Education News

Our latest numbers are in, showing the five most viewed ACTF support materials during Term Four. Could these popular teaching resources be used in your classroom in 2021?

1. Rocky & Me Teaching Toolkit

Rocky & Me follows the story of Stella, an 11-year old girl living with cerebral palsy. When Stella gets her first wheelchair, she also gains independence and confidence.

The Rocky & Me Teaching Toolkit supports Year 5 and 6 teachers and students in exploring themes from the short film, with learning tasks related to disability, inclusivity, friendships, puberty, wellbeing and media representation. Tasks are mapped to the Australian Curriculum, linking to English, Health and Physical Education, Critical and Creative Thinking, and Personal and Social Capability. The resource and film could also be incorporated into Respectful Relationships education for upper primary students. 

2. My Place for Teachers

The comprehensive My Place for Teachers website provides rich educational material to support primary and lower-secondary teachers using the My Place TV series in the classroom. The website features cross-curricular teaching materials and high-resolution clips for all 26 episodes.

3. The Inbestigators Teaching Toolkit

Mystery series like The Inbestigators are so engaging partly because they position readers as active participants in solving a crime. They put themselves in the detectives' shoes and collect clues alongside them, paying close attention to what the detective thinks, sees, does, and says. 

With our Teaching Toolkit for this series, Year 3-6 students will practise making inferences, examine plot, and more. Tasks will help students to understand the mystery genre, and build the knowledge and skills necessary for them to craft their own engaging mystery stories.

Lessons can be approached individually or incorporated into a longer unit on the mystery genre. Learning tasks in The Inbestigators Teaching Toolkit are aligned to the Australian Curriculum, with links made to English, Critical and Creative Thinking, and Personal and Social Capability.

4. Language of Belonging: Wadu Matyidi

The recently updated Language of Belonging website centres on the ground-breaking Indigenous animation Wadu Matyidi. This animated short film tells, in Adnyamathanha language, the story of three adventurous kids who set out for a day of exploration, then unexpectedly make a discovery that changes their lives forever.

Designed for primary students, the site contains the original Wadu Matyidi animation and five behind-the-scenes mini documentaries. Five comprehensive units of work (My Mob, My Country, My Story, My Heritage and My Project) are aligned to the Australian Curriculum areas of English, The Arts, Languages, with the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures. The website also includes an interactive language game, Speaking Deadly, in which students can explore and learn Adnyamathanha language and culture. Tasks relate to Adnyamathanha language, culture, stories and traditions, and encourage students to develop their cultural understanding.

Website access for Language of Belonging is now available through the ACTF Shop for $5.

5. Paper Planes Novel and Film Comparison

Through this unit of work, students examine the visual and printed texts of the Paper Planes feature film and novel. The novel is based on the motion picture screenplay Paper Planes, and is written by Steve Worland.

This unit of work explores a range of themes touched on in the novel and film including loss, relationships, connectedness, friendship, independence and competition. Students are encouraged to generate questions and write about how the themes relate back to them and their own life experiences. Together with this, the unit encourages students to further develop their skills of writing persuasive and procedural texts related to the Paper Planes novel and film.