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The Rabbits By John Marsden & Shaun Tan 61lA9f4WTDL._SX373_BO1,204…

- - - - This lesson would mainly be focused on language choice and student reaction. The teacher will read the text and then will ask the students how they felt after reading the text. The teacher will write the student's feelings on the whiteboard. The teacher will then lead a discussion about word choice. The teacher will begin by stating "John Marsden uses specific wording to invoke feeling. If some of the words were replaced with less emotive language and more factual would you feel differently? - If the line "The Rabbits spread across the country. No mountain could stop them; no desert, no river." was replaced with "The Rabbits took over the country and they weren't stopped." Do you think it would impact how you felt?" The students will then be asked, in groups, to re-write the story using less emotive language. The new stories will be re-read to the class and students will be asked how they feel after reading the new text - do you feel the same as you did after the initial reading? The general idea is to get students to hear how emotionless stories can be if imagery isn't used.
    - - The teacher will ask the class to think about "why John Marsden wrote The Rabbits?" The teacher will then ask students to share their ideas with a partner. The teacher will explain to the students that the book isn't very text heavy. Students will be asked "does the text structure add or take away from story - would you have preferred to have more text, or did you like it?" The students will then be asked to share with their partners. Students will then be asked to write a review of the text focusing on the structure, the language features, replacement of words and why John Marsden wrote the text.
    - - The teacher will explain the importance of John Marsden's word choices. The teacher will lead a discussion and ask students "Why do you think John Marsden used the idea of rabbits instead of saying English men and women? Why do you think numbats were used instead of Aboriginal Australians? How does this enhance the text?" The teacher will then guide the students to focus on the in-text replacements of certain words - "many Grandparents ago." vs. hundreds of years ago. "Scared away our friends..." vs. scared away the animals. The teacher will ask students to consider what this adds to the text. "Does it make you feel sorry for the Numbats? Does it make you feel scared of the Rabbits?" The teacher will re-read the text and the students will be asked to put their hand up when they think a word has been replaced to enhance the text. The teacher will then ask students to create a table of the word replacements, what could have been said instead and what the replacement adds to the overall telling of the story.
  - - - The teacher will read the class Welcome To Country by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy. The teacher will then lead a discussion based on the question "After reading Welcome To Country and learning the significance of country, animals and culture to Aboriginal Australians, how does The Rabbits make you feel?" Students will then be asked to discuss the similarities and the differences between the stories. The teacher will discuss that they both draw inspiration from Aboriginal culture and history but tell different stories. Students will be asked to complete a table on the differences and similarities between the two texts - where the author's motives the same, did you feel the same after reading both texts etc.
    - - The teacher and the class will go on an excursion to the State Library of Western Australia, where students will participate in the Behind the Scenes: Shaun Tan tour. The tour focuses on the link between language and illustrations and demonstrates Shaun Tan's unique use of imagery as a language convention.
        
        The teacher will touch on the final few pages and the importance of the imagery. The teacher will hide the page of the text and the students will be asked to close their eyes and the teacher will read the following passage "Where is the rich, dark earth, brown and moist? Where is the smell of rain dripping from the gum trees? Where are the great Billabongs alive with long-legged birds?" The teacher will then ask the students to open their eyes. The teacher will ask the students how they feel, what they smelt and what they could see. The teacher will then show the page - the page possesses the darkest illustrations and is only black, brown and white. The teacher will then ask students about the imagery of this page - how important is the language that John Marsden used? How can you connect the language with what you are feeling? What kind of illustration did you expect to see after hearing the passage?
      - The teacher will discuss with the students the use of replacing human beings with animals. The teacher will ask what kind of impact this has on the reader - does it make them more sympathetic? Do you feel like you understand the text better?
    - - Students will be asked to KWL charts before The Rabbits is read. The theme of the KWL will be based on Aboriginal Australian history. The teacher will give students prompts - "in year 4 do you remember learning about Dreaming in art?" "In year 5 what did you learn in history about Aboriginal Australians?" Students will be asked to complete the what they know column. After reading The Rabbits the students will be asked to fill in 'what they want to know'. Students will then be asked to fill in what they have learnt at the end of the unit of inquiry.
  - - - The teacher will ask the class what fiction text structure the text followed - character vs. character, character vs. society, character vs. self, character vs. nature, character vs. supernatural or character vs. technology. The teacher will ask if this text followed the stereotypical structure of a fiction book - was there a beginning, a climax and a resolution. How did this text differ from other texts we have read in class? The teacher will then ask give the students three different language features - from the language features word wall (a word wall already established in the classroom with definitions of setting, real or fake, problem, solution etc) - and write about how the text structure works in unison with the language feature to express the story.
    - - The major project for this unit will be creating a multimodal presentation. Students will be given a list of multimodal presentations they can do - creating a film, comic strip and animation, book trailer or newscast. Students will be allowed to work in groups of three or four to complete their project. The theme of the project will be the retelling of The Rabbits. Students will be tasked with creating a script, props, character list and review of the text.
    - - The teacher will discuss with the class the strategies implemented by John Marsden to influence readers. Imagery - the replacement of English colonialists with rabbits and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians with numbats. The teacher will then discuss the change of illustrations from light to dark and what impact this had on the readers. Finally the teacher will discuss syntax. On the second page of text - the sentences are short - what does this add to the story? Students will be asked to reflect on these strategies - "how did these strategies influence you?". Students will then be asked to watch a snippet of Experience colonial Australia with Tom Keneally where Keneally explains to Tom Tilley, the strategies he implements when writing texts. Students will be asked to create a short story based on being a young person set during the first 100 years of Australian settlement. Students will be asked to think about the strategies implemented by Marsden and Keneally whilst creating this story.
- - - - The teacher will invite an Aboriginal artist to discuss their paintings and the history of Indigenous Art. The teacher will ask the artist to reiterate the importance of Dreaming and discuss the link to the line "The Rabbits came many Grandparents ago" from the text. The teacher will ask the artist to discuss what this line means - how it evolves from the cultural ideology of Dreaming and how it holds more importance than stating "The Rabbits came many years ago." The teacher and artist will then show other forms of Aboriginal art - rock paintings, dot painting, bark painting, carvings, sculptures and weavings. Students will then be asked to research a famous Aboriginal artist and create an artwork using their style as inspiration. Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, Minnie Pwerle, Rover Thomas, Queenie McKenzie, Judy Watson Napangardi and Sally Morgan will be the artists the students will be given to explore. Then write a paragraph describing their inspiration and artist.
    - - The teacher will lead a discussion on how the The Rabbits made students feel. The teacher will show students the illustrations again, highlighting the pages with the darker imagery and emotive language and discuss the connections between the words and the illustrations. The line "Where is the rich, dark earth, brown and moist? Where is the smell of rain dripping from the gum trees? Where are the great Billabongs alive with long-legged birds?" will be used to discuss imagery with the students. The teacher will ask students to write three sentences outlining how the text made them feel. The teacher will then ask students to create a new piece of artwork illustrating these emotions through the use of line, shading and texture.
    - - The students will participate in an excursion to the State Library of Western Australia to view the display of Shaun Tan's Cicada. Shaun Tan utilised different art forms to create the illustrations in the text.
  - - - The teacher will show a video of Aboriginal Dancing. The teacher will discuss with the class the cultural and historical significance of dance in Aboriginal culture. The teacher will explain that there are different types and forms of dances. Dances can be performed for Initiation Ceremonies, Dreaming Ceremonies and Funerals - just to skim the surface. The teacher will then show the students Haka performances. Both dances are performed by Indigenous people from neighbouring countries. The teacher will discuss with the students the cultural significance of both dances to Maori New Zealanders and Aboriginal Australians. Students will then be asked to take inspiration from these dances and practice a piece based on the text using similar movements.
  - - - Students will be broken up into groups of five or six. The groups will be given a page of the book to perform as dramatic action and then a 'freeze frame'. Students can either be characters or props - i.e. two students together could make the large boat on the page "They came by water." Students will then be asked to present their dramatic action and freeze frame to the larger group. Four pieces of tape will make up a rectangle on the floor - students will be asked to perform their freeze frame inside the rectangle. When presenting, students will be asked to stand outside the rectangle and they'll be counted in to perform their piece and one of the participating students will call out 'freeze' at an agreed on time. They will be required to hold the pose whilst the teacher and the fellow students walk around and observe. The teacher will call upon each student participating in the freeze frame to describe who or what they are. The process will be repeated until all groups have performed.
- - - - The next lesson will be based on the National Apology. The teacher will lead a discussion based on the significance of Kevin Rudd, a white Prime Minister, saying sorry. How do you think this made Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians feel? Kevin Rudd stated "We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians." Students will be asked if they think Kevin Rudd should have apologised for past government's mistake. The students will be asked to get into groups of four and brainstorm what the significance of saying sorry meant to Aboriginal Australians. Students will then be asked to brainstorm what the government and members of the Australian public can do to continue reconciliation for the Stolen Generation.
  - - - The next lesson will look at Shaun Tan's The Arrival - a picture book with no text. Students will be asked to look at the text for 5 minutes (as it is a long text). The teacher will ask the students what they think the text is about - i.e. immigration, fitting in etc. The students will each be given one page to focus on. Students will be asked to create the text for the page. They will be asked to utilise their prior knowledge and understanding of immigration, the importance of language choice (explored through John Marsden's writing) and the use of dialogue. (HaSS and English lesson ACELA1525).