Australian Perspectives Exploring Aboriginal Australia

Assessment

Created by Elley Borland, Lauren Stygall, Renee Knoll, Tash Vanstone and Steph Kotinis

This literature-based plan relies on a range of assessment

strategies in order to meet the needs of students and
extend them in an appropriate manner.

Through this learning experiences this text provides, students are able to
make connections between their own experiences and those of people
represented in the text drawn from the Indigenous Australian historical,
social and cultural contexts (ACELT1613, AusVELS, n. d.). This enables
students to explore Indigenous Australian culture, history and identity in a
way that promotes intercultural understanding through understanding
unique aspects of Indigenous Australian way of life as well as their long
history as Australians (OI.5, OI.6, AusVELS, n. d.).

The frontloading sequence includes forms of diagnostic and

formative assessment including a KWHL chart, creation of a
short informative piece and informal assessment
throughout class discussions, all of which will inform
teaching to follow in the explicit teaching sequence.
The explicit teaching sequence includes a range of
formative assessment tasks such as creating diary entries
through exploration of voice and perspectives, presenting
findings to the class as well as reflections and class
discussions.

Interests
The interests of year 6 students are met in this
text through the inclusion of a variety of sections
and subsections which ensure the text is easy to
follow and students will be able to connect to
throughout reading, as well as the extra
information boxes which provide extra detail on
certain topics.

The main summative assessment will be present in the

multimodal response in which students will be required to
follow a rubric when creating their response in their desired
format.
The teaching throughout these sequences will inform the
teachers teaching in order for students to be met with
appropriate explicit teaching tasks to prepare them for the
summative assessment (Winch et al., 2014).

Frontloading
Frontloading activities used in the first week of the
plan involve experiences such as exploring key terms
such as identity and culture, reviewing what
students know in general about Indigenous Australian
history, culture and identity, discussing a selection of
images in regards to the concept and introducing
students to the theme of critical literacies. These
experiences allow teachers to assess student
conceptual, procedural [and] genre knowledge in
regards to subsequent tasks and will allow students to
build on this knowledge reviewed and gained during
the explicit teaching and multimodal response lessons
(MyRead, 2002).

Australian Curriculum

Author

Needs
This text enables year 6
students to engage with
literacy themes and skills
which are vital for
development in todays
society. See Australian
Curriculum.

The author Bruce Pascoe is an

Indigenous Australian from the
Kulin nation, which allows him to
construct this text from an
Indigenous perspective as he
works in association with the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander
Studies.

About
The chosen text is an information text which provides
readers with the opportunity to explore aspects of Aboriginal
Australian history, culture and identity. This text is broken
up into different chapters titled Who are We?, Culture and
Sport, Participation and Governance and Resistance and
Reconciliation which provides readers including teachers
and students to choose specific sections to focus on.

Explicit Teaching
This literature-based plan is constructed significantly around the
explicit teaching model. The explicit teaching lessons draw on
frontloading activies and lead into the creation of a multimodal
presentation. By utilizing the explicit teaching model teachers
are able to set clear expectations of learners through allowing
opportunities for students to clarify their understanding and
ensure that teaching goals are not implicit or confusing
(MyRead, 2002).

Throughout the exploration of this text students will participate in a range of

activities which provide students to learn and practice various literacy skills
which enable them to become more effective and reflective communicators
through a range of mediums (ACELY1709, ACELY1710, ACELY1712,
ACELY1713, ACELY1714, ACELY1715, ACELY1717, ACELY1816, AusVELS,
n. d.).
Students also are provided with the opportunity to analyse and evaluate
similarities and differences in texts on similar topics, themes and
plots (ACELT1614, AusVELS, n. d.) through exploring a range of alternate
texts in conjunction with the main information text to explore features of
texts which influence the reader.
In this way students are invited through this literature-based plan to use the
text The Little Red Yellow Black Book to explore a range of concepts and
skills relevant to their needs as year 6 Australian citizens.

Multimodality
Students engaged in this literacy sequence will experience
texts through a range of modes. Through engaging with
multiple modes students are more likely to be engaged and
inspired by the task, leading to a desire to seek and apply
their knowledge (Winch et al., 2014). As many changes are
currently occurring in the world, students must be exposed
to changing forms of communication, including
multimodality. This literature-based plan provides students
with the task of creating a multimodal presentation in
response to their literacy experiences throughout the
learning sequences, in this way they are able to develop
their skills necessary in the 21st century to communicate
effectively through multiple modes (Leland, Lewison &
Harste, 2013).

Critical Literacies

Teaching Approaches

This teaching sequence incorporates key aspects of critical

literacies through the exploration of the texts involved.
Students will be engaged with tasks throughout the entire
literature-based plan that require them to address aspects of
the main text as well as their own views and beliefs from a
critical perspective which allows them to assess worldviews
and power relationships portrayed therein as well as how their
own views impact their reading (Winch et al., 2014).