Task

3: Planning, Assessing, Record Keeping and Reporting

Backward Design - UNIT PLAN

Title: What was life like for the convicts in the Botany Bay penal settlement?
Year Level: 4

Teacher: Megan Gurney

Focus Curriculum Area (s): Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) & English

Duration: 3-4 weeks

STAGE 1: Curriculum Links

General Capabilities
(GP)
Cross-curriculum
Priorities (CCP)

Year Level
Content
Descriptors

Literacy

Numeracy

ICT

Critical and Creative Thinking

Ethical Behaviour

Personal and Social

Intercultural Understanding

Aboriginal and TSI

Asia and Australias

Histories and Culture

Engagement with Asia

Sustainability

Stories of the First Fleet, including reasons for the journey,

who travelled to Australia, and their experiences following
arrival. (ACHASSK085)
Elaboration: Investigating daily life in the Botany Bay
penal settlement and challenges experienced by the
people there and how they managed.
Locate and collect information and data from different
sources, including observations (ACHASSI074)

Literacy:
Plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and
persuasive texts containing key information and
supporting details for a widening range of audiences,

Year Level Achievement

Standard

By the end of Year 4,

students recognise the significance of
events in bringing about change and the
importance of the environment.
They explain how and why life changed
in the past and identify aspects of the
past that have remained the same.
They describe the experiences of an
individual or group in the past.
They describe and compare the diverse
characteristics of different places at
local to national scales.
Students identify the interconnections
between components of the
environment and between people and
the environment.
They identify structures that support
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demonstrating increasing control over text structures
and language features (ACELY1694)

Numeracy:
Use scaled instruments to measure and compare lengths,
masses, capacities and temperatures (ACMMG084)

ICT:

Students use available technologies to access a range of

digital information sources

their local community and recognise the

importance of laws in society.
They describe factors that shape a
persons identity and sense of
belonging. They identify different views
on how to respond to an issue or
challenge.
Students develop questions
to investigate. They locate and collect
information and data from different
sources, including observations to
answer these questions. When
examining information,
they distinguish between facts and
opinions and detect points of view.
They interpret data and information
to identify and describe distributions
and simple patterns
and draw conclusions. They share their
points of view, respecting the views of
others. Students sequence information
about events and the lives of individuals
in chronological order with reference to
key dates. They
sort, record and represent data in
different formats, including large-scale
maps using basic cartographic
conventions. They reflect on their
learning to propose action in response
to an issue or challenge,
and identify the possible effects of their
proposed action. Students present
ideas, findings and conclusions using
discipline-specific terms in a range of
communication forms.

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Knowledge

Skills

What the First Fleet is and its significance.

Research using technology.

What life was like as a convict in the First Fleet.

Create a letter from the perspective of a convict.

Compare crimes and punishments of the past with those of today.

Use measurement and scale to investigate the size of ships.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Students will be able to..
Investigate and describe life and challenges faced by convicts in Botany Bay.
Collect information and data from online sources.
Plan and publish a letter using the correct structure and features.

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UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN STAGE 2: ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE

Task description:
Summative assessment -
At the end of the unit of work students will be expected to individually write an informal letter to a family member as if they were a convict in Botany Bay. They will be
able to present their letter by handwriting it or typing it up using technology. Their letters will be due at the end of the unit of work and be assessed against criteria on a
rubric.

Assessment Criteria:
-Present their findings from research in the correct format of an informal letter.
-Develop and investigate questions and research information and data and make observations to answer these.
-Describe the experience of a convict in the past based upon research in a clear and organised way.

Assessment recording template:
-Students achievement will be recorded against a rubric (See appendix G).

Feedback:
-Students will receive feedback throughout the unit of work with small conferences, their self-assessment checklist and then their mark and comments on the final rubric.

Self-assessment:
-Students will reflect upon their work using the self-assessment checklist and then when they use the comments the teacher makes at the bottom of it before
starting their final copies of their letter to improve their work.














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UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN STAGE 3: PLAN LEARNING EXPERIENCES AND INSTRUCTION




Learning Experiences
Assessment For/As Learning (Formative

Assessment)
1
Read A Penny to Remember by Kirsty Murray to the students.
Observations during whole class

discussion and students KWL charts
Discussion with the class about the book guided by questions such as:
are used as diagnostic assessment
Why did George steal? Did he deserve the punishment he received?
to see what knowledge students
Why were the Dimples so kind to Hannah? Why was she surprised by
previously possess about the topic.
this?
Why do you think Will Nugent helped George create a love token?
Many love tokens from the convict era survive to this day in museums
and private collections. Why do you think so many were made and why
do you think they have survived?
Why do you think so many convicts never returned to England after they
had served their sentences?
What was a ticket of leave? How and why do you think George managed
to get his ticket of leave early?
Why did George make Hannah stop wearing her penny?
How do you think Hannah and Georges lives in Botany Bay would have
compared to their lives in England? Where do you think they would be
better off living? Why?
(National Museum Australia, n.d.).

The students will complete a KWL chart on the first fleet. Once they have
finished the K about what they already know and the W stating what they
would like to find out, discuss these questions as a class:
What was the First Fleet?
Why is it important in the history of Australia?
Who were the people of the First Fleet?

2
The book discusses Georges crime and punishment of being transported as a
Students will pin their timelines up
convict lead on from this discuss to locating both London and Botany Bay on a
on the wall and using sticky notes
map to show the journey George would have had to travel. Track the journey of
will put feedback on 2 other
peoples timelines. This will be done

Resources

A Penny to Remember

First Fleet timeline

worksheet (See appendix
A)
Sticky notes

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the First Fleet as a class and use the maps scale to estimate the length of the
journey.

Why the journey took about 250 days to complete?

in a PMI (plus, minus, interesting)

format. A maximum of 3 sticky
notes will be allowed per timeline.

Students will use the information on the Timeline of the First Fleet worksheet to
make their own print or digital map of the journey the first fleet took with an
explained timeline (Education Services Australia, 2014).

Compare the time it took the first fleet to travel to Australia with how long it
would take to fly from Australia to London on an airplane today.

Watch the BTN video First Fleet

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3934600.htm

While the students are watching the videos they will be completing a looks like,
feels like and sounds like chart which they draw into their notebooks about being
a prisoner.

To further explore what life on a ship was like as a convict the students will
explore like below the deck. Students will research information on ships of the
first fleet. Supply groups with a 1:24 scale model of the HMS Supply ship
(Education Services Australia, 2014). Students will:
Convert the imperial measurements of the ship to metric measurements.
Map out the length and width of one of the ships onto the playground to
visualise how big it was.
Calculate approximately how many people were on each ship and put this
number of students inside the space to see what space was available for
people.
Halve the space and put the number of convicts on the ship inside the space.


Use the website -

http://lrrpublic.cli.det.nsw.edu.au/lrrSecure/Sites/Web/13651/13653/convict_id_
nw2.htm for a list of convict names

Conference with students during the

activity questioning how they would
feel in that amount of space.

Observations will be made while the

students are creating their Venn
diagrams and during the share

http://www.abc.net.au/
btn/story/s3934600.htm
IPads, laptops for
research
1:24 scale model of the
HMS Supply ship (See
appendix B)

http://lrrpublic.cli.det.ns
w.edu.au/lrrSecure/Sites
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In groups of 4 students will look at the list:
What evidence do you see that you find interesting?
What do you think about the ages of the convicts?
What do you think about their crimes?

Using a Venn diagram, students will research and compare the different crimes
and punishments of the time of those convicts in comparison with the
consequences for crime today.

Students will each pick a convict off the list of names and using a think-pair-share
will discuss questions such as:
what crime your convict committed
the length of time of their transportation
whether they had a trade and what it was
how you were treated
whether you get enough to eat
your daily routine
the rules and the consequences of breaking the rules.


Students will take on the identity of the convict they picked in the previous lesson
and will carry out more in depth research about them and their story. Using their
answers to the questions asked in the previous lesson and their research they will
assume the role of the convict and have a conversation with another member of
the class talking about their life.

Once they have finished their conversations, give the students an exit card sheet
where they have answer 3 questions:
1. What were your thoughts and feelings during the activity?
2. What were at least 2 interesting things you found out about your convict?
3. What do you still want to learn about life as a convict?


As a class, listen to and read a few personal accounts from Tales from the First
Fleet (http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au)

section of the discussion about

convicts.

/Web/13651/13653/con
vict_id_nw2.htm

Freeze frame going around while

they are performing asking how
they feel, why they chose to stand
the way they are, their gesture,
body language etc.
Exit cards.

Exit cards (See appendix

C)

Observations during the whole class

discussion about the features of
letters.

http://www.sl.nsw.gov.
au

letter example
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Inform the students that they will be writing a letter to a family member
pretending that they are a convict.

Brainstorm with the students everything they know about the format and
features of writing a letter.

Hand out each student a copy of a letter, the students will read this letter and
identify the parts that were brainstormed on the board.


Students will be given the opportunity to further research life as a prisoner but
will already have the work done from previous lessons.

Next, they will create a brainstorm individually about their ideas, who they will be
writing the letter to and what they will talk about. They will be given a table with
some questions they could answer to guide their letters. Students will be
instructed to create at least 4 questions to find the answers to. Once the
brainstorms are complete they will start drafting their letters onto a template
provided.
Once students have finished their drafts they will be given a self-assessment
checklist to ensure they have all the features of a letter. There will also be a focus
on making students check to see their grammar and spelling is correct by
swapping with another class member and focusing on these two elements. Once
they have completed the checklist the teacher will sign the bottom of the
checklist before they start the final copy.

Students will complete the final copies of their letters either by handwriting or
using a laptop, focusing on following letter conventions.

letter writing template

(See appendix D)
Table with guiding
questions (See appendix
E)

Self-assessment checklist
(See appendix F)

Laptops

Self-assessment will be carried out

by the students as they mark their
work against a checklist. The
teacher will make a few comments
and suggestions on what the
student could do to improve their
draft as well as signing it to ensure
they have included all the
components.
Peer assessment to check for
grammar and spelling.

The letters students create will be
marked against a rubric as formal
summative assessment to this unit
of work (See appendix G).

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Once their letters are complete the students will fill out the L on their KWL
charts discussing what they have learnt over the unit of work.

Rationale
The key concept of this unit of work is to investigate what life was like for convicts in Botany Bay. The content descriptor connected to this concept is
(ACHASSK085) from year four HASS. Through the learning experiences, students participate in activities to develop and build their inquiry skills related to
research (ACHASSI074). These skills are developed when the students create and consider questions they will need to investigate through a range of sources
to find out the answers, which also connects to ICT. When considering what life was like on the boats students participate in a task connected to
measurement and conversion creating a cross curriculum link to year four numeracy (ACMMG084). The letter writing activity which is used for the formal
summative assessment links to the literacy content descriptor (ACELY1694) as students are planning, drafting and publishing texts. These content descriptors
are embedded in the year four HASS achievement standard and are seen in the sentences:

They describe the experiences of an individual or group in the past.

Students develop questions to investigate. They locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations to answer
these questions.

Students present ideas, findings and conclusions using discipline-specific terms in a range of communication forms.

(ACARA, 2016).

The Understanding by Design (UbD) framework is an approach to planning informed by Wiggins and McTighe (2005) that has proved to be successful in the
development of planning for assessment and teaching for understanding (Readman & Allen, 2013). It involves bringing the desired learning outcomes and
the related assessments to gauge the progress students are making to achieving these to the front of the planning (Readman & Allen, 2013). The UbD
framework helps teachers to be more effective and improve their planning, designing and teaching strategies in turn leading to the students developing
deeper and more enriched understandings of the content (Readman & Allen, 2013). More effective and engaging learning can be created in the classroom
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by asking deep, high order essential questions (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). The UbD approach informed my design for developing students knowledge and
abilities in relation to the First Fleet as the learning outcomes informed by content descriptors and the achievement standard were chosen first as stage one.
In stage two, a range of informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative assessment tasks were created connecting to the learning outcomes
(AITSL Std. 5.1). Finally, in stage three the teaching and learning activities were chosen to connect and align with the learning outcomes (Readman & Allen,
2013). These activities are purposeful and relevant not only to the learning outcomes, but the students lives. The activities are created to promote inquiry
through challenging and deepening students previously existing ideas (SCASA, 2014). This links to the ideas and principles of cognitive constructivism.

The informal formative assessments chosen throughout this unit of work were observations during discussion and questioning, when students create KWL
charts and when they are participating in a Venn diagram task. Using the questioning template allows for students to be asked different kids of questions. If
only one type is used, for example close-ended the students will not be exposed to the higher levels of thinking needed to gain a deeper understanding of
the content. Questions can be differentiated for levels of student interest and can challenge students to thinking more critically and constructing wider, more
detailed knowledge. This idea of levels of questioning is based on Blooms taxonomy and can be used to extend and get students working at higher levels.
Peer assessment was used during the gallery of timelines lesson by placing sticky notes on other class members timelines and when they swap their draft
letter writing pieces with another person to check for correct spelling and grammar. Teacher-student conferences will also be used through the unit of work,
but seen clearly in the freeze frame task when the teacher stops students and questions them on how they are feeling at that point in the drama activity and
why they have chosen the stance and body language they are showing.

Self-assessment is prevalent when the students are provided with checklists to go through their own work before receiving feedback from the teacher.
Another type of formative assessment used during the unit of work is exit cards for the teacher to see where the students are at in the middle of the unit of
work and what they would still like to learn about, therefore informing future teaching practices (AITSL Std. 5.4). These assessments help the teacher gain
an understanding of where the students are at in terms of their learning, what still needs to be learnt next and whether there is anything they have
misconceptions about during the lesson or unit of work (SCASA, 2014). The assessments throughout the learning process should encourage deeper
understandings and provide feedback (SCASA, 2014). The formal summative assessment used at the end is a rubric to see what the students have learnt and
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gained in comparison with the observations made about their knowledge during the first lesson. All of the informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and
summative assessments are valid and allow for the teacher to gain information and evidence on the ideas and processes students have and assess the
outcomes that are supposed to be being assessed (SCASA, 2014).

The assessment tasks enable students to connect and use their knowledge in the real world as a lot of the tasks involve communication and collaboration
which are key in this new world. Communication and collaboration is seen throughout the unit of work but particularly in the group work and peer assessment
tasks. The approaches to feedback seen in this unit of work are teacher/student conferences and written feedback on letter drafts, these support student
learning as they are able to gain an understanding about what they can do to improve their work (AITSL Std. 5.2, Readman & Allen, 2013). The PMI peer
assessment allows for students to work on giving better feedback and in turn applying the feedback they receive to their own work (Readman & Allen, 2013).

Connections are visible between the learning tasks and achievement standards and support the students development of gaining deeper understandings
and skills. The development of HASS inquiry skills is seen when students are given some and questions and asked to create some of their own questions to
guide their research into a convict to learn about their life. The looks like, feels like and sounds like task, use of a Venn diagram and open-ended questioning
allows for students to think critically about what life would have been like and compare and contrast life in the past compared to their lives now, enabling
deep thinking. Three ways that the information collected throughout this unit of work can be reported to parents/carers about students achievement are
through compiling all the tasks and work the students complete over the unit of work into a portfolio. These portfolios can be used in parent/teacher
interviews or for the student to take home and show their parents/carers. Another way parents/carers can be kept informed of the work that is taking place
over the unit of work is through the use of class Dojo, which enables parents and carers to see what is happening each day over the process and allow for
instant messages to be sent. Finally, reporting can be done upon completion of the unit of work by using the result from the rubric to inform the students
school reports given at the end of the year. Using a range of reporting strategies over the unit of work, informed by reliable and accurate assessments is key
to ensure there is evidence of what students have learnt and completed in the classroom (AITSL, Std. 5.5).


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Appendices

Appendix A: First Fleet timeline worksheet

(Education Services Australia, 2014).

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Appendix B: 1:24 scale model of the HMS Supply ship


































(Education Services Australia, 2014).


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Appendix C: Exit cards

Name:
1. What were your thoughts and feelings during the activity?

2. What were at least 2 interesting things you found out about your convict?

3. What do you still want to learn about life as a convict?

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Appendix D: letter writing template

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Appendix E: Table with guiding questions






























(Government of Western Australia, 2015).






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Appendix F: Self-assessment checklist

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Appendix G: Rubric

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