English Curriculum & Pedagogy Assessment

1. Creating a Character!
Using Descriptive Writing...

2. Year 3 students - ACARA
‚Students create a range of imaginative,
informative and persuasive types of texts
including narratives, procedures,
performances, reports, reviews, poetry
and expositions.‛
Students will: (from ACARA, year 3 content
descriptors or elaborations)
 Drawing on literary texts read, viewed and
listened to for inspiration and ideas, approaching
language to create mood and characterisation
(ACLET1601)
 Participating in pair, group and class speaking and
listening situations, including informal
conversations, class discussions and presentations

3. The final products of these lessons will
result in two pieces of assessment. The
student’s will create their own monster
(choosing their own process, pencils, paint,
craft, digital) along with a detailed
description of what it looks like. They will
also create a descriptive writing piece
about a destination of their choice.
As there are numerous resources to
help teach descriptive writing in the
classroom and the options are
endless, the process of finding the
right resources can be very time
consuming! Luckily we have sourced

4. Resources
Cackle Cook’s Monster Stew (Wolff, P.
2001)
Song: One eyed one horned flying purple
people eater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwR0n8
7v2BQ&feature=fvsr
Movie: Monsters Inc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sED6FRX

5. HOW TO USE THESE RESOURCES TO TEACH
THE CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
EFFECTIVELY...
Teaching Strategies:
Cackle Cook’s Monster Stew:
Shared & modelled reading sessions
- Use modelled reading initially and
then shared reading thereafter to
continue encouraging the student’s to
read or perform in front of an
audience in preparation for their
assessment and fulfilling the content
descriptor
Cloze procedure activities – adding
the new words to the word wall

6. Recipe
• An ancient ape’s short armpit hair
• A half-inch square of big brown
bear
• Six heaping cups of black-cat paws
• Two dozen dirty dragon claws
• Eleven large eel eggs
• Fourteen fresh frog legs
• A gargoyle tongue with a bump or
two

7. Recipe
• One hobgoblin’s knobby nose
• Nine or ten iguana toes
• Three large jars of jellyfish
jelly
• A piece of pocket from a
kangaroo belly
• Twelve leaping-lizard scales
• Two mangy monkey tails
• The brightest feather from a
nightingale
• A giant ogre’s leather shoe
• Porcupine quills, quite a few

8. Recipe
• Two large wings from a
spotted quail
• Four round rings of raccoon
tail
• Sixteen shimmering spider
webs
• Twenty-two slimy brown
toad heads
• A pair of ghoul’s long
underwear
• Five stringy strands of
vampire hair
• One wide strip of werewolf
skin
• Three sharp tips of Xiphias
fin
• The hairy hump from the
neck of a yak
• A dusty clump from a

9. Song: One eyed one horned flying
purple people eater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r
wR0n87v2BQ&feature=fvsr
This song would not be used as a
teaching strategy rather a way to get
the student’s thought processes going
on describing their creations.
Brainstorming activities on other
words that could be used
Use this song to help student’s to
write their descriptions after they
have created their monsters.

10. Monsters Inc. – Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=sED6FRXIHJc
Brainstorming activities on
describing the characters
Strategy of I do, we do & you do –
John Fleming’s Instruction model
(http://www.hbe.com.au/john-
fleming.html) – to create their own
monsters.

11. Create sharing time where the
student’s can show their pictures of
their characters and read out their
descriptions
Giving student’s sharing time helps
them to gain confidence when
speaking in front of an audience.
This will help the student’s to
understand that even though they
see something one way, everyone
else may see it differently. It will
help them understand that their
imaginations are what helps us to
draw pictures.

12. QUICK DEMONSTRATION
Please draw!
MY MONSTER
He has...
1. A really big head
2. A little body
3. 2 little arms
4. 2 little legs
5. A squiggly line for a mouth
6. 2 little dots for his nose
7. 1 little dot for his belly button

13. DID YOUR MONSTER LOOK LIKE THIS?
Hold up monsters for all to see. ‘See
how our imaginations may make

14. The resources that have been used
focus on the previously discussed
content descriptors and
elaborations.
I hope this has given some incite as to
how you could use these particular
resources to help enhance your
teaching and lessons.