Incorporating ‘The Final Quarter’ into Year 10 English Lessons

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Attempting to find appropriate and enjoyable texts for Year 10 students can be tricky, especially when they are disengaged or need assistance to find English interesting. Traditional literature often can feel daunting for today’s teenagers, whilst valuable, it is crucial to acknowledge that student interests are important and can be a powerful tool in growing their literary knowledge and mindsets. (Nichols and Baron, 2024) The incorporation of Ian Darling’s 2019 documentary The Final Quarter can be a powerful teaching tool to both engage the student and develop their foundational writing, analysing and researching skills. Tim Hetherington states that documentaries are constructions, alike journalism. This is why The Final Quarter is an effective choice as it delves into media representation and how opinions can be easily strayed and constructed depending on the stories point of view. The career of AFL legend, Adam Goodes, is in the spotlight of this film, a proud Adnyamathanha man from South Australia who grew up loving Aussie Rules Football. The film focuses on the racial abuse, he endured both on and off the footy field. With a specific focus on Goodes’ Aboriginal culture, using this documentary in the classroom can assist disengaged learners to identify the meaning and resonate with the content on a deeper level.

Relevance

The ability to choose a contemporary and relevant narrative for Year 10 students, especially those disengaged from the classroom, can provide insight into the way students receive content. The core of the film suggests themes of fairness, resilience, respect and justice. The concept of standing up for what is right is a universal lesson for all students, whilst also tapping into current societal issues of racism, identity and belonging. These topics are both present in students' lives and also in the media, another reason why understanding the concepts is an important tool students can utilise. The ability to recognise how societal issues, media and sports interact provides students the opportunity to form their individual opinions and arguments.

Academic Research

Janet Dutton and Jacqueline Manuel's Becoming a Teacher emphasises how disengaged learners struggle in the classroom as they cannot relate the required texts to their own lives or experiences. A key strategy that Dutton and Manuel recommend is to choose a text that directly relates or connects with students' social or cultural experiences. The choice of utilising The Final Quarter achieves this strategy by engaging with issues that are directly connected and present in students’ daily lives. We, as teachers can draw students’ attention by talking about AFL or even Adam Goodes, who was awarded Australian of the Year in 2014. For example, the documentary discusses the severity of the racial abuse that Goodes received, in particular, the ‘booing’ from the crowd when he was playing footy. This was in response to Goodes speaking out about the racial slur he endured during a match against Collingwood in 2013. Students who are familiar with sports, especially AFL, can recognise the emotional intensity and response from the crowd and the vast impact that would have on Goodes’ mental wellbeing. The familiarity of this experience can gain attention and recognition from students who typically struggle to connect with traditional literature or abstract texts. (EN5-RVL-01)


References

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