Assignment Submission Rates

It's that time of year again - report writing season. And as I sit here endlessly crafting the most parent-friendly report comments I can, I have been struck by a common thread across far too many of my students' results.... They don't submit assignments. I mean, I did know that already - it didn't take sitting down to write reports to realise - but I don't understand WHY? I was such a conscientious student that the thought of not submitting something never even occurred to me! But my students just don't care about assignments. Most of them would only submit an assignment if it was an in-class one. Inevitably homework or take-home assignments, if submitted, are late and not to the same standard as they would be if done at school - and that's if they're submitted at all. For one assignment in one class, I had less than a 30% submission rate. Which is making me think - is it me? Is there something I can do to improve this submission rate? Aside from doing all our assignments in class, which takes up so much valuable time, how else can I support my students to get their work done?? I've just started using Edmodo and I can see the potential for it to help keep students on track outside of the classroom... But I haven't quite wrapped my head around how to do that effectively. As well as that, many of my students are from low socio-economic backgrounds and I really can't rely on them having reliable internet access from home. We have a lunchtime homework club, which attracts appallingly low numbers - and the kids who come would submit their assignments anyway, so it's not really helping the ones who don't submit. I know other teachers who keep students in at lunch until their assignment is submitted - but that's a huge time commitment and a very negative-reinforcement way to approach the issue in my mind. I want to foster an understanding of the importance of assignments, and an intrinsic motivation to achieve, in my students rather than have them submit assignments simply to avoid some form of punishment. So what to dooooo?

New Year, New Kids

It's been quite a while since I got a chance to blog but I really value the opportunity to reflect on tools like this, so I'm going to try and keep up the habit - even if it's not terribly regularly.

I've been back at school for a month now, three weeks of which has been with my new classes. I'm teaching Year 7 again this year, which I think is great - a) because I like year 7s, they're still little and cute (to begin with) and b) because it's a great opportunity to consolidate everything I learned last year.

I have two classes, which are polar opposites. One of the classes has a high proportion of students with special needs, such as learning disorders and mental health issues. They've been challenging so far. Individually they're all nice kids - but as a group they can be a bit overwhelming. It is taking me a little while to work out, for instance, a harmonious seating arrangement. This week that has been really challenging but I think over time, and especially as I keep getting chances to build relationships with the kids, I'll probably grow to feel very "mother hen" about this particularly clutch.

My other class are completely different - a number of very bright students, a number of very funny students, a number of sweet and beautiful girls, and only one or two kids who push the point. These kids have asked great questions, laughed at my (often lame) jokes, and are the kind of class that do something every day that makes you smile.

I attended a PD recently on positive psychology, which I also studied at university, and it reminded me of the concept of a "Gratitude Journal". My family tried this many years ago, and I was enthusiastic but maybe too young to keep it up. So I thought I would try to keep this blog fairly positive, a place where I can remind myself of the things I am grateful for in my work.

So today, we had to put our very old and dottery cat down. She had racked up some serious mileage in pussycat years, and has lived a good life, so I'm trying not to let myself get too upset about having to let her go. However I spoke to my Mum on my lunch break and she was very upset, so I went out onto playground duty feeling a bit fragile.

As always happens to me on playground, the moment I walked out of the building doors I was surrounded by a special little subgroup of my students (past and present). They're the kids that crave some adult attention, that aren't too cool to hang with a teacher, the ones that want to hug you, the ones that will give you a Christmas card at the end of the year, the sort that somehow manage to clear the way to your heart even on the dark days. Somehow (and I'm still not sure how) they convinced me to play jump rope with them. Now, I was quite the dab hand at jump rope when I was their age - but that was 16 years ago!!!

So there I was, taking turns running in and out of a long jump rope in my high-visibility playground duty vest, struggling to keep my jeans from slipping down, trying to hold onto my key lanyard, getting out of breath and hot and just thinking... "how cool is this."

I love that my relationships with my students allows me to do things like this. Things like rapping the chorus of Eminem's "Slim Shady" off-the-cuff in class yesterday, having last years's students waiting at my classroom door to say hello when my new class walk out, having some others of last year's students trying to go undetected in my class as a prank.

It's so easy to focus on the hard stuff, the challenges, the heart-breaking stories, the lessons that don't go according to plan, the kids doing the wrong thing, the days that we walk out and think "Thank God that's over."

It's much harder to focus on the little tiny moments that lift you up. They're so minute sometimes they can go unnoticed - but they're so much more valuable in the long run.

Report Writing: An Exercise in Doublespeak

I feel dirty. I feel like an agent from Orwell's 1984; or like a modern day Australian politician. That's right; I am learning the art of report writing. The mastery of Doublespeak, Weasel Words and educationalese.

I am one-sixth of the way through my first report drafts. It's a slow process, that's for sure - although I am trying to be as efficient as I can be. The problem is learning how to express the unsavoury truth in the most savoury fashion possible - how to recast deficits in a positive light. How not to say "your child is a collosal pain in the rear and will probably end up being a trolley collector."

It's not all bad of course - there are a few shining lights - but in general I'm finding this process quite challenging. Definitely something that I feel underprepared for by my teacher education courses; and definitely a process I'll be working on improving next semester.

Week Six: Stress

Just a short entry today...

The kid I had hope about (last entry) has not reappeared in my class. Can't go into where he is but the longer he's away the more that hope I was building ebbs away. I can't make a difference if I don't see him :-(

Up to my ears in marking in preparation for writing reports. I was at school until 6pm today and only did a fraction of what I need to do. But I can't be too hard on myself - I was fairly productive in other areas during the time I HAD planned on marking. Still, need to find time to get all that marking done before I can write accurate report comments.

Gripe of the week: teacher registration. Paying an annual fee so that some brand new organisation can record my name as a qualified teacher. Um, sorry, but isn't that what my degree was for? Didn't I already pay through the nose for that qualification? And what exactly does registration get me? The right to work in a job I already have? Well that's fine then. Glad we've got that covered.

High: Got told by two students in two days that I was their favourite teacher. This means more from one than it does from the other - which sounds horrible but boils down to knowing the potential for making a difference differs between the two. One will do fine, with or without me. The other I see as being on something of a knife's edge - with some support and guidance I hope I can keep him on the right side of educational institutions. Without that support I can see him dropping off the other side. So being his favourite teacher is a pretty big deal.

Apologies for the telegraphic style tonight - must empty head before bed, but also don't have the time or inclination to unpack all these random thoughts in detail. This is just a snippet of my day today but if all I can reflect on is snippets, then 'tis snippets I shall reflect on. Until next time.

The Ups and Downs

What a week of ups and downs...

UP: We had an Open Night at school for prospective students and their parents this week, and two of my students spoke at the welcome ceremony. They did such a great job and I found myself absolutely bursting with pride. It was one of those moments that helps offset the hard days - they both rose to the challenge so well, and really represented us well.

DOWN: I had my first encounter with reporting suspected sexual abuse this week. That's not a good feeling at all. My heart really goes out to the family of this student - it must be every parent's worst nightmare to have this happen to their innocent child, and even worse when it's by someone they thought they could trust. Just a horrible, horrible thing.

UP: I became aware of the above incident because of two students who approached me to tell me in confidence of what they knew. I have to feel grateful, and proud, that these two students felt they could trust me enough to approach me about this - not the school counsellor, not their home group teacher, not their parents - but me. I think that's a pretty big testimonial to the relationships I'm forming.

DOWN: It's been a long week with a lot of work going on. I'm still dealing with behaviour management challenges, as I am beginning to suspect I always will, and I've been doing some really long hours this week, with no end in sight (save the winter holidays - six weeks to go!)

UP: I have a student (previously mentioned) who is a particular challenge, one for whom I had earlier believed I represented a restrictive and hated institution. I've been focusing a lot of thought on him - how to reach him, how to help him break through the barriers he's built himself. So far it's been by treating him with quite a lot of respect - probably a lot more than he's used to. I have been quite lenient with him so far, but have started slowly "raising the bar", and have been frank with him about doing so - telling him it's not fair to the other students that I let him get away with things I wouldn't let them get away with, and so on. Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather when he told me that he'd done our in-class assignment at home. Even more so when, despite having done the work at home, he continued with it in the classroom (the computer lab, no less - home to all manner of behavioural challenges for me!). And again when he repeatedly asked me for feedback throughout the lesson, with the most beautiful of manners ("Miss can you please have a look at this? Is it OK so far?")

I am beginning to hope - please don't let me be disappointed - but I am beginning to see a ray of hope, that he's on the up. All I want is for him to WANT to come to my class. To WANT to read a book. To WANT to try his best. And I think, bit by bit, we might be heading there.

Operation Relationship Building

I have a very challenging student in one of my classes. He has a long history of behavioural issues and has very patchy attendance. His first day in my class, he repeatedly unplugged peripherals from my computer and sabotaged the lesson. In one of our most recent lessons, he locked me out of my classroom and sat on his chair on the other side of the door. He is .... challenging.

My tactics with this kid from the outset have been clear - build relationship first, tackle academic achievement second.

Well, after a pretty patchy start I think Operation Relationship Building is underway. I 'bonded' with this kid today over a particular 1970s musician, and went so far as to pull up Youtube on my Smartboard to educate the uninitiated in our class. This was simply in response to him showing some enthusiasm about this musician, who I was speaking about earlier in the class.

This is a kid who I have to measure my successes with in very small steps. My successes with him today were getting through a whole lesson without him swearing; having him actually smile at me; having him be the last out the door because he was in no hurry to leave the classroom; him actually having his book out, and contributing to a discussion about grammar.

I know I'm not going to help this kid become a brain surgeon. But if I help him see that not all figures of authority are braindead, uncool, restrictive, unfair, mean, etc... then I've done something. And if all he learnt today was that "homo" means "same", then I've unlocked a bunch of new words for him. And if he turns up tomorrow and doesn't feel like locking me out of my classroom, that's a step forward.

I have to see the glass as half full sometimes. Seeing it as half empty, with some kids, is heartbreaking.

Term Two Begins

How lovely to have two weeks off! The major selling point of this job was just as good as I was expecting it be. I didn't use it productively - still stubbornly hoping to maintain separation between work and home life - but I think I'll be the better for it this term. Got to look after me first, THEN planning/marking etc.

But now that we're back on deck I'm wishing I had planned this week through - just to save some of the hectic stress of coming back in with nothing up my sleeve.

Next week is NAPLAN anyway so this week has been 100% persuasive writing (despite all of our objections to teaching to the test, it somehow becomes imperative to get those meaningful little numbers up...)

I've been frustrated tonight by the failings of the system - without going into too much depth this ranges from behavioural issue management (how to deal with the really troublesome kids) to the lack of funding/resources to support students with extremely low literacy, to how the blazes did these kids make it to high school with this level of literacy??

It's been a huge week, with afternoon professional development on two afternoons, one afternoon of after-school planning, attempting to learn how to manage a markbook, marking and the usual planning... But it's good to be back. I was starting to miss the little buggers.

Back to formal reflections

The scene: a typical Tuesday

1. Things that went well:
- Dealing with a newcomer to my class that will prove a challenge - so much so that this student may not stay in my class long. BUT I think I dealt with this student reasonably well - I gave the student two verbal warnings before exiting them from the class, spoke to them in the corridor to re-establish expectations, and upon reentry the student appeared more settled.

2. Things that I would do differently next time:
- Clearer expectations of a research activity. I should have given students a minimum number of points to achieve in each category within a retrieval chart (eg. "You need to have at least three dot points on women in Ancient Greece").
- If I posted the sources on the walls around the room I could have made a "Gallery" activity rather than a less engaging seated one.
- I could also have done with a broader range of sources, or better extension options for my more capable students.

3. Forward focus:
- Next lesson I need to integrate my newcomers more effectively. They need catch up work to bring them up to speed with this level of work - I can't put this activity off, they need it, so I think I will need to give this to them in their next lesson and prioritise it over the next activity which they will need to miss out on, at this stage.

Week 9: Just When I Thought We Were Settling In...

Well I hardly know it all by now but I was at least starting to feel a little more comfortable....

And then today one of our classes was collapsed due to staffing issues, meaning that each of my three classes now have an extra four or five students. They weren't big classes to begin with, so this is not a case of me complaining about large class sizes - but I feel like all of my work establishing classroom expectations, getting a feel for the dynamic of each set of students, creating seating plans that cater for those dynamics, and so on, now has to be repeated.

*sigh*

Just Another Average Monday

Last week I was beginning to feel really run-down: tired and cranky, frustrated with my lack of progress and not knowing everything when I need it, and basically needing a break.

On Friday I went to an all-day workshop on teaching reading, then drove two and a bit hours to a tiny country town for a two-day conference. Friday and Saturday nights were spent at the "local" with lovely like-minded educationalists, while Saturday and Sunday were spent with said educationalists in various workshops, followed by driving home, thinking about the planning I needed to do, and not doing any of it.

And so I find myself back at school, having had no real downtime, but somehow feeling a little re-energised. School today was uneventful, but I was in a better frame of mind, so even though I dealt with some of the same behaviour challenges and the like, I feel better about it. Maybe that's just because we've moved onto a new unit of work, and I'm kind of hoping that a lack of interest in the material could have been one of the problems in the last unit - hopefully I can inject a little more interest into the next unit of work (part-Ancient Greek History, part Australian Government).

Highlights of the day:
"Miss, does the Government help pay for school?"
"We love you Miss!" (yes, really. :-))
"Miss, how did the Labor party sack Kevin Rudd?"
From the same student: "Miss, why did Gough Whitlam get fired?"

On a little tangent: "Miss, if the Queen goes to McDonalds, does she get it for free?"

Behaviour Management

I feel I have to remind myself right now that I've only been teaching for six weeks, and I'm still learning... But I hate not knowing how to do everything straight away, the moment I need it.

I had my most challenging class (in terms of behaviour management) this morning, with assistance from a lovely executive teacher who works with me in this class for two hours per week. They were angels. Well, in comparison to their normal behaviour. The disheartening thing about this is that I can't get them to be angels by myself. By myself, I am shouting over the din, writing names on the whiteboard, moving students to time-out desks, sending students to other classes for time-out, calling parents, experimenting with positive reinforcement and challenges, and just generally struggling to teach them.

Don't get me wrong, this probably sounds worse than it is. I LIKE this class - at least, I like all the individuals IN this class. But together they're tough work. I'll break them in eventually (because the only alternative is them breaking me, and that ain't happening).

It's just disheartening because my executive teacher makes controlling them look so easy. So easy, in fact, that it's hard to pinpoint what she's doing right and I'm doing wrong. Another teacher told me today that it's because she has "The Vibe", and that I don't have that.

Harking back to my teacher training last year, I'm guessing "The Vibe" is one of Thomas Nielsen's "Powers": Referent Power, Position Power, etc. I'm reading Bill Rogers' "Behaviour Management" at the moment too, and it's abundantly clear from the way Rogers writes that he has "The Vibe" too.

The question is, how do I get it?

Feeling the pull...

I felt the pull today. The pull between pedagogies.

As anyone reading this probably knows, "pedagogy" has become THE word to learn in teacher training at university. If you can throw this into as many essays as you can, you'll do fairly well. It's taken me until today to really FEEL what it means though.

Today I was teaching Year 7 about past tense. We talked about the difference between "began" and "begun", "drank" and "drunk". I introduced them to terms like "past imperfect", and tried to use a little metalanguage when talking about grammar.

It was when we went over their answers that I stumbled. Somewhere between asking the first person, "What is the past tense of run?" and everyone getting the right answers written down, I became aware that I was drilling them.

I pointed to each present-tense verb on the board and said it.

They responded with the past tense conjugation.

"Swim"

"SWAM"

"Bring"

"BROUGHT"

"Buy"

"BOUGHT"

"Say"

"SAID"

.... You get the drill.

I feel like a failure. If my principal had walked in at that moment, they would have felt like they'd stepped back in time. All I needed was a cane and a blackboard. I was ashamed. It all happened so fast I couldn't stop it! And they were all so well trained!

...Which makes me think they'd done that before. Somewhere along the line they'd learnt to call out like that, in unison, with the correct answer. That's my one saving grace - I'm clearly not the only one who's done that with them. But I'm not going to do it again.

Something Beautiful

... Watching twenty twelve year old faces really thinking.

... A distractible boy turning a trip to the toilet down until after he could finish an activity.

... A boy picking up rubbish in the playground by choice, collecting the bin and dragging it back to where his friends could use it.

... Being truly impressed by a collective class achievement - who knew twenty kids could find sixty-nine separate words in "Astronomer"?!

Week Three: Camp

Well it only took two weeks for me to fail my "Weekly Reflection" goal! Hopefully I'll get the hang of this regular blogging gig eventually...

Week Three started as normal, with two days of standard classes, increasing levels of disruption in all classes, a call home to parents about one particular student, and a promise to myself to call parents more often after a very successful phone discussion with said parent and a notable improvement in behaviour the following day from said student.

On Wednesday the week got interesting as we headed off to Year 7 camp. What followed were some of the most exhausting days I've had since backpacking Europe. It was such a great opportunity to build connections with students, enhance our team cohesion and extend ourselves. We all faced our fears of heights with a giant swing, flying fox, abseiling and rockclimbing, drove dirt buggies, rowed dragon boats, completed an assault course, had a water fight, hosted a disco and more. The kids were so well behaved. It blew my mind how boundless their energy is though! At the end of each day I wanted nothing more than to trundle off to bed, but there they were running around after dark with torches, getting down at the disco and generally living it up.

Ten Things I've Learnt This Week:
1. Always, always, ALWAYS lock your cabin door.
2. Never underestimate your students.
3. We all need to get dirty every now and then.
4. Nothing beats a well timed Death Stare through a dark bedroom window.
5. You can never bring too much sunscreen.
6. You can never bring too many spare water bottles.
7. You can never bring too many Band-Aids.
8. Personally supervise all redheaded students' sunscreen application.
9. Teachers can go days without going to the toilet.
10. I can already see how much I'm going to miss these little tackers when they go onto Year 8. :-(

Week One: Reflection

Well week two has started without me getting a chance to formally reflect on week one, so here goes...

1. Things that went well:
- My introductory letter idea worked really well. I got 60 letters to read on my first night, and it was such an excellent "shortcut" into getting to know the students. I really want to tap into their interests where possible, so knowing what they are was really important to me. Getting a very early glimpse at their writing level was very useful too.

- Relationship building is coming along nicely. I knew I could never adhere to the "don't smile before Easter" rule, and I haven't even tried. Rather, I've been trying to create a connection with as many students as I can, showing interest in them, making small talk where possible, to get to know them and create some rapport. That part is going well.

2. Things that I would do differently next time:
- Seating plan was very unpopular in all three classes. Although it IS a good idea and I need to stick with it, I wonder if I could have softened the blow, perhaps by allowing them to request a table buddy?

- I would have loved to have this first three weeks mapped out in a cohesive unit. The focus at the moment is on building a positive classroom environment, establishing a routine and introducing a couple of scaffolds that are popular at the school. I probably haven't focussed enough on the positive classroom environment side of things - I feel I don't have enough activities in my 'toolbox' for this.

3. Forward focus:
- I have several "big personalities" in one of my classes, who are a real concern for me. Not just that they are a disruption, but that I am SO afraid of not doing for them what I should be aiming to do for all my students: give them a quality education. I really want to work out the 'key' to all of them, but at the same time (and maybe first?) I have to combat their disruptive tendencies.

- As a 'good girl' myself, I have empathy for my 'good kids' - the quiet ones, who try to do their work, but are thwarted by the disrupters. The problem with the nice, quiet kids is that it's dangerously easy not to notice them. I have to consciously work on making sure that EVERY student gets my attention, not just the 'big personalities'.

Fearing the demise of a long-beloved friend

I'm feeling a little defeated this afternoon, by the one thing that's never let me down before. Reading.

I am a voracious reader. I love it. I can't sit down for breakfast of a morning without something in front of me to read, whether it be the newspaper, a magazine, junk mail, random letters, anything. I deliberately choose certain toilet cubicles based on the knowledge that they have advertising material on the back of the door, or a large amount of graffiti on the walls. I used to go to the library during recess and lunch when I was in primary school. Come to think of it, I did it a fair bit in high school too. My mother had to complain to the principal when the librarian tried to close the primary school library at recess, because I was so distraught. I exhausted my borrowing quota at primary school, and started hiding books strategically behind other books, so that nobody else could borrow them while I was reading them.

I. Love. Reading.

Now I'm teaching at a school that encourages students to read by enforcing a thirty minute "Silent Reading" period at the beginning of every English class. When I first started I thought this was great. But I'm increasingly wondering if it's actually having the reverse effect from that it's intended for. A number of the students, and the number can be quite large on any given day, hate Silent Reading and make it a chore for most of the half hour allotted to it. They complain that all the books in the room are boring, or that they hate reading. Some would rather sit and stare blankly into space for half an hour, than read. This breaks my heart.

But, I'm wondering if MAKING them read, FORCING them to read, is the answer. What if they respond to it in the same way I responded to forced physical education when I was in school, and never go near it again after their schooling is done? Are we doing them a disservice by forcing reading down their throat?

I think we are. But that doesn't mean I don't think we should be making them read - we just have to find a way to make it more meaningful, more accessible, more enjoyable. For one thing, by broadening the range of texts substantially. Their choice is pretty much limited to teen/young adult fiction, mainly novels. What if there were a selection of other texts at their disposal? There are a couple of comics, but what about graphic novels, short stories, poetry, information texts, travel writing, biographies, histories, other non-fiction?

Would the broader choice be enough to lure them back to reading? Or is something more required?

Mid-Prac Exhaustion

I'm three weeks into my prac, with two weeks to go. I'm feeling flat tonight, having sensed my mentor teacher's possible disappointment with some aspects of my performance. There's no doubting I put the hours in when it comes to preparation - I have my lesson plans chunked down into 10-20 minute intervals, addressing learing outcomes, taking inspiration from my school's favoured unit planning framework, allowing space for reflection, and so on. But my weak point appears to be behaviour management. It's not so much that I don't know what to do, but that in someone else's classroom, with someone else's rules, I don't feel comfortable enforcing my expectations.

In my placement I'm teaching two different teacher's classes; one teacher is laid-back, cruisy, with a level of patience I envy and a seeming ability to tune out from the noise level of the classroom. Her students are boisterous, chatty, cheeky, and often just plain rude - but loveable nonetheless. My other teacher seems to accept less "problem" behaviour, and expects me to as well, which is fine by me - but I don't seem to have the control I need in her classroom. Students disregard my instructions or answer back, and I'm reluctant to escalate my response to the point of a power struggle, when a low-key response should be enough.

*sigh*

I'm also finding that I need to provide far more scaffolding than I anticipate - even for older students who I would have thought were capable of being more autonomous than they are. I seem to keep failing to chunk tasks down into small enough bites for them to manage - but I feel like I'm holding all their hands through tasks that really shouldn't need as much structure and scaffolding as I have to provide. What I'm wondering is, at what point does scaffolding become hand-holding?

Mini-Lesson Reflection

What Happened?
I opened the lesson with a brief review of the questions history students should ask about a source. The questions were presented on a Powerpoint slide and I briefly read them out, before moving on to the new question for the day, which was “What is my attitude?” This question was designed to get students thinking about their own perspective and how it affects their interpretation of a historical source.

The lesson activity involved considering the same quote, as though it was spoken by a number of different historical personalities including Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, Martin Luther King, Jnr., Germaine Greer, and others. The activity progressed well, with almost all of the students contributing a view on one or more of the subjects. Their views varied sufficiently to illustrate the extent to which our individual opinion of a speaker influences our interpretation of their quote, actions and motivations.

After discussing the hypothetical speakers and unveiling the true identity of the source (Adolf Hitler), I asked the class to pair up for sixty seconds and brainstorm some of the factors of their life that contribute to their individual perspective. After the minute was over, I asked students to name some of these factors. Fortunately most of the factors named were ones I had prepared for my next slide; although I had a couple that the class did not name, such as our chronological context (referred to in the lesson as ‘time’ or ‘era’) and nationality (though this was touched on in terms of ‘place’).

Following the brainstorm, I asked students what good historians, when considering a source, should do with the factors that make up their perspective. We agreed that you could not get rid of them entirely, but I suggested that they “pack them away in your prejudice box” in an effort to be as objective as possible. At this point I ended the lesson.

What worked?
My repeated linkage between the activity, the quote and the overarching unit of Revolutions was good for reiterating for students the relationship between concepts.

I responded well to Steven's "bowel movement" comment about Andy Warhol, and the ensuing laughter. By laughing along with the students and thanking Steven for using a euphemism, as well as rephrasing his comment to suggest his opinion of Warhol’s art influenced his perception of the quote, I did not allow a minor disruption to become a classroom management issue.

Similarly, I recast Tom’s comments about Constantine to reflect his opinion of the quote – that is, his skepticism of the quote being attributed to Constantine.

My response to Tahlia’s comment on Martin Luther King, Jnr. worked to lead her into continuing to explain her position. Rather than moving on to the next student, I allowed her time to further explore her thoughts on King’s actions and get a little deeper into her perspective on King.

Two students made unexpected contributions to the discussion about Hitler, noting that his definitions of “popular” and of “human” differed from those we would expect from other speakers, such as Martin Luther King, Jnr. The students’ knowledge of Hitler’s actions clearly affected their interpretation of his language, on a word-by-word basis, which was a perfect example of perspective for this exercise.

The class was clearly surprised to learn that the quote was in fact from Hitler’s manifesto Mein Kampf. This reaction was exactly what I had hoped to elicit by showing them how positive and inspiring the quote can sound when attributed to someone that the average Australian has respect for (such as Martin Luther King, Jnr.) and how manipulative and ambitious it sounds when attributed to someone that we are taught to deplore, such as Hitler.

Since the class had fortuitously also been presented a mini-lesson on Nazi propaganda before my mini-lesson, I was able to link the subject quote to their prior learning a number of times, particularly when discussing the totalitarian leaders Mao Zedong and Hitler. This was not a planned link, but one that I was able to make on the day in much the same way as I would in a real classroom, linking to units that I was aware the students had covered, not only in SOSE but in any other discipline area or in their everyday lives.

When I asked the class to pair up and discuss their perspectives, I gave them a time limit of only sixty seconds. This was deliberately short, as I only needed each pair to come up with one or two factors that affect their perspectives, and I wanted to ensure they stayed on-topic and that their discussions did not have time to stray beyond the task. I find that students are often given too long to discuss content in groups, and after the first minute or so they begin to get off-topic. I would rather ask after sixty seconds “Are we finished?” and be asked for longer, than to let discussions ramble on for five minutes with no deeper learning achieved.

I made a positive statement in response to most student’s contributions to the class discussion, giving them recognition for their contributions and thanking them for their comments; however, I need to broaden my variety of responses beyond “Very good” and “excellent”, which I over-used.

Giles made an interesting observation about how our “immediate context” affects our perspective. I asked him “Can you elaborate on that?” which I think was a good response to encourage him to clarify and expand on his comment. This sounds better, to me, than “What/how do you mean?”

What I would do differently:
At the opening of the lesson, I should have involved the class in the review of the previous lesson, by asking them to contribute the questions they should ask about sources. Each of the four questions I had on the Smart Board could have been contributed by one of the students, rather than me, which would then have made this introduction a chance for formative assessment of the previous lesson.

I feel that I need to be more physically animated and project my voice more. In a well-behaved university group, my voice is fairly audible; but in a normal secondary school class I would expect more background noise to be competing with my voice. I also need to make an effort with my body language to create a more engaging and interesting “performance”. I had my hands in my pockets quite a lot, which gave the effect of me looking unenthused with the subject matter, which is not the case.

My mini-lesson lacked a substantial conclusion, which I have known is a fault in my teaching since my first practicum placement. I seem to find it hard to conclude effectively, and my lessons seem to end quite abruptly. Part of my lesson planning in future will have to include a concluding statement to help prompt myself and train myself into a habit of properly concluding activities and lessons, reviewing the contents of the lesson, foreshadowing the next lesson, assigning homework or raising anything else that needs to be discussed before releasing students.

My Thinking
This mini-lesson on Perspective was designed with both the ACT’s “Every Chance To Learn” curriculum framework, the “Problematic Knowledge” component of the Quality Teaching Model (McLeod & Reynolds, 2007, p. 51) and the National Curriculum’s history skills in mind. The activity, which calls on students to examine how their own attitudes affect their interpretation of historical sources, was designed to encourage students to think about their own thinking, and learn to analyse their own thoughts as well as source materials. This analysis would form part of their growing metacognitive ability.

The lesson was developed in order to present information in a variety of modes – verbally, written and with visual images, and through both whole-class and small group discussion. This was not designed with an eye to catering to different “learning styles”, as criticized by Scott (“The enduring appeal of ‘learning styles’”, 2010), but rather with the intention of creating an interactive and engaging classroom dialogue.

The lesson required minimal resources. It was delivered with a Powerpoint presentation projected onto the classroom’s interactive whiteboard, but the entire lesson’s activities could have been performed without ICTs if they were not available. Photocopies of the quote could have been distributed; and images of the hypothetical speakers were intended only to help prompt students’ memories in case the names were not enough, but were nonetheless included as supplementary, rather than necessary, material, and as such could have been omitted if resources were an obstacle.

The group discussion depended upon a certain level of prior knowledge amongst the students for conversations about the various historical personalities to successfully take place; however, it was designed to form a part of a unit of work on Revolutions which would have introduced many of the personalities mentioned. I also chose personalities whose place in history I felt I could “sum up” for the students in a single sentence if they were unfamiliar with the personality. The repetition of the activity also allowed for skipping a personality entirely if students could not contribute to an informed discussion about the hypothetical speaker, and the activity could easily be edited to include more recognizable speakers if required, for instance in a mixed-ability class that lacked the prior knowledge, or if students lacked the cultural capital to take part.

The whole-class and small group conversations were intended to take place within a quality learning environment (McLeod & Reynolds, 2007, p. 46) in which students felt they were safe, respected, and that their opinions were valued. The concept being taught, “Perspective”, was also chosen to support the values promoted by the Quality Teaching model, such as “recognition of difference” (McLeod & Reynolds, 2007, p. 46). The concept also provides an opportunity to develop and encourage the values promoted by the “Values for Australian Schooling”, particularly that of “Understanding, Tolerance and Inclusion”, and also reinforcing the value of “Freedom” as defined by that document. (Australian Government, Department of Education, Science & Training, in McLeod & Reynolds, 2007, p. 139) The use of hypothetical speakers such as Mao Zedong and Adolf Hitler serve to strengthen students’ value of democracy and freedom by providing a contrast to the Australian way of life.

Sources
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2009). Draft Australian Curriculum. www.acara.edu.au

Australian Capital Territory Department of Education and Training. (2010). Every Chance To Learn: Curriculum Framework for ACT schools preschool to year 10. http://activated.act.edu.au/ectl/resources/ECTL_Framework.pdf

Marsh, C. (2008). Studies of Society and Environment: Exploring the Teaching Possibilities. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.

McLeod, J. H., & Reynolds, R. (2007) Quality Teaching for Quality Learning. South Melbourne, VIC: Thomson Social Science Press.

Scott, C. (2010). The enduring appeal of ‘learning styles’. Australian Journal of Education, Vol. 54(1), 5-17.

A Critical Friend's Response To My "Perspective" Mini-Lesson

"As a student in Shannon's lesson on perspective I responded positively to the lesson and its format. Shannon has a very friendly, but calming manner.

Shannon used the smart board and included visual stimulus so that each time she introduced a new historical person the students could put a face to a name. This was an effective tool to use.

Shannon engaged the class through prompting questions. When brainstorming with the class Shannon encouraged the students to share their ideas and praised their responses. This enabled a positive classroom environment and also helped students to feel that she valued their opinions as an integral part of her teaching.


A couple of points of reflection for Shannon: I would suggest moving around the classroom more. This helps to engage the students more and make them feel like it is more of a relaxed atmosphere.

In terms of the activity I would have liked to have seen more scaffolding around the task. At times I got a little confused about what exactely we were doing each time the quote came up.

I think I would have been helped if Shannon had have had an individual slide that clearly articulated exactely what the task was.

Lastly, I did not have much knowledge on who Constantine was. For next time, maybe it is worth having famous people that year 9 students would definately have know and potentially studied previously."

The Mini-Lesson

A short snippet of the mini-lesson for STS Reflection:

Shannon from Phil Roberts on Vimeo.