On Site, On Tour and Online: the State Library of NSW and You

Pauline Fitzgerald welcomes you to the fascinating collection at the State Library of NSW…

No history of Australia, no local or family history, no national debate about Indigenous reconciliation or History Wars, no arguments about origins, attitudes, behaviours or politics can be written – or contested – without reference to archival and collecting institutions, and most require consultation with the Mitchell. Richard Neville, Mitchell Librarian

Supporting you

The State Library of NSW holds a unique collection in excess of 6 million items and valued at $3.15 billion. With 157,000 prints and drawings, 1.5 million photographs and negatives, 12 linear kilometres of manuscripts, 100,000 maps, not to mention 2.5 million books, how does the State Library of NSW support students and teachers?

In 2009 Learning Services was established. For K-12 students and teachers, the key objective has been connecting students and teachers with the extraordinary collections of the State Library – the home of Australia’s history. In the seven years since, a rich and diverse program has been developed to enhance learning opportunities for students and teachers around NSW. Programs are offered on site, online and on tour.

To date 57.51% of schools across NSW have connected with our services.

On site

On site in Macquarie Street, the State Library offers a range of excursions, all of which link to the NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum. Fundamental to the development of our programs is the importance of introducing students to original collection material as we are well aware of the unique and important role the State Library holds as custodians of the documentary heritage of the nation.

Nowhere else in Australia will students have the opportunity to see, first hand, items such as First Fleet journals, Matthew Flinders maps, Henry Lawson’s death mask or Shakespeare’s first folio, to name but a few of our collection highlights.

The power of seeing ‘the real thing’ cannot be overstated.

Examples of our on-site programs include:

British Colonisation, one of our most popular programs, explores the arrival of the First Fleet, early days in the colony and the strength and resilience of Australia’s first peoples. Bringing the 1817-1818 Edward Close image Costumes of the Australasians to life through role play and interaction with original collection items such as James Cook artefacts, Aboriginal language lists, and convict material creates a rich and memorable learning experience for students.

Similarly, Walking into Australia is an immersive workshop providing students with the opportunity to step into the shoes of inland explorers Edward Eyre, Burke and Wills, Kennedy and Jackey Jackey, and Ludwig Leichhardt as they venture into the unknown. The survival zone truly transports the students as they struggle against strong head winds (industrial fans) in oversized gumboots lugging a heavy backpack to recreate a little of the physical hardship faced by early explorers.

Seeking Shakespeare is a particularly popular program and the Library was particularly active in 2016 as we commemorated the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. The Library collections include the first, second, third and fourth folios and the Library is the only institution in Australia to hold all four folios. The digitisation of the first folio has made it accessible to classrooms across Australia. A visit to the exquisite Shakespeare room is a huge highlight of this program and it is now possible to take a peek inside this special room via a virtual tour.

Support for the HSC

Support for HSC students is core business for the State Library and tickets for our HSC student seminars are highly sought after and quick to sell out.

Co-hosted with Sydney Living Museums, History Extension: The Project gives students the opportunity to develop their research skills and gain valuable advice, resources and inspiration before they embark on their major work.

For English Extension 2, wordeXpress offers a similar program with subject experts and successful ex-students providing guidance in how to get started and maintain focus to achieve a first class major work. The wordeXpress initiative was developed with the NSW Education Standards Authority (formerly BOSTES) and in addition to student seminars we also host the awards ceremony for students featured in the wordeXpress Young Writers Showcase.

On tour

We are particularly pleased to offer wordeXpress student seminars in regional areas and last year we travelled to Tamworth and Coffs Harbour to afford students in regional NSW the same opportunities students in the Sydney region enjoy. The State Library Foundation provides financial support to make this possible and this forms part of our commitment to serve the people of NSW and improve equity of access no matter where in the state you live. Other services targeting HSC students include Introduction to HSC Resources, which is a workshop available both on site and via video conference.

Online

In addition to on-site and regional learning programs a major focus for Learning Services is the development of online learning resources. The State Library launched a new website in February 2016 and Learning is now accessible from the homepage. This increased visibility has resulted in a 250% increase in visits to the site and we have received very positive feedback on the resources we provide.

If you cannot come to us we can always come to you – with a virtual excursion. Our virtual excursions all feature original collection materials and are offered free of charge through DART connections.

Current topics include:

Captain James Cook – watercolour on ivory miniature in circular frame, ca. 1780-1784, a128550

New programs under development are:

Mary Reibey – The woman on the $20 note
On the Move – Migration to Australia
Shakespeare’s Folios

Learning activities currently available address syllabus outcomes for the NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum – History, Geography and English. Learning Activities for Visual Arts are also available.

Our most popular online resources are:

Migration to Australia in the 1800’s

HSC Area of Study: Discovery

The Gold Rush

In addition to learning activities tailor-made for classroom use, other important areas of the website for teachers and students include:

Stories

Here you will find curated collections showcasing people, places and ideas inspired by the collections. You can travel with the Dutch, the Portuguese or James Cook in Voyages of Discovery: the Great South Land or visit the goldfields of Hill End in the Holtermann Collection or delve deep into the stories and lives of Indigenous Sydney before European settlement in Eora . More than 80 stories are currently available and being added to constantly.

DX Lab

We are very proud to be the home of Australia’s first and only cultural-heritage innovation lab that supports new ways of design thinking, experimentation and deep research in the digital humanities. Our DX Lab is where experimentation and research happens and we use the latest technologies to find rich and interesting ways to explore our collections and data sets.

Professional learning and partnerships

We are grateful for the positive working relationship we have, including:

History Teachers Association
Society and Culture Teachers Association
English Teachers Association
School Library Association NSW
NESA, DOE and AIS

These partnerships ensure we are developing resources which meet the needs of students and teachers and lead the way in providing up to date resources which address changes to curriculum.

Professional learning for teachers is another important aspect of State Library services and as an endorsed provider we offer an annual conference and Reach Out! a FREE interactive workshop offered in schools around NSW. Please contact us to find out how you can have a State Library educator run a workshop for teachers in your area.

If you would like further details on any of our programs and resources please contact the Learning Services team learning.library@sl.nsw.gov.au or 9273 1778

The Making of a Teacher: My Love Affair with History

Penny Russell reflects on what she loves about history before she takes up her new post at Harvard University…

I didn’t have to be a historian.
In my late adolescence I had a passion bordering on addiction for historical novels, especially historical romances. I read Jane Austen with an enthusiasm undimmed by endless repetitions. I developed an obsession for epistolary novels, for novels disguised as diaries (usually women’s diaries), and even for actual, historical diaries that had been published as books. All this reading lay in a realm of imaginative pleasure that to my mind seemed far away from the sterner demands of history.

The world of female domestic experience that so appealed to my imagination seemed to have no place in the history I learned at school, which dealt with wars and the rise of nations, economic fluctuations and political processes, only occasionally – in ways I found difficult to grasp – touching on something I would now call social history. So my interests, talents and loyalties lay primarily with literature.

Shock of the old

Not until I began an Arts degree at Monash in 1979 did I begin to discover that the ordinary female lives I found so absorbing could come under the purview of History.

Though ultimately transformative, the discovery crept upon me by degrees. Studying medieval English history in my first year, I was swept for a term into the lives of the Pastons, a Norfolk family caught up in the vicissitudes of English politics during the so-called Wars of the Roses. I was fascinated by the way the rhythms of their family life adapted to the disruptions of the conflict; awed by Margaret Paston’s adept, authoritative handling of crises large and small. And again and again I was jolted by the recognition that – although it appealed to me in the same way – this was not an imagined world.

Again and again the seductive illusion of familiarity, the comfortable aura of fiction, would dissolve to reveal what Tim Hitchcock has called the ‘shock of the old’ – persistent reminders of the real, never fully knowable, but significantly different, world of the past. It was my first encounter with the politics of emotion that Hitchcock associates with ‘history from below’, with its ‘demand that the reader empathise with individual men and women caught in a whirl of larger historical changes’. [i] And it still didn’t feel to me quite like ‘real’ history.

Poet of the revolution

My assumptions about the proper subject matter and methods of History were again challenged the following year, when in a course about the American War of Independence I was set an essay on the poems of Philip Freneau, called the ‘Poet of the Revolution’. Here I could exercise talents I had developed in my literary studies to probe the sentiments and meanings of Freneau’s delightfully banal verse – and at the same time could set his poems into their historical context in ways that my English tutors would have firmly discouraged.

Hitherto, I had found the ‘primary source exercises’ in my History courses dauntingly difficult, lacking the skills that could extract expansive meaning from a laundry list or a wages bill. But wallowing pleasurably in the volumes of Freneau’s verse was different. Here, I felt at home. During that year I had to choose between pursuing honours in History or English. My essay on Freneau was one of the reasons I chose History.

In my third year, I began to specialise in Australian history. Suddenly, traces of the history I was studying were all around me. And the primary sources I drew on for my essays felt real in a whole new way. That was the year I discovered the sensory pleasures of the archives: the tactile joy of opening one of those brown cardboard boxes to delve through the ordered chaos within, the shiver of excitement that comes when you untie the tape around a compact bundle of letters or ephemera, the musty tang that rises from the pages of a crumbling newspaper.

Pleasurable discoveries and unexpected successes

It was also the year that – notwithstanding my earlier enthusiasm for Margaret Paston – I discovered women’s history. When the Australian history course subdivided into specialist themes for a term, I chose the one on ‘Women’, and was thus introduced to the relatively new field of feminist historical scholarship in Australia.

Until then, I had assumed that feminism had little to do with me. Only by studying women’s history did I begin to realise just how precarious, how fortunate, was my right, as a woman, to the education I had taken for granted. And only in those tutorials did I find, at last, the confidence to speak for myself. I found, too, a history of other women for whom it had been difficult to speak in public, difficult to own the confidence or assume the authority that seemed to come so much more easily to men. Through women’s history I found a voice and a purpose.

Discovering the strenuous opposition and misogynist contempt women had encountered when they first demanded a political voice made me a feminist on their behalf, long before I was comfortable with the label on my own account. Realising just how little attention earlier historians had paid to those struggles, or to women’s experience more generally, made me a feminist scholar. I adopted with pride the badge of a ‘feminist historian’: not just a historian of feminism, but a scholar eager to correct the gendered imbalances of history. The rich, complex, largely unexplored terrain of women’s history beckoned to me irresistibly, and my personal politics were forged as I trod these new paths.

I didn’t have to be a historian. Thinking back now – and re-reading some of those formative essays of mine – I am reminded of choices once made and long forgotten, of opportunities seized or left lying, of disappointments that might have turned my path, of pleasurable discoveries and unexpected successes that confirmed it. I am reminded of inspirational, supportive, bracing and downright critical teachers, tutors and lecturers who all played a part as I gradually harnessed my interest in the particular, the personal, the domestic and feminine, and my preference for imaginative, subjective and creative forms of writing to the rigorous disciplinary demands of History – demands for evidence, structured argument, critical thinking, and a sense of the broader significance and patterns to be found in the small stories I so love. And I realise, too, that these days I reach automatically for historical interpretations, so that when asked to reflect on my love of history, I dig back into my own past to trace a story of cause and effect, of the interplay of individual purpose, social forces and historical accident.

I didn’t have to be a historian. But these days, it feels as though I always was.

Penny Russell is Bicentennial Professor of Australian History at the University of Sydney, with a particular interest in gender and colonial society. In 2016-17, she will be at Harvard University as the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Professor of Australian Studies, where she will teach courses on emotions in history and the ‘intimate frontiers’ of nineteenth-century Australian society.

Penny Russell was interviewed by Dinoo Kelleghan at the NSW Teacehers Federation: http://education.www.stagingnswtf.com.au/education15/features-1/historians-go-adventuring/

Books and Other Conversations in the Library

Martin Gray reflects on the role of the modern Teacher-Librarian…

Libraries have never been places only about books; they are about whatever technology works. Books and card catalogues (essentially hashtags on paper), gave way to microfiche and the Oasis library catalogue to today with access to databases and Oliver’s web based library enquiry. The Library has always been a repository for information and technology and a recent survey shows that over ninety-five percent of librarians teach information and technology skills to their students and nearly fifty percent teach their school staff (Gray, 2016). There is little difference in their mission today than when school libraries first became common in NSW. For a Teacher-Librarian then, best practice involves supporting the whole school’s teaching and learning, with a focus on information skills.

The information skills themselves have not changed. Defining, locating, selecting, organising, presenting and assessing information are essentially the same, regardless of source. These skills are best taught in the context of subject-specific or KLA, class-based activities. Isolated information skills lessons are widely understood to be less effective. Thus a Teacher-Librarian is most effective when working with classroom teachers on class work or other assessment tasks.

This requires planning sessions between the Classroom Teachers and Teacher-Librarian, which while difficult to organise in a busy school schedule, can lead to better outcomes for students. Examples of such collaboration might include teaching a Senior PDHPE class how to use the local library’s subscriber databases to find research articles, or collecting physical resources for a junior History class on the topic Australians at War from a library collection.

To remain effective, the school library must make relevant resources available; the library is there to resource the curriculum. The Teacher-Librarian, educated both fully as a Teacher and as a Librarian, is well placed to assess what resources are needed and then curate them. Resources both physical and online must be acquired and access managed. Many schools are now including electronic databases or partnering with local or state libraries to gain access (Gray, 2014). Such databases are excellent for non-fiction resources where information can change quickly or multiple users need access at the one time.

However, books are still an important part of every library. Reading on paper can lead to more in-depth comprehension and greater recall of a subject than online alone (Jabr, 2013). Books also foster an enjoyment and appreciation of reading and the Teacher-Librarian is expected to choose appropriate material to add to and remove from the collection. Reviews should be read about new books, teachers should be consulted regarding what is required, and a Teacher-Librarian is expected to know their collection well enough to know what is being used, what needs to be added, or what needs to be replaced. Children are more likely to find enjoyment and appreciation in library resources if their searches do not return irrelevant or excessive results.

A school library is not just a collection of information, it is also a space. That space has to be managed for most efficient use. Booking of classes, distance education lessons, catch-up examinations, teacher meetings or quiet study. The space must be managed to accommodate all these competing educational, spatial and technological requirements, often simultaneously. This can involve event planning or crisis management depending on the day and situation. A well-organised and presented library will often be the gem of a school’s buildings and used to host parents and other community members at information, award and school promotion events.

Importantly, the Teacher-Librarian should be part of the whole school, and as such take part in all school programs, welfare, discipline, sports (or Chess) and anything else that is required. The Teacher-Librarian leads the library on behalf of the school as outlined in the Department’s Handbook for School Libraries; all roles vary from school to school, and visions for the library may change over time and as the school changes. Conversations in the library between all teachers, staff and students about what the school needs and what is possible and practical are vital.

Martin Gray has 20 years of experience in education, covering all cohorts from nursery schools to university and working with boards of education on three continents. He is a Google Certified Innovator, and a Department of Education Google Champion, who often presents at regional conferences for teacher-librarians, school leaders and library support staff. Martin is currently working on a project to gather and publish quantifiable data on the way school libraries and teacher librarians are used today.

And Now That You Teach Geography!

Lorraine Chaffer takes us through the Geography K-6 syllabus which becomes mandatory in 2017…

The NSW syllabuses for Geography K-10 and History K-10 replace the 1998 HSIE K-6 Syllabus for primary schools. The new Geography syllabus was informed by the Australian Curriculum. History K-6 was implemented in 2016, while Geography K-6, optional in 2016, will be taught from 2017. For the first time, Geography has its own identity in a K-6 setting, bringing with it many challenges and opportunities.

Before beginning to program, choose content and develop assessment activities for the Geography Syllabus K-6 teachers are advised to read the aim, rationale, stage statements and assessment advice and study the skills, tools and concepts, explanations and continuums. After doing so, thinking geographically will then make more sense.

Challenges

Understanding geographical concepts, skills and tools;
Developing the Geographical Inquiry Skills essential to investigating interactions between people, places and environments;
Creating teaching programs that ‘stimulate students’ interest in and engagement with the world’ and develop ‘informed, responsible and active citizens’ (see the ‘Aim’ in the NSW Geography Syllabus K-6 p. 15).

Similarities and differences

Although geographical content taught in the HSIE K-6 syllabus can be used in the new syllabus there is a need to work within the scope and spirit of the new syllabus. There is now greater emphasis on geographical inquiry skills and tools, particularly the use of fieldwork and spatial technologies and the application of geographical concepts.

The new syllabus has greater flexibility for teachers when choosing content, programming units of work and developing scope and sequence plans.

When programing, developing or adapting resources and creating assessment activities for Geography K-6, teachers should be guided by the Stage Statements on pages 18-19 as well as the Content Focus, Outcomes and Key Inquiry Questions for each content area.

The concepts, inquiry skills and tools continuums should also be used when developing new teaching materials, differentiating the curriculum and developing assessment activities.

The following table shows components of the NSW Geography Syllabus K-6 that are essential and where flexibility is possible.

Whilst History and Geography are separate subjects, there are opportunities to integrate these subjects where there is a good fit.

Programming ‘must do V might do’

Essential (must do)	Flexibility (might do)
Units for each stage (listed on p.35 and elaborated pp.42-65)	In any order within a stage Content can be integrated with other subjects Content dash points are for guidance Geographical concepts relevant to the stage
Geographical concepts relevant to the stage	Can include more concepts but not fewer
Geographical Inquiry Skills acquire, process, communicate use primary data (fieldwork) use secondary sources	Use all or some of the inquiry skills – work towards a complete inquiry Use Syllabus Key Inquiry Questions or develop your own. Choose where and when to complete fieldwork and specific activities to suit content.
Geographical tools integrated into content and geographical inquiry	Refer to letter symbols beside the content or select tools to suit content or inquiry activity
Integration of Learning Across the Curriculum (this is already mapped throughout the syllabus content)	Refer to the icons beside the content or select to suit content or inquiry activity
Courses of study and educational programs are based on the outcomes of the syllabus	Differentiate

Features of the new syllabus

Geographical concepts

The Geography Syllabus K-10 is underpinned by seven geographical concepts. The Geographical Concepts Continuum (pp 26-27) illustrates links between concepts and content by stage. The concepts are:

Place
Space
Environment
Interconnection
Scale
Sustainability
Change

These concepts are introduced at different stages to build conceptual understanding from Early Stage 1 through to Stage 3, by which time all seven concepts should be integrated into learning activities. A brief outline of each concept is included in the table below.

CONCEPTS	STAGE
Place – identifiable parts of earth’s surface Space– the organisation, patterns and distribution of places Environment – total surroundings and relevant natural and human processes	Early Stage 1
Interconnection – the links between people, places and environments, actions and consequences, planning and sustainability Scale – the levels at which geographical phenomena are examined eg. local, national, regional, global	Stage 1
Sustainability – the capacity of the environment to continue to support life	Stage 2
Change – developments and variations over time	Stage 3

Geographical inquiry skills

The Geographical Inquiry Skills Continuum (pages 30-31) illustrates the increasing sophistication of geographical inquiry activities through stages ES1- 3.

Students investigate the world through the Geographical Inquiry Skills of acquiring, processing and communicating geographical information. They use geographical tools (see below) to answer questions and over time will learn to develop their own geographical inquiry questions.

Collecting and interpreting data, drawing conclusions and communicating findings are essential components of geographical inquiry. Proposing and taking action, when appropriate, develop citizenship skills.

In each stage, students will use elements of geographical inquiry such as studying a map in class, taking photographs during fieldwork or using appropriate digital technologies to create a presentation. Over time, students will be able to undertake a complete inquiry activity independently or with guidance.

Geographical tools

The tools used to acquire geographical information include maps, fieldwork, graphs and statistics, spatial technologies and visual representations such as diagrams and photographs. In this context they are referred to as secondary sources of information.

Primary data is obtained through fieldwork activities such as taking photographs and measurements, making observations and conducting surveys. Primary data can be represented using tools such as graphs, maps and spatial technologies.

Geographical information can be qualitative (descriptive or visual) and quantitative (using statistics). The type of information required for geographical inquiry will determine the tools used and influence the type of fieldwork activities undertaken and the equipment needed. The content under investigation, such as a study of weather, will influence the inquiry activities chosen.

Fieldwork

Fieldwork can take place within school grounds and is an essential component of geographical inquiry. During fieldwork, students engage with the real world to gather primary data and answer inquiry questions. It is expected that over time students develop fieldwork skills that allow them to gather quantitative and qualitative geographical information. These skills include observing, recording, measuring, surveying and analysing the geographical features of places.

Examples at school could include:

weather features such as temperature and wind (quantitative data);
spatial characteristics such as distances between places (quantitative data);
taking photographs, drawing maps and describing the features of places (qualitative data);
observe, measure, record and analyse different places within the school (for early Stage 1 through to Stage 3).

Examples away from school

Fieldwork can also be completed at places further away and include part or whole day activities. A number of fieldwork providers support schools with activities designed specifically for the new Geography K-6 syllabus. Teachers should find their local Environmental Education Centre to see what they offer. Using these facilities is often a good first step for teachers wishing to develop their confidence with fieldwork skills and fieldwork equipment, after which they might develop their own fieldwork activities.

Note: It is important that fieldwork does not become ‘just an excursion’ in which teachers provide information about places. Meaningful and authentic fieldwork involves the active gathering of information = ‘work’.

Fieldwork equipment

Equipment can be low tech, high tech or somewhere in between.

Low tech – simple equipment such as a compass or printed identification charts of plants or animals.
High tech – more sophisticated equipment such as water quality testing equipment or the use of Apps to measure features such as direction and distance.

The availability of digital devices and access to the Internet are issues to consider when selecting fieldwork equipment and activities. There is no right or wrong approach to fieldwork as long as students are actively gathering geographical information. The more ‘hands on’ the fieldwork the more effective the geographical inquiry.

Spatial technologies

Spatial technologies are relatively new tools for geographical inquiry that include software and hardware interacting with real world locations such as virtual maps, satellite images and Global Positioning Systems (GPS). These are the new tools of the digital generation. The interactive nature of spatial technologies such as Google Earth helps students to visualise, analyse and record geographical phenomena and develop critical thinking and decision-making skills such as visualising settlement patterns in different places, analysing issues, developing explanations and proposing solutions.

The Geographical Tools Continuum (page 34) illustrates the increasing complexity and choices of tools that can be used from Early Stage 1 to Stage 3. The continuum makes differentiating the curriculum easier, for instance, challenging more capable students with complex tools from a higher stage e.g. a Stage 3 student might be challenged with Global Information Systems (GIS) activities.

Stage	Spatial Technologies
ES1	Virtual maps
1	Virtual maps Satellite images
2 & 3	Virtual maps Satellite images Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
4	Virtual maps Satellite images Global Positioning Systems (GPS) Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

A variety of scales

The syllabus requires a study of interactions between people, places and environments from the local to the global scale. In the early years the focus is on local places, familiar to students e.g. schoolyard, the street they live in or the local shopping centre. By stage 3, studies will focus on people, places and environments at a global scale such as countries or regions such as Asia and will include local comparisons, particularly through fieldwork activities.

Online Resources

The following websites can be used to develop a deeper understanding of the new syllabus and resources to assist with programming and assessment.

BOSTES K-10

As well as the syllabus, the BOSTES website provides support materials including assessment and programming materials and sample scope and sequence and teaching units. http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/hsie/geography-k10/

NSW Geography Teachers Association

http://www.gtansw.org.au

Australian Geography Teachers Association

http://www.agta.asn.au

Asia Teachers Association

http://www.aeta.org.au

DEC NSW Curriculum support

For stage based frameworks: http://www.hsiensw.com/k-10-teaching-and-learning-framework.html

For the K-10 PDF document: http://www.hsiensw.com/uploads/4/7/7/1/47718841/geographyk-10.pdf

GeogSpace

http://www.geogspace.edu.au Of particular use to teachers in NSW are the core units, support units and exemplars of student assessment activities. Care must be taken to match the material with stage based organization used in NSW.

Developing questions for Inquiry http://www.geogspace.edu.au/support-units/geographical-inquiry/gi-illustration1.html

EXEMPLARS F-4 http://www.geogspace.edu.au/core-units/f-4/exemplars/exemplars.html

Geography: What is it for?

A clever animation from South Australia highlighting the outcomes for students studying the new Australian curriculum. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgGb8BM2TBk&list=PLCp3_brrD7xpDDH3oa3OjQOicUfaO1x8L&index=2

Geography in Years 1 & 2 using the draft Australian Curriculum

An inspiring YouTube clip from South Australia highlighting the introduction of geographical inquiry and questioning in the early years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pGpri67uK8

Lorraine Chaffer has 38 years experience as a Geography teacher in NSW public schools and has been heavily involved in the professional development of teachers. Lorraine was a consultant in the development of the NSW Geography Syllabus K-10, has written textbooks for the Australian Curriculum Geography and the NSW Geography Syllabus K-10 and has worked with K-6 teachers across NSW to unpack the new syllabus and develop the essential knowledge, understanding and skills to deliver the syllabus effectively. Lorraine is Vice President of the Geography Teachers Association of NSW and a board member of the Professional Teachers Council.

Helping teachers – Helping students – Some considerations for teaching students with disability

Claudia Vera has crafted this clear and comprehensive advice for teachers with students with disability …

All of us are teaching students with varying abilities, including those with disabilities, in our mainstream classes or in specialist settings. This reality has its challenges but we keep at the core of our tale the protagonists of this story – our students, their hopes and needs, their families and their teachers.

Our search for some support begins with the words of Michael Wehemeyer who observes:

“We have taught people with disabilities that they are the problem”.

So we address our shared issues from a point of view of not trying to ‘fix’ the person but instead focusing on their strengths, necessary supports, the surrounding environment and the individual’s interaction with it.

1. Congratulations! Teaching students with disability is a life changing opportunity

School is the prime, consistent environment to provide opportunities for students with disability to develop fundamental life skills, access rigorous and interesting learning experiences, be afforded opportunities to develop and express self-determination, learn about others and themselves and establish relationships.

Whilst this rings true for all young people, as a teacher of a young person with disability you will need to be much more deliberate in ensuring you and the school community create the context, expectations and provide the scaffolds for this to happen. As a result, your actions today will become part of a cumulative pressure, pushing open the floodgates to future experiences and success that will add to the quality of that person’s life.

As a teacher, you will be enriched by developing the capacity to cater instruction for your students, create enabling environments, address and celebrate diversity and be creative and flexible in your approach to teaching.

You matter immensely in their lives and their futures.

2. Personalisation: Your student is the starting point, the path and the destination

“Personalisation is about prizing the person. Personalisation is about knowing the person deeply, having the courage to offer honouring relationships, holding an affirming vision of their life, knowing what is required to make things happen” (Lorna Hanahan, 2013).

The key to realising this personalisation is to know your student and in doing so, aim to understand them. Having knowledge about their disability is helpful but what carries greater value is knowing the person. What holds their attention? What opens their curiosity and excites them? What do they choose to do in their leisure time? What worries them, frustrates them, turns them off? What do they want to know more about, do differently and do better? What matters to them, what talents do they want to share and what bores them?

Try to make sure you not only begin with these questions but re-visit them at various points and be mindful and responsive to changes. This is an important understanding of any individual but its significance for students with disability lies in the limited opportunities they may have in explicitly expressing these nuances about themselves, if they are not actively sought.

Personalisation combines and extends beyond differentiation and individualisation. For a comprehensive explanation of personalisation and how to make this happen in your classroom, read A step-by-step guide to personalize learning. The Complex learning difficulties and disabilities research project website also provides information on developing meaningful pathways to personalised learning, including briefing packs on various disorders, conditions and disabilities.

3. Early investment and meaningful planning pays off

To achieve personalisation in a genuine, dignified and fruitful manner takes time. Why not then give yourself licence to invest time early to build rapport with your student, establish a solid relationship with the student’s family, refine goals, customise instruction, establish routines, seek broader support and create rich, connected learning experiences. Allow yourself to experiment with your teaching ideas but ensure these are based on what you have learnt about your student, syllabus requirements, good practice and what is manageable in the context of your entire class.

Consider Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and use its principles to guide your planning so that adjustments are embedded into a framework that is flexible enough to ensure equality of opportunity for all learners. Inclusive practice is facilitated by UDL, as it allows you to adapt your whole class program for all learners, rather than doing separate plans. Access the Universal Design for Learning: Theory & Practice website for further information on and practicing UDL. Examples and resources for UDL can be found here. The Department has also developed a web based tool to assist teachers and learning and support teams in profiling the educational needs of students who may benefit from personalised learning and support. The tool is called the Personalised Learning and Support Signposting Tool (PLASST) and information on the tool can be accessed via the Department’s portal by scrolling down to P in the My Applications section.

For those teaching students in support classes in mainstream schools or Schools for Specific Purposes (SSPs), the Individual Education Plan development process is a vehicle for personalised learning. Information to assist this process can be found via the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority – Individual Education Plan website. The Queensland Department of Education has published a booklet outlining the process and developed a presentation to support the writing of Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time bound (SMART) goals. Access information on Learning Plans in NSW government schools – Attachment 1

Seek to be systematic in establishing a cycle of implementation and evaluation but exercise flexibility to adapt where necessary. Once you have clarity and direction, find a way to record this planning that makes sense and is workable to you but can also be picked up and understood by others. Teaching plans that read well but do not translate to meaningful learning are not worth the files they are saved in. If your programming aids your practice and evaluation, then you are on to a winner – there is no place or need for elaborate fluff. Will this documentation/planning practice help my student learn and help me teach my student? If not, discard.

4. Genuine collaboration and positive relationships are vital

Do a quick relationship audit:

a) Have you fostered a positive relationship with your student? Have you provided the context, tools and opportunities for your student to develop good social and learning relationships?

The importance of positive relationships in any human interaction is no revolutionary concept. It becomes more significant when you consider the amount of time, access, power, influence and presence a teacher has within a student’s existence.

b) Who else has significant knowledge and understanding of your student? How do you access, communicate and collaborate with these individuals?

Under the Disability Discrimination Act, 1992 via the Disability Standards for Education, 2005 there is a legislated requirement to consult the student, or an associate of the student before making an adjustment. More often than not this will involve the student’s parent/carer.

The work of researcher and University of Vermont professor, Michael Giangreco, has a focus on how to plan, adapt, coordinate, implement, and evaluate educational programs and services for students with disabilities. He co-authored a guide to educational planning for students with disabilities Choosing Outcomes and Accommodations of Children (available with CD-Rom via the Teachers Federation Library), which is based on 25 years of research. Access an interview of the COACH authors where they address the question of How do you build an educational plan that reflects family priorities and optimizes learning outcomes?

We can learn a wealth of information from those people who know and interact with the student beyond the classroom. Value opportunities for the participation of others and remember that as the teacher you are only one part of the equation of that student’s life. Your priorities and goals for the student may not be those of the student or their family. Establishing mutually convenient forums for collaboration, with clear understanding and expectations and shared authority, can strengthen the student’s learning, the teacher’s instruction, the family’s wellbeing and support positive home-school interaction.

5. You are not alone: accessing expertise, resources and services

As the teacher, you are not solely responsible for meeting the needs of your student with disability. It can be a complex and challenging task, particularly when you have the additional needs of multiple students to respond to and you might not have expertise and/or experience in teaching students with disability. Even in the most ideal of scenarios, it is important for teachers to know who they can turn to and where they can access support.

There are the obvious people and structures:

your supervisor;
other colleagues (including the student’s prior teacher);
School Learning Support Officer (role statement can be found in the Department’s Special Education Handbook, which also includes information on the role of the School Counsellor and Learning Support Team);
your principal;
the Learning and Support Team (the Department has developed professional learning modules under Every Student, Every School of which Module 2 is on Learning and Support Teams. The files (zipped and individual) for this module can be accessed via the Department’s intranet under Disability Programs > Every Student, Every School);
The Learning and Support Teacher and Assistant Principal Learning and Support (further information can be found on the Every Student, Every School section of the Department’s website).

Extend your network to include:

relevant specialist teachers (e.g. ESL teacher, teachers at a nearby School for Specific Purpose);
the School Counsellor ;
Learning and Wellbeing Advisors and Officers in your network (you can access their contact details by logging in to the Department’s staff portal and clicking on the Educational Services Contacts Application);
Community Liaison Officers;
the Department’s Disability, Learning and Support and Work, Health and Safety Directorate (can be accessed via the A-Z on the Department’s intranet);
other Department resources, policies and procedures (listed on their public site under policies) including areas such as Access and Equity and Wellbeing.
make sure to visit the Department’s new Wellbeing for Schools website, which supports the Wellbeing Framework and has a section dedicated specifically to supporting students with disability via the ‘Succeed’ tab.

Also consider:

the Department’s Every Student, Every School professional learning resources (modules accessible via the Department’s intranet under Disability Programs > Every Student, Every School and their supported online learning courses for teachers and schools via OnLine Training);
the Classroom Teacher Program (DEC Intranet Home > A-Z of Directorates > Professional Learning and Leadership Development > Teacher Learning > Classroom Teacher Program);
Learning and Support Scholarships ;
the NSW Teachers Federation, their Centre for Professional Learning and their library;
academics at local Universities;
The Jill Sherlock Memorial Learning Assistance Library ;
The Australian Association of Special Education (AASE) ,and,
other sources of information and professional development, including overseas materials such as Training materials for teachers of learners with profound and complex learning difficulties.

6. Customise instruction, aim high and celebrate often

As teachers we are constantly and sometimes subconsciously adapting our teaching for a diversity of learners – their needs, learning styles, personalities and interests. Students with disability are a very diverse group within themselves and this diversity extends to what extent instruction, content, assessment, equipment and the environment needs to be customised by way of adjustment.

The Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards (BOSTES) and the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) have excellent, user-friendly resources – accessible via their respective websites – to navigate the personalisation of curriculum, teaching and assessment by way of adjustments for students with disability.

Link to the following resources:

DEC Curriculum Policy Standards ;
NSW syllabuses for the Australian curriculum – Special education needs: Curriculum Requirements ;
NSW syllabuses for the Australian curriculum – Supporting students with special education needs ;
BOSTES — Making Adjustments: What can I do and where can I find resources? ;
Student Diversity and the Australian Curriculum: Advice for principals, schools and teachers ;
Australian Curriculum – Students with Disability, which includes video Illustrations of personalised learning .

Resources from other government education departments:
SA DEC Educational Support Matrix ;
QLD DET Managing Learning for Diversity – Education Adjustments .

Customising teaching and learning experiences should not however be viewed as synonymous with setting low, limited expectations. Remember that making adjustments is about making learning accessible, relevant and ensuring that assessment is a true reflection of what your student knows.

In planning for instruction it is good practice to ensure that goals are specific, measurable, time-bound and so on. This does not however, eliminate the need to ensure students are encouraged and expected to progress and excel against their own potential. It also does not mean that a student’s strengths and weaknesses in one curriculum area are the same across the entire curriculum. This is particularly important when making decisions about whether or not a student should be accessing a Life Skills syllabus. A student may be unable to meet all mainstream outcomes in one subject area, need minimal adjustments in another area and not require any adjustments in another subject. The most appropriate curriculum options and adjustments should be determined by undertaking a process of collaborative curriculum planning.

Differentiating instruction often involves a process of breaking down the steps needed to reach a particular outcome and addressing each step more explicitly and with greater supports. In light of this, it is important to ensure that successes are acknowledged and celebrated, as it may take a student with disability longer to achieve particular outcomes in comparison to some peers. Be mindful of how often you acknowledge problem behaviour in comparison to positive behaviour, achievements and attempts to improve.

7. Rights and responsibilities: Understanding, protecting and actioning their purpose

Looking at the history of disability legislation in Australia and more broadly, that of anti-discrimination, an important progression from segregation to diversity in relation to people with disability is evident. Anti-discrimination is considered an important driver in promoting equitable access and participation for all. It is critical that rights, as reflected in legislation – such as the Disability Discrimination Act, 1992 (DDA) — are exercised and protected all the way down to your classroom.

Failing this makes your student vulnerable to discrimination, which may manifest as seemingly insignificant incidents that amount to exclusionary practice and denial of rights over time. More importantly, ignoring or passively addressing student rights could lead to missed opportunities for students to improve the quality and control of their own lives. This is highlighted in the area of curriculum access, in an article of the online publication The Conversation, which deals with the issue of a Separate curriculum for students with disability no good for anyone .

The Department and its schools are considered to be education providers under the Disability Standards for Education, 2005 and as such are required by law to adhere to these standards as minimum standards of practice.

It is important that teachers have a working knowledge of these standards to ensure they are embedding these in their own practice and to actively monitor their implementation by others.

On the Australian Human Rights Commission’s website there is information on Education and disability and a DDA guide: Getting an education.

Teacher familiarity with policy and procedure generally is important to understand the rights and responsibilities your role carries and determining where your role begins and ends. The Department’s policies relating to disability, learning and support clearly state that they adhere to disability legislation. In following Departmental policy, you are meeting your obligations under the DDA. Online training from the University of Canberra is currently available to further enhance your understanding of this legislation and how it applies to your teaching.

Link to the following resources:

NSW Department of Education and Communities – Disability Support (this site links to Learning and Support/specialist disability programs, the Department’s services locator to find schools with special classes and the Every Student, Every School initiative) ;
NSW DEC Schools policies and procedures – Disabilities (including the Assisted School Travel Program for School Students with Disability Policy, Assisted School Travel Program Guidelines, Assisting Students with Learning Difficulties Policy, Learning and Support Program, People with Disabilities – Statement of Commitment and the NSW DEC Disability Action Plan 2011-2015) ;
Students with Disabilities in Regular Classes ;
Nationally Consistent Collection of Data – School Students with Disability .

8. Take stock of your views and practice: Education, disability and your role

Teaching students with disability may challenge the way you view the purpose, outcomes and processes of teaching and education. When you cross paths with individuals whose ability to lead independent and fulfilling lives in their post-school careers, is so closely and evidently connected to what you do as their teacher today, then the significance and power of education is undeniable. In many ways you become the bastion of hope for that child’s potential to be realised and their humanity and dreams to be expressed. There is a certain urgency in teaching a child with disability because of the need for so many foundations to be laid, skills developed and opportunities afforded before they leave the consistency and security of their schooling years.

It is why collaboration is essential, transitions are critical and aspiration is vital. Your practice should also fall under scrutiny; if every minute at school is valuable, they must not be wasted on practices that are ill-conceived fads or Band-Aid solutions lacking in any evidence base (see the Macquarie University Centre for Special Education – MUSEC – Briefings for reviews of interventions for students with disabilities). In so far as they take time away from effective intervention, inappropriate practice could go as far as being harmful to your student.

Improving your ability to teach students with disability automatically broadens your capacity to better facilitate learning for all students. Recognise, reflect and refine. Be thankful for those students with disability who enter your classroom, as they may be your best teacher of all.

Having been a teacher in a School for Specific Purposes, it has been my personal and professional privilege to have taught and learned from our students with disability. I hope that you too are challenged, inspired and developed by your experiences.

Claudia Vera is a Special Education teacher. Having graduated from the University of Technology in Special Education (Hons) Claudia taught at Mary Brooksbank SSP in southwest Sydney. She currently works for the NSW Teachers Federation where she has statewide responsibility for Special Education matters.

Programming: Some Simple Things to Remember

Kathryn Bellach offers some initial reflections to assist teachers in developing clear, simple and practical teaching programs …

Programming is one of the keys to engaged students who are learning at their level while meeting Syllabus requirements. There are a few key questions to ask yourself while programming that will make it meaningful and effective.

What do I want my students to learn?
Why does it matter?
What evidence will I collect to demonstrate their learning?
What am I going to get them to do?
How will I differentiate the learning so all students can achieve at their level?

These questions are vital and should always form the basis of your program along with the syllabus outcomes. Make sure the focus is not just on the content being taught but also the skills for the students to become lifelong learners.

After looking at the syllabus for the outcomes that need to covered there are a few other aspects to consider:

Try to program around your own and your students’ passions/interests. This will ensure the students are engaged and willing to participate in the learning. Try things like incorporating football scores or ladders during Maths lessons or a love of cooking into literacy lessons;
When programming it is important to focus on an outcomes-based yet student-directed approach. Let the students guide their own learning. This will encourage self-regulation and enquiry-based research into your classroom;
Only program around a few quality up to date resources. We could spend our whole lives as teachers searching the internet for the perfect resource or idea. Find a few websites that you trust and can always use and start with those. There is no point reinventing the wheel each time;
Always incorporate assessment and work backwards – start with the end in mind. Decide based on the syllabus what is the expected end point. What will it look like? How will students demonstrate their understanding? Then work backwards from there and scaffold the students each step through the unit of work so they have the possibility of reaching that end point and maybe a few small assessments along the way;
Plan time to allow for self/peer/teacher feedback. We as teachers know the value of feedback for students. Ensure through your programming that there is enough time to facilitate the various types of feedback and that it becomes a valuable part of all lessons;
Sequence lessons and units of work around your timetable and term planner. We all know that throughout any day or week at school there are likely to be various interruptions. Try and program around events that you know about in advance like sporting carnivals, assemblies and excursions. this will ensure you are not rushing at the end and your students will be able to achieve their goals;
Your program is an important communication tool. It should be able to be picked up by anyone and understood. You never know when someone is going to have to take over from you and they need to know what has been covered and where the class are up to;
Programming relates to Standard 3 within the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. This means that we all need to, as professionals, write and implement quality teaching and learning programs to ensure all our students’ needs are being met;

Programming is an important aspect of teaching and one that does get easier over time but just remember that you are writing a program to make your life easier – not harder.

Kathryn Bellach is an Assistant Principal at Guildford West PS. She has been a Teacher Mentor and a presenter at many teacher training courses including those for the Centre for Professional Learning.

Assessing Assessment K-10

Jenny Williams guides us through the elements of wise assessment practice for all teachers K-10 …

Assessing Assessment K-10

NSW Syllabus for the Australian Curriculum, English K-10, page 181.

This might sound sad but I love the assessment section of our new syllabus documents! The graphic in each of the syllabuses is easy to read and understand and clearly draws our attention to three critical aspects of assessment.

Assessment for learning and assessment of learning we have known about for a long time and assessment as learning helps us connect the learner to the learning process and addresses those aspects of learning that are so significant for 21^st century learners.

However let me share a couple of overheard scenarios that have made me pause these last few weeks:

Scenario 1:

A teacher mentor working with a beginning teacher on a stage three class asked about assessment for learning completed at the start of the year. The beginning teacher handed over a class list with a number beside each student’s name. All the students have been ‘tested’ on two standardised tests, by someone else, not the class teacher and the two numbers were added together in order to rank the class.

I admit that I struggled with statistics at university but even I am questioning the validity of using two very old, unrelated standardised tests and adding the numbers together. I am sure that is statistically invalid and I am not even asking about copyright issues or the usefulness of the assessment done by someone other than the class teacher.

Scenario 2:

A group of teachers from stage two met with their supervisor to look at a baseline piece of writing every student had completed at the beginning of the year. The teachers had used a rubric, downloaded from somewhere and assessed each student against the rubric. The rubric took an entire A4 page and had five grades and seven criteria. The criteria had not been given to students before the task. The supervisor wondered what the wording meant that differentiated between a 4 or a 5 on one criteria. The teachers remarked that they didn’t understand the difference … but they had all used it to assess their classes.

I am sure these are isolated incidents that are not typical of most schools but it has led me to think that now might be a good time to take an audit of the assessment tools used across a school. The BOSTES Advice on Assessment is an easy read and provides a great guide against which to judge the usefulness of our assessment tools. Start with a simple checklist drawn from the BOSTES advice. Here is an example.

1. Checklist for assessment tasks
Part of whole school approach Reflects purpose: Assessment for learning Assessment as learning Assessment of learning



Links to syllabus outcomes that have been taught
Includes criteria so students understand what is being assessed
Enables all students to demonstrate learning and is fair
Time efficient, manageable and informs future teaching
Values teacher judgement

Engaging in a whole school discussion around what assessment should look like is a worthwhile starting place. Next, designing assessments to address other aspects of assessment can become the challenge.

2. Checklist for assessment tasks
Promotes deep understanding of what has been taught
Engages the learner
Provides a measure of choice and openness
Includes opportunities for teacher/peer feedback
Includes student reflection on learning
Addresses a range of outcomes in one task
Provides an opportunity for critical thinking activities
Allows for connections to be made between the concepts students have learnt and real life

I am positive that worthwhile discussion will result from this exercise at a grade, stage and whole school level. Such discussion will ensure a deeper understanding of effective assessment across a whole school.

References:

BOSTES, English Years K–10: Support materials on Programming

BOSTES, English Years K–10, Advice on Assessment

Jenny Williams has extensive experience teaching in public schools, including at senior levels, and now works training teachers at the Centre for Professional Learning and as part of the team at trioprofessional. Jenny can be contacted at trioprofessionallearning.com.au

The NSW 7-10 History Syllabus: Getting it Right

Kate Cameron looks at some issues, approaches and opportunities in the History 7-10 syllabus…

The NSW 7-10 History Syllabus: Getting it Right

The new NSW 7-10 History Syllabus is based on the content, skills and concepts of the Australian Curriculum: History, yet it retains familiar key features of the earlier NSW syllabus, such as the inclusion of outcomes and the organisation of content in stages. This was the result of extensive consultation with teachers by the NSW Board of Studies.

Teachers’ experience with what it is possible to teach within the 100 hours available per stage in NSW schools informed the decision to include only four depth studies in Stage 5. This allows more time in Years 9 and 10 for deeper investigation of content and the development and application of historical skills and concepts. This should help strengthen the transition to Stage 6 work. The ‘achievement standards’ of the national curriculum are presented as ‘stage statements’ in the NSW Syllabus, so despite the different terms, teachers of history across the country are aiming for the same standards.

While these statements inform teaching and learning programs, NSW teachers report student achievement in history for the Record of School Achievement using A-E grades based on the history course performance descriptors. These descriptors have been aligned to the stage 5 statement. It is important for teachers to be aware of these key differences between the Australian Curriculum: History and the NSW 7-10 History Syllabus when accessing and using online material relating to programming and assessment.

Challenges of implementation

Overviews

Overviews are designed to provide a context for the depth studies to be undertaken. There are two overviews for each stage. Teachers should spend around 10% of teaching time on the overviews, i.e. 5 hours per year or 10 hours per stage. An overview can be taught separately, as an introduction to the depth studies to be taught in a semester or a year; it can be split to provide separate introductions to different depth studies; or parts of an overview can be integrated into a Depth Study.

Last year many teachers found they spent too much time on the overviews. Useful strategies for dealing with overviews include informed teacher exposition, activities based on relevant websites or audio visual material, together with a skeletal timeline that can be added to as the depth studies progress.

Historical concepts

The key historical concepts, continuity and change, cause and effect, perspectives, empathetic understanding, significance and contestability, will be familiar to experienced teachers of history. They are the underpinning ‘big ideas’ of history; they provide a focus for historical investigation, a framework for organising historical information and a guide for developing historical understanding.

The new NSW syllabus prominently features these concepts at the beginning of each stage and provides a K-10 continuum suggesting how students might develop and demonstrate their understanding of the concepts. Teachers do not need to feature all the concepts within each Depth Study, but should choose those that are most relevant and can be integrated most appropriately into each Depth Study. By the end of each stage, each historical concept should have been featured at least once. The Australian Curriculum History Units website, www.achistoryunits.edu.au, provides additional explanation and strategies for teaching these important key concepts.

New content in Stage 4

This is the second year of implementation for Year 7 and most teachers have accommodated the new syllabus quite readily and are now consolidating and refining their programs and resources. The historical skills to be taught will be familiar to teachers and the six depth studies for Stage 4 present little change in content from the previous syllabus, apart from two areas that teachers may not have taught previously:

Depth Study 1 Investigating the Ancient Past requires a study of sources relating to ancient Australia and related heritage issues. The website www.achistoryunits.edu.au has a ‘ready to go’ learning sequence that supports this study very well;
Depth Study 3 ‘The Asian World’ requires a study of either China or India.

Depth Study 6 Expanding Contacts, elective 6d, ‘Aboriginal and Indigenous Peoples, Colonisation and Contact History’, requires a comparison of the nature and impact of colonisation in Australia and one other country. This study, mandatory under the previous syllabus, is no longer mandatory, although many teachers continue to teach it as it provides important knowledge and understanding and a solid foundation for Stage 5.

New content and approaches in Stage 5

Depth Study 1 Making a better world? features three new elective topics from which teachers choose one: ‘The Industrial Revolution’, ‘Movement of peoples’ or ‘Progressive ideas and movements.’ This has required teachers to research and develop new programs and to take a more global approach than required by the previous syllabus. Each topic links the relevant global theme to aspects of Australian history.

Depth Study 2 Australia and Asia is in fact Australia or Asia. Teachers will be familiar with most of the content of the ‘Making a nation’ elective from the old syllabus, but those who choose ‘Asia and the world’, will need to develop new programs and resources for a study of the key features of one Asian society from 1750.

Two of the four depth studies are mandatory: Depth Study 3, Australians at War and Depth Study 4 Rights and Freedoms 1945 – present. Depth Study 5, The Globalising World offers three electives: ‘Popular Culture’, ‘the Environment Movement’ and ‘Migration experiences’. All studies contain some content that will be familiar from the old syllabus. However the new studies include a wider range of Australian and international issues, and once again emphasise a more global perspective. This approach is reflected in the broad nature of the syllabus outcomes.

The NSW syllabus requires only four of the six Depth Studies in Stage 5 to be undertaken and mandates only two of these. Schools have the opportunity to develop a Depth Study of their own (Depth Study 6), based on content drawn from either of the stage 5 overviews – together with relevant outcomes, skills and concepts. Many schools are opting to update their existing units on Australia in the Vietnam War era, while others are developing a Depth Study on the Holocaust.

Depth Study 3: Australians at War

Depth Study 3 Australians at War has been a challenge for some Year 9 teachers. The study examines aspects of the experiences of Australians in World War I and World War II. Teachers may approach the wars as separate studies or they may be taught as a comparative study. It is not meant to be a senior level study of both wars. The changing scope and nature of warfare and the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are new areas. However most of the content echoes the old syllabus, including commemoration and the nature of the ANZAC legend, a topic of special significance this year.

It is important to note that teachers do not need to go into great depth on every content dot point. While some invite deeper source study, others can be treated with a simple graph or mapping exercise. The syllabus does not require each content point to be given equal weight and there is flexibility in the way content can be sequenced. For example, Gallipoli could double as the ‘specific campaign’ for World War I and the evacuation from Gallipoli could be the ‘specific event/incident’. This would help ensure there is not too much overlap with the study of World War I undertaken in Stage 6. With only two Depth Studies to be completed in Year 9, there should be more time for students to develop and apply the relevant skills and concepts to their investigation of the content. This should help them attain the target syllabus outcomes.

Depth Study 4: Rights and Freedoms

The temptation with this mandatory study is to spend too much time on the USA civil rights experience at the expense of the strong history of activism by Aboriginal Australians and their supporters in their struggle for rights and freedoms. The NSW Freedom Ride, inspired by events in the USA, was an important event – but it was only one in more than a century of Aboriginal activism which needs to be acknowledged. There is a global dimension to this study which includes the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as current efforts to secure civil rights and freedoms in Australia and throughout the world. In developing programs teachers need to allocate an appropriate proportion of lessons to the Australian, US and global dimensions of the study. As with all depth studies, teachers have the flexibility in developing their programs to arrange the content in a way that suits the approach they would like to take. There is no requirement to teach the content in the order that it appears on the pages of the syllabus.

Professional learning opportunities

The Centre for Professional Learning and the History Teachers Association of NSW are conducting professional development days in Sydney and regional areas to familiarise teachers with the requirements of the new syllabus and to share programming, teaching and assessment strategies. Check the CPL and HTA websites for dates and venues. Teaching History, HTA’s journal, regularly publishes articles, programs and teaching ideas for the new syllabus.

Kate Cameron has had extensive experience in public schools as a teacher and head teacher and in universities as a teacher educator. She has published a number of textbooks and journal articles on history and history teaching for primary and secondary teachers. She currently supports teachers through her work as Regional Officer for the History Teachers Association of NSW and as presenter for the Centre for Professional Learning.

Engaging reluctant readers: some ideas for upper primary and junior secondary classrooms

Deb McPherson has advice that will allow you to enthuse even your most reluctant readers…

What might truly grab your reluctant readers?

Background

Research detailed in “An Exceptional Schooling Outcomes Project 2001-2006”(AESOP) (Sawyer, Brock & Baxter, 2007) into what happens in effective classrooms had something to say about “Lower ability” students in English. It showed that such students in those effective classrooms were not confronted by a sole diet of functional literacy, pen and paper activities, comprehension and vocabulary work, but also (my italics) “engaged with IT, media, novels, poetry”.

Classroom strategies

Dr Jackie Manuel at Sydney University has highlighted the importance of choice — the need for students to have some say in the texts selected for study and enjoyment. Her paper, Effective Strategies to Address the Needs of Adolescents 13+ Experiencing Difficulty with Reading: A Review of the Literature (2003), is available online at http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/middleyears/assets/pdf/jmanuelres.pdf and sets out a range of excellent strategies to “enable” students in the classroom. If, as teachers, we give students the opportunities to write their own texts, to find some of their own texts (using book boxes, library visits/displays and web searches for example), if we position them as writers, readers and viewers worthy of respect and give them time to explore digital and multi-modal texts as well as print texts then we should see increased engagement.

Letting students hear from their peers or older students about the excitement and joys of literature can also really inspire engagement. One strategy is to invite students from other classes who have read or viewed engaging texts and ask them to promote those texts to your class. Such a strategy can also provide models of articulate speaking for younger students. It could also provide a great link between primary feeder schools and their high schools. Using audio versions and book trailers are a key way to increase student interest as well.

Below is a grid showing a small selection of old and new texts that could be effective “hooks” in the classroom in engaging disaffected or resistant students. Texts can move up and down the school years based on the needs and interests of your students. The table is prefaced with a few reviews as a start in opening up the list. Other reviews are available online at the BOSTES site at http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/english/english-k10/suggested-texts/ or in the Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) journal English in Australia.

Digital text for Years 6-9 students

Inanimate Alice http://www.inanimatealice.com

Inanimate Alice represents an epiphany of sorts for me; a turning point in my understanding of the amazing appeal of the digital text.

Inanimate Alice was created to be read and viewed online. This interactive novel was created as a story that unfolds over time and on multiple platforms. As the website says it, “uses text, images, music, sound effects, puzzles and games to illustrate and enhance the narrative.” Education Services Australia, Bradfield Company Productions, Promethean Planet and Everloop are some of the players involved in its creation.

Inanimate Alice is the story of Alice at different times in her life as she travels with her parents around the world. Her story is told over increasingly interactive and complex episodes. As Alice grows older the story’s duration becomes longer and more sophisticated and the interactivity becomes more demanding. In episode one, set in China, Alice is eight and the episode lasts five minutes. Alice’s father has gone missing and she and her mother set out to find him. In those five minutes you share Alice’s anxiety about her father, you travel in the four wheel drive with her mother through confusing and intimidating landscapes, your sense of time is challenged and you too can seek refuge in the games and puzzles Alice plays as the journey continues.

In episode two, set in Italy, Alice is ten and the viewing time lengthens. In episode three, in Russia, Alice is growing up. She is thirteen and hiding in an apartment from some sinister figures who are making trouble for her father. It feels like you are in the closet with her. It takes at least fifteen minutes to participate in this episode. In episode four, Alice is fourteen and the reader/viewer finds her in Great Britain. In this thirty-minute episode Alice is settled in a school and delighted that her school has boys, lots and lots of boys! As I read, viewed, listened to, (and participated in) the episodes I felt quite drawn into this new medium for storytelling.

Inanimate Alice is a sure-fire way to engage and stimulate students. Students will enjoy and be challenged by the text that will also support their literary, cinematic, and artistic literacies. With edgy music, mesmerizing video and graphics, embedded puzzles and games, and an invitation to participate in the story, how could it miss? This digital text comes with extensive teaching ideas and materials that are freely available online. Set aside some time to read, view and experience Inanimate Alice and you won’t be disappointed. Neither will your students. There is now an exciting new episode to explore in which Alice is sixteen and an aspiring game designer. She finds that the, “so-called stable hometown life she yearned for is far from perfect. Bored and restless, she skates into deep trouble.” A trailer is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvQ09_nm09Q and there is a facebook group of teachers from all around the world sharing ideas on Inanimate Alice online at https://www.facebook.com/groups/316194721922364/

Fiction for Year 7/8 students

Patrick Ness: A Monster Calls (2011) Walker Books

Ever since I picked up A Monster Calls and read it I have not been able to get it out of my head. It has joined a special company of unforgettable books in my life. I can remember the time and place when I first read it, the profound emotions it evoked and the desire it provoked to tell everyone I knew about this magnificent book.

In the novel, thirteen-year-old Conor’s mother is dying but Conor will not admit this terrible truth and suffers headaches and nightmares because of the conflict in his heart and life. One night, Conor hears his name being called. Gripping his bedroom window is the yew tree from the graveyard on the hill that has transformed into a massive and menacing monster. The extended illustration on pages 14-17 showing the force and frightening dimensions of this monster is amazing. But is Conor frightened and overcome? “Shout all you want” he says, “I’ve seen worse.” And of course he has — as he watches his mother decline into the grip of her disease. But the monster is not finished with Conor, and, over several combative nights he tells Conor stories – stories that lead him and the reader to the final, exquisite line in the book.

Irish writer Siobhan Dowd had the idea for this book but sadly died of cancer before she could write it. The publisher asked Patrick Ness if he could write it and his author’s note and dedication to Siobhan adds another aspect to explore in this remarkable book. Myth and life and death have rarely been so powerfully combined.

Jim Kay’s illustrations, his black and white drawings and washes, sometimes extending across three pages, other times a smudged fingerprint or a tangle of lines, are just extraordinary. His partnership with Ness and the great care and respect Walker Books have taken with the production of this text add to its magic. This masterpiece of storytelling won both the Carnegie and Greenway medals in 2012, the only book to do so. A haunting trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEX5g6c7ueE is a wonderful way to hook them. An audio version, read by Jason Isaacs is currently available from Book Depository for $15.87. There is also a podcast of Patrick Ness reading a part of his book and answering questions at http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/audio/2011/may/05/patrick-ness-childrens-book-monster-podcast

Addictive thrillers for Years 7 and 8

Gabrielle Lord: Conspiracy 365 Book One: January (2010) Scholastic Book one of a series of twelve books: January, February, March, April, May, June July, August, September, October, November and December.

This series has just about everything you have ever seen or read in a thriller and then some more! I started Book One: January on the 3rd of January 2011, as it seemed appropriate, and I was hooked! Over the following few days I managed to get ten of the twelve read. The series provided a relentless ride through murder, kidnapping, mystery and a staggering number of chase sequences that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Callum Ormond is on the run, accused of the attempted murder of his uncle and sister. But in reality it is a criminal gang who are after him and the secret his dead father tried to communicate to him in drawings just before his death. The Ormond Riddle entails great wealth, danger and death and Callum has to survive for 365 days to find out the answers to the clues his father has left him and solve the Ormond Singularity Puzzle. His good mate Boges is a constant support with technology, food and shelter and the mysterious Winter plays a sometimes ambiguous role as a fellow seeker after truth and ultimately good friend.

Gabrielle Lord also wrote the riveting novel Fortress, about a teacher and group of school children that turn against their sadistic attackers. She has lost none of her edge.

These novels are brisk, accessible and persuasive, including multiple cliff-hangers and enough tautness to keep any reader happy. They would be a great series to entice disengaged readers in Years 7 and 8 but good readers love them too. Buy multiple copies and watch the reading and discussion begin. It’s all over the top but well written and very exciting.

There is a Conspiracy 365 website to explore at http://conspiracy365.com.au/index.php and a television series. The use of graphics, texting and blogs within each book provides a contemporary context and added teaching and learning opportunities. The reader follows as the pages count down to 3, 2, 1. This is a timely reminder of the tension in the book as you are always racing to the finish as if a bomb is about to go off — and quite a few do!

Fiction for Year 9 students

Louis Nowra Prince of Afghanistan (2015) Allen & Unwin

It’s wonderful to see another young adult novel by Louis Nowra. His Into that Forest was one of the best books in 2013 and Prince of Afghanistan is a terrific read, especially for those less engaged boys in Years 8 and 9.

Nineteen-year-old Mark and Prince are alone in Afghanistan after a combined Australian/American mission goes badly wrong. The three kidnapped doctors are safely helicoptered away but Mark sees his friend Casey killed as the second helicopter sent to pick up the remaining soldiers explodes under Taliban fire. Casey’s dog, Prince, is alive but wounded and Mark decides to find a way back to base through enemy territory for both of them.

Prince is a Doberman pinscher who has been trained to detect buried mines and he and his handler Casey had a close relationship. The explosion deafens both Mark and Prince and Mark must use the sense of touch to try and bind Prince to him. Their journey back under cover of darkness will take days and as they are both wounded and have few rations it will be difficult and dangerous as well.

Nowra is a wonderful writer and the tension and drama of Mark and Prince’s story never slackens. Mark’s memories provide flashbacks to his growing up and teenage years. The death of his mother, his own adolescent drug addition to marijuana and the retreat of his father are succinctly conveyed. Nowra captures the tough life, despair and daily rituals of people in a war-torn country and his ability to create such a convincing setting adds verisimilitude to the tale. This is traditional storytelling at its best as Nowra charts the growing bond between the wounded man and his dog. Evocative full-page photographs of Afghanistan introduce most chapters and there is one of Prince that is very appealing. From its opening line, “I am falling from the sky” to its powerful ending this is a text Year 9 students will be happy to explore in most classrooms. It could also be used towards the end of Year 8.

View a table of texts for disengaged students

Deb McPherson taught English in NSW government secondary schools for twenty-eight years as a classroom teacher, Head Teacher and Deputy Principal. She was a member of the committee selecting texts for the Higher School Certificate English courses for over fifteen years. She worked as a Senior Curriculum Officer, English, at the Board of Studies and as the Manager of English for the NSW Department of Education and Training. She has been a lecturer and tutor at the University of Newcastle and at the University of Wollongong. She is an author of four anthologies for schools for OUP and co-authored Choices for English, a collection of recommended texts for the 7-12 English classroom with Helen Sykes and Ernie Tucker. Her review column, ‘Reading and Viewing with Deb McPherson’, appears in the AATE journal, English in Australia.

Using Formative Assessment Practices to Lift Student Achievement

Joanne Jarvis looks at the positive power of sound assessment …

Research has shown that assessment is a critical part of the teaching and learning process. This statement may appear self-evident, however, this article will argue that, when teachers adopt a deliberate approach to using formative assessment practices, they will have a significant, positive impact on student achievement.

There are numerous definitions of formative assessment but perhaps the definition offered by Black (2014) is the most useful. “Assessment refers to all of those activities undertaken by teachers, and by their students in assessing themselves, which provide information to be used as feedback to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessment becomes “formative assessment’ when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet the needs.” Marzano (2012) also describes formative assessment as a process as opposed to a specific task.

Professor John Hattie (2009) has provided evidence to support the view that there will be a noticeable difference to educational outcomes as a result of participating in a variety of formative assessment practices. He considers an effect size of greater than 0.4 to have a significant effect on student learning outcomes. The following teacher practices are among the top strategies listed (Hattie 2009, Appendix B):

• providing formative evaluation (effect size – 0.90);
• feedback (effect size – 0.73);
• questioning (effect size – 0.46).

One could argue that these practices regularly occur, however, researchers (see Black 2014) suggest that student information gained from this form of assessment does not necessarily lead to changes in teaching practice in the absence of teacher self-evaluation of lessons. This situation can be overcome by weaving formative assessment as a natural process in everyday lessons. Black (2014) certainly supports this notion when he described formative assessment as “the heart of effective teaching.”

A useful source that can be used to reinforce the importance of improving our approach to assessment is the section entitled Assessment For, As and Of Learning on the Board of Studies website. These principles are clear, sensible and reinforce effective teaching practice. When you immerse yourself in the understanding that assessment is something that you do every time you teach, rather than only the ‘bit’ at the end of a unit of work for the purpose of making a summative judgement, then you have become more proficient in formative assessment and likely to be making a significant difference to lifting student achievement.

Following are a collection of teaching strategies and approaches that may be used to foster formative assessment in classrooms. They have been collected over many years from a wide range of sources and colleagues.

Self-Assessment is an essential component of formative assessment. For it to be effective, students must be clear about: the outcome(s) they are to achieve; the standard against which their work is assessed; the ways they can improve. Students need to be trained in becoming effective at assessing their own work (Sadler 1989). Students can be taught this skill from Kindergarten; after all, they are born with the capacity to reflect upon their own learning. How else do babies ultimately teach themselves to walk?

Using a ‘traffic light’ technique is an effective way of incorporating self-assessment into learning. This can be in the form of coloured stickers, or highlighter marks adjacent to syllabus outcomes or assessment tasks, to indicate student confidence in each area: green (know well), amber (semi-confident) or red (struggling). This can lead to further discussion or self-reflection. Setting a revision quiz on the syllabus points which attract a red sticker is a useful way for students to accept responsibility for learning this material and will enable teachers to evaluate student progress and adjust teaching practice. Black (2013) has some good suggestions about this technique.

Individual teachers and indeed schools, can implement formal self assessment practices by having students complete a self reflection sheet whenever they submit a formal assessment task.

Peer Assessment works on the principle, ‘to teach is to know’. It ensures that students engage with the marking criteria as well as their peer’s response. It enables them to develop skills in the analysis and communication of ideas. Peer assessment is highly effective when students are asked to write back to their peer with constructive suggestions for improvements. Naturally, students need to be taught how to write in an environment of trust so that their comments are viewed as helpful. Sadler (1998 in Black 2013) argues that feedback offered by peers can be quite valuable because it is often written in a way that students can understand.

Questioning – research clearly shows that effective questioning is poorly used as a means of formative assessment. On average, teachers wait 2-3 seconds after asking a question before answering it themselves (Rowe 1974 in Black 2013). As a consequence, questions are often simplistic, seek factual as opposed to analytical responses, and students tend not to answer. Imagine if we waited and allowed thinking time? Not only would this enable time for students to think deeply, either individually, in pairs, or in groups, but it will also give teachers vital information about those students who may be struggling with a particular concept. Distributing questions to all students is an important consideration if teachers are to assess understanding of concepts from all students.

It takes time to develop skills in questioning. There are a multitude of articles freely available on this topic. Consider developing a bank of questions that are designed to illicit deep thinking prior to a lesson. Two examples come to mind:

I recently heard Professor Wayne Sawyer (Head of Education, University of Western Sydney) describe a History lesson in which he was an observer. He saw the teacher start their first lesson on the Russian Revolution with a timeline of the events that led to the revolution in 1917. The teacher began by asking students to consider the moments listed in the timeline that might have been critical turning points in the lead up to the revolution. This question led to immediate discussion about the nature of revolutions and the impact of personalities. It is certainly a more engaging way to involve students at the start of a complex topic.
I recently had the good fortune to teach a Year 7 History class their first lesson on the Qin dynasty. I used a map of China showing the outline of the borders of a unified Qin dynasty and my first question, after an introduction to the topic, was “what needed to have occurred for the leader of the Qin dynasty to unite seven other warring states with each other?” I asked them to discuss with each other before accepting responses. Their answers showed a surprising level of understanding, which was a result of having the time to think.

My second question was “what sort of leader would be required to keep the dynasty united?” They identified interesting traits about good leadership, which helped them to subsequently understand the reasons why the Qin dynasty did not last as long as others. Despite only teaching this class for two lessons, using questions allowed me to compare notes with the teacher about the students who appeared to struggle as well as those whom were rather exuberant in their responses.

Questioning is a highly effective way of building formative assessment into teaching practice and when thoughtfully considered, can lead to improved learning outcomes. Hattie (2009) provides further comment on the importance of questioning as a formative assessment tool in his book “Visible Learning” (p. 182).

Feedback – “When asked to provide evidence and guidance on enhancing the quality of teaching and student performance, I’m usually equivocal about advocating quick fixes … In the case of feedback, however, I’m prepared to state categorically that if you focus on providing students with improved, quality feedback in individual classrooms, departments and schools you’ll have an almost immediate positive effect.” (Steve Dinham 2008)

A great deal has been written about the importance of feedback as a means of lifting student achievement. In fact, Hattie (2009 p.173) describes feedback as “among the most powerful influences on student achievement”. Well-meaning teachers writing copious amounts of feedback on assessment tasks can spend many hours marking but as Butler (1988 in Black 2013) argues, “it is the nature, rather than the amount, that is critical when giving students feedback on both oral and written work.”

A final observation is that students’ learning can be advanced by feedback through comments; the giving of marks – or grades – has a negative effect in that students ignore comments when marks are also given.” (Butler 1988 in Black 2013). Further useful information is provided on this topic in (Black 2013 p.8).

In the spirit of offering some practical ways of complying with the research comments outlined above, the following are suggestions for consideration:

Provide individualised verbal feedback on a piece of writing or oral task during the course of a lesson while other students are working;
Give students’ comments only and wait at least a day before giving any summative mark or grade. This allows time for students to self-assess based on teacher comments;
Ensure that any comments not only say what has been done well but also what needs to be done to improve;
Establish a marking information sheet to share with the entire class and provide whole-class feedback using models of student work;
Prior to distributing a task to students, ensure that marking guidelines are discussed and clearly linked to task requirements. Annotate the marking guidelines to ensure that students know what they must demonstrate. The teacher writes comments on the task and upon returning it to students (without marks), requires that they use different coloured highlighters to identify key areas. For example, where they showed analysis, synthesis, or used evidence. Students then align their own findings with a description in the marking guidelines and allocate their own mark/grade. The teacher provides their own judgement the next lesson. In my experience, teacher and student judgement often align.

There are a broad range of teaching strategies that can be used to effectively implement formative assessment practices. When these are delivered in a planned and deliberate manner, teachers will have a significant, positive impact on student learning outcomes.

Joanne Jarvis has taught extensively across NSW government schools and has worked for the NSW Board of Studies. She is currently Principal of Engadine HS.

Bibliography
NSW Board of Studies. Assessment For, As and Of Learning. http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/assessment-for-as-and-o…

Paul Black & Dylan William (1998). (reprinted 2014 with updates) Inside the Black Box. Hawker Brownlow Education, Victoria.

Paul Black et al. (2002-reprinted in 2013). Working Inside the Black Box. Hawker Brownlow Education, Victoria.

Paul Black et al. (2013) Inside the Black Box of Assessment. Hawker Brownlow Education, Victoria.

Dinham, Steve. (2008). How To Get Your School Moving and Improving. ACER Press.

Hattie, John. (2009). Visible Learning – A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London: Routledge.

Hattie, John. (2012). Visible Learning For Teachers – Maximizing Impact on Learning. NY: Routledge.

Marzano & Heflebower (2012). Teaching & Assessing 21st Century Skills. Marzano Research Laboratory, Bloomington USA.

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Louis Nowra Prince of Afghanistan (2015) Allen & Unwin

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