Voices at the Wharf

Overview

In this follow-up lesson, students revisit Chapters 3 and 4 of Rainbow Warrior and examine how Sharon Holt presents the different groups gathered at Marsden Wharf. They build on prior learning about plot and setting by analysing word choice, comparing perspectives, and explaining how the text guides readers’ sympathies.

Learning intentions

• WALT identify the different social groups represented in Chapters 3 and 4.
• WALT select precise quotations showing how each group looks, speaks, or behaves.
• WALT explain how descriptive words position readers to trust, question, or sympathise with particular groups.
• WALT compare perspectives and recognise whose voice is included or less visible.

Success criteria

• I can identify at least three distinct groups or individuals at Marsden Wharf.
• I can select accurate quotations from Chapters 3 and 4.
• I can explain the effect of important adjectives and verbs on the reader.
• I can write an analytical paragraph explaining which group receives the most sympathy and why.

Curriculum links

• English — Reading: examining whose perspectives are included or excluded in a text.
• English — Reading: explaining how meaning can be affirmed, challenged, or reinterpreted.
• English — Reading: connecting themes, viewpoints, and messages with personal experience, prior knowledge, and other texts.
• English — Text complexity: engaging with age-appropriate ideas and visual features that support meaning.

Lesson structure (40 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Reconnect and predict. Teacher displays the colourful Rainbow Warrior cover from the uploaded image using the opening hook and cover image and asks: “If you knew nothing about the story, whose side might you expect to be on, and why?” Students discuss with a partner, then share one prediction based on the visual clues. Clarify that today they will test those first impressions against the words in Chapters 3 and 4.

2. 5–12 min · Read and set the scene. Teacher briefly revisits the arrival and atmosphere at Marsden Wharf, then reads selected passages from Chapters 3 and 4 aloud while students follow in their novels; pause at moments where crew members, supporters, bystanders, and authorities interact. Students annotate or note details showing the wharf as welcoming, lively, tense, or controlled. Use the scene-setting and reading-focus slides to display the four groups and the question: “What do we learn about each group from what they do and say?”

3. 12–20 min · Model word-choice analysis. Teacher models one quotation from the class text, such as the supplied example “Fernando smiled warmly, his camera hanging over a worn sweater”, checking the wording against the novel before analysis. Think aloud: “Smiled warmly” suggests friendliness, while “worn sweater” can make the character seem modest and human. Then model a contrasting example, such as “A man grumbled behind us, checking his watch”, explaining how “grumbled” and “checking his watch” may position the reader to view the speaker as impatient or petty. Students identify the descriptive verb or adjective and suggest its effect. Record responses on the board using: word or phrase → impression → reader response.

4. 20–27 min · Collaborative evidence hunt. Teacher places students in groups of four or five, creating approximately eight mixed-ability groups, and assigns each group one perspective: international crew/Greenpeace activists, local Kiwi supporters, sceptics/bystanders, or authorities/port officials. Students reread relevant sections and find one or two exact quotations. They discuss whether the language makes the group appear welcoming, passionate, ordinary, indifferent, formal, distant, or otherwise, while recognising that more than one interpretation may be possible. Teacher circulates, checks quotations, and prompts students to explain rather than simply label.

5. 27–36 min · Wharf Perspectives worksheet. Teacher distributes the Wharf Perspectives Matrix and analytical paragraph worksheet and explains that students may use their group’s evidence but must complete their own response. Students complete the matrix for at least three groups, including a direct quotation, key descriptive words, and the effect on the reader. They then write beneath it: “In Chapters 3 and 4, Sharon Holt positions the reader to feel most sympathetic toward __________ because she uses descriptive words such as __________ and __________. In contrast, groups who do not support the ship are described using words like __________, which makes the reader view them as __________.” Require students to include quotation marks and explain the word choice.

6. 36–40 min · Plenary: whose voice is loudest? Teacher displays the comparison and plenary prompt and asks: “If someone who knew nothing about 1985 only read Chapters 3 and 4, whose perspective would they think was the ‘right’ one?” Students share a response with a partner, naming one piece of evidence, then two or three students contribute to the class discussion. Emphasise that analysing whose perspective is made persuasive is a key part of critical reading.

Resources

• Class copies of Rainbow Warrior, Chapters 3 and 4
• the complete lesson slide deck with the uploaded Rainbow Warrior cover image, group labels, modelling examples, task instructions, and plenary prompt
• the Wharf Perspectives Matrix and analytical paragraph worksheet
• Projector or interactive whiteboard
• Student learning workbooks and pens
• Highlighters or coloured pencils
• Board space for the “word or phrase → impression → reader response” model

Assessment

• During reading and group work, listen for students identifying precise language rather than retelling events. Ask: “Which exact word creates that impression?”
• Check each group’s quotation for accuracy and question whether the interpretation is supported by the surrounding passage.
• Collect or quickly scan the worksheet. Look for three groups, accurate textual evidence, analysis of at least two words, and a completed comparative paragraph.

Differentiation

• Provide a word bank such as welcoming, passionate, united, ordinary, impatient, detached, formal, and controlling, while reminding students to support each label with evidence.
• Offer sentence starters: “The word ___ suggests…”, “This positions the reader to…”, and “In contrast…”. Allow students to orally rehearse their paragraph with a partner before writing.
• Support students who need it by pre-selecting short passages or highlighting possible evidence; pair EAL learners with supportive peers and clarify terms such as activist, bystander, authority, and sympathy.
• Extend confident readers by asking them to identify a perspective that is less visible or excluded and explain how the chapter might change if that group narrated the scene.