Best Lesson: Introduction to Romeo & Juliet Playing With Poetry & Script-Writing

Do all songs tell a story? Hook: YouTube clip: One Direction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t45i8cjHzko YouTube clip: Adele http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbXnLn5-7MA Further discussion: Can we consider songs to be a form of modern day poetry? Why or why not? Lyric activity: Students explain song choice and answer focus questions.

Script-Writing: Students then modified their chosen song lyrics to fit the format of a script: Criteria: Approximately 1.5 pages in length Imaginative Clear transformation/development of the original ideas within the original poem/song Adherence to format Script Format: See PDF

Links to AusVELS: Analyse and evaluate text structures and language features of literary texts and make relevant thematic and intertextual connections with other texts. Compare and evaluate how ‘voice’ as a literary device can be used in a range of different types of texts such as poetry to evoke particular emotional responses. Create sustained texts, including texts that combine specific digital or media content, for imaginative, informative, or persuasive purposes that reflect upon challenging and complex issues Use comprehension strategies to compare and contrast information within and between texts, identifying and analysing embedded perspectives, and evaluating supporting evidence

Theory Into Practice: Multiliteracies: Personal Growth Model: “...all forms of representation, including language, should be regarded as dynamic processes of transformation rather than processes of reproduction.” (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009, p.175). Personal Growth Model: “...emphasise the pupil as a creative and imaginative individual developing, in terms of the teaching and learning of English, primarily through an intensive engagement with...personal creative writing.” (Fleming & Stevens, 2010, p. 15) The Four Resources Model: See next slide.

The Four Resources Model: Code-Breaking: Grammar and spelling. Tone and rhythm. Visual and auditory selections. Text-Participating: What is the song communicating? What does it mean to you? Does it compare to your life? Text-Using: Recognise and implement script structure. Convey new meaning through a different context. Cultural and social functions. Text-Analysing: Removing ‘silences’ through new characters. Who is it? What does it change? Why did you make this selection? Compare differences in values; students’ and the original artist.

References: AusVELS website: http://ausvels.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Level10?layout=1&d=E Cope, B., Kalantzis, M. (2009), ‘Multiliteracies: new literacies, new learning’, Pedagogies: an international journal, Vol 4, pp 164-195. Fleming, M., & Stevens, D. (2010). English Teaching in the Secondary School: Linking Theory and Practice (3rd ed.). New York: Routledge. Ludwig, C., “Making sense of literacy”, Queensland Studies Authority. (2006). New London Group (1996) ‘A pedagogy of multiliteracies: designing social futures’. Harvard Educational Review, 66 (1), pp 60-92.