Lesson Plan SORT INQUIRY PHASE

Week: 3

Time: 45 minutes

Unit: Colonial Australia

Lesson # 6

Level: Year 5
Curriculum
(Year Level Statement that this lesson is building towards)
By the end of Year 5, students identify the causes and effects of change on particular communities,
and describe aspects of the past that remained the same. They describe the different experiences of
people in the past. They describe the significance of people and events in bringing about change.
Students sequence events and people (their lifetime) in chronological order, using timelines. When
researching, students develop questions to frame an historical inquiry. They identify a range of
sources and locate and record information related to this inquiry. They examine sources to identify
points of view. Students develop, organise and present their texts, particularly narratives and
descriptions, using historical terms and concepts.
Content Descriptions:
Historical knowledge and Understanding
The role that a significant individual or group played in shaping a colony; for example,
explorers, farmers, entrepreneurs, artists, writers, humanitarians, religious and political
leaders, and Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples. (ACHHK097)
Inquiry Question
What are the reasons people migrated to Australia in the 1800s and how did they contribute to the
society once there?

Lesson Objectives:
(Key Knowledge and Skills students should achieve in the lesson)

1. Identify the different experiences of people in the past and their contributions to
society.
2. Students use stimulus to sequence events in chronological order.
3. Use and interpret a piece of stimulus in order to represent the events of an
individual or group in the 1800s through dramatic actions and control of voice.

Students Prior Knowledge:

Prior to engaging with this lesson students will already have previous knowledge in:
- Recognising different points of view
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders where Australias first land owners.
- The different colonies that migrated to Australia in the past (emphasis on
indigenous, British and Asain)
- Different colonies reasons for the migration to Australia and the different routes
taken to get there.

LESSON STRUCTURE:
Time

Introduction & Motivation:

5
minutes

Group discussion:
Prior Lesson Organisation:
- Move all the desks and chairs to the back or
sides of the classroom, without obstructing
doorways and walkways.
- Alternatively, take the students to an outside
undercover area that caters for movement
activities.
1. Guide students to the location of choice. Ensure
all students sit sensibly next to each other with
the hands and feet to themselves.
2. Generate questions to discuss as a class
- What are the groups/ colonies that we have been
focussing on in our previous History lessons?
- How do these groups connect with each other in
history?

Teaching Approaches &

Resources
Textbook Resource: Jacobs, R.
(2013). Nice Arts! Pearson:
Frenches Forest, Sydney.

Lesson was adapted from

this source.
Employ the whole-part-whole
approach to teaching and
learning.
Whole: mental scaffolding and
provide context for learning
Part: Mastering the structured
materials of the activity.
Learner driven as independent
is given to the students.
Whole: Integrates new
knowledge and skills into a
broader context
Linking with prior knowledge
gained throughout the unit.

Time
25
minites

Main Content:
1. Divide the class into four groups, sitting face to
face with each other in a square. One group as each
side of the square.
2. Each group will be given a character to explore
- Bathsheba Ghost (immigrant from England)
- Eora People (Aboriginal group- and owners)
- British Soldier
- Ny Chuen (Chinese immigrant)
3. Provide each group with one of the stimulus sheets
and allow them 10 minutes to read through the text
and analyse points of view and emotions and
feelings they can identify within the text. If
necessary inform students that they can highlight
and write on their stimulus sheets.
4. Inform the students that once they have finished
analyzing the text they can start to create four
movements that they can repeat four times each that
represent their character.
5. The students will perform their whole sequence
twice then finish with a pose that reflects their
character.
6. Encourage the students to rehearse the sequence.
7. Draw students attention back to the teacher and
ask them to move back to their original positions in
the square from the start of the lesson.

Teaching Approaches &

Resources

Resource stimulus cards are

attached to this lesson plan
(located at the back of plan)

Active participation. Allowing

the students to be active in the
lesson will increase
motivation.
Collaborative Learning:
Students are required to work
as part of a group and be
respectful of each others
opinions

8. Have the students do a practice performance all at

once, standing in the square formation facing each
other.
9. Have the students perform their sequences one at a
time for the rest of the class (performance is done
facing the direction of the group as they are in the
square).
Support and/or Extension Activities
For groups that complete their time sequence before the
other groups and have rehearsed to their full capacity:
- Allow students to create word cards on paper that
could support their performance and more
effectively assist their peers in identifying the
emotions that are associated with their characters
experiences.
- Allow the students to use Ipads or other digital
devices to research their topic more if they have
accurately completed the activity ahead of their
peers.

Time

Conclusion:

15
Group Discussion:
minutes
1. Discuss what each groups character might have
been and the actions that lead peers to these
conclusions.
2. What did each movement sequence portray and
what emotions were evident throughout?
3. In what way do all of these sequences connect?
4. Use the remaining time in the lesson to discuss the
aspects of performance and being a responsible and
supportive audience.
5. Ask students:
- When you were performing what did you expect
from your peers in regards to attentiveness?
- How would you have felt if your peers were talking
and looking away while you were performing your
movement sequences that you had spent time and
energy performing?
- What were some aspects of another groups
performance that gained your attention and made
you want to keep watching?
- Make reference to the students assessment task
and discuss what constitutes as good performance
skills.

Paper, pencils and pens,

scissors.

Ipads, computers, classroom

print resources

Teaching Approaches &

Resources
In terms of reflecting on the
lesson,
Experiential Learning:
Learning through reflection on
doing. Passive role in learning
and concluding the lesson
with a reflection will aid the
students in knowledge
retention.

Assessment
(List all assessment and state if it is formative or summative)
Assessment for learning: Formative Assessment.
Educator uses students knowledge and understandings to inform future teaching practices.
- Observe students willingness to work in a group situation and how well students respond to
their peers opinions and suggestions.
- Record how extensively the students examine the stimulus they are presented with.
- Record the extent to which students identify the emotions in the text and illustrate these to the
class without verbalisation.
- Observe whether students draw on prior knowledge gained in previous lessons to add depth of
knowledge in this activity.
- Take note of the presentation skills students employ.

Evaluation
How did your lesson go?
Was your lesson plan appropriate? Consider the stages of it, the appropriateness of sequence,
resources, questions, and so on.
What changes if any did you make to the lesson plan as the lesson progressed and what were
the reasons for the changes?
How was your teaching performance? Consider quality of instructions given, management
strategies used, pacing, movement around the room, scanning of student learning, proximity to
students, teaching to only one section of the room, use of voice, use of praise and so on.
How did the students perform? Consider achievement of outcomes, on task working,
behaviour, engagement.
What improvements could you make?

Safety Considerations
-

Ensure students are acting sensibly in the space provided to them.

When sitting in a big group reiterate the importance of sitting with hands and feet to
themselves.
Ensure nothing is obstructing the exits and pathways around the classroom if that is the
preferred location of choice.
Ensure students know the importance of being respectful and appreciate of peers opinions
when working in a group context.

Stimulus Card 1
Name: Bathsheba Ghost
Born: 1809, Ashcott in Somerset, England
Departure: England, 1838
Arrival: Port Jackson, Australia, 1839
Vessel: Planter
On 19 may 1838 at the Central Criminal Court of the Old Bailey in London, Bathsheba
Ghost was found guilty of receiving stolen property and was sentenced to 14 years
transportation to the colony of New South Wales.
After four months at sea, Bathsheba Ghost arrived at Port Jackson in March 1839
aboard the Planter with 170 other female convicts. Thus began her solitary exile,
separated from both child and husband, deprived
of motherhood itself.
Six years after her arrival in the colony, while working as a domestic servant at a
property in Sydneys Castlereagh Street, Bathsheba was given her ticket of leave. This
allowed her to work as a free woman so long as she remained in the district of Sydney.
It is thought that soon afterwards she began working as a nurse at the Sydney Infirmary
and Dispensary. Two years later, in 1847, she was granted a conditional pardon and
was free so long as she did not return to Britain.
In 1852 Bathsheba became the Matron of the Sydney Infirmary and Dispensary with an
initial annual salary of 80, board and lodging provided. By 1854 this salary was
increased to 100, and finally 120, one of the highest salaries for a female
in New South Wales.
The hospitals annual reports regularly praised her exertions in maintaining order and
cleanliness, and for taking a leading role in training nurses under her care. Bathsheba
worked during a period of significant change in medical practices including the first
use of anaesthetics.
Stimulus Source: National Maritime Museum. (2015). Waves of migration: Bathsheba
Ghost. Retrieved from http://waves.anmm.gov.au/Immigration-Stories/Stories-from-ourcollection/Bathsheba-Ghost.aspx

Stimulus Card 2
Born: Ny Chuen, China, 1856
Departure: Hong Kong, 22 January 1877
Arrival: Cooktown, Australia, 10 February 1877
I was born in a poor family. As I reached the age of seven, my mother died leaving my
elder sister who is one year older than I and my younger brother just learning to walk. I
went to school at eight and had to abandon my studies at 11. It was not because I
disliked to study but we were poor

DISCOVERY OF GOLD
There was a rumor then that gold had been discovered in a place called Cooktown [in
Queensland] and the source of which was inexhaustible and free to all. Without
verifying the truth, my father planned to go with his two sons. We started from our
village on January the 18th 1877. On January 22nd we sailed from Hong Kong and
reached our destination on February 10th of the same year.
Did you know more than 40,000 Chinese arrived in Australia to try their luck
during the gold rush?
Oh, what a disappointment when we learnt that the rumour was unfounded and we
were misled! Not only was gold difficult to find the climate was not suitable and was the
cause of frequent attacks of illness. As we went about, there met our gaze the
impoverished condition and the starved looks of our fellow countrymen who were either
penniless or ill, and there reached our ears endless sighs of sorrow.
But since we had come, we might make an attempt. Therefore we bought hoes,
shovels, provisions, utensils, etc and made a living as a store keeper.

Stimulus Source: National Maritime Museum. (2015). Taam Sze Pui. Retrieved from
http://waves.anmm.gov.au/Immigration-Stories/Stories-from-our-collection/Taam-Sze-Pui.aspx

Stimulus Card 3
Name of Group: Eora People
The British had hoped to assimilate (absorb) the Aboriginal peoples into the British
culture and make them work in the new colony. At first, the Aboriginal peoples avoided
the British settlers; but as the number of settlers increased and more land was being
taken, contact became unavoidable.
Governor Phillip wanted to avoid unnecessary conflict with the Aboriginal peoples by
treating them with kindness and ordering his soldiers not to shoot at them. He captured
several Aboriginals, including Bennelong. Phillip wanted them to learn English and act
as translators between the Indigenous groups and the British.
Soon, however, there were clashes over land and culture. Phillip started ordering his
soldiers to fire at the Aboriginal people, as his efforts to 'civilise' them and assimilate
them into the British culture and society was not working as he had hoped. The
Aboriginal peoples saw that the British settlers were clearing the land, putting up
fences, restricting access and introducing different animals; so they started to retaliate
against the invasion.
As their traditional way of life was slowly eroded, many Aboriginal people started living
on the outskirts of towns or started working as servants in the British settlements. This
further consolidated the European view of the time that Indigenous peoples were
inferior, and were unable look after themselves or the land.

Stimulus Source: City of Sydney. (2013). Sydneys Aboriginal history: Aboriginal people
and place. Retrieved from http://www.sydneybarani.com.au/sites/aboriginal-people-andplace/

Stimulus Card 4
Name: Arthur Phillip (1738-1814), admiral and governor
To the British government the new settlement was primarily to be an outlet for
convicts whom it was undesirable to keep at home and impossible to transport
elsewhere, but Phillip was inspired by the vision of a new outpost of empire
growing up in the South Seas. He showed himself anxious to encourage free
settlers to migrate, drew up plans for their reception, urged the extension of
British law for their protection and resolved to insulate them from the
contamination of convicts. 'As I would not wish convicts to lay the foundation of
an Empire', he observed, 'I think they should ever remain separated from the
garrison and other settlers that may come from Europe', even after their
sentences were completed.
When these words were written Phillip was immersed in preparations for the
sailing of the expedition and the planning of the actual settlement.
He proposed to treat the Aboriginals kindly and to establish harmonious
relations with them. He resolved to try to reform as well as to discipline the
convicts.
Australian Dictionary of Biography. (2015). Arthur Phillip (1738-1814). Retrieved
from http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/phillip-arthur-2549