- Article
- Touchdown, Year 6
- Issue 7, 2019
Sister Elizabeth Kenny—The Nurse from the Bush
Learning resource
Outcomes
Worksheet: Sister Elizabeth Kenny
Understanding EN3-3A
Complete a Three Facts and a Fib Thinking Routine to ascertain student understanding. This thinking routine gives students the chance to develop their skills in narrowing choices.
Complete an article analysis to demonstrate student understanding of the text using this Article Analysis worksheet.
Engaging personally EN3-5B & EN3-8D
Create a tribute video to the miraculous feats of pioneering health practitioner, Sister Elizabeth Kenny, using either iMovie or Microsoft Movie Maker. View the short (1:34 minutes) Sister Kenny: Treating Polio’ YouTube video to assist student understanding of how to present information and images to entertain and inform an audience. For students and teachers new to filming visit The Australian Centre for the Moving Image for an abundance of resources.
Point of View: Write a diary entry by Sister Elizabeth Kenny about one of the many momentous days of her life, outlined in the article. Experimenting with point of view allows students to explore other ways of seeing Explore further the English Textual Concept ‘Point of View’.
Connecting EN3-8D
Text-To-World connections occur when we relate the text with what we already know about the world.
Text-to-World: How do the ideas in this text relate to the larger world—past, present and future? Students complete the following statements using a Text-to-World Connections worksheet activity:
- What I just read makes me think about (event from the past) because …
- What I just read makes me think about (event from today related to my own community, nation or world) because …
- What I just read makes me wonder about the future because …
Discuss as a class or use a Think, Pair, Share worksheet to record responses.
Teaching Strategy explained: Text-to-Text, Text-to-Self, Text-to-World Rationale.
Engaging critically EN3-7B
Create a three-minute speech persuading an audience that Sister Elizabeth Kenny was a miracle worker, despite what doctors thought at the time. This Persuasion Map worksheet is a useful tool to help students see the development of logical arguments in texts, build their own arguments or determine the merit of arguments. This map/scaffold could be used twice; once for content and once to list the techniques used at each stage to enhance the arguments.
Complete a fact or opinion chart to help students identify the information contained in ‘Sister Elizabeth Kenny—Nurse from the Bush’. Ask students to consider how objective/subjective is the author’s portrayal of Sister Elizabeth. Students should support the statement/topic ‘She had a sharp mind and a gift for healing’ using this Fact and Opinion worksheet and evidence from the text. Fact and opinion charts can also be used to help students understand the different positions represented in texts and look more closely at cultural factors.
Experimenting EN3-7C
Write a biography poem about Sister Elizabeth Kenny, using the information in the article and this Write a Biography Poem worksheet.
Create an infographic, using Canva, about poliomyelitis or vaccination.
Write an ode to Sister Elizabeth Kenny, using this Writing an Ode worksheet.
Conduct a True for Who? Visible Thinking Routine, which asks students to examine a claim from different points of view. Students look at various viewpoints people can claim from, then look at a stance behind a viewpoint and the reasons behind this stance. Students can also identify how various situations might influence the stances people are likely to take. This routine can be used at any point when exploring truths once the truth-claim has been clarified. Students could use this True for Who? Viewpoints Circle worksheet.
Reflecting EN3-9E
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. Record responses on this I Used to Think … Now I Think … worksheet.
Exit Slips are a formative assessment that can be used to quickly check for understanding. The teacher poses one or two questions in the last couple minutes of class and asks student to fill out an ‘exit slip’ (e.g. on an index card) to ascertain student thinking and understanding. Here are Instructions on filling out an Exit Slip and two Exit Slip worksheets.