Truth be told

After watching the video The lab: Decoy – a portrait session with a twist discuss:

• How are the photographers influenced by their idea of the model’s background or life story?

• How could a photographer (composer) be objective?

• How much is a viewer (responder) influenced by their idea of the model’s background or life story?

Your teacher may need to access this video on YouTube.

Text version (.docx 124kB)

In your group, create a cline with true stories (non-fiction) at the top and fantasy (fiction) at the bottom. Include as many types of texts as you can on your cline. Discuss your decisions with another group or present to the whole class.

Use your completed cline to describe the codes and conventions, and other features that make up the two genres, of true stories and fictional texts.

1. Create a graphic organiser such as a T-chart or Venn diagram to compare and contrast each genre - True Stories and Fiction. Use your chosen software tool to record your ideas

2. Feed back your ideas to your class

3. Review your group diagram after listening to other groups.

Explore what you think a true story is using this process:

1. Think - what do you personally think?

2. Pair - share your definition with another person.

3. Share - present your definition to your class.

Capture and save a class definition.

Different media use a range of points of view to tell a story. Explore a variety of texts in Creating digital and multimodal texts.

Use this text analysis matrix (.docx 127kB), or create your own, to help you identify the various devices used in different texts.

For example:

• visual texts use devices such as foregrounding or backgrounding and size

• written texts use devices such as narrative stance - omniscient, first, second or third person

• film uses devices such as camera angle and soundtrack.

In this section your class will analyse a text, looking for the points of view the composer has used. Use the matrix to support your analysis.

Consider how you responded to the text studied.

• How did the composer try to engage you in the story? What points of view did they use?

• What moved you as you engaged with the story? What complications or conflicts interested you?

Share with the class or a group. Capture and save the top five features that can make a story engaging to responders.

Your teacher will show you a YouTube film made by a student in Queensland about her family’s battles with drought on their farm – Ellen’s Story.

Text version (.docx 124kB)

Task: Watch the entire documentary. View it again, this time focusing on these questions:

• what different camera angles are used and how do they help tell the story?

• how does the music affect you as you watch the film?

• why does Ellen use a map and text to help tell her story?

• how does your knowledge of drought affect your perspective of the story?

• has that perspective changed now that you’ve watched it?

This program is part of Radio National’s ‘Conversations with Richard Fidler’ series, produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Stan Grant’s long road to recognition

Text version (.docx 149kB)

Task: Listen to the entire interview. Listen again, this time to an excerpt (say, 01:54 - 7:30) and consider these points:

• what role does the interviewer play in drawing out Stan Grant's story?

• how did what you already know about Stan Grant affect your perspective of the interview? Did your perspective about him change afterwards? How?

• how does the medium (audio with one still image) help you engage with this personal story?

• what are the differences between a person telling their own story and someone else telling it for them?

• how might Stan Grant's story differ if he had written it down instead of speaking it?

This magazine article is part of a series in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend magazine.

Two of us: Lucas Patchett and Nicholas Marchesi

Task: Annotate a copy of the article focusing on:

• what do you notice about the language and tone of this article?

• how are you as responder drawn into the story?

• how does the writer encourage you to react to the characters?

• how does the perspective both people have on each other and the same events affect your perspective of them?

This Adobe Slate was created by a NSW student, Brooke Fenton. It tells the story of a woman called Karina Sole who lives her life with serious kidney disease.

Every day is a good day – Karina Sole

Task: Navigate through the Slate. Read it again, this time analysing the story using these questions:

• do you know anyone facing serious health issues? How does that affect your perspective of this story? Did your perspective change after viewing the video?

• what role do the images play in telling this story?

• why do you think the composer did not use a voice-over?

• what role does the text play in this story? Why are different fonts used?

Childhood memories help lay Holocaust survivor to rest after 23 years

Task: Create an inverted pyramid to show the structure of a news story. (Fill in the sections to show the who, what, when, where, why components.)

Save your notes.

• what do you notice about the language used?

• comment on the use of adjectives and how they help build the story.

• how is this news story different to a typical 'news breaking' story?

• why is a story like this considered newsworthy?

This program was produced by the Witness radio program, British Broadcasting Corporation World Service.

The world’s most valuable T-Rex

Text version (.docx 125kB)

Task: Listen to the program. Listen again, this time considering:

• how many people are involved in the story?

• how are different perspectives treated?

• create a Y-chart for context, tone and language and fill in the features.

• share your feedback with the class through a structured brainstorm.

This resource supports students in the following English K-10 syllabus Stage 5 outcomes:

A student:

• effectively uses and critically assesses a wide range of processes, skills, strategies and knowledge for responding to and composing a wide range of texts in different media and technologies EN5-2A

• understands and evaluates the diverse ways texts can represent personal and public worlds EN5-7D

• purposefully reflects on, assesses and adapts their individual and collaborative skills with increasing independence and effectiveness EN5-9E.

Truth be told supports the English textual concepts:

• code and convention

• context

• genre

• narrative

• perspective

• point of view

• representation.

See English textual concepts descriptors and summaries for an explanation of each textual concept and why it is important. Stage descriptors for each concept are included.

Visit Process descriptors and summaries for key aspects of English processes. Stage descriptors for each process are also listed:

• understanding

• engaging personally

• connecting

• engaging critically

• experimenting

• reflecting.

Truth be told provides explicit pathways for learning across the curriculum content for the following:

• cross-curriculum priorities:

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures

• general capabilities:

  • critical and creative thinking

  • ethical understanding

  • information and communication capability

  • intercultural understanding

  • literacy.

Where students choose an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person as the subject of their story, they may use the following wording where appropriate:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this resource may contain images and voices of people who are since deceased.

Ensure that students practice good digital citizenship by providing correct attribution and copyright information for images.

Useful links:

• Digital Citizenship for schools

• Creative Commons Australia

• Copyright for students.

Consider how and when you and your students will give feedback, and formative and summative and assessment at different points throughout the project.

Online collaboration tools can provide a range of feedback and assessment methods.

Consider using:

• the comment tool in Google Docs or Word Online to give specific feedback at a particular point

• the simultaneous audio and written commenting functionality in OneNote Class Notebook

• other programs – for example Jing, Screencast.com – to give feedback via screencasts and audio.

See Technology rubrics for any classroom for marking guidelines for digital work.

The YouTube videos below used in this resource may not be available to all students.

Discover section – Truth and perspective

Discover section – Read, view, listen

This section aims to engage student interest in the project and activate any prior knowledge. Use the cartoon and questions to provoke discussion about the big ideas in this resource.

The overview also broadly outlines the learning students will be doing and what they are expected to produce by the end of this project.

Skills in collaborative work are critical to this learning activity. Organising the tasks and their roles throughout the project will provide students with opportunities to develop their 21^st century learning skills.

Forming groups — teachers will make decisions about suitable group selection processes based on their knowledge of their class. One option is for students to pitch their stories to the class and choose the team they wish to work with.

Four members is an ideal group size.

Effective talk — what prior teaching will students need around group discussions to make them effective and authentic for every group member? Students can use the points provided to create their own guidelines around what makes for productive and respectful collaborative talk. What will they do if differing opinions can't be resolved?

Team roles — how will students document their changing roles over the course of their project? Using online tools to record information means it can be referred to at any time over the project. What will they do if individual responsibilities are not followed?

Learn more about assigning Student roles.

Online collaboration

Students can set up a shared Google Drive or Office 365 OneDrive folder accessed via their Student Portal landing page. One team member does this and shares the folder with the others. Ensure each group shares the folder with the teacher so you can monitor progress and support students as needed.

Having a space to share folders and files will assist students to work collaboratively. Students can contribute simultaneously to shared folders and documents, enabling the responsibility and work, including writing tasks, to be shared. Groups can continue working even when one or more members are away. Students can work on tasks out of class time.

After completing the Get organised section students should have created a shared workspace that contains:

• discussion guidelines

• roles and responsibilities documents.

As work progresses, other documents — either created by the students or provided in this resource — will be added to the shared group space. These include a:

• cline of text types

• graphic organiser that compares and contrasts true stories and fiction

• definition of a true story

• text analysis matrix

• mind-map of what features make a true story engaging

• decision-making criteria

• draft and final version of group story

• group reflection on the collaborative process.

These documents could possibly be organised into folders using the section headings of this resource.

This section contains activities which aim to:

• trigger student prior knowledge

• build new understandings that students can apply when they create their own story

• provide opportunities for students to develop their 21^st century learning skills.

Truth and perspective — show the YouTube video The lab: Decoy - A portrait session with a twist. Students are able to watch the video at home. Hold a class discussion after viewing using the questions provided as a stimulus, or create your own.

Fiction vs fact — the activities in this section build student understanding of genre, codes and conventions, and the differences between factual and fictional texts.

Telling true stories — if you think it necessary, do a whole-class joint analysis of a personal story your students might be familiar with, before they have to analyse texts in their group. Highlight how the composer has used points of view to position the responder. Consider how those points of view engage responders.

How can they be told? — this could be a paired task or done in groups.

Read, view, listen aims to:

• expose students to a variety of texts telling personal narratives

• build knowledge of various media using the English textual concepts as a framework

• highlight gaps in student knowledge, thus providing teaching points needing explicit instruction

• allow students to practice collaboration within groups and across the class.

Students can use the provided matrix to help analyse the texts. Adapt and use this matrix according to the needs of your students - some will complete missing sections, others may use a highlighter to mark features they identify.

Each group is responsible for one story from the list provided, or choose your own texts. When compiled, each group analysis will become a class resource students can refer to. Ensure each of the texts is covered by at least one group.

Show the YouTube video Ellen Gett’s drought documentary – Ellen’s story. Hold a class discussion after viewing using the questions provided as a stimulus, or devise your own.

Stan Grant’s long road to recognition and The world’s most valuable T-Rex—download the audio files from the websites if necessary.

Peer feedback is a significant part of this section. Consider if you as the teacher will also give feedback to students. How and when will you give it?

How and when will you give feedback to your students? Will the feedback enable them to make changes before finalising their work?

Decide as a class how the final stories can be showcased to a wider audience.

Reflecting on the learning content and the learning process is a critical part of 21^st century education.

Use the questions provided or devise your own.

Follow your regular reflection or journaling routines or guide students to use online tools to capture their thoughts.

As the teacher you also may like reflect on how you might improve on the delivery of this project. What have you learned about embedding 21^st century skills into a learning experience?