e.g. only a beginning
and an ending)
At least 4 paragraphs are
evident and used effectively
and correctly
At least 3 paragraphs are
evident and used effectively
and correctly
At least 2 clear paragraphs
were used correctly
No paragraphs used
You kept a clearly detailed
reflective journal to document
new vocabulary you found in
‘Rowan of Rin’. You have clearly
articulated and insightfully
understood what the word
means, made a link to the text
and to your own experiences.
You kept a detailed reflective
journal to document new
vocabulary you found in ‘Rowan
of Rin’. You have clear
understanding what the word
means, made a link to the text
and to your own experiences.
You kept a reflective journal
to document new vocabulary
you found in ‘Rowan of Rin’.
You have general
understanding what the word
means, tried to make a link to
the text and to your own
experiences.
You kept a reflective journal to
document new vocabulary you
found in ‘Rowan of Rin’. There
were no links made but you tried
to explain what the vocab meant
No reflection kept
Detailed interpretation about the role
of the character and how it added to
the appreciation of the text, clearly
backed by evidence from the text
(what language choices did the
author make and how did this value
add to the story). Insightful
judgements made about your
favourite and/or least favourite parts
Clear interpretation about the role
of the character and how it added
to the appreciation of the text,
backed by evidence from the text
(what language choices did the
author make and how did this
value add to the story). Clear
judgements made about your
favourite and/or least favourite
parts
Explained how an author uses
language for a specific purpose
and articulated the different types
of language features (aesthetic,
figurative) use to communicate
characters behaviour and
motivation in the text.
Make some interpretation about
the role of the character and
how it added to the appreciation
of the text. Make some
judgements made about your
favourite and/or least favourite
parts.
Made some judgements about
your favourite and least
favourite part
No reflection kept
Wrote how an author uses
some language elements for a
purpose and the different types
of language features used in the
text (aesthetic, figurative) to
communicate characters
behaviour and motivation in the
text.
Wrote a limited amount about how
an author uses some language
elements for a purpose to describe
characters
No reflection kept
Clearly explained and
communicated how an author uses
language for a specific purpose and
make judgements about the
different types of language features
(aesthetic, figurative) used to
effectively communicate characters
behaviour and motivation in the text.