The unit of work planned is for year 3. It targets writing a scientific report.

The unit plan consists of six lessons over four weeks. The first lesson
consists of an introduction to scientific report writing and the explanation
of the structure of the report. After looking at and deconstructing
examples of scientific reports as a class, the students and teacher write
the necessary elements of a report. In the subsequent two lessons, the
students and the teacher construct a scientific report about a living thing.
Students then are asked to work in pairs to construct their own scientific
report. During the fourth lesson, the teacher reads over the students
report and gives them individualised feedback. After taking feedback into
consideration, students start editing their writing and choosing a form of
presentation. Students have the choice to pick a creative tool to present
their report to their peers in class. They are aware of the marking criteria
and they are encouraged to check their report against it. This unit of work
is planned using the backward design which is an instructional design that
start from the final assessment and works towards learning experiences.
According to Culatta (2013), there are three stages required to adapt this
plan: identifying desired results, determining acceptable evidence of
learning and designing learning experiences and instruction. The lesson
plan attached under task three on Weebly is based on the intention to get
the students in year 3 to write a scientific report. The students reports will
be evaluated and marked according to marking criteria which serve as an
evidence of learning. The learning experiences were planned to match the
evidence of learning and the assessment task.
The summative task planned tackles two learning areas: English and
Digital Technologies.

Many learning experiences will contribute to the

formation of the final assessment product. As students progress in their

learning from one week to another, they tend to develop the required
strategies and structure of the summative assessment. Through the
learning experiences, students will develop the ability to understand how
the

different

text

structures

align

with

their

purpose

(Australian

Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] (2016). Within

the unit of works lessons and the summative assessment task, students
experience

class

and

group

discussions

which

enhance

their

understanding of the content and the task. Discussions give students the
opportunity to ask questions, receive and give feedback. Providing and
receiving feedback build on their motivation and enable them to learn
through discovery (Kluger & DeNisi (1996). Additionally, the many steps
that lead to the final assessment product enable students to edit their
writing and to check their work for appropriate vocabulary, structure and
meaning

(ACARA,

2016).

As

result

of

the

previously

learning

experiences, students are more likely to reach the learning achievement

standards allocated to the unit of work. The opportunity given to the
students to choose the subject of their report enriches their learning
journey and connects to their real world as they can choose to research a
living thing that relates to their homes, their beliefs and their culture.
Miller (2013) highlights the benefits of real world learning experiences and
states that students tend to be more engaged in their learning as they
find it relevant to their real world.

The assessment types used within the unit of work are formative as they
assess students as they are learning before completing the summative
assessment. Observations, questioning, discussions, peer/self-assessment
and practice writing reports are all strategies used within the unit of work.
When the teacher observes the students as they discuss and question
each other, they record their notes and comments about students
learning and performance on a chart that they keep as learning evidence.
The result of the observation will determine if there is a need for further
expansion

on

learning

experiences

and

modification

of

teaching

techniques. Additionally, peer / self-assessment and practice writing

reports involve constructive feedback. Constructive feedback aims to
enhance students performance, highlight their strengths and identify the
areas that need further development. Feedback that is specific, respectful,
timely and constructive is likely to enhance learning and performance (ACT

Government Education and Training, 2011). Feedback is given continuously to the

class for general matters and on one to one basis while students are writing their
draft report. Comments such as: Great point here, what about including more
information in this section, maybe you need to reconsider this sentences
structure, direct the students towards achieving the outcomes at a higher
level.
High achievement requires deep learning and understanding of the
content taught. Many factors considered within the planning of the unit of
work contribute to students deep learning. The use of technology as a
tool to gather information for their report, enable students to access a
range of information that will enrich his writing. The deconstruction and
construction of a scientific report is done through a powerpoint
presentation prepared by the teacher and played on the smartboard
during explicit teaching. To cater for diversity, the teacher will give
instructions in easy and clear steps; they will write the instructions and
repeat the instructions by asking the students to repeat the steps required
to complete the assessment task. By doing this, students individual
learning needs are taken aboard to modify and adapt learning strategies
and experiences accordingly.
Students are clearly informed of the summative assessment requirements
and expectations. They are given assessing criteria that they may use for
self-assessment prior to the teachers marking and evaluating. The
developed criteria consider many aspects of the assessment task and it
also caters for diverse abilities. It assesses the report structure, the
research conducted, the presentation, the creativity and the grammar and
spelling. For the report structure, the rubric acknowledges the students
who understood and applied the correct structure of the report. It also
acknowledges the effort of those students who are still at the beginning
and those developing the skills that lead them to outcomes achievement.
The creativity element gives wider choices of the presentation formats
that students might choose. The presentation section in the rubric

differentiates the outcome ACELY1677 (ACARA, 2016) to assess students

who have different abilities when speaking in public. The rubric assesses
creativity and spelling and grammar under three levels to give students
with diverse learning abilities to be assessed accordingly. Furthermore, the
rubric includes three levels of achievement: Beginning, developing and
achieved. The levels of achievement are flexible and cater for all
achieving levels. It is also developed in a constructive manner in
consideration of the wording of each and every criteria and level.

Recording assessment sheets completed as a result of observations,

discussions and questioning are used along with the formative and
summative assessments to draw an outline of the students performance
and achievement from the first to the last lesson within the unit. These
evidences of achievement are used to complete lessons evaluation and to
report to colleagues, parents and students. The lessons evaluation serve
as a tool to improve and enhance learning and teaching according to the
students specific learning needs and abilities. Furthermore, reporting to
colleagues and seeking their advice will enable the teacher to consider
things from various perspectives and implement different strategies
suggested and researched by colleagues. Reporting affects students selfesteem and their general well-being (Education Public Schools, 2012).
Therefore, positive, comprehensive and balanced reporting style needs to
be adopted. The teacher will use the following tools to report on students
achievement and performance: Awards that acknowledge improvement
and application, notes to parents in communication books to communicate
satisfaction or concerns, a short chat with parents on the phone or at
home time to keep them updated and informed about their childs
learning and end of semester/year formal written report. These tools will
enable the teacher to get the parents involved and seek their help in
development of individual learning plans if applicable.

Assessing, evaluating and reporting require the teacher to continuously be

involved in workshops and professional development opportunities to seek
new strategies and techniques. Students and parents should be informed
in a constructive and fair manner of the learning progress and they should
work together to enrich and enhance the teaching and learning
experiences.