Genre & the Curriculum Cycle

In pairs or small groups students use a For/ Against proforma to record reasons for tourists visiting Antarctica and reasons against tourists visiting Antarctica using a range of resources

Teacher reads the book Antarctica - for and against mining to the class. Class discusses content and structure of the 'pages'; the level of the issue; whose points of view are being presented; where such information may be found as well as similar types of information.

Teacher reviews how to take notes using a book on Antarctic and internet sites e.g. Cool Antarctica - What is it like in Antarctica. http://www.coolantarctica.com/index.html

Teacher shows class video of Antarctica. Teacher and students read books and Internet sites on Antarctica.

Class discuss what they know about Antarctica (K), what they'd like to know (W).

Class write the elaborations for each point in Antarctica - for and against mining.

Class creates a word bank of connectives that can be used to introduce reasons.

Class jointly constructs text on Should tourists visit Antarctica. Teacher focuses on inclusion of - elaborations for each reason, + use of connectives to introduce the reason.

Students in pairs put together the cut up version of the discussion text: Should rainforests be logged?

Students asked to highlight the first sentence in each of the 'reasons' paragraphs. Class discuss the purpose of this sentence in the paragraph.

Students use highlighter to highlight the words that are used in Should rainforests be logged? to signal the beginning of a new reason - new paragraph, and to show change in point of view (i.e. connectives

Genre & the Curriculum Cycle

A sample unit: Antarctica

Justification of arrangement of above activities

The term scaffolding is use to explain the ways thru which students are trained to learn within “a zone of proximal development”. It is about understanding the ability of students when they are learning with the teacher before; they are on their own for the learning experience. This is all about to influence the capabilities of the student under the shadow of a learned person. This is similar to how babies learn to walk and talk as they have experienced people around them who can walk and talk easily.

There are three stages involved in curriculum cycle. The purpose of three stages is to ensure a balance of talking listening and writing skills among the students. The 3 stages are;

Preparation: Building up the field (Shared writing strategies). Initially The field is prepared for the ...