Lesson 1: Historical Recounts – Literary vs Factual

 Lesson Plan

Tuning In

• Display and discuss slide 5 of the Introduction to Historical Recounts PowerPoint. Ask the students if they have ever written a recount about one of the topics at the bottom of the slide (a historical event, a famous person, a special celebration, a recipe or experiment). Encourage the students to share their previous experiences of writing recounts with the class.
• Explain to the students that, in this unit, they will be learning how to write historical recounts. Introduce the students to the purpose of historical recounts, as outlined on slide 6.

Teacher Instruction

• Project the Literary Historical Recount – The Sinking of the RMS Titanic from the Historical Recounts Comparison Task on the board. Read through the text as a class. After reading, ask the students:
  • What type of text is this?
  • What is the text about?
  • What is the author’s purpose in writing this text?
• Explain to the students that this text is a literary historical recount about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It is classified as a literary text because the author uses language and personal comments to provoke an emotional response within the reader.
• Project the Factual Historical Recount – The Sinking of the RMS Titanic from the Historical Recounts Comparison Task on the board. Read through the text with the class. After reading, ask the students:
  • What type of text is this?
  • What is the text about?
  • What is the author’s purpose in writing this text?
• Explain to the students that this text is a factual historical recount about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It is classified as a factual text because the author uses facts and evaluative comments to inform the reader about a significant historical event.

Guided/Independent Learning

• Provide the students with a copy of The Sinking of the RMS Titanic – Historical Recounts Comparison Task. Read through the worksheets as a class and answer any questions the students may have.
• Monitor and support the students as they independently complete the comparison worksheets. Once the students have finished, discuss the answers to the questions as a class.

Wrapping Up

• To revise the content of the lesson, ask the students:
  • What is the purpose of a historical recount?
  • What are the similarities between literary historical recounts and factual historical recounts?
  • What are the differences between literary historical recounts and factual historical recounts?

 Differentiation

Extending Students

• Encourage fast finishers to conduct some independent research into the sinking of the RMS Titanic, creating a fact file to share with the rest of the class.

Supporting Students

• Allow students with lower literacy levels to work on the comparison task in a small group with the support of a teacher or teacher aide.

 Assessment Strategies

Suggested Assessment Strategies

• used strategic whole class or individual questioning
• observed student participation during learning activities
• recorded student progress on a checklist
• annotated student work samples
• collected and reviewed student work samples
• facilitated whole class or peer feedback sessions
• encouraged student self-reflection
• administered formal assessment tasks.

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