Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Part A: Nonverbal Communication

25 minutes

Part B: Criticism In The Final Quarter

20 minutes

Part C: Creative Criticism

5 minutes

Reflection

Learning intentions and success criteria

Students understand...

how tone impacts an audience
how nonverbal and verbal communication can be used to criticise
how language choices can reflect a communicative focus.

Students can...

identify different tones and their differing impacts
identify different communicative purposes of criticism
identify the implied meaning in a text
be able to make edits to a text to change its tone and impact.

Part A: Nonverbal communication

Step 1

Distribute the Student Worksheet to each student and invite them to read the statements below:

“This story needed more detail. I don’t think you spent very long on it.”
“You never help out around the house.”
“You were mean to your brother today.”

Ask them, what words would they use to describe these statements?

Define the word ‘criticism’ as: "The expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of perceived faults or mistakes." (Source)

Step 2

Ask for student volunteers. Pass student volunteers a word (or whisper it to them) that describes an emotion (angry, sad, proud, guilty, ashamed).

Step 3

Explain to the audience that these volunteers will be reading the statements out loud using a particular emotion. They should look and listen for how the speakers use:

sound
gesture
their face.

Step 4

Tell students to read their statement to the class, conveying the emotion given.

Step 5

Have the audience guess what emotion the person is using and provide evidence. For example, an audience member needs to say:

I think they are…. because their voice sounded…
I think they are….. because they emphasised the word…
I think they are…. because their face was….
I think they are... because their hands (or body)...

Note: The students’ ‘because’ statements need to refer to audio or visual evidence - e.g. ‘face was scrunched up,’ or ‘voice was quiet’ - they cannot use an emotion word.

Discuss the way tone can affect the meaning or impact of the sentences.

Step 6

Revise, or introduce, the definitions of the words below:

Facial expressions - the way someone moves their face, including eyes, mouth, nose and forehead, to show how they feel
Tone - the way someone speaks (can include sound, pitch and volume)
Emphasis - stressing a word through volume, clarity of saying the word or pace (how fast or slow)
Volume - how loud or soft something is

Step 7

Ask students - when do we hear or read criticisms? What is the intention of different instances of criticism? Possible answers included in italics.

Type of criticism we see	Purpose/reason for criticism
Criticism of our writing by a teacher	To help us improve our work
Criticism of a politician by another politician	To discredit them or to get them to change

Part B: Criticisms In The Final Quarter

Step 1

Tell students that there were many examples of criticism in the documentary The Final Quarter, about AFL star Adam Goodes.

Note: It is strongly recommended that students have participated in The Final Quarter - Responding to the Film - Years 7 & 8 lesson beforehand, in which case, they will already be familiar with Adam Goodes and the film.

If students don’t know anything about Adam Goodes, you could share the following:

Currently, the founder of the GO Foundation with fellow Swans player Michael O’Loughlin, Adam Goodes retired from AFL in 2015 after a stellar career as number 37 for the Sydney Swans. A proud Aboriginal player, Goodes’ final three years as a footballer were hampered by racially based treatment from spectators and the media.

Invite students to arrange themselves so that they are seated where they can see the screen and remind students that this clip is only a small piece of the Adam Goodes story.

Step 2

Play students this clip from the The Final Quarter on mute:

Sam Newman Nonverbal Language (https://vimeo.com/378672634/130a0e8718)

Have students take note of Sam Newman’s gestures and facial expressions and note how they impact on the audience. Possible answers included in italics.

SAM NEWMAN	We see/hear	Makes the speaker seem...	Intended impact on audience...
Gestures	Pointing at audience	Angry, confident, direct	Confronted
Facial expression
Tone
Language choices

Step 3

Play students the clip again with sound and ask them to consider tone and language choices.

Step 4

Play students the following clip from The Final Quarter on mute:

Post ‘ape’ comment (https://vimeo.com/389150250/140ec7bd79)

ADAM GOODES	We see/hear	Makes the speaker seem...	Intended impact on audience...
Gestures
Facial expression
Tone
Language choices

Step 5

Play the clip again with sound and ask students to consider tone and language choices.

Step 6

Explain that criticism sometimes focuses on different aspects of a person’s behaviour - their intentions, or their consequences. Ask students for definitions of these words, or provide them:

Intentions: what someone is aiming to do, or wants to do.
Consequences: what happens as a result of something else.

Step 7

Divide students into groups and allocate them transcripts of the different criticisms from the clips. They should then analyse the criticism and its focus.

Sam Newman: “Could I... just speak to the tormented Adam Goodes? Could I just give him some advice? I know he’d love to take some advice from me. Contrary to opinion, people are not booing you, Adam, because you’re an Aboriginal, they’re booing you because you’re acting like a jerk… It is on you as an Australian of the Year to unite and placate people, not to divide and be a provocateur!”

Adam Goodes: “I’m pretty gutted to be honest. The win, the first of its kind in 37 years… it just sort of means nothing. Y’know, to come to the boundary line and to hear a thirteen-year-old girl call me an ape. It’s not the first time on the footy field I’ve been referred to as a monkey or an ape. It was shattering... Y’know, racism has a face and last night it was a thirteen-year-old girl. But, it’s not her fault, she’s thirteen, she’s still so innocent, I don’t put any blame on her. Unfortunately, it’s what she hears, the environment she’s grown up in.”

Aspect of criticism	Focus - intentions or consequence?	Strengths of the criticism	Weaknesses of the criticism
E.g. “It is on you as an Australian of the Year to unite and placate people, not to divide and be a provocateur!”	Intentions (he is asserting that Adam Goodes is aiming to provoke people).	Audience will agree that an Australian of the Year should promote unity and peace.	Very subjective - the assumption is that Adam Goodes’ actions are inherently provocative.

Part C: Creative Criticism

Step 1

Tell students that changes in tone, facial expressions, language choices and gestures can all change the impact of a speech. Show students the edited version of Sam Newman’s speech to demonstrate how these changes could be made.

EDITED VERSION:
Sam Newman: “I’d like to speak to Adam Goodes and offer him my opinion (facial expression: neutral), although he might not want to take it (tone: humorous, gesture: shrug). I know some people think that Adam is being booed because of his race, but I disagree (pause). I think people are booing Adam Goodes because he hasn’t always been a positive voice and maybe he has offended them (tone: open, reasoned). I think the role of the Australian of the Year is to make people come together and feel good about our country (tone: positive, gesture of hands coming together). However, I feel he has divided people through his words and actions and this has caused some people to feel upset.”

Step 2

Invite a student to read the edited speech with adjusted tone, gestures and language. Ask other students: What changes in impact have been made? How might listeners now feel? (Refer to the Emotions Table at Step 5.)

Step 3

Direct students to the transcript of Adam Goodes’ criticism on the Student Worksheet.

Step 4

Explain to students that they will be editing the script to create two different versions with two different approaches. Students may choose to take a very angry approach, a gentler approach, a more widely critical or more specifically critical approach. Students should annotate their new scripts with gestures, tone changes and emphasis.

Step 5

Students should take turns to film a partner delivering their criticism. The partner filming, and the student writer, should then circle the emotions (in the table below) that they think different audiences might feel when hearing this criticism (bystanders, object of criticism, those who might defend the person being criticised).

Hurt	Disappointed	Amazed	Bored	Determined	Anxious
Loved	Surprised	Hopeful	Thankful	Lonely	Calm
Furious	Jealous	Miserable	Uncomfortable	Afraid	Frustrated
Rejected	Joyful	Embarrassed	Thrilled	Confused	Relieved
Scared	Ashamed	Proud	Worried	Shy	Betrayed
Excited	Unloved	Tense	Powerless	Ignored	Guilty

Note: For student safety, consider temperament when grouping. Also remind students that they should not direct the criticism at the person filming - the audience is the camera. If you are concerned about some students, consider having them film themselves.

Reflection

Ask students to free-write in response to the following:

When considering someone’s actions, what is most important to weigh up - their intentions and motivations, the consequences, or the action itself? (E.g. If someone hits someone else - is hitting always wrong? Is intention important? Does is matter what the other person did to them before they hit? Is a hit worse if it causes real physical damage?)

Differentiated Learning

Extension - Ask students to analyse the language choices in this Paul Daley Article, where he is criticising Eddie McGuire.

What are they criticising about Eddie - is their focus on intentions or consequences? What are the strengths and weaknesses of this critique?

Provisions for Learning Support -

In Part B, students could work in pairs to analyse a transcript. They could also simply annotate a transcript with weaknesses or strengths.
In Part C, students could simply focus on making one adjustment - tone or language - depending on their preference or needs.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

The Final Quarter - Language of Criticism

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