Australian Curriculum: Literature units of work
Posted by Lisa Hill on March 20, 2011
Just an update so that readers of this blog know what I’m working on. (Let’s not reinvent any wheels! Let’s not duplicate each other’s work!)
This term I am updating my existing Term 1 literature units so that they include relevant elements of the new Australian Curriculum.
So the learning focuses include
- SLAV library skills
- VELS Thinking Processes; Interpersonal Development and Personal Learning
- Australian Curriculum English Literature (and maybe also Language and Literacy)
Assessment includes
- SLAV library skills
- VELS Thinking Processes; Interpersonal Development and Personal Learning outcomes
- Australian Curriculum English Literature (and maybe also Language and Literacy) elaborations (which is the silly word they have chosen for outcomes)
The units I am working on are
- Aesop’s Fables (Preps)
- Traditional Tales (fairy tales) (Years 1 & 2)
- Author Study: Hans Christian Andersen (Years 3 & 4)
- Traditional Tales (myths & legends) Years 5 & 6 – Beowulf by Michael Morpurgo
Once I have tweaked the planning templates to my satisfaction you will be able to download them as well, but getting these right is what’s taking the time.
I hope to have these four units – and the templates – available for download some time during the Easter holidays.
9 Responses to “Australian Curriculum: Literature units of work”
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Pam Thompson said
Gosh, Lisa that is a very generous thing to do. I’m sure that there will be many grateful teachers out there.
Lisa Hill said
All being well, the first of them will be ready during this Easter holidays, Pam:) Has Christian Andersen is almost finished, and I think that I might upload it even if I’m not 100% happy with it and then get some feedback which will help me get the other ones right.
Australian Curriculum Units « keepingup54 said
[…] Another useful resource by a generous professional, Lisa Hill. […]
Jo Sherrin said
Hi Lisa I am just searching for ideas of how to set out my library lessons and program using the new Australian curriculum framework and came across your unit planner which was a very helpful resource so thanks for sharing your templates. My library colleague and I have been given the task to come up with recommended titles for classroom teachers in year levels transition to year 6 to use as part of the literature strand. We have visited the recommended reading challenges listed on the AC website. Do you know if there is a recommended list perhaps already circulating with explanations of particular books chosen for specific year levels based on the literature content descriptors?
Lisa Hill said
Hello Jo, nice to meet you!
I haven’t heard of anything at all yet. I went to PD about the AC last week but there was no mention of support documents except to say that having an Australia-wide curriculum should mean improved resources because educational publishers won’t be having to make different ones for different states.
My local SLAV network (mainly independent school librarians) had no news about it either.
Personally, I’d rather generate my own list than rely on a bunch of bureaucrats to write one!
Perhaps I should set up a page to gather recommendations – which teacher-librarians can do through adding comments? It wouldn’t be hard to do…what do you think?
Jo Sherrin said
Thanks for the reply Lisa we will be discussing book titles/authors at our ASLA NT Alice Springs chapter meeting next week for resources for year levels so if you had a page dedicated specifically for recommendations I would be happy to post our suggestions and compare with other experts.
Lisa Hill said
Fantastic! I love the idea of a list shaped by teachers across Australia!
Well, maybe that’s a bit ambitious, since I have no idea what the readership of this blog might be, but nothing venture, nothing gain, eh?
Debbie O'Connell said
I like the way you have made links from Prep – Year 6. I am currently leading a small rural school of 55 students so it is essential that any planning we do recognises the links and the background knowledge that will be built on in future years. I am also hoping to develop units of work on the Ultranet (Vic DEECD initiative), particularly for use by small schools. I thoroughly agree about reinventing the wheel…we seem to always be planning our lessonsand units instead of ensuring they are recorded, reviewed and ready for tweaking the next time.
Lisa Hill said
Hello Debbie, thanks for your comment.
Alas, we are all handipcapped at the moment by the current AEU ban on the ultranet and on the AC, which I think is driven more by hostility to change than on anything else. This is why there have been no updates offering shared resources on this site for a while.
I’m not a fan of the Ultranet because it’s slow and clunky and what’s worse, access to it is limited to Victorian schools only. As you can tell from this blog, I believe in sharing resources openly across the nation. However, the Ultranet is a rare example of DEECD facilitating teacher-driven sharing of resources, and it’s a shame that it’s effectively falling into disuse before it even had a chance to get started.
We can only hope that the new union leadership is more effective at negotiating with the government than the old.
Enjoy the break:)
Lisa