Dossier of Discovery: An Unexpected Guest

Learning intention

I am learning to analyse and evaluate the perspectives in texts that focus on a similar topic so that I can think more critically when reading texts.

Success criteria

• I can analyse a text to identify the writer’s perspective.
• I can identify vocabulary that reveals perspective.
• I can consider the cultural context of where a text originates from.
• I can consider how my personal perspective on topics impacts my engagement with texts.

Essential knowledge

View the video Perspectiveungroup from The School Magazine. Ensure students note that perspective means, the lens through which we view the world. More on perspective can be found on Perspectiveungroup from the English Textual Concepts.

Then, view the video Contextungroup from The School Magazine. More information can be found on Contextungroup from the English Textual Concepts. Ensure students note that context refers to the ideas that influence a writer when they compose a text. Inform them that the ideas readers have will also influence their reading of the text. Contexts includes ideas from the culture and the time in history that readers and writers are from.

Focus question:

How do we consider the perspectives of others when responding to texts?

Prior to reading Dossier of Discovery: An Unexpected Guest, display the following article:

An Annoying Guest

Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the residents of Christchurch, New Zealand, got a surprise. A very ANNOYING surprise ... Seemingly out of nowhere, a Southern Elephant Seal moved into Christchurch’s Avon River.

The seal rapidly became known as a local pest. It would often take to the streets, blocking traffic and becoming a nuisance. Drivers found this incredibly frustrating and inconvenient. The residents were relieved when the seal finally died from old age.

Use the visual organiser below as a worked example for students that can be used to compare perspectives in texts. Discuss the following questions with students and collaboratively record the answers in the second row on the table. Tell them to leave the third row, labeled Dossier of Discovery: An Unexpected Guest, blank for now.

• What does this text reveal about the writer’s perspective of the seal?
• Which vocabulary in the text expresses this perspective?
• What might the perspective adopted by the writer also reveal about the cultural context?
• Do you agree or disagree with the perspective of the author?

Finds seals annoying and inconvenient, consider them a pest.

This might imply that seals in general are seen as pests in Christchurch

Read Dossier of Discovery: An Unexpected Guest together with the students or listen to the audio recording. Briefly discuss the same questions as considered previously, to scaffold some of students’ ideas. Instruct students to work with a partner to complete the third row of the table. Sample responses have been provided:

They view the seal’s visit as exciting and the fact they have chosen to write an article about her, from a positive standpoint, implies they have a high regard for seals in general.

Instruct students to consider both the articles, An Annoying Guest and Dossier of Discovery: An Unexpected Guest when answering the following questions. Students can record their responses in their workbooks.

• Which of the two articles did students find most engaging? (Dossier of Discovery: An Unexpected Guest)
• Which of the perspectives of seals put forward in the articles do students most agree with? (The perspective presented in Dossier of Discovery: An Unexpected Guest as I also view seals with high regard)
• Did agreeing with the perspective of the writer impact your engagement with the article? (For example, yes, I found the ideas in Dossier of Discovery: An Unexpected Guest more engaging as I agreed with the writer’s personal perspective of seals)