Dragon in the Sky (Countdown 9, October 2019)

Outcomes

Connecting

EN2-11D ACELT 1596 & ACELT 1598

Text-to-self connections occur when we make connections between personal experiences and the text.

Text-to-Self: Have a class discussion on how the ideas in this text relate to students’ own lives, ideas and experiences. Ask students to consider:

What I just read reminds me of the time when I …
I agree with/understand what I just read because in my own life …
I don’t agree with what I just read because in my own life …

Students complete this Connection Stems worksheet. Discuss as a class after viewing the poem.

Teaching Strategy explained: Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World Rationale.

Complete a Personal Response worksheet about ‘what they have been thinking about lately’ in relation to the poem ‘Dragon in the Sky’ to elicit student responses to the text.

Engaging critically

EN2-2A & EN2-7B ACELY 1594 & ACELT 1598

Complete this Analysing Poetry worksheet to guide and ascertain student understanding.

Write a letter to Kate Williams using the Writing a Letter to an Author guidelines and worksheets and the Narrative Praise Question Polish Peer-Review worksheet as a scaffold. Encourage students to highlight three elements within the play that they would Praise, Question and Polish:

Praise: What I like about the author’s writing style or ideas.
Questions: For the author to remove any confusion.
Polish: Things to improve, I would change, I wish that …, I wonder if …, I couldn’t believe …

Support: Write a postcard

Experimenting

EN2-10C ACELT 1610, ACELT 1791, ACELY 1692 & ACELY 1792

Intertextuality: Appropriate the poem by changing the title to refer to another flying creature or animal. Deconstruct the text as a class and highlight what text needs to be changed (so it applies to the new title) and what can remain the same. Discuss poetic devices, for example, use of explicit sensory stimuli in each stanza (saw, felt, heard), simile (like a gigantic bird) and emotive language (I wish I had waved goodbye) to illustrate how the author evoked a personal response from students. Students can illustrate their new poem using the inspiring illustration on pages 10 and 11. Explore further the English Textual Concept ‘Intertextuality’.

Perform the poem ‘Dragon on the Sky’ as a choral reading. Students can explore the use of voice, volume, tone, pitch and pace. Option to perform, incorporating body percussion, mime and movement.

Create a film strip of ‘Dragon in the Sky’ using this Story Board worksheet. Option to adapt into a podcast using Audacity.

Rewrite the poem using synonyms where possible or antonyms to make a nonsense poem. Students can use a Rhyming words generator for added fun.

Research poetic devices using this Poetry Dictionary for Kids. Identify how many different poetic devices or techniques are evident in ‘Dragon in the Sky’.

Animate ‘Dragon in the Sky’ using Looking Glass.

Reflecting

EN2-12E ACELY 1680 & ACELY 1676

What did we learn today? Students are supported to reflect on their immediate and holistic learning goals using a broad range of teacher led prompts. Access these what did we learn today? activities using the Digital Learning Selector.

Conduct an I used to think ... But now I think … routine. This routine helps students to reflect on their thinking about a topic or issue and explore how and why that thinking has changed. It can be useful in consolidating new learning as students identify their new understandings, opinions, and beliefs. Students could record responses on this I Used to Think … Now I Think … worksheet.

Exit tickets require students to respond to a few key questions posed at the end of a class, unit of work or summative assessment. Exit tickets help students reflect on what they have learned, review their performance and express what or how they are thinking about the new information. Exit tickets assist teachers to analyse the impact of individual and whole cohort learning. Teachers can access a range of resources and exit tickets at the Digital Learning Selector website.