EDUC3526 Planning for literacy learning in the middle years Assignment 3

In this essay I will consider the ways in which I can integrate effective literacy
pedagogies into a specified unit plan for my English subject area. It is important to
provide all students with the opportunity to learn and engage in literacy teachings
across all disciplines. As a teacher, I want to extend students literacies knowledge in
ways that reflect social, cultural and technological contexts. The Multiliteracies
framework follows these principles and as a result I will incorporate this framework
into my teaching. The Multiliteracies framework follows four main components and I
will demonstrate how I will incorporate these into a unit of work. To further emphasise
the teaching strategies of the Multiliteracies framework, I will also incorporate
strategies from Parris and Block who outline the various components of teaching that
provide students with effective literacy learning experiences.

The unit plan that will be referred to throughout this essay is for a Year 8 English class
on the topic of persuasive writing (see appendix 1). The 4-week unit plan will involve
the students learning about persuasive techniques and target audience. There will be
pre-assessment, formative assessment and summative assessment tasks that the
students are expected to complete. Throughout these tasks, students are expected to;
analyse and identify persuasive devices and apply them to their own work, create their
own persuasive piece with an intended target audience, and identify that different
techniques apply to different persuasive mediums.

Literacy is a complex term and is defined in many different ways, and often this is a
reflection of societal beliefs and the period of time. Freebody (2007) explains that
‘definitions of literacy practices are both expressions of social and cultural histories
and projections of preferred futures’ (p. 6) Currently, I believe that it is important for
society and teachers to understand the changing world and focus on developing
‘students’ literacies so that they reflect the diversity of social, technological, cultural,
linguistic, and economic contexts’ (Ludwig, 2003, p. 1). The Multiliteracies framework
values all of these points. Furthermore, to effectively deliver literacy learnings,
teachers must have a succinct knowledge base of literacies and their specified learning

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EDUC3526 Planning for literacy learning in the middle years Assignment 3

area, as well as have a positive and encouraging attitude (Parris & Block, 2011, p. 589-
590).

The Multiliteracies framework focuses on creating literacy learning environments that

reflect a variety of different contexts that students are involved with in both their
inside and outside of school lives. There are 4 components that make up the
Multiliteracies framework, these include; situated practice, overt instruction, critical
framing, and transformed practice (Henderson & Exley, 2019, p. 31). Situated practice
involves the process of incorporating real world experiences into school life. This
includes focusing on students’ interests and out of school knowledge. This allows
students to ‘bring their (invariably diverse) experiences, interests and knowledge into
the learning environment’ (Kalantzis & Cope cited in Henderson & Exley, 2019, p. 31).
For overt instruction ‘teachers identify students’ specific learning needs for extended
learning that will contribute to the overall learning outcomes’ (Henderson & Exley,
2019, p. 31). This involves the teacher using pre-assessment, scaffolding and
intervention. Critical framing focuses on students thinking critically to ‘understand
different perspectives on knowledge’ so they ‘are able to infer and interpret
relationships, interests and perspectives’ (Henderson & Exley, 2019, p. 31).
Transformed practice is about students applying their knowledge to new situations. It
is generally ‘the phase where students showcase what they have learnt, ideally for a
real-life audience’ (Henderson & Exley, 2019, p. 31). Intertwined in these practices is
the Knowledge Process concept which addresses the same ideas. This concept includes
the process of experiencing, conceptualising, analysing and applying (Cope & Kalantzis,
2016, p. 4). The Multiliteracies framework is considered a ‘reflective pedagogy’ that
incorporates the strengths of both didactic and authentic pedagogies’(Cope &
Kalantzis, 2016, pp.6-16). This framework follows many of the same principles that I
wish to incorporate into my own teaching practice, I will now demonstrate how I
intend to achieve this in relation to my unit plan.

Throughout my unit plan students will be expected to follow the critical framing
component of Multiliteracies by critically analysing ‘the interests behind an action,
motives for expressing a meaning, or reasons for highlighting a particular fact in a

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EDUC3526 Planning for literacy learning in the middle years Assignment 3

particular way’ (Kalantzis & Cope cited in Henderson & Exley, 2019, p. 31). This will be
achieved by focusing on target audience and different perspectives. This will generally
be discussed as a whole class so different opinions on topics can be voiced in a safe
environment (Parris & Block, 2007). For one of the formative tasks, students will bring
in their own piece of persuasive/ advertising material into the classroom. This allows
the students to understand how persuasive forms are present in their out of school
lives. It also provides the students with the opportunity to potentially express their
own identity through this selected work. Students will then pair up and analyse their
partners work in terms of techniques and ask their partner why they chose this piece.
This gives students an opportunity to hear different perspectives and opinions which is
an essential part of critical framing.

Situated practice and place-based education is important in ensuring that students are
given the opportunity to use their prior knowledge and experiences in the classroom
setting. This leads to better engagement as it creates a relationship with their out of
school lives and encourages lifelong learning (Smith, 2002). Situated practice gives the
students the opportunity to be ‘positioned as contributors of knowledge, rather than
being understood solely as recipients of knowledge from the teacher’ (Henderson &
Exley, 2019, p. 31). Throughout this unit the students are expected to analyse a wide
range of persuasive pieces. I hope to give the students opportunities to understand
how persuasion effects their everyday life by including real world scenarios that are of
interest to them. Choosing persuasive pieces that also reflect students interest is
important in creating engaging and meaningful content. Humorous and engaging
content reflects good pedagogical practice (Parris & Block, 2007). Students will be
given the opportunity to analyse and assess content from the local newspaper as
place-based learnings ‘aim is to ground learning in local phenomena and students'
lived experience’ (Smith, 2002, p. 2). Indigenous perspectives will also be included;
having an array of sources that consider different perspectives allows the students to
work with both new and familiar knowledges that reflect identities and cultures (Exley,
2019). Situated practice ensures that what students learn in school is relevant in their
out of school and future lives.

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EDUC3526 Planning for literacy learning in the middle years Assignment 3

To include ‘methods of addressing diverse individual needs’ (Parris & Block, 2007, p.
589) of students in the classroom I will be implementing overt instructions that focuses
on specific learning areas. This will include obtaining prior knowledge and scaffolding,
as well as implementing differentiation strategies. Throughout this unit I will be
particularly focused on student interest and readiness levels. At the beginning of this
unit I will be conducting a pre-assessment. This will help me determine my students’
readiness levels and prior knowledge, as well as their interests. This will then be
incorporated into the future lessons. For the first lesson I will be asking students to
think-pair-share (Parris & Block, 2007, p. 591) and talk about their own experiences of
when they tried to persuade someone, they will also write this down and this will be
their exit card. This will give me insight as to what the students understand persuasion
to be. This incorporates both situated and overt practices. I will also be scaffolding
particular tasks dependant on students’ readiness levels, this will mainly be
determined through exit cards and observations. Scaffolding is important in developing
students’ literacies, especially in English when students are expected to work with a
wide range of text types and formats (Dumbleton & Lountain, 1999, p. 30). Scaffolding
will be particularly used in the formative assessment where students are asked to
create an opening statement paragraph. The students will be given a set of guidelines
they have to follow in order to complete the task. Throughout the unit, scaffolding will
also be included to address specific vocabulary, linking words and modality words.
These activities will include hands on activities (Parris & Block, 2007) where the
students create wall displays/ posters. Furthermore, all of the activities will include
visual and verbal displays as well as a whole class or teacher demonstration to address
different learning styles.

In the assessment tasks, students will be given the opportunity to put what they have
learnt into practice; this incorporates the Multiliteracies concept of transformed
practice. For their summative task students will choose their own topic, target
audience and format to present a persuasive piece. This allows the students to
demonstrate the new knowledge they have learnt in a familiar and chosen way. The
Multiliteracies framework encourages the use of multimodal forms; this sparks interest

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EDUC3526 Planning for literacy learning in the middle years Assignment 3

in the students and allows them ‘to negotiate differences in patterns of meaning from
one context to another’ (Cope & Kalantzis, 2016, p. 3). Throughout the unit, students
have experienced a wide range of multimodal forms including; magazines,
newspapers, websites, speech, blogs, essays, video advertisements, poster
advertisements. Parris and Block (2007) suggest that it is an effective teaching practice
to allow the students to ‘use multiple forms of input systems visuals, hands-on,
technology) and multiple forms of expression (peer share, publishing)’ (p. 588). I hope
that this assessment task gives the students the opportunity to take their knowledge
‘out of its immediate educational setting’ and make it ‘work beyond that setting’ (Cope
& 2016, p. 21). Hansford and Adlington suggest that multimodal forms ‘should be
assessed for their social purpose, holistic structure, grammatical components, and the
technical skills required to create them’ (Jacobs, 2013, p. 625). For the summative task,
students will be assessed on the same criteria (see appendix 2) that focuses on the
purpose, persuasive devices and cohesion. Their technical skills will be addressed in
the ‘notes’ section. This allows all students to have the same assessment criteria,
which provides clarity. Multiliteracies assessment approaches prepare students to
engage and be a part of ‘a diverse, multimodal, and information‐based world’ (Jacobs,
2013, p. 623).

Providing effective literacies teaching is vital in preparing students for their current and
future lives. The Multiliteracies framework focuses on students own lives and seeks to
incorporate their identity and strengths into literacy learnings. By incorporating the
Multiliteracies framework into my English persuasive writing unit, students were given
the opportunity to engage in literacy learning in more personal and interesting ways.
This is because of the focus on twenty-first learning that is relevant and engaging.
Parris and Block’s study was also helpful in incorporating overarching ideas into my
teaching strategies. Literacies will continue to adapt and change, it is important for me
as a teacher to move with these changes so I can create authentic and relevant literacy
learning content throughout my whole career and across all disciplines.

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EDUC3526 Planning for literacy learning in the middle years Assignment 3

Appendix 1:

Assessment Evidence
Performance Task Description
This unit of work will begin with a pre-assessment. This is in the
Assessment task 1: pre-
form of a frayer diagram that is focused on students broader
assessment
understanding of what persuasion is.
Assessment task 2: Students will be placed in groups based on their interests and
formative assessment learning preferences. Each group will be given a persuasive piece
of varying forms (based on their interest and learning
preference). Each individual student in the group will then be
given a card with a persuasive technique on it. The difficulty of
the technique will be dependent on the student’s readiness level.

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EDUC3526 Planning for literacy learning in the middle years Assignment 3

The students are then asked to analyse the persuasive piece

using their specific technique card. As a whole group they will
then discuss target audience and additional techniques. Students
will then report their findings to the class in an oral setting.
Assessment task 3: Students will produce an opening statement with specific
formative assessment guidelines in preparation for their summative assessment.

For the summative task, students will create their own persuasive
piece on a topic of their choice. This will be presented to the
Assessment task 4:
classroom in either an oral or video format. Students are
summative
expected to follow persuasive writing structures and incorporate
persuasive devices.

Learning Plan
WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION
 This stage of the learning process will include me as the teacher verbally and
instructively presenting the unit to the students.
 This unit of work will begin with a pre-assessment (appendix 1). Give students the
time to fill this worksheet out and then collect for evaluation.
 Introducing persuasion: The introduction on persuasion will focus on broader ideas
and understandings. I will be posing questions such as: what is persuasion? Why do
people use it? Who use it, and in what circumstances? What are the different
forms/contexts of persuasion? There will also be a specific focus on target audience
and author intentions.
 This week is heavily information focused. To break this up, I will be showing
examples of persuasion in different forms and contexts.
 Towards the end of this week, I will be introducing specifics. A PowerPoint
presentation will be presented with persuasive techniques.
 On the last class of the week, students will be given an exit card. This will help
inform my teaching for the coming week.

WEEK 2: PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES

 Majority of this week’s classes will involve the students getting into their designated
groups, as they will be working together to analyse varying forms of persuasion in
different contexts. The groups for this week are quite flexible, but are generally
readiness level based (this data has been collected from the previous weeks exit card
and observations throughout the year).
 Activity: Each group will be given a persuasive piece to analyse. Each group will have
the chance throughout the week to analyse varying forms of persuasion. This
includes: visual advertisements, audio and video advertisements, speeches, and
articles/ writing.
 I will also be discussing the varying mediums and modes of persuasion, and explain
how persuasive devices differ according to this.

WEEK 3: FORMATIVE ASSESSMENTS

 Students will be completing formative tasks that will help prepare them for their
summative.
 Formative assessment task 1: Students are to work in groups to analyse a persuasive

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EDUC3526 Planning for literacy learning in the middle years Assignment 3

piece with each student having a specific technique to focus on.

 Opening statements, and target audience will be discussed in more depth.
 Formative assessment task 2: Students are asked to create their own opening
statement, using the guidelines I have provided them.
 This week will focus on persuasive text structure in preparation for the summative
task.
 This process will begin with the opening statement activity. After this is completed
we will focus on the body of the text and the conclusion as a class.

WEEK 4: SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT

 This week is solely focused on the summative task.
 Students will be given a detailed, clear and concise description of their task and the
assessment procedure.
 Students will work on this throughout the week
 Students will present on the last lesson for the week.

Appendix 2:

References:
Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (2016). The things you do to know: An introduction to the
pedagogy of Multiliteracies. In B. Cope & M. Kalantzis (Eds.), A pedagogy
of  Multiliteracies: Learning by design (pp. 1–36). New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Dumbleton, M. & Lountain, K. (1999) Addressing literacy in society and environment: A

middle years’ resource, p.
Exley, B. (2019). Valuing students’ diverse language and cultural backgrounds: A
Multiliteracies project in a remote Indigenous community. In R. Henderson (Ed.),
Teaching literacies: Pedagogies and diversity (2nd ed., pp. 20-33). Docklands, Vic:
Oxford University Press.

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EDUC3526 Planning for literacy learning in the middle years Assignment 3

Freebody, P. (2007). Literacy Education in School: Research perspectives from the past,

for the future. Camberwell, Vic.: ACER.
Henderson, R. & Exley, B. (2019). Thinking about planning for literacies learning. In R.
Henderson (Ed.), Teaching literacies: Pedagogies and diversity (2nd ed., pp. 20-33).
Docklands, Vic: Oxford University Press.
Ludwig, C. (2003). Making sense of literacy. Newsletter of the Australian Literacy
Educators' Association. Retrieved from https://www.alea.edu.au/documents/item/53
Parris, S., & Block, C. C. (2007). The expertise of adolescent literacy teachers. Journal of
Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 50(7), 582-596. doi:10.1598/JAAL.50.7.7
Smith, G. A. (2002) Place based education: Learning to be where we are. In Phi Delta
Kappan 83(8), pp. 584 – 594.

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