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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK
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J unior Cycle F irst Year English
CLARE MADDEN
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SAMPLE CONTENTS
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Planning For Learning
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Subject Department Plan: Option A
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Genre-based Unit Of Learning
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The Building Blocks Of Fiction
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Learning-focused Unit of Learning
Novel: Personal Response Template Novel: Short Writing Tasks Create A Story Organiser Create A Text Map
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Scaffolding
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Communicating As A Writer – The Fractured Fairy Tale First Year Novel Resources
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Introduction – Your Guide To Touchstones 1
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13 14 15 16 16 22
Assessment
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Knowledge Organiser: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Mini Assessments
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Responding to a visual text and crafting a setting
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Responding to a visual text and crafting a character
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Project Marksheet: Write A Fractured Fairy Tale
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Project Brief: The Poet’s Toolbox
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Introduction – Your Guide To Touchstones 1 Welcome to Touchstones 1, your new First Year Junior Cycle English course. All 22 First Year Learning Outcomes are covered in Touchstones 1, with emphasis on the three strands of the Junior Cycle English specification: oral language, reading and writing.
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A wide variety of exciting and engrossing texts will make learning English in First Year a rich and engaging experience, and scaffolded activities will help develop your students’ skills as listeners, speakers, readers and writers. Formative and summative assessment opportunities, such as retrieval practice and whole-class feedback, are integrated throughout the programme.
The Touchstones 1 package includes a textbook, an activity book, digital resources and audio.
Textbook UNIT 2
Narrative Perspective (page 6)
Setting (page 9)
Character (page 14)
Short Stories
POETRY Building A Poem
Epic Poems
Poetry Skills
(page 52)
(page 19)
(page 60)
(page 26)
Subject And Theme
Project: Write A Fractured Fairy Tale
FILM
Tone And Mood Quotations (page 72)
(page 79)
Project: Create A Podcast
(page 69)
Inference
(page 42)
(page 83)
How A Poem Sounds (page 91)
Poetry Notes
UNIT 4
DRAMA
The Look Of A Film
Introduction To Film-Making
(page 95)
(page 120)
(page 117)
y Cinematograph (page 122)
Project: Perform A Rap
Project: Spoken Word Poetry
Project: The Poet’s Toolbox
(page 110)
(page 104)
Staging A Play
Shakespeare’s Punctuation (page 177)
Shakespeare’s Words (page 177)
Shakespeare’s Grammar (page 182)
Translating Shakespeare (page 185)
(page 186)
UNIT 6
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (page 190)
Project: Who Was William Shakespeare?
N NON-FICTIO
(page 194)
Set Design And Props
(page 143)
Editing Techniques
Letters (page 203)
A Single Life
The Sound Of A Film (page 124)
(page 126)
(page 211)
Sound
Performing A Play
Lighting
Newspaper Articles
(page 150)
(page 215)
(page 151)
Speeches
Acting
(page 154)
Project: Film Critic
A Christmas Carol (page 156)
Newscasts (page 221)
(page 222)
Alone It Stands
(page 158)
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(page 130)
Project: Sixty-Second Silent Movie (page 132)
Project: Theme Park
Blood Brothers Project: From Page To Stage (page 168)
(page 161)
Advertisements (page 227)
(page 232)
Frankenstein (page 163)
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Travel Writing
(page 148)
(page 152)
(page 128)
Emails (page 207)
Costume
(page 124)
(page 108)
Activity Book
Touchstones 1 provides a scaffolded Activity Book, with additional material, questions and activities, covering the same unit structure and text extracts, to complement the textbook.
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(page 175)
(page 146)
The Greatest Showman
ACTIVIT BOOK
Performances
Romeo and Juliet
3 UNIT
(page 68)
Painting With Words
(page 32)
Touchstones 1 contains six genrebased units that offer an enjoyable journey through First Year English.
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Plot (page 5)
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UNIT 5
SPEAR SHAKE
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Digital resources
Audio and video resources
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Links to video and audio clips such The Touchstones 1 digital resources provide as poetry readings, short films supplementary content to enhance your and podcasts students’ learning experience. Links to the digital resources are referenced PowerPoint Video throughout the textbook.
Teachers can access the Editable PowerPoint Touchstones 1 digital resources via presentations provide unit the Touchstones 1 interactive e-book, summaries, highlighting key themes and topics in the which is available online at textbook www.edcolearning.ie. The resources include PowerPoint presentations, quizzes, videos, solutions and editable plans.
Research links Useful websites for further research
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Additional support for key English skills
Interactive website
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PLANNING FOR LEARNING
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The following sample unit plans are intended to give a suggested overview as to how a subject department and individual teachers may schedule their academic year with First Year students using Touchstones 1. Three options have been generated for teachers to engage with. These are:
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Overview
genre-based units of learning learning-focused units of learning a mixture of genre-based and learning-focused units of learning
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In the first instance, unit plans have been developed for teachers to use on an individual basis.
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After the individual unit plans, you will find three suggested subject department plans. These have been designed to give a recommended outline of how a department might collaborate to plan for learning. These department plans are intended to complement the detailed unit plans. Teachers may decide to take a solely genre-based approach, a learning-focused approach or use a mixture of genre-based and learning-focused plans. All units have been designed working directly from the learning outcomes specified for First Year, whilst also balancing the text study demands as outlined in the specification.
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Blank templates have also been provided should you and/or your department decide to chart your own course through Touchstones 1.
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Rationale, learning outcomes and key learning in focus
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Often the hardest question to answer when selecting learning outcomes is… where to start? Quite often the easiest and most appropriate answer is to select learning outcomes that reflect where students currently are in their learning, i.e. base your learning outcome selection on their prior knowledge. The plan for each unit of learning given here provides a rationale for why the particular learning outcomes for this unit have been chosen.
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As learning outcomes are for three years and your students are at the very start, specific learning for that unit has been identified. Priority has been given in both the design of the book and subsequent planning to the twenty-two circled learning outcomes identified for First Year students in the Junior Cycle English specification – see curriculumonline.ie.
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Each unit also has a suggested learning intention. The book takes the approach of using one broad learning intention for students and teachers to apply across the whole unit, to help students stay focused on what it is they are learning to do. If you are designing your endof-year exams, these learning intentions may serve as appropriate section headings, around which to create tasks for your students.
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK Ideas for ongoing assessment As with any effective assessment practice, it is helpful to start with the end in mind. At the close of each unit, you will find a suggested end-of-unit assessment, created to have a balanced mix of questions assessing oral language, reading and writing skills, and knowledge.
Texts students engage with
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Suggested formative assessment practices have also been included for use across individual units. Complementing this, ideas for formative assessment approaches that are used in activities across the textbook have been captured in the individual unit plans.
The text requirements for First Year state that students must engage with:
a studied novel, with on-going, sustained reading of novels throughout the year a variety of non-literary texts, including texts in oral format a number of short stories
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at least ten poems
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a variety of drama extracts to suit appropriate learning outcomes
Simply by engaging with Touchstones 1, students and teachers will meet these requirements and more. The greater challenge will be deciding which texts not to engage with. In the case of the studied novel, you will find a specific unit of learning in the learningfocused units to assist you in your engagement with the novel.
SPaG, vocabulary development and scaffolding
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Whilst the textbook does contain a specific SPaG section, developing student proficiency in these areas has been spread across the textbook.
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You will notice that each unit of learning also comes with suggested words and terms for vocabulary development. Both new literary terms and potentially difficult words are highlighted to support students at the time of learning. These challenging words may also be used to make testing, knowledge organisers and re-teaching activities easier for teachers.
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Finally, suggested scaffolding activities from the textbook have been specified in the unit plans for the convenience of the teacher.
Teacher and department reflection
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The greatest factor to consider when selecting learning outcomes is to have a sense of where students are currently at in their learning. Space has been provided at the end of each unit for teachers to capture their thoughts on how well student learning progressed. The reflections captured here may help your decision on what you need to re-teach, what areas need additional discussion at departmental level, what needs to be further assessed and/or what learning outcomes might best support students later in First Year or indeed when they return in Second Year.
Linear or non-linear approach The planning-for-learning approach for Touchstones 1 was designed to be as flexible as possible for teachers to use. You may wish to start on page one and work your way through the textbook using the genre-based approach. You may also decide to select various learning-focused units and plot your own way through the textbook with your students. And of course, there is an approach somewhere in between. It’s hoped you find the plans that follow supportive of your teaching choices. 3
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TOUCHSTONES 1
Subject Department Plan: Option A – Genre-based Units October – November (approx 6 weeks)
November – January (approx 6 weeks)
The Building Blocks of Fiction
The Building Blocks of Poetry
The Building Blocks of Film
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
Oral Language 1, 2 Reading 6 Writing 1, 4, 5
Oral Language 2, 8, 10 Reading 1, 3 Writing 5, 11
Oral Language 4, 5, 7 Reading 4, 8 Writing 6, 11
Suggested Learning Intention
Suggested Learning Intention
Suggested Learning Intention
‘Understand how authors create unique characters by placing them in interesting worlds.’
‘Analyse and express poetry in its many forms.’
‘Understand features of film making and how this can improve our own writing.’
End-of-unit assessment
End-of-unit assessment
End-of-unit assessment
Students create their own short stories inspired by the events, characters and/ or locations that they have studied in this unit.
The end of this unit contains two rich tasks that bring together the different aspects of the unit. Creating an informational written piece challenges students to demonstrate their learning. Experiencing spoken word poetry consolidates their learning. One or both of the tasks could be completed by the class.
Students create a 60-second silent movie with a basic plot.
Texts engaged with
Texts engaged with
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August – October (approx 6 weeks)
Texts engaged with
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The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkein The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime – Mark Haddon Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card Little Women – Louisa May Alcott Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
‘The Darkling Thrush’ – Thomas Hardy ‘Touchscreen’ – Marshall ‘Soulful’ Jones ‘[Kills Bugs Dead.]’ – Harryette Mullen ‘There was a small dog from Dubai’ – author unknown ‘The Old Pond’ – Matsuo Bashō ‘Risk’ – anonymous ‘The Mummy’s Smile’ – anonymous ‘Love After Love’ – Derek Walcott ‘The Highwayman’ – Alfred Noyes Macbeth – William Shakespeare ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ – Jane Taylor
New Boy – director: Steph Green Film stills from Corpse Bride, Trolls and Marie Antoinette The Greatest Showman – director: Michael Gracey A Single Life – created by Job Roggeveen, Joris Oprins and Marieke Blaauw Yu Ming is Ainm Dom – director: Daniel O’Hara Badly Drawn Roy – director: Alan Shannon The Crush – director: Michael Creagh
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK
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The Wonderful Story of Kelvin Kind – director: Ian Power Stranger Things – director: The Duffer Brothers Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – storyboard visual
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‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ – Samuel Taylor Coleridge ‘Fog’ – Carl Sandburg ‘The Tyger’ – William Blake ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ – Johnny Cash The Gruffalo – Julia Donaldson ‘A Visit from St Nicholas’ – Clement Clarke Moore ‘From Above’ – Cale Young Rice ‘We Real Cool’ – Gwendolyn Brooks ‘Refugees’ – Brian Bilston ‘The Road Not Taken’ – Robert Frost ‘Still I Rise’ – Maya Angelou ‘Oh What A Wonderful World’ – Bob Thiele and David Weiss ‘First They Came’ – Martin Niemöller ‘Back in the Playground Blues’ – Adrian Mitchell ‘Mid-Term Break’ – Seamus Heaney ‘The door’ – Miroslav Holub ‘The Sky is low – the Clouds are mean’ – Emily Dickinson ‘Daffodils’ – William Wordsworth ‘My Puppy Punched Me In the Eye’ – Kenn Nesbitt ‘On the Ning Nang Nong’ – Spike Milligan ‘The Sound Collector’ – Roger McGough ‘Base Details’ – Siegfried Sassoon ‘The Eagle’ – Alfred, Lord Tennyson ‘Alphabet Aerobics’ – Blackalicious
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The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruis Zafón The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain Lord of the Flies – William Golding Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling Great Expectations – Charles Dickens The Iliad – Homer The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – James Thurber
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February – April (approx 6 weeks)
April – year end (approx 6 weeks)
The Building Blocks of Drama
The Building Blocks of Shakespeare
Selected unit/units
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
Learning Outcomes
Oral Language 2, 5, 11 Reading 10, 13 Writing 7, 11
Oral Language 1 Reading 8, 11 Writing 4, 9, 11
Oral Language Reading Writing
Suggested Learning Intention
Suggested Learning Intention
Suggested Learning Intention
‘Write and perform with an understanding of the key features of drama’
‘Analyse the language of Shakespeare to improve our own writing style’
End-of-unit assessment
End-of-unit assessment
Write, produce and perform your own one scene comedy play. The play should be linked to your experience of secondary school and is intended for a teenage audience.
Investigate the life and times of William Shakespeare to find out why people still study Shakespeare four hundred years after his death. Present your research in the form of a report. Assume your audience know nothing about Shakespeare.
Texts engaged with
Texts engaged with
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Texts engaged with The final unit for the year has been left as flexible space for teachers. This time may have already been allocated to reading activities, units running longer than expected and/or testing. It could also be an ideal opportunity to use one of the learning-focused units. Specifically, you may wish to engage with a unit that uses non-fiction pieces. Equally, this time may be used to return to re-teach areas of the course that students have struggled with this year.
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End-of-unit assessment
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Romeo and Juliet – Prologue and Act IV Scene V Timon of Athens – Act V Scene I King John – Act III Scene I Troilus and Cressida – Act III Scene III King Lear – Act IV Scene IV Macbeth – Act III Scene I Henry V – Act IV Scene VII A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act V Scene I Extended Extract: Romeo and Juliet – Act II Scene II (the balcony scene) Extended Extract: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Act III Scene II
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Twelve Angry Men – Reginald Rose The Girl from the North Country – Conor MacPherson The Shadow of a Gunman – Sean O’Casey Annie – musical director: Peter Howard A Christmas Carol – original author: Charles Dickens Alone it Stands – John Breen Blood Brothers – Willy Russell Frankenstein – adapted by Philip Pullman
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January – February (approx 6 weeks)
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TOUCHSTONES 1
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK
The Building Blocks Of Fiction Rationale
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This unit was designed as a possible introductory unit with a new set of First Year students. At its core, it was designed to give students the opportunity to engage with a wide variety of texts, giving both the students and you, as their teacher, a chance to begin to articulate what they like in their reading and to build on their learning from primary school. The unit has oral language activities throughout and ends with a suggested writing assessment. This unit broadly keeps one of the aims of the specification in mind:
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To develop an informed appreciation of literature through personal encounters with a variety of literary texts.
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Key learning in focus
The learning outcomes for this unit were selected to give students a solid foundation in some of the fundamentals of English. By the end of this unit, students should be able to demonstrate an appreciation of characterisation, and create settings and the basics of plot structure. A suggested learning intention that you might share with students across this unit is:
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We are learning to… understand how authors create unique characters by placing them in interesting worlds.
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Oral Language 1, 2
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1 Know and use the conventions of oral language interaction, in a variety of contexts, including class groups, for a range of purposes, such as asking for information, stating an opinion, listening to others, informing, explaining, arguing, persuading, criticising, commentating, narrating, imagining and speculating. O
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2 Engage actively and responsively within class groups in order to listen to or recount experiences and to express feelings and ideas. O
Reading 6
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6 Read their texts for understanding and appreciation of character, setting, story and action: to explore how and why characters develop, and to recognise the importance of setting and plot structure. O *
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Writing 1, 4, 5
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1 Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, redraft and edit their own writing as appropriate. O *
4 Write competently in a range of text forms, for example: letter, report, multi-modal text, review and blog, using appropriate vocabulary, tone and a variety of styles to achieve a chosen purpose for different audiences. O * 5 Engage with and learn from models of oral and written language use to enrich their own written work. O
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TOUCHSTONES 1 Texts students will engage with: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
The Iliad by Homer
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber
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The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruis Zafón
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Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
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Key critical vocab
Plot, scene, problem, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution, narrative perspective, first-person perspective, third-person limited perspective, third-person omniscient perspective, reliable narrator, setting, character, the five senses
Challenging vocab
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Immortal, avenge, cunning, appease, pandemonium, insinuating, inscrutable, insolent
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SPaG focus
Scaffolding
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Information download: attach new information to any prior learning
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Key concept explanations: dual-coded explanations with multiple concrete examples Annotated examples
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Reading strategies: Frayer-method vocabulary tools, summarisation activities, quote quests, graphic organisers Structured group discussions
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Success criteria for writing and oral language tasks
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Graphic organisers to structure thinking and writing Modelling: annotated examples, sentence types, sentence stems, writing frames, writing from models
Ideas for ongoing assessment Retrieval practice grids (activity book) Peer feedback
End-of-chapter quiz and writing practice (textbook)
Verbal teacher feedback
Short written assessment (TRB)
Whole-class feedback (TRB)
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK Suggested end-of-unit summative assessment Write a short story inspired by the events, characters and/or locations studied in this unit.
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Success criteria could be discussed and agreed with students before the task and would be based on some or all the knowledge and skills students have developed in this unit. You may wish to teach the Punctuating Dialogue sections in both the textbook and the activity book with a view to including this as one of the students’ success criteria – see also Unit 8 (Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar) in the textbook.
Unit breakdown: step-by-step Suggested number of classes
Learning outcomes
Activities
Plot
1
R: 6
Plot explanation
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Section & page number
Perspective
1
OL: 1 R: 2, 6
Setting
3
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Plot reading task
Narrative perspective explanation Extracts: Reading different perspectives
W: 3, 5
Structured discussion task
OL: 1, 2, 7
Setting explanation
R: 6, 10
Extracts: Reading different settings
W: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11
Writer’s craft: Crafting a setting
3
OL: 1, 2
Character explanation
R: 6
Extracts: Reading different characters
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Character
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Oral language task: Describe a setting
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The Iliad
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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Structured discussion: Characters Oral language task: Describe a character Writer’s craft: Crafting a character
OL: 1, 2, 5
Walking debate: What do you agree with?
R: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10
Challenging vocabulary
W: 3, 4
Reading a story Reading tasks Extended writing: Writing to analyse Oral language task: Storytelling
OL: 1, 2
Structured discussion
R: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10
Challenging vocabulary
W: 3, 4
Reading a short story Reading tasks Extended writing: Writing to analyse
Teacher reflection
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TOUCHSTONES 1
Communicating As A Writer – The Fractured Fairy Tale Rationale
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This unit is designed as a young writer’s workshop. Students will learn about and go through the writing process to craft their own short story – a flipped fairy tale. Students will engage in activities to brainstorm and plan ideas. They will also develop their redrafting and editing skills, and learn to use grammar and punctuation to enhance their reader’s experience.
Key learning in focus
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The selected learning outcomes for this unit have a strong emphasis on developing the reading and writing skills of students. A suggested learning intention that you might share with students across this unit is:
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We are learning to… understand how to write effective elements of short stories.
Writing 1, 6, 11
1 Demonstrate their understanding that there is a clear purpose for all writing activities and be able to plan, draft, redraft and edit their own work as appropriate. O *
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6 Use editing skills continuously during the writing process to enhance meaning and impact; select vocabulary, reorder words, phrases and clauses, correct punctuation and spelling, reorder paragraphs, remodel and manage content. O *
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11 Use language conventions appropriately, especially punctuation and spelling, to aid meaning and presentation and to enhance the reader’s experience. O *
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There are also a wide range of supplementary learning outcomes included in the oral language, reading and writing tasks within the unit of learning, which are outlined in the unit breakdown.
Texts students will engage with:
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The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by John Scieszka
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The Three Little Pigs Guardian digital advertisement
Key critical vocab
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Character, setting, writing process: brainstorming, planning, drafting, redrafting, editing, reflecting
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SPaG focus Capital letters and full stops, punctuating dialogue, adverbs and sentence structure.
Scaffolding Writers’ groups: teachers could choose to use supportive writing groups for this unit. Students could be placed in small groups where they are confident discussing their own and other students’ work, in order to assist their development as a writer. Graphic organisers are available to organise and structure ideas.
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK Ideas for feedback and assessment Whole-class feedback template Project marksheet
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Write an entertaining fractured fairy tale for a young adult audience.
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Suggested end-of-unit summative assessment
Unit breakdown: step-by-step
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Success criteria for this summative assessment could be discussed and agreed with students before the task and would be based on some or all of the knowledge and skills students have developed for this unit. Success criteria for this task have also been suggested in the textbook.
Suggested number of classes
Learning outcomes
Activities
What is a fractured fairy-tale?
20 mins
R: 6
Explanation of fractured fairy tale
Examples of a fractured fairy tale
20 mins
R: 6
W: 5
Read the true story of the Three Little Pigs Watch the Guardian digital ad
W: 1
Listing and pitching
R: 3
W: 1
Plot the plot Sketch the setting Craft the characters
W: 3, 4
Write a first draft
W: 6, 11
How to redraft Redrafting for interesting vocabulary Redrafting for ’said’ Redrafting adverbs Redrafting sentence types
Planning
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2
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Redrafting
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OL: 8, 10
Task outline & brainstorm
Drafting
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Section & page number
20 mins
W: 6, 11
Editing for capital letters and full stops Editing dialogue
Reflecting
20 mins
W: 9
Reflective questions
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Editing
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Teacher reflection
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TOUCHSTONES 1
Scaffolding
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The reality for a lot of teachers in the Junior Cycle English classroom is to be teaching a cohort of mixed abilities. An effective way to manage varied abilities and different levels in the classroom is to teach to the top and scaffold up. There is no extra preparation time needed, as effective strategies are integrated into all of the units and tasks in this programme.
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What do I know?
This information-download activity appears at the beginning of each new section. The rationale for this activity is to attempt to get students to attach new information to any prior learning they have on a topic. This helps the new learning to stick.
Key concept explanations
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Building students’ critical vocabulary is an important foundation in First Year English. All of the key concepts, ideas and techniques are explained using dual-coded explanations, with multiple concrete examples to assist students’ understanding and processing of new ideas.
Reading strategies
There are a number of reading strategies used in this book to help students make sense of texts when reading. These include the Frayer method, summarising activities, quote quests, inference activities, generative learning activities and graphic organisers.
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Pre-teaching challenging vocabulary
Quote quests
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In order for all students to be able to access and make sense of the texts in the book, the most challenging vocabulary is pre-taught before the students encounter the text. The Frayer method explores a new word in four different ways, giving a student four ways to remember it and interact with it.
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These activities help students understand how to use quotations and how to infer meaning from a text.
Group discussion activities are based around sets of questions to provide stimulus and structure for discussion.
Success criteria
These activities break down the process of making inferences about a text.
These can be used to guide students to focus on the steps to success in the task.
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Inference jigsaws
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Structured group discussions
Graphic organisers
Modelling
Organisers are used throughout the book to help students to structure their thinking and writing.
A variety of different forms of modelled writing is used throughout this book: annotated text examples, modelled sentence types, sentence stems, writing frames and writing activities from models.
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FIRST YEAR NOVEL RESOURCES Introduction To The First Year Novel
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The First Year English specification indicates that one novel should be read, with a focus on sustained reading of novels throughout the year. There is a whole unit in the textbook with a focus on reading (see Unit 7).
Planning the novel
The central learning outcomes associated with the class novel in First Year are:
R3 Use a wide range of reading comprehension strategies.
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R1 Read texts with fluency, understanding and competence, decoding groups of words/ phrases and not just single words.
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R5 Engage in sustained private reading as a pleasurable and purposeful activity.
R6 Read texts for understanding and appreciation of character, setting, story and action; to explore how and why characters develop, and to recognise the importance of setting and plot structure. R8 Read texts to understand and appreciate language enrichment by examining an author’s choice of words, the use and effect of simple figurative language, vocabulary and language patterns and images.
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Supplementary learning outcomes include: W3 Writing for purpose
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W4 Text types for short writing activities
OL1 and OL2 For discussion around the novel
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Choosing a novel
There is a suggested list of books organised according to genre in the reading section of the student’s textbook (see Unit 7).
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The NCCA and JCT have also published a list of possible First Year novels.
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Novel resources
The fiction podcast project in the textbook (see page 42).
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A personal response template to illicit student response after reading. This could also be used as a discussion template.
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A list of possible short writing tasks to accompany the reading of the novel. Create a story organiser: a generative learning activity where students must summarise and order the plot or story of the novel. Create a text map: a generative learning activity where students must list, categorise, create a hierarchy and link the characters in the world of the text. Three novel knowledge organisers: The Graveyard Book, The Bone Sparrow and Ghost Boys.
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TOUCHSTONES 1
Novel: Personal Response Template Following your reading of the novel, use these sentence starters to think about how the novel has impacted you.
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The character I would most like as my own The character I would least like to meet is friend is because… because… One thing the novel reminds me of is…
One part of the novel that shocked me was…
One thing the novel made me think deeply about was…
One part of the novel that felt really believable was…
One thing that was different about the world of the novel was…
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My favourite bit of the novel is…
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK
Novel: Short Writing Tasks Imagine you are the author and describe the part of the text that was the most fun or the hardest to write. Explain why.
Write a series of diary entries made by one of the major characters revolving around the conflict in the text.
Describe the central character of the text and identify two things that impressed you about this character.
Write an informative police report about an incident from the plot of the text.
Write a short prequel explaining what you think happened before the story began.
Create costumes for at least three characters in the text. For each drawing, explain why the outfit, accessories and colours are appropriate for the character.
Design a travel brochure that persuades tourists to visit the setting of the text. Describe the scenery and surroundings. Explain the types of activities that might be available.
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Write a letter to a character from your text about an issue from the text that upset or annoyed you.
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Write an alternative ending to the text with an explanation for your reasons for the changes.
Write a chapter of the autobiography of one of the characters in the text.
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Write an additional ‘lost’ chapter where you describe something that happened to a character from the text that was not written about in the main text.
Research a topic/issue you found interesting in the text and write a report on this subject.
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TOUCHSTONES 1
Create A Story Organiser
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Creating a story organiser helps you make sense of the text you are studying. It will allow you to understand the narrative structure and narrative perspective of your text. It will also help you to pick out the key scenes and most important moments of your text. Making a story organiser can also help you remember and recall the text you studied.
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PROJECT BRIEF To be successful in this project, you will need to: create an informative and appealing multi-modal (images and words) text summarise key moments effectively and in sequence apply your understanding of the text’s distinctive narrative structure and perspective. For this activity you will need: The text you have been studying
A3 sheet of paper
A pencil
Coloured markers or pencils
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK
Summarise
Plot
Create
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Structure
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Structure
1 Identify the narrative perspective of the text. Is there one narrator? Who is it? Are there two or multiple narrators? Who are they? Is there a third-person narrator?
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2 Identify the narrative structure of the text. Is it a straightforward linear plot? Is it a circular plot, where the story starts and ends in the same place? Is it a multi-narrator linear plot? Do the plot lines intersect at any point? Do they all meet at the end of the story? Do some plot lines never cross over? Is it a non-linear plot with flash-forwards, flash-backs and time-hops all over the story? 3 How is the story built? How many chapters are there? How many acts and scenes are there? How many different time frames are there? 4 Choose the structure of your story organiser dependent on your answers to the first three questions.
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1 What are the important moments of each section?
2 Summarise each key moment in one short sentence. Cut out any detail that is not essential.
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Plot
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3 Are there any chapters or scenes you are going to leave out as you don’t think they are important for your understanding of the story?
1 Using a pencil, draw the structure of your plot organiser on a piece of A3 paper. The structure should be a visual representation of the narrative structure, perspective and story.
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Create
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2 Write in your summary sentences in the correct sequence or order.
1 Now is the time to start thinking about any design features you want on your organiser.
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2 First look at colour. If there are multiple narrators, will you distinguish them in different colours? If there are different sections of the story, will you distinguish them in different colours? What colour will you pick for each section? Maybe the section where the main character is in the most danger could be red or their trip through the mountains or forest could be green. 2 How will you represent the passage of time on your organiser? If the text flashes forward seven years, can you represent that with a picture or symbol? 3 Will you use icons and images to add to your understanding of the story? flaticon.com and thenounproject.com can help you here.
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TOUCHSTONES 1 Use it 1 Refer to it as a visual aid or scaffolding when writing about the text.
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2 Try to re-sketch your story organiser from memory. Check against your original. Now you know what you know and what you do not know. Fill in the gaps in your knowledge. Try to sketch it again in a week’s time. You will notice you remember more and more each time you do this.
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3 Give the organiser to your partner and get them to ask you questions about the story, narrative structure and narrative perspective. Try to recall as much as possible from memory. Your partner can tell you if you are correct and can fill in your knowledge gaps if you have forgotten something.
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4 Sit down with your partner with the organiser in front of you. Tell your partner about the story, pointing out specific key moments. Encourage your partner to ask questions about why you chose to design your organiser the way you did and what significance the decisions you made have to the text.
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5 Hang your organiser up somewhere that you will see it everyday. Whenever you see it, point to something different on the organiser and read it out loud.
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK
Create A Text Map
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Creating a text map helps you to make sense of the world of a text and to see connections between the characters, as well as links between the characters and the setting. It will also help you to see who holds the power in the text and who is powerless. Creating a text map will help you remember the text in the future.
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PROJECT BRIEF
To be successful in this project, you will need to: create an informative and appealing multi-modal text map
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evaluate the characters in the text, their relationships with other characters, their connections to the world of the text and the power structures within the text
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choose the best descriptive words for each character. The text you have been studying
A pencil
Post-it Notes
Coloured markers or pencils
2 x A3 sheets of paper
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For this activity you will need:
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TOUCHSTONES 1
Plan
Organise
Create
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Cut
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Plan 1 Make a list of the characters in the text.
2 Write down three things that stand out about each character (think about their personality or appearance).
4 Make a list of all the important settings in the text.
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5 Find a descriptive quote that sums up each setting.
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3 Find a quote for each character that sums them up (this can be something they say themselves or something the narrator or another character says about them).
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1 Look through your list of characters. Are there any characters that you would consider minor characters, who have no major impact on the story?
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2 Look at the three things you’ve written down about each character. Could you refine these down to one phrase or word? Have you chosen the best word to describe them? Could you choose more challenging vocabulary?
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3 Look at the quotes you have chosen for each character. Could you cut out any bits of the quote that are not necessary? 4 Look at the settings you have listed. Are all of these important settings? Are there any that do not have an impact on the story?
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Organise
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5 Look at the quotes you have chosen for each setting. Could you cut out any bits of the quote that are not necessary?
1 Write all of your setting locations on Post-it Notes.
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2 Now think about how you will arrange the settings around the edge of a piece of A3 paper. Do the settings appear in any specific order in the text? Are any of them linked together and should they therefore appear next to each other?
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3 Arrange your settings around the page in an order that makes sense to the text.
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4 Write out your character’s names on Post-it Notes.
5 Now think about how you might group the characters in the text. Is there anything about any of the characters that binds them together in some way? Are they related? Are they friends? Are they enemies? Do they work together? Do they live in the same place? 6 Then arrange the characters according to the power structure and hierarchy of the text. Do this by first thinking about who holds the most power in the text. Remember that people might hold more power for lots of reasons, perhaps because of their race, religion or sex. Place these characters at the top of the map. Now think about who holds the least power. Place these characters at the bottom of the map. You have now created the layout of your map.
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK 7 Next think about all the connections and relationships between the characters in the text. Who is in love with who? Who murders who? Who is related to who? Which characters have a shared experience? On another Post-it Note, draw a line between any linked characters and name the relationship on the line you have drawn.
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8 Finally, on another Post-it Note, draw in any links between the characters and the settings. Explain the link on the line you have drawn.
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Create 1 Put your page covered in Post-it Notes in front of you.
2 On another piece of A3 paper, use a pencil to draw the setting border around the outside of the page, writing in the settings and adding their descriptive quotes.
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3 Then, using your original page as a guide, write in your characters, their characteristics and the quotes about them from the text.
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4 Now is the time to think about some design features. Are there any details from the text that suggest specific colours, for example a character’s eye or hair colour, the colour of a building or a particular landscape? 5 Next consider how you can visually represent the characters. Maybe you would like to represent them with a symbol or icon (look at flaticon.com or thenounproject.com) or you could sketch your interpretation of the characters yourself.
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6 Finally think about how you are you going to contain the information for each character and setting – in a box, a circle, a picture frame or a cloud? How are you going to link the characters – with a simple line, a dotted line, a broken line or double arrows?
Use it
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1 Refer to it as a visual aid or scaffolding when writing about a text.
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2 Try to re-sketch your story organiser from memory. Check against your original. Now you know what you know and what you do not know. Fill in the gaps in your knowledge. Try to sketch it again in a week’s time. You will notice you remember more and more each time you do this.
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3 Give the map to your partner and get them to ask you questions about the characters and settings. Try to recall as much as possible from memory. Your partner can tell you if you are correct and can fill in your knowledge gaps if you have forgotten something.
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4 Sit down with your partner with the map in front of you. Tell your partner about the world of the text, pointing out the different characters and settings. Encourage your partner to ask questions about why you chose to link certain characters or why you chose to place a character at the top or bottom of the hierarchy of power.
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5 Hang your map up somewhere that you will see it everyday. Whenever you see it, point to something different on the map and read it out loud.
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TOUCHSTONES 1
Knowledge Organiser: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman Summary
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Novel: The Graveyard Book
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Author: Neil Gaiman Pages: 288 Audio length: 7 hours 43 minutes Genre: Mystery, gothic, fantasy
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Vocabulary
Supernatural: an event or person that cannot be explained by the laws of science or the natural world
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Prophesy: saying something that will happen in the future Assassin: a person who is hired to murder someone Perpetuity: something that lasts forever
Crypt: an underground room used as a burial place
Mausoleum: an impressive building housing a group of tombs
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Main characters
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Bod (Nobody Owens): a human child raised by ghosts in a graveyard. Given the Freedom of the Graveyard so he can live like a ghost.
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Scarlett Amber Perkins: Bod’s best childhood friend. Scarlett moves away for ten years but returns and is tricked by the man Jack, who has assumed the persona of affable local historian Mr Frost. The man Jack (or Jack Frost): an evil assassin sent by the Jacks of All Trades to murder Bod and his family to prevent a prophesy from coming true.
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Silas: Bod’s guardian. Well respected in the supernatural world. Possibly a vampire. Takes good care of Bod.
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Mr and Mrs Owens: Bod’s ghost parents who live in the graveyard. They love Bod like the child they never had. Bod’s family: murdered by the man Jack when Bod is a small baby.
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Liza Hempstock: Bod’s friend. Buried in the graveyard accused of being a witch. Bod buys her a headstone to mark her grave.
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The Sleer: a supernatural snake-like being looking for a new master. Protects his treasure in the barrow grave. The Ghouls: a group of ghouls who kidnap Bod and try take him to Ghûlheim (hell). Miss Lupescu: a Hound of God or a werewolf. Guardian to Bod when Silas is away. Rescues Bod from Ghûlheim. Dies protecting Bod. The Lady on the Grey: mythical woman on a big white horse. Comes to take people away when they die.
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK Setting An English graveyard in an unnamed town.
Plot summary
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The man Jack murders a family but the baby escapes to the nearby graveyard. The supernatural beings in the graveyard grant the baby the Freedom of the Graveyard and Mr and Mrs Owens raise Bod as their son. Silas takes on the role of his guardian.
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The supernatural world of the text includes the existence of vampires, werewolves, ghosts, ghouls and secret conclaves of assassins alongside a normal everyday setting.
Bod makes friends with a human – Scarlett Amber Perkins. Together they defeat the Sleer in the barrow grave. Scarlett then moves to Scotland with her parents.
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Bod enters hell through a ghoul gate and is rescued by Mrs Lupescu. Bod makes friends with Liza Hempstock, an accused witch, and buys her a headstone. One night, the dead in the graveyard and the living dance the Macabray together.
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Silas allows Bod go to school with disastrous consequences. Bod ends up in trouble with the police for standing up to the bullies Nick and Mo. He is rescued by Liza and Silas and leaves school. Scarlett returns from Scotland and befriends Mr Frost who turns out to be the man Jack. The inhabitants of the graveyard and Bod work together to defeat the man Jack and his group of assassins.
Narrative perspective
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Bod’s powers begin to disappear and he leaves the graveyard to travel the world.
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Third-person omniscient narrator
Symbolism
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A linear or chronological plot
Freedom of the Graveyard: the privileges Bod is granted that allows him to see ghosts, slip through walls and grow up safely under the protection of his graveyard family.
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The Macabray: a dance between the living and the dead that occurs spontaneously when a certain flower blooms in the graveyard.
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ASSESSMENT There are a number of ways of assessing this program for First Year English.
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Formative Assessment
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retrieval practice whole-class feedback
Summative Assessment
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These assessments can be used daily in class to monitor learning and give timely feedback to students, in order to move their learning forward and correct any mistakes or misconceptions.
mini assessments
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These assessments can be used as an end-of-term, Christmas or summer assessment or test. The projects can be used as part of a student’s collection of texts.
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK
Mini Assessments Responding to a visual text and crafting a character
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Look at each of these photographs. What do you notice about each character? What do you wonder about each character?
Imagine you are creating a story about one of these people. Write a paragraph introducing the character. Use the crafting a character toolkit on page 17 of your textbook to help you.
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TOUCHSTONES 1 Responding to a visual text and crafting a setting
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Look at each of these photographs. What do you notice about these places? What do you wonder about these places?
Imagine you are creating a story about one of these places. Write a descriptive paragraph about the setting. Use the crafting a setting toolkit on page 12 of your textbook to help you.
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK
Project Marksheet: Write A Fractured Fairy Tale Project Brief: Write an entertaining fractured fairy tale for a young adult fiction audience. Name:
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Class: Yet to meet expectations
In line with expectations
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To be successful in this piece of writing you must:
Above expectations
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Experiment creatively with the fairy-tale genre
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Maintain a clear and convincing narrative perspective Choose interesting words and sentence types to make your writing entertaining
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Describe an engaging setting and craft interesting characters
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Use dialogue creatively and make sure it’s punctuated correctly Overall mark
Exceptional
In line with expectations
Above expectations
Exceptional
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Yet to meet expectations
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Next steps Examine how you did in each of the success criteria above, then decide what you need to focus on. Next time I need to: 1 2 3
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TOUCHSTONES 1
Project Brief: The Poet’s Toolbox
Learning outcomes R4
Developing critical vocabulary.
R8
Reading texts to understand simple figurative language.
W1 Plan, draft and redraft. W3 Writing for purpose: to inform.
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R10 Know how to use language resources to develop vocabulary.
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Create a visually appealing informative booklet for aspiring teenage poets that outlines and explains a variety of poetic techniques, exploring the etymology (the history of a word or where the word comes from), morphology (the way a word is put together or structured) and definitions of simile, metaphor, personification, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia.
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PROJECT BRIEF
W4 Writing in specific text types: informative leaflet. W5 Engage with models to enrich written work.
How long will this project take?
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This project takes about three forty-minute classes to complete or could be used as a homework project.
What is needed to complete this project?
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Textbook and activity book
Student access to a device and the internet Several pieces of blank A3 or A4 paper
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Where should my students complete this project?
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This project works really well as a homework project to consolidate classroom learning, but can also be completed in class.
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Can this project be completed in pairs, groups or individually?
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This project works best as an individual piece.
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How can I assess this project? You could use either the whole-class feedback template or the project feedback marksheet to assess this project.
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TEACHER’S RESOURCE BOOK
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Notes
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d Ire la n of om pa ny C na l at io uc Ed e Th © The Educational Company of Ireland
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