These holidays I have had the time to sit down and write out the VELS (Victorian Essential Learning Standards) Level 4 (grades 5 and 6) Writing unit based around Nintendo Wii Mario Kart, which has been in my head for over a year now.
The unit covers a variety of text types to be created before, during and after playing a 4-player tournament (The Mushroom Cup) as a whole grade. It can be adapted to suit the teaching styles and learning styles within any given classroom setting.
The unit is designed so that the game is not the focus of the learning but is a vehicle for learning specific content in new, exciting and engaging ways. Students get so excited in the lead-up to a tournament, and attendance on tournament day is, more often than not, 100%.
I have included some of the progress indicators from 3.5, 3.75 and 4.0 of the English P-10 Continuum that I think apply best to each task. I think that this unit of work could easily be used for the teaching of writing in other VELS levels.
I have provided the names of any relevant computer software and iP*d applications that I think may assist students in creating their texts in multimodal formats. I am sure there are many more, but I have listed only the ones I have tried with my students at this time.
Well done Lynette, I have forwarded this to our staff and retweeted it to our network #yvned.
It is a great resource for our kids!
This looks like a great unit. Love the use of Mario cart too. Thanks for sharing 😀
This is awesome! I like that so many different forms are covered. Kids could start their own tournaments & write similar texts on their favorite apps/games. I have a few reluctant writers who would love this! Thanks for sharing your idea- fabulous!
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Hi Lynette,
We’re just about to launch into a unit of Mario Kart Writing with some of our most reluctant writers. Wish us luck.
Good luck! I’d be really interested to know how you go with it, will you keep me posted?