Enews 5th June - Vol 4 no 4
Edited by Keith Redman
Topics covered in this edition include:
- The Intergenerational Youth Compact: An update
- New ANSN Snapshot from Research
- Introducing a new ANSN Networker
- Report from the Embedding IWBs into the Curriculum HUB
- Curriculum Planning/Coaching program: report on progress
- Curriculum Design: Breaking Down the Walls
- Bee Bots and Wonderful Readers workshops
- Dimensions of Learning (DoL) Brisbane
- Dimensions of Learning (DoL) Advanced Hub workshop report
- Report on Dimensions of Learning in the Northern Territory
- Further opportunities in Dimensions of Learning (DoL)
- Some interesting reading
- Reminders of ANSN activities, introduced in previous editions of E-News
The Intergenerational
Youth Compact (IYC): An update
In 2008, ANSN and the
University of Western Sydney co-operated in the presentation of ANSN’s
3rd national forum: An International Youth Compact (reported at the
time in E-News Vol 3, No 10, 8 Sept 2008). The forum was highly
successful and led to a presentation of the outcomes to the House of
Representatives Committee for Education and Training, which has
established an inquiry titled Combining school and work: Supporting
successful youth transitions. By the end of May, 2009, the inquiry had
received 58 submissions, including ANSN’s.
Ongoing work with the IYC has been led by Dr Margaret Vickers (see
below), Director of the ANSN Board and Professor of Education at
University of Western Sydney (UWS).
Compacts
have been established around the country. Margaret Vickers and Viv
White, ANSN National Coach, have presented a number of related
seminars. ANSN has encouraged teachers, parents, employers and schools
to make submissions to the House of Representatives Committee. Students
have been asked to check into the Inquiry web-site (see address below),
and there complete a short questionnaire, designed to tap into their
experiences. For information about, and submissions to the House of
Representatives Inquiry, go to www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/edt/schoolandwork.
To read or download the
ANSN submission, Click
here
On 10 May 2009, Margaret Vickers presented a paper at the national VET
conference held in the ACT. A text version of this paper, prepared for
ANSN, is entitled Recession Politics and the Need for an International
Youth Compact. In the paper she reflects on the new political and
economic context for senior secondary education, and comments on the
potential impact of recent national policy decisions.
To read or download the paper click here.
New ANSN Snapshot from
Research
In recent years, ANSN
has published a number of Snapshots, in which practitioners have
written about what they do in the classroom. The new Snapshot, now
available on the ANSN website, offers a different perspective.
The author, Dr Julianne Lynch (see below) is a Senior Lecturer at
Deakin University and a member of the research team for the national
Gender and Information Technology (GaIT) project – which has been
supported by ANSN.
In ANSN Snapshot from Research No.1
for 2009, she reports on findings from the project, drawing our
attention to a number of issues, which include:
the declining student interest in studying Information Technology (IT)
subjects;
the persistent gender gap in enrolments in IT subjects at school and
university; and issues related to school IT education that might
contribute to the gender gap and to the more general decline in
participation in this area of study.
She also outlines some strategies that might be implemented to increase
boys’ and girls’ interest and participation in school IT education.
To
read or download this Snapshot from Research, click here.
Introducing a new ANSN
Networker
Jacquita Miller (below
left and, right, facilitating a workshop) has begun working as an ANSN
Networker with Hanan Harrison and Tina Doe. All based in Queensland,
they provide services Australia-wide.
Jacquita is a teacher and educational leader with twenty years of
experience. As a trained secondary English, Film and Television and
Performing Arts teacher, Jacquita has held a range of leadership roles
in schools and Districts in Queensland. Currently, she is a part-time
deputy principal in a large multi-cultural urban secondary school in
Brisbane. Jacquita is particularly interested in helping schools embed
the Dimensions of Learning in practice – at classroom and whole-school
leadership levels. Through a frame of literacy, leadership and
management, Jacquita says that she “offers practical and relevant
experience in applying theory to the exciting process of change in
schools”.
Report from the
Embedding IWBs into the Curriculum HUB
In the previous edition
of E-News, we reported that a new Embedding IWBs into the Curriculum
Hub was about to be launched for advanced users of IWBs. The hub has
now completed its first two days, based at St Albans South Primary
School in Victoria, with co-presenters Kate Cooper (ANSN National IWB
Networker, below left) and Deborah Vietri, author of The Essentials – A
Series for Enhancing an Integrated Curriculum and co-author of the
Mathematical Developmental Framework.
Kate and Deborah report that they really enjoyed the sessions, which
involved working with teachers from Primary, Secondary, DET, Catholic
and Private schools. The HUB looked at incorporating rich and rigorous
IWB activities into an inter-disciplinary/enquiry-based unit of work.
Hub members also used an IWB continuum to explore good pedagogy using
the IWB, and worked together to identify 'where we are at" and how to
move to the next stage (see below).
Participants responded enthusiastically to the mix of curriculum design
and practical IWB examples. Participant feedback included the following
comments:
“The IWB Framework gave us a goal to work towards in our schools/
teams/ classrooms."
“It was great to merge the ICT skills of IWB with rich curriculum
ideas.”
“The program covers both pedagogy and technology in practical ways and
in a supportive environment.”
For further information about these sessions or to express interest in
future opportunities to work with IWB Hubs – either for advanced users
or beginners – email Kate at kate.cooper@ansn.edu.au
Curriculum
Planning/Coaching program: report on progress
Gavin Grift (ANSN
Curriculum Planning Hub Leader, below left and, centre, in a workshop)
reports that Kingsley Park and Pearcedale Primary School, on the
Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, have joined the Curriculum Planning
Coaching program. Both schools have worked with the Curriculum Planning
Hub since 2007 and are now involved in building their long, medium and
short term curriculum planning process.
Through working in Professional Learning Teams, both schools are
investigating the use of Common Formative Assessment Tasks, to improve
student results and the explicit link that this has with planning. Part
of this model is based on the ANSN Action Learning cycle (above right).
With support from a school-based Cognitive Coach and their Leadership
Team, the schools are developing
an approach to curriculum planning that:
- links what is learnt explicitly to both the teaching and the planning
- explores the educational beliefs that underpin their planning
- connects the purpose for learning explicitly to teacher process
- identifies the key concepts, knowledge and skills that are non-negotiable across numeracy and literacy
- challenges assumptions about Integrated Curriculum and builds shared understanding
- promotes the concept of “less is more”
- reflects instructional frameworks in both documentation and delivery
- supports differentiated instruction with explicit teaching; and
- promotes the concept of Curriculum Mapping
Both schools are
learning how challenging adapting a whole school approach to curriculum
planning can be. Some of the key considerations being addressed through
the work include how we build common language, shared understandings
and an agreed approach to planning that supports teachers authentically
in the classroom to make a difference to student achievement.
If your would like to contact these schools or hear more about the
work, email
gavin.grift@ansn.edu.au
or contact Gavin Grift on his mobile at 0409 110 050.
Curriculum Design:
Breaking Down the Walls
Breaking Down the Walls
is a new 3-day learning opportunity, designed to support teachers to
develop deeper levels of understanding about how curriculum that
involves community partnerships, and takes learning beyond the
classroom boundaries, can strengthen teaching and learning in
significant ways.
The program, which reflects the six phases of the “Teaching to Learn,
Learning to Teach” curriculum planning process, is being delivered by
Megan Parker, a Deputy Principal and ANSN Networker, and Gavin Grift,
ANSN Networker for Curriculum Planning. It emphasises methods that lead
to “depth of learning” rather than “coverage of material” and is
designed to help manage tensions between negotiated curriculum and
teacher-directed instruction. More in the next edition of E-News.
The program will be presented at Williamstown Primary School, Victoria,
on 17 and 18 August 2009, with a final day on 9 November.
For further details, and to register, click here.
Bee Bot and Wonderful
Readers workshops
Lynda Page (below left),
who has recently extended her work as an ANSN Networker, reports that
her one-day Bee Bot workshops in Tasmania have been very well received.
The next edition of E-News will include photos and stories from these
sessions.
In June, on the 5th and 19th, Lynda is presenting a Developing
Wonderful readers workshop. She comments that this is “a fabulous way
to integrate ICT into the early years”. Participants look at
multiliteracies and how to apply these in a classroom setting, not only
to help emergent readers, but also as a highly effective tool to
motivate reluctant readers in the older year levels. She comments that
currently she is also running a spin-off of these sessions in a Year 6
classroom, where she describes the excitement level as “amazing … I
have never seen students so keen to write before.”
The next Developing Wonderful Readers workshop has been re-scheduled to
avoid a clash of dates with the Victorian state schools’ planned
curriculum day. It will now be held on 24 and 27 July, at Williamstown
Primary School. To
register, click here.
For further information on what the workshops offer, click here. To
express interest in future opportunities to participate in Lynda’s
Developing Wonderful Readers workshops, click here.
Dimensions of Learning
(DoL) Brisbane:
Hanan Harrison and Tina
Doe (ANSN Networkers, see below, left and right), report that the
Dimensions of Learning (DoL) workshops and hubs presented by ANSN have
gained rapid recognition as an opportunity for educators to engage in
professional dialogue and learning about how students learn.
In recent weeks, the ANSN has delivered a number of DoL learning
opportunities including:
- the DoL Hub at Nyanda SHS in Brisbane – where educators participate in a 5-day action learning hub over the year, aimed at constructing knowledge about the how and what of DoL;
- the first of a series of Advanced Dimensions of Learning Hubs at Nudgee College – which aim to extend and refine educators’ viewpoints on DoL, in relation to implementation and planning (see report below)
- a number of personalised professional development and planning days for whole staff, presented at schools in Melbourne, Brisbane and Darwin.
One of the best indicators of the success of a professional learning
program is when you see schools sending repeat teams to participate and
experience a particular learning journey. In the case of our DoL hubs,
2009 is the second year that we have offered the 5 day action learning,
and 3 of our 10 participating schools in South East Queensland, at the
Nyanda Hub, were also involved in our inaugural hubs. Some of the
challenges the teachers were exposed to in the first two days of the
current Hub activities involved them placing themselves in the role of
a learner; to explore and reflect on research-based strategies that
help students acquire and integrate knowledge. Some of the strategies
included relationship development, collaborative learning, explicit
vocabulary development and ways to use the senses to help construct
understanding. The remaining hub dates at Nyanda SHS are 22 & 23
July and 4 September
If you would like to find out about any of these activities, or the
options available to you, your school or your cluster of schools,
contact either Hanan Harrison hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au
or Tina Doe tina.doe@ansn.edu.au
Dimensions of Learning
(DoL) Advanced Hub workshop report
Tina Doe, ANSN
Networker, reports that in May she facilitated the first two days of
the Advanced 3-day Dimensions of Learning Hub at Nudgee College in
Brisbane.
Participants reported that they liked the capacity to send a team of
staff members, who design a project. In that project, they target
identified priorities in the context of the site-specific Dimensions of
Learning journey. The work can be undertaken either as an individual or
group task. The final day of this Hub, on Monday 27 July, will provide
a showcase, where participants will share their project – its
conception, development and where they are at now.
This Advanced workshop also provides an opportunity for educators who
currently use DoL as their learning design framework to enhance their
classroom practice through an alignment of curriculum, pedagogy and
assessment. Participants worked to consolidate their knowledge about
the DoL framework and to extend and refine their use through activities
where they thought interdependently in order to construct their own
graphic organisers, to represent each of the 5 dimensions (see below).
Of the 18 participants, 16 gave feedback in the highest category for
satisfaction after the first 2 days of this hub.
.
Feedback included the following.
Excellent practical ideas to implement.
It is great to know that you are there to support us after today.
For further details or
queries, contact Tina at tina.doe@ansn.edu.au
Report on Dimensions of Learning in the Northern Territory
Darwin Middle School
(below left, with a group working on the conceptualisation of
procedures) and Dripstone Middle School (below right, where
participants reflect, using their learning logs) each engaged in a
2-day professional learning with Hanan Harrison. Dripstone Middle
School used their 2 days to extend and refine their understanding of
DoL, as a follow-up from their participation in the ANSN DoL hub in
2008 and also a previous 1 day teacher professional development day.
For Darwin Middle School, who are starting their DoL journey, their 2
days involved unpacking the dimensions, examining and reflecting on
their own practice to make connections between what the school and
teachers are currently doing and how this translates to effective
teaching in DoL.
Feedback from participants included the following.
It was great to get inspired and motivated.
I am excited about the possibilities of where this could lead.
I will go away and think about concepts and teaching strategies that may have lapsed due to various reasons, eg, perceptions students have towards me; my expectations and relationships with difficult and at risk students.
Further opportunities in
Dimensions of Learning (DoL)
The table below provides details of future scheduled DoL Hub activities
and workshops, both at introductory and advanced level, and also
specific to Setting the Stage opportunities which focus on Dimensions 1
and 5 (Habits of Mind).
For further details or queries, contact Tina at tina.doe@ansn.edu.au
Some interesting reading
Both the following items
were located through Australian Policy Online. First, Hyam Rubinstein,
from the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute has written a
report addressing the shortage of mathematics graduates and teachers in
Australia, as well as a perceived decline in the quality of mathematics
education. The report calls for a national strategy to combat these
issues and their ramifications for young mathematics students, and also
suggests that the lack of appropriately qualified teachers needs to be
addressed. To download or read the full text of the report, go to http://apo.org.au/research/national-strategy-mathematical-sciences-australia
Inge Kral, from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research has
written a paper arguing that the literacy debate rarely addresses the
critical social and historical factors that also account for why
literacy levels among remote Indigenous youth are lower than their
mainstream counterparts. To download or read the full text of the
report, go to http://apo.org.au/research/literacy-remote-indigenous-australia
Reminders of ANSN
activities, introduced in previous editions of E-News
Digi Kids Hubs
planned for Darwin
ANSN is inviting applications or expressions of interest for
participation in a Digi Kids Hub in the Northern Territory (Darwin).
If your school is interested, send an email to hanan.harrison@ansn.edu.au
or call Hanan’s mobile on 0407 464 472.
2009 Hubs for Improving Science Literacy
ANSN Hubs are being planned for all states and territories across
Australia, to bring together research, theories of learning and
practical activities in the area of science literacy. For
further information, or to register your interest, click here and
download the flier.
Cognitive Coaching – Research Circle
The 2009 Cognitive Coaching Research Circle, now operating, is designed
to help schools build reflective communities, using action learning and
cognitive coaching to support changes in teacher pedagogy. For
further details, click here or email the Research Circle
Co-ordinator at gavin.grift@ansn.edu.au
Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) Hub, Victoria – Reminder of dates
For the three IWB Hubs that started in Term 1, the remaining session
dates are:
Group 1: 27 August, 12 November 2009
Group 2: 3 September; 19 November 2009
Group 3: 10 September, 26 November 2009
For further details, contact andrea.federico@ansn.edu.au
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