Pre-visit learning: student activities, project ideas and questions

The unit could begin by establishing a context for subsequent activities. Students could create a board game using information from the map and timeline of Mount Morgan to be found on this website (Worksheet 1). This activity would help them orientate themselves to the town and its history before they begin a more in-depth analysis of Mount Morgan. The game board would, ideally, feature a map of Mount Morgan that locates and highlights significant historical sites. The pathway between those sights could be littered with information from the timeline concerning the trials and tribulations experienced by the people of Mount Morgan, (e.g. disease, mine accidents, fires, claim jumping, getting lost in the bush, time in gaol for disorderly conduct, stopping for the running of the cutter or the sounding of the hooter, etc).

Students could then access the photo gallery attached to this website and use it to develop their skills as meaning makers by building and constructing cultural meaning from the text. A concept map could be developed to explore the pictures, for example:

Concept Map:

Students could work independently or in small groups to access and read the stories of Mount Morgan or the description of historical events listed on this website. These stories could be represented as cartoon strips or pictures by the students to demonstrate their understanding of what they have read.

Questions - could reflect could provide students to develop their critical literacy skills, and could include:

• Who is the source of this story?
• Did they experience these events themselves, or are they describing someone else' s adventures? What could this mean about the accuracy of the story?
• What are the elements of their story, (i.e. the orientation, the complication and the resolution)?
• Is the story a tragedy or a comedy? How did it make you feel? Why?
• Is there another medium by which this story could be told? How?

Students could access the slide show to review pictures of the people and places of Mount Morgan, past and present, to assist them to develop their understanding of the changes the town has undergone over the last one and a half centuries. Hopefully, this will also give them some idea of the variety of subjects upon which their own poetry might be based, as well as an insight into which subjects best express their own Mount Morgan Experience.

While Mount Morgan is a town of historical significance, students should not be limited to the events or personalities of the past in expressing their thoughts and/or the stories of Mount Morgan in poetic form. There are characters and shenanigans aplenty in Mount Morgan today and these should form part of each student' s anthology. Bush poetry often reflects the immediate and contemporary lives and experiences of the poets themselves and therefore students should be encouraged to explore contemporary images of life in Mount Morgan to balance the obvious historical context.

After choosing their pictures, students could refer to the corresponding activity on Worksheet 2 that will feature written tasks designed to develop their understanding of a variety of poetic forms and techniques. It is hoped that these activities will help students develop a framework for their own poetry anthology (Worksheet 3) while providing an opportunity to develop their knowledge base regarding Mount Morgan (see the Think Quest web site for guidance).

Students could then deconstruct appropriate pieces of bush poetry to develop an understanding of how stories of the past and the present have been adapted by traditional and modern bush poets. Analyse the rhyme and metre of these poems and discuss the subjects and treatment the poets have employed.

A good web site for information on bush poets and their poetry is Bush Poetry (this site offers tips on how to write Bush Poetry). Students could then frame a ballad or bush poem from one of the stories they have read or heard . It would be wise to leave the actual writing until after their Mount Morgan Experience as the opportunities for affective learning there would lend themselves to the development of realism in their work.

Time should be spent developing the students' ability to write a vivid description. This could involve discussing the difference between 'telling' (making statements about the facts) and 'showing' (giving clues from which the reader can work out the facts). Both 'telling' and 'showing' have a place in writing. 'Telling' is sometimes needed to carry the plot forward quickly, while 'showing' seeks to involve the reader in the story and is, therefore, more appropriate for the genre of poetry. (E.g. telling – 'the day was cold' : showing – 'we shivered in the screaming wind' ). Activities designed to weed out the use of over-used adjectives (e.g. good, bad, sad, nice, etc), would also be useful (Worksheet 4).