Kymberly Baxter

Differentiated Lesson/Learning Task

Name: Kymberly Baxter
Topic of Lesson/Task: Healthy living
Curriculum Area: Health and Physical Education (HPE)
Year Level: 8
This lesson/task is differentiated by:
Readiness, Learning Profiles and Interests.
Context:
(Explanation of how this differentiated task fits into a broader unit of work)
These differentiated tasks are not based on something that will be finished in one single
lesson. It relates to the broader statements which ACARA has provided teachers in order to
create their own unit plans based on their students. In the year 8 band students are to
investigate health issues relevant to people their age and understand choices that they make
about their health and wellbeing. Things such as personal, environmental and social factors
will be taken into consideration when thinking about the consequences and healthier/safer
alternatives to a better lifestyle (ACARA, 2012).

Learning Objectives. As a result of participating in the lesson, students will:

Understand, know and do has been adapted from ACARA (2012).
Understand that (Concepts, principles, big ideas)
Students will understand
Healthy living is important and the choices they make, positive and negative, can have an
effect on their lifestyle and wellbeing.
A broader understanding of the diseases relating to lifestyle choices.
Know (e.g. facts, vocabulary, dates, information)
The consequences which relate to an unhealthy lifestyle.
Personal, social and environmental factors can contribute to a persons health habits and
wellbeing.
An unhealthy lifestyle can relate to certain diseases.
Be able to (do) (Skills, processes)
Express their knowledge in multiple ways to show their learning, including visually,
kinesthetically and verbally i.e. posters, group discussions, mind maps etc
Select relevant articles from newspapers which relate to healthy living.
Contribute to group work and group discussions.

Essential Questions:
Why is healthy living and wellbeing relevant to the lives of young people?
How can the consequences which arise from unhealthy eating affect quality of life?

Preassessment of Students
Before this learning menu was created (see Appendix 1) students were asked to write 3-

Kymberly Baxter
4 paragraphs discussing their opinions on the following: What is healthy living? What
are some of the health issues that you know about which are related to eating habits?
Do you know anyone who suffers from these health issues? Are there any further
comments about this topic that relate to you or that you are interested in? The students
had already familiarized themselves with the essential vocabulary and information
relevant to this topic in previous lessons which is extremely important when learning a
new unit of study (Tomlinson, 2004).
The pre assessment confirmed that all students had sound knowledge of what good and
bad foods were, they knew someone close to them who had health issues related to
their lifestyles choices and most students knew 1-2 diseases related to unhealthy
eating. Based on the results from this pre-assessment, newspapers and magazines
containing articles based on their readiness and interests will be carefully and
specifically chosen and placed on various group tables around the room.

Lesson Plan
Explanatory notes

Lesson Sequence
9:55am
5 minutes before the lesson, the
teacher will walk around to each of the
tables and put the class menus,
newspapers and magazines which
have been specifically chosen for this
class on them. They will also be
provided with glue and scissors.

10:00am
Students sit down at their seats and
after settling in, the menu (see
appendix 1) is explained to the
students i.e. What is a menu? How will
this help their learning? How does
relate to not only the topic content, but
outside of school lives? How long do
they have to complete these tasks?
After this is all explained, the students
will have an opportunity to ask
questions.
10:20am
Students start doing their menus. Once
they find their articles, they have the
opportunity to go on with other
activities from the menu.
From now on the teacher walks around
and if the same questions are being
asked by the students, the teacher will
address the class as a whole and
discuss as a group.

These magazines and newspapers have been purposely

chosen and placed on certain tables to benefit the students
on that table.

The teacher explains that the menu is a sheet which they

will be working off of for the next few weeks and at the end
their work will be presented in a folder. They will also
explain that this will contribute to their overall understanding
and work towards the big idea of healthy living and
wellbeing. It is shown how the content will impact their lives
outside of school, i.e. if you dont exercise and eat
unhealthy, this is what could happen to your body. It was
made apparent in the pre-assessment that they knew
someone in their family/friends which had made negative
lifestyle choices. This is an essential connection to the
literature, especially now that they can transfer this
information into their personal lives and see exactly how it
relates to their lives where this information can not only
impact their family, but impact themselves as growing young
adults.

The menu has been designed so that it encourages

students to not rely so heavily on the teacher for information
and be able to discover information for themselves. This
promotes independent learning where the learning is more
valuable to them as they are finding the information on their
own. This helps develop independent, innovative learners
(The Northern Star, 2010).
This is beneficial as it frees the teacher up to walk around
the classroom and help the students who need it, and those
who are able to go on to their activities are able to do so at
their own pace.

Kymberly Baxter
11:10am
Students are asked to start packing up.
11:15
Students in their groups will start
discussing the health issues directly
related to their age group if they were
not to follow a healthy lifestyle.
Students will pick a few of their
favourite points of discussion from their
group and report back to the class.

Students will have an open discussion in their groups and at

the end, one student from each group will read out the
points which they found the most interesting to the rest of
the class. This gives the students time to reflect upon the
information theyve learnt from the lesson and learn new
things from their peers.

11:25
Class ends.
The menu was created to cater for the needs of all of the different learning profiles in the classroom,
the student readiness and their interests. It was designed so that it matched the pre-assessment
result and catered for all of the students. Differentiation instructions primary focus is the diversity
amongst the classroom, and this menu gives many options so that the different learning profiles are
catered for, and at the same time, getting them to try something new.
This lesson and the many to follow will allow students to be able to present the information theyve
learnt in many different, creative ways and express their opinions and concerns they may have in
essay form or as a written letter (see appendix 1). Theyll have the ability to be able to apply this
information to their own lives and make positive changes where necessary.
The menu is also catering for interests. Students are able to pick diseases/health issues/healthy
lifestyles that are resinate to them or can choose to draw/write a song/ create lunchtime menus.

References:
ACARA. (2012). The Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education.
ACARA Copyright Administration, Sydney. Retrieved on 8th April from
www.acara.edu.au
American Printing House for the Blind. (2010). Using differentiated instruction in physical
education. Retrieved April 7th from http://www.aph.org/pe/art_ellis.html
The Northern Star. (2010). Independent learning gets an e-boost at Emmanuel. Retrieved
from <http://search.proquest.com/docview/356635420?accountid=10910>
Tomlinson, Carol Ann 2004, 'The how to's of planning lessons differentiated by readiness', in
Tomlinson, Carol A, How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability classrooms, 2nd
edn, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, Va, pp.
45-51.

Kymberly Baxter
Appendix One:

MENU: HEALTHY LIVING

Appetizers:
Must be completed
1. Find TWO articles from the local newspapers and magazines provided on your
tables which discuss healthy and/or unhealthy eating habits. Once you have
chosen your articles, choose ONE of the following:
a. Draw a picture for each article which relates to the points the article is
trying to get across. Each drawing must be on A4 paper.
Some examples include:
i. Drawing an unhealthy person, and again drawing the same
person but healthier to represent healthy lifestyle changes.
ii. Drawing fruit and vegetables or unhealthy foods.
b. Write a descriptive letter a page or more long to the author of ONE of the
articles youve chosen explaining why you agree or disagree with what
they are trying to say and your thoughts on the piece.

Main Course:
Select ONE of the following.

1. Write a short, personal essay which describes an experience you may have
had with healthy or unhealthy eating. The experience can be positive or
negative and can either be about yourself or a family member/close friend.
2. Write your own article on the benefits of healthy eating OR the
consequences of unhealthy eating to be put in the morning newsletter
announcements that get delivered to your home group every morning.
3. Create a poster which discusses the side effects and consequences of an
unhealthy diet. Alternatively you can create an information brochure or
something similar, see Miss. Baxter to negotiate.
4. Write a song (roughly 2minutes long) on the topic of healthy eating. You can
record it if you like.

Kymberly Baxter

Side Dishes:
Activities to go on with.

1. Create a list (with 5-10 points each) on ONE of the following:

i. Ways to influence your peers to lead healthy lifestyles.
ii. Ways to influence your family to lead a healthy lifestyle
iii. How to stop the spread of flus and colds at school.
2. Create 2 mind maps based on healthy living. Here are some ideas;
alternatively you can come up with your own as long as it is related to the
topic. You can draw pictures if you wish.
i. a disease of your choice directly related to unhealthy living.
ii. healthy lifestyles
iii. healthy foods
iv. unhealthy foods.
3. Work in groups of 2 or 3 and choose ONE of the following:
i. Create a new canteen menu with healthier options
ii. Design a plan which the school can approach to enforce
healthier living