Creating a eulogy

The activity selected by the teacher in her year 9 English class introduces her students to a new literary device, the eulogy, and draws upon their prior understanding and knowledge of the plot and characters of a novel they have been studying.  In selecting a eulogy for study, the teacher broadens her students' understanding of literary genres as well as drawing upon her own and their lives to personalise and heighten the learning experience. She also incorporates pedagogically sound elements such as a PMI chart into the learning design to encourage deeper thinking in her students.

Gordonvale State High School is a rural secondary school located in the southern part of the Cairns district in Queensland. The school has approximately 700 students in years 8 to 12. At year 9, the teacher and her class have been studying a literary text in English and have been approaching it thematically. In selecting an activity that requires her students to construct a new literary text based upon a prior text, she is able to evaluate their understanding of theme, plot and character within the class novel.