General+Overview


 * Differentiated Unit Of Work - The Song In My Head**


 * Unit Overview:**

The purpose of this two-week unit of instruction is to introduce students to understanding, analysing, demonstrating, and applying a variety of poetic techniques over the course of 8 lessons. By the end of the unit, students should be able to identify techniques in given texts and meaningfully discuss and appreciate how language forms and features help to shape meaning depending on audiences and contexts.


 * Key questions to be addressed in this unit:**

1. How are poetry and songs created, interpreted and analysed? 2. How does our choice of language affect the meaning we convey in poetry and lyrics?


 * Main text/s to be explored in unit:**

Song: "Imagine" by John Lennon Poem: "Search For My Mother Tongue" by Sujata Bhatt Poem: "The Colour Of My Dreams" by Peter Dixon Poem: "Fat White Woman Seen From A Train" by Frances Cornford


 * Objectives/Outcomes (ESL)**

1.1 Respond to imaginative, factual and critical texts, including the required range of texts, through wide and close listening, reading and viewing. 1.3 Compose imaginative, factual and critical texts for different purposes, audiences and contexts. 1.4 Manipulate, combine and challenge different text types in order to compose new texts and address specific purposes, audiences and contexts. 1.7 Respond to and compose texts beyond the literal level. 1.8 Graphically represent aspects of texts such as the storyline of a novel or film, the structure of a poem, the set of a play, and links in a webpage. 1.14 Their emerging sense of personal style and taste in composition and response. 1.15 The forms and features of language, the structures of texts and the nature of content that enables categorisation by content, composer and genre.
 * **English Syllabus Outcomes** || **ESL Scales** ||
 * __Outcome 1__: A student responds to and composes texts for understanding, interpretation, critical analysis and pleasure.
 * Students learn to:**
 * Students learn about:**

__Outcome 4__: A student uses and describes language forms and features, and structures of texts appropriate to different purposes, audiences and contexts. 4.2 Create and ensure coherence of medium, form and content through specific language conventions and vocabulary appropriate to particular subject matter or contexts. 4.3 Adapt texts for different purposes, audiences and contexts and articulate the effects on meaning. 4.8 The ways in which specific language forms and features and structures of text are used to shape meaning including: 4.13 The metalanguage of subject English used to describe, discuss and differentiate texts and their language forms, features and structures.
 * Students learn to:**
 * Students learn about:**
 * in written texts: medium, organisation, sentence structures, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and spelling, the use of formal or colloquial language and figurative language.
 * in spoken texts: medium, organisation, sentence structures, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, cues, nonverbal language, tone, pitch, intonation and volume.
 * in visual texts: medium, organisation, colour, layout, perspective, focus, camera angles and editing.

__Outcome 5__: A student makes informed language choices to shape meaning with accuracy, clarity and coherence. 5.1 Express considered points of view in speech or writing, accurately and coherently and with confidence and fluency in rehearsed, unrehearsed and impromptu situations. 5.2 Make oral presentations that demonstrate a personal point of view, including speeches and drama performances. 5.3 Experiment with forms, features and structures, modes and media in deciding on the best ways to shape meaning with accuracy, clarity and coherence. 5.4 Compose personal texts in literary forms such as narrative, poetry, speeches and scripts. || __Oral Interaction__
 * Students learn to:**

Oral Interaction 4.4 Accesses and incorporates English into own oral repertoire from a range of oral and written sources in order to extend oral skills in English. 5.1 Communicates in familiar social and classroom situations, extracting relevant information from spoken English and elaborating on some ideas in coherent speech. 5.2 Considers how interpersonal and cultural contexts affect communication in English. 5.4 Uses knowledge of oral and written English to sustain and monitor spoken English. 6.1 Communicates in familiar formal and informal registers, interpreting spoken English mainly at a literal level and organising language and ideas drawn from different sources. 6.2 Shows awareness that effective spoken English requires speakers to adapt language according to the perceived needs and expectations of listeners.

__Reading and Responding__

4.5 Reads for a range of purposes and identifies main ideas and specific information in simple texts. 4.6 Relates own culture, knowledge and experience to information in the text. 6.6 Relates a text’s format, structure and choice of language to its purpose. 5.8 Applies basic text access strategies to enhance comprehension and learning.

__Writing__ 4.9 Communicates for a range of purposes on a variety of familiar topics, using a basic repertoire of text types. 4.10 Demonstrates an awareness of how effective writing is tailored to the requirements of the topic and the needs of the reader. 4.11 Writes a variety of texts, demonstrating some overall cohesion and coherence. 5.10 Adjusts the form of writing to intended contexts, purposes and audiences. 5.11 Writes a number of coherent texts, demonstrating some flexibility and control over key organisational and language features || __**Class Layout**__

Created using [|www.roomle.com.]

A suggested classroom layout for this differentiated unit of work. There are areas for different types of activities. Storage cupboards are used as partitions so students are able to work quietly in a corner while others are free to talk and discuss group work in another area. To assist classroom management, these storage units have no backing. As a result, while the books and materials in the shelving units will help minimise noise, it is still possible for the teacher to see what is happening on the other side of the room. There is a recording room with a glass door and a window, so students can be monitored while they successfully record their work.

The walls around the room are painted with [|whiteboard paint], allowing students to stand in groups and brainstorm in different parts of the room, leaving their work on their part of the wall until the unit is completed or they no longer need it. This is helpful for visual and kinaesthetic learners. It is also helpful for student who have difficulty sitting down for extended periods of time.

There is a laptop cupboard close to the individual work area. These laptops will be allocated one per activity, so that elements of a SOLE (Self Organised Learning Envrionment) begins to develop (Mitra & Dangwal, 2010).

A Smartboard is located close to the whole class area, and students are able to access smartboard activities as part of their assignments. They can also use the Smartboard to assist with group collaboration.


 * __Class Characteristics__**

This is an extremely rudimentary overview of the needs of learners in the class, intended to show how tasks may suit learners with different needs. These needs are described in very broad brush strokes, but highlights the variety of needs to be considered when creating a differentiated unit of work.

The students in this class comprise of students with many different learning styles. Overall, the class responds well to interactive group tasks, with one or two of the students preferring to work alone.

Out of the class of 20;


 * 3 ESL Students (ESL Scales L4-6)
 * 1 ESL Student with Dyslexia (ESL Scales: Speaking and Listening L7, Reading and Writing L4)
 * 3 Students from an NESB (ESL Scales 4-6)
 * 1 Gifted and Talented Student who is extremely linguistically adept
 * 1 Student with Dyslexia (Often uses a scribe for assessment of written work)

The needs of these students are specifically addressed in this unit as follows,


 * ESL/NESB - Instructions are given in simple language. Scaffolding is provided . Tasks include vocabulary building.
 * ESL/Dyslexia - Where possible, set texts are available in spoken form on youtube, tasks are provided which require low levels of writing.
 * Gifted and Talented - Scope is given in 'A' activities for students to extend beyond the rubric of the unit. Activity A4 is very suited to this student's needs and they may extend their work on this assessment by writing a short anthology.
 * Dyslexia - Activities are not just reading and writing-based and many of the tasks that require extended writing could be adapted for the needs of this student. For example, the poetry anthology could be researched using online video, which would reduce the intensity of reading and writing allowing the student to focus on developing knowledge. Where available, students are able to listen to the set texts as they read.

As is often the case, the students in the class exhibit a variety of learning styles which are addressed in the variety of activities used. More details can be found on the Activities Overview, Points & Outcomes page.


 * __Staff__**

Since half the students in the class have additional learning needs, there is a learning assistant available for each of the lessons. The learning assistant will help students with specific needs, but also assist with marking C level activities with set answers, along with negotiating activities students have thought of and want to complete.