The classroom teachers had read the narrative to their students prior to my lesson. Then I came in and we watched two Youtube clips. One is a clip we found on Youtube which talks about why the country is better than the city and the other I made as we couldn't find an appropriate clip that showed why the city is better than the country.
The students watched both clips and discussed the clips 'knee to knee' with a partner. Then they were handed a recording sheet (provided on the Padlet link with the clips - so feel free to use it). We discussed the terms 'nouns' and 'adjectives' and made a few predictions on ones we might find in the clips. Then we watched the clips again and the students did an active listening activity where they worked in pairs to listen for nouns and adjectives in each clip. I stopped the clip at various points and allowed discussions between the pairs and time to record words.
Once this process had been completed for both clips the students then joined with another pair to 'snowball' their words (add any words they might not have from the other pair's words). I later collected all of the sheets and corrected the spelling and typed up one more sheet with all of the words they had found.
The following week the students took their word list and sat in pairs with a small whiteboard for each pair. I then discussed 'modality' words and phrases. I had a variety of modal words and phrases on separate bits of cardboard. I handed one word to each pair. The pair had time to discuss the word and think about what it meant and how they had heard it used in a sentence before. After that each pair took turns coming into the circle and putting their word on the modality ladder - with the higher modality words at the top and the lower modality words at the bottom. They had to discuss with their partner where they thought their word fitted and place the word on the ladder.
Then I modelled how to use one modality word (or phrase) and one noun and one adjective to create a sentence. The pairs then had to work together to create their own sentence about either the city or the country using at least one modality word and one noun and one adjective. They wrote them on their whiteboards while the classroom teacher and I went and assisted and conferenced with the students.
As each pair finished their sentence the teacher and I began writing the sentences on large white paper. By the end of the lesson we had a variety of sentences using modal words, nouns and adjectives about the city and the country.
The teachers then used these to write basic exposition texts about their chosen topic. They did this without me so I am not sure how they went about it, however if I was completing the writing cycle with these students I would do a lesson on grouping the sentences that we created into similar topics and then demonstrating how we can use these sentences as the beginning of paragraphs. I'd also focus on 'elaboration' and how each of these sentences needs another sentence or two that gives examples - so I would do all of that in pairs to create a class exposition. Then I would allow the students time to create their own text on city vs country using our model as a guide and also using the word sheet and modality ladder as a vocabulary prompt.
I hope you can see how these lessons start with building the vocab and migrate from single words to writing sentences to forming paragraphs and then finishing a text. This style of writing cycle is so beneficial for all students as it gives everyone a fair chance of completing a text to the best of their ability. It builds their knowledge of a topic and then goes from word, sentence and paragraph building to completed text. Students do almost all of it with a partner, which builds confidence and generates ideas and allows them to write about something they know about. It is a fairer indication of their writing ability when they write about something they know about (unlike NAPLAN where they are just told to write without any knowledge of the field - which advantages the students who just happen to know about the topic).