Comparing Justice Texts

Overview

This is Lesson 13 of 25 in Justice or Just Us? Students compare how themes are represented in the documentary In My Blood It Runs and the class novel. Building on prior close reading and viewing, they select evidence, consider each text’s structure and style, and develop a comparative claim.

Learning intentions

• WALT compare themes in a documentary and a novel.
• WALT use evidence to explain similarities and differences between texts.
• WALT analyse how text structure and authorial choices shape meaning.
• WALT organise ideas into a clear comparative response.

Success criteria

• I can identify a shared theme in both texts.
• I can explain how the theme is similar or different across the texts.
• I can use specific evidence from both texts.
• I can explain how a structural or stylistic choice influences the audience.

Curriculum links

• Literacy: using comprehension strategies to compare and contrast ideas and opinions in and between texts.
• Literacy: analysing the organisation of ideas in paragraphs and extended texts and evaluating its impact on meaning.
• Literature: analysing texts and evaluating the aesthetic qualities and appeal of an author’s literary style.
• Literacy: planning and creating analytical texts with sequenced, linked and supported ideas.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Hook and retrieval. Open with the provocative comparison question: “When a text presents an unfair system, does it make us feel, think or act?” Display brief reminders of In My Blood It Runs and the novel. Students complete a quick think-pair-share, recalling one moment from each text that relates to justice, identity, belonging or education.

2. 5–12 min · Explicit teaching: comparison. Use the comparison strategy slides to model the difference between identifying a theme and comparing its representation. Think aloud with a familiar example: both texts may show the importance of identity, but one may use documentary interviews and real footage while the novel uses narration, imagery and character perspective. Emphasise the pattern: theme claim + evidence from both texts + explanation of similarity or difference + effect on the audience. Students annotate this pattern on the comparative analysis worksheet.

3. 12–20 min · Guided evidence sort. Distribute the Comparative Essay Venn and Bridge Mat and direct students to record one significant moment, quotation, image, interview or film choice from each text. Model one entry, distinguishing evidence from explanation. Students work in pairs to place evidence in the Venn section as text-specific or shared, then identify a possible comparative argument in the bridge section. Invite pairs to share one useful connection.

4. 20–32 min · Independent comparative analysis. Students select one theme and complete the evidence and analysis questions on the comparative analysis worksheet. They write one comparative paragraph using the frame: “Both texts explore ___; however, the documentary presents this through ___, whereas the novel presents it through ___. This encourages the audience to ___.” Require a precise reference to both texts and an explanation of the effect of a language, structural, visual or narrative choice. Confer with students who need help selecting evidence.

5. 32–39 min · Peer review and revision. Display the peer-review prompts. Students exchange paragraphs and check whether the writing includes a clear theme, evidence from both texts, a similarity or difference, and an explanation of effect. Partners give one specific commendation and one actionable improvement. Students revise at least one sentence for clarity, comparison or evidence.

6. 39–45 min · Plenary and exit response. Return to the plenary question. Students complete the final section of the comparative analysis worksheet: “One important similarity or difference in the representation of ___ is ___. In the documentary ___, while in the novel ___. This matters because ___.” Ask two or three students to read responses, reinforcing respectful discussion of lived experience and perspectives.

Resources

• the Comparative Analysis of Texts slide deck
• the comparative analysis worksheet
• the Comparative Essay Venn and Bridge Mat
• Class copies or approved digital versions of the novel
• Selected documentary stills, transcript extracts or viewing notes from In My Blood It Runs
• Highlighters or coloured pens
• Projector and whiteboard

Assessment

• Listen during pair discussion for accurate identification of themes and relevant evidence from both texts.
• Check the worksheet and paragraph for a comparative claim, evidence, explanation and reference to authorial or film techniques.
• Collect the exit response to identify students ready to extend their analysis and students requiring further modelling of comparison.

Differentiation

• Provide a choice of pre-selected themes and evidence for students who need support; offer sentence stems such as “Both texts…”, “In contrast…”, “This suggests…” and “The audience may…”.
• Provide dyslexia-friendly copies: cream or pale-coloured paper, clear sans-serif font, increased spacing, short extracts rather than dense pages, and the option to listen to approved audio or text-to-speech versions.
• Allow students to discuss ideas orally before writing, work with a supportive partner, or submit a recorded verbal explanation alongside brief written notes.
• For EAL/D learners, pre-teach comparison language, display a small bank of terms such as theme, evidence, perspective, contrast and effect, and accept labelled quotations or scene descriptions before full sentences.

Extension

• Students develop their paragraph into a second linked paragraph explaining which text communicates the theme more powerfully and why.
• Students compare how the documentary’s real-world form and the novel’s literary style position the audience differently, using two techniques from each text.