Modelled reading of The Deep End

Australian Curriculum: English sub-strand: Literature — Responding to Literature; Examining Literature

Read Chapters 1 and 2. Students will engage in a think, pair, share activity. Model the discussion by sharing an experience from own life.

Students will: Engage in a discussion/think, pair, share about situations where things have changed in their lives, such as changing grades at school, moving house, changing sports teams or swimming groups, and how they felt about the change. Explain why they felt this way, how they handled the situation and who helped them.

Video conference with Ursula Dubosarsky and Aaron Blabey

In Session 1 of the video conference the authors discuss their different approaches to creating characters and storylines: Ursula Dubosarsky with a written approach and Aaron Blabey with a visual approach.

(Note that the recording is of low quality, being the recording from classroom-based video conference cameras, and is 46 minutes in duration.)

Australian Curriculum: English sub-strand: Literacy — Creating texts

Using a real life experience, model how to create a character, develop a character map and illustrations to match the chosen situation.

Students will: Reflect on a time when they felt nervous and create a character (themselves) to write about in that situation. Think, pair, share their ideas and then allow time for students to develop their characters, using illustrations and a character map.

Assessment as learning

Australian Curriculum: English sub-strand: Literacy — interacting with others

Display some of the situations that students have identified. Allocate students to groups to develop a role play of a selected situation. Allow time for planning and rehearsal, assisting groups where necessary. Following the presentations, discuss the emotions depicted and debrief students. Observe students to assess their ability to develop characterisation.

Students will: Present role plays and engage in discussion.

Australian Curriculum: English sub-strand: Literacy — interpreting and evaluating

Read Chapters 3 and 4. Ask students to predict what might happen next. Record students’ predictions so they can either confirm or alter them during further reading. Read the remainder of The Deep End.

Students will: Make predictions based on the parts of the story that they have heard already and their understanding of the character.