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'**//Where The Forest meets the Sea//' By Jeannie Baker ** . .Text 1.1 .Text 1.2. .Text 1.3. **__Explanation of Resource__** ===='Where the forest meets the sea' by Jeannie Baker is a text that is rich in meaning and visual literacy. The text is about a young boy who visits a tropical rainforest and embarks on an imaginative journey where extinct and rare animals live in the rainforest and Aboriginal people use to live and make their livelihood. The author not only explores the aesthetic nature of the Daintree rainforest in Northern Queensland but most importantly the environmental issues that threaten its natural habitat. It is also one of the remaining pristine rainforests that currently exist in Australia. The text offers both engagement and informative lessons about the current environmental issues that plague our existence. The illustration is set out in the form of a collage and is constructed using various materials such as modelling clay, papers, textured materials, preserved natural materials and paints.====

**__Rationale and relevance to Unit outcome__** ==== This resource is directly link to the RS2.7 English and ENS2.6 Human Society and its Environmental outcome in that students’ will learn to understand and use visual literacy to identify the issues threatening our environment. The text will introduce the topic for the unit of work on the rainforest and will look closely at the visual elements of the author’s illustrations. The resource will examine the environmental impact caused by humans and encourage the audience to discover the implications this has on our environment. Learning about visual texts is critical in understanding how images convey a particular type of purpose and meaning (BOS English, 2006, p33). Thus, through using this resource students can gain an understanding on the effects of using visual images to ultimately create their advertisement in influencing the decision making of an audience as part of their multimodal development. ====

**__Aspect of literacy to be explored__** ====By exploring the illustrations through the chosen resource students are given the opportunity to deconstruct the text using the semiotic model to understand the elements of visual literacy and its role in making meaning. This text is used as a basis to explicitly scaffold visual language in building up field knowledge in literacy learning. Students will then transfer these knowledge and skills to interpret and deconstruct an advertisement in small groups. Both the visual text and advertisement draws upon the elements of representation, composition and interaction in that it provides features for students to interpret different aspects of given text. However, students will only be exploring the representation and interactive features during the unit. For example understanding how the use of hidden vectors in text 1.2 suggests an action to take place in the future. Also how the use of salience as shown in text 1.2 suggests a contrast between the visual aspect of past and future – humans vs. the environment. Through this activity students will learn to understand the purpose and meaning that visual images play and its effectiveness in conveying its purpose. The inclusion of visual literacy as part of the literacy program promotes the building of students’ critical literacy skills as well as enhancing their engagement in literacy learning (Callow, 2006, p10). Thus, these skills are crucial in creating an effective advertisement that promotes the protection and conservation of rainforests within their multimodal text.====

**__Reference__** Board of Studies NSW (2006). //HSIE K-6 Syllabus.// Sydney: Board of Studies NSW.