Flowcharts for faculty pathways

Image above: Humanities: about being human!



Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it 

Email contact: 
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au

Flowcharts to share

For our recent Open Night the following faculty flowcharts were created.  Feel free to promote the Humanities, English and Business pathways at Thebarton Senior College to your students.  Here they are:

Humanities

English

Business

A tool for contestable discussion in the Humanities

Image above: Poll Everywhere website

Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it 

Email contact: 
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au

Poll Everywhere has a place in the modern humanities classroom to support discussion on contestable topics.  

Much of humanities teaching is not value free. It is almost impossible not to be political in some way when discussing humanities topics.

As Robert Butler was quoted as saying in the Economist in 2010:

“It is getting harder and harder in conversation to raise one or other of the most basic subjects in humanities—agriculture, glaciation, rivers and population—without a flicker of panic crossing the other person’s face. You are no longer talking about a neutral subject.”


Humanities has the potential to be relevant, dynamic and challenging for students in the classroom through providing the opportunity to develop a political frame around what is taught. How can we teach about water, population, migration and climate change for example without challenging students to place the discussion in a political context – that is, what do you believe is right and what are the justice and ethical beliefs that guide ones opinion on an issue. A digital tool that is a wonderful way to get students involved (all students, not just the vocal and uninhibited) in discussion of a contestable nature is Poll Everywhere. The brilliant aspect of this program is that it is easy to use, is anonymous and inclusive of all, can be used and developed in real time in the classroom and provides instant feedback (graphs, word walls etc). The program gives all students a voice so that they can express their opinion without ridicule or embarrassment. The resulting graphs and graphics provide data for class research and discussion and can be archived for comparison over time presentations. As a tool it is a great interactive way to involve the geography class in some high order thinking and discussion.

The brief video on the Poll Everywhere Home page gives an introduction to this free digital tool which can be used not only in the geography classroom but also with teachers in their professional learning in geography. Here is a Poll Everywhere document I recently used with a group of teachers working on the concepts in history and geography. All they had to do was type the URL http://www.pollev.com and start submitting their response to the questions in the document by using the codes (each code is unique and can be used only once specifically for the question - called a poll) generated by the teacher/facilitator of the question. Poll Everywhere is a great way to get discussion started in any gathering.  It is certainly worth the 30 minutes to get acquainted with the tool and make the learning more interactive for participants and create some inclusive and comprehensive data for contestable discussions.

Why we have so few women leaders

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg discusses why we have so few women leaders:    http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders.html 

In Julia Gillard's farewell speech she commented on the impact her gender has had on her success: 

"I've been a little bit bemused by those colleagues in the newspapers who have admitted that I have suffered more pressure as a result of my gender than other prime ministers in the past but then concluded that it had zero effect on my political position or the political position of the Labor Party. It doesn't explain everything, it doesn't explain nothing, it explains some things." http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-26/julia-gillard-speaks-about-defeat/4783950

Sandberg refers to research that shows that "success and likeability are positively correlated for men, and negatively correlated for women."

By the time they graduate from university, more men than women see themselves as leaders. We encourage leadership qualities in men, but not in women. We need to stop calling little girls  bossy when they try to lead!      http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgjlS2OBBggUw92bqzjAaVw

It seems Australian society has a long way to go in terms of gender equality.

Some technology sites to consider for our teaching

 Image above: Bec's top11 sites for technology in the  classroom

Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it 

Email contact:
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au


Some technology sites to consider for our teaching

I recently ran a workshop with Bec Nicholas from Brisbane on technology in the geography classroom. Her presentation of her top 11 sites to do technology is something to consider for our teaching - they are not just relevant to geography, so feel free to explore!!. Just ideas to explore!  I am sure any of them you have already used but just in case ...

Two other great sites for technology in the classroom are:

• I recently came across a listing of top sites for humanities educators from a site called GoEd http://www.goedonline.com
• A blog from Larry Ferlazzo, a teacher in the US who continues to post some great teaching resources on his edublog

Please share with the faculty if you have any other technology orientated sites you use.

 

Engaging with the AITSL Standards

 Image above: The AITSL website Home Page and introductory video.

Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it 

Email contact:
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au


Time to engage!

"...they guide professional learning, practice and engagement, facilitates the improvement of teacher quality and contributes positively to the public standing of the profession. The key elements of quality teaching are described in the Standards. They articulate what teachers are expected to know and be able to do at four career stages: Graduate, Proficient, Highly Accomplished and Lead."

 In our faculty meetings we have briefly talked about the AITSL Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and their relevance and importance to us as teachers in SA. Our faculty meetings this week provide us with the opportunity to 'get our heads' around the Standards and to discuss their implications for our work as teachers at Thebarton Senior College.

 “As professionals, teachers need to engage in reflective practice to critically think about their skills and knowledge, access professional development for improvement and become an active member of learning communities to meet their professional needs.”

* Here is some background about the standards before we look at them in detail.

• The Standards define the work of teachers and make explicit the elements of high-quality, effective teaching in 21st-century schools, which result in improved educational outcomes for students.
• The Standards present a common understanding and language for discourse between teachers, teacher educators, teacher organisations, professional associations and the public.
• Teacher standards also inform the development of professional learning goals, provide a framework by which teachers can judge the success of their learning and assist self-reflection and self-assessment.
• The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers is organised into four career stages and guide the preparation, support and development of teachers. The stages reflect the continuum of a teacher's developing professional expertise from undergraduate preparation through to being an exemplary classroom practitioner and a leader in the profession.
• The Graduate Standards will underpin the accreditation of initial teacher education programs. Graduates from accredited programs qualify for registration in each state and territory. The Proficient Standards will be used to underpin processes for full registration as a teacher and to support the requirements of nationally consistent teacher registration.
• The Standards at the career stages of Highly Accomplished and Lead will inform voluntary certification

  
* Organisation of the Standards

• The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers comprise seven Standards which outline what teachers should know and be able to do. The Standards are interconnected, interdependent and overlapping. 
• The Standards are grouped into three domains of teaching: Professional Knowledge, Professional Practice and Professional Engagement. In practice, teaching draws on aspects of all three domains.
• Within each Standard, focus areas provide further illustration of teaching knowledge, practice and professional engagement. These are then separated into Descriptors at four professional career stages: Graduate, Proficient, Highly Accomplished and Lead.

* Certification: a future conversation

• In the meantime have a read of the latest from DECD regarding certification opportunties.
•  As for DECD implementation of the Standards?
  

* FAQ

• A very useful frequently asked questions on the AITSL Professional Standards is on the AITSL site. 

 Faculty task:
What are the indicators (nouns and verbs) to determine whether a teacher is a Proficient, Highly Accomplished or Lead teacher? In short, what are the determinants that need to be evidenced to determine whether a teacher is proficient, highly accomplished or lead. Such determinants will play an important role in future Personal Development Plans in schools around Australia.

TED-Ed - an amazing resource

Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle
Geographical thinking Scoop.it  
Spatial literacy Scoop.it  
History and geography Scoop.it 

Email contact:
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au

 TED Ed Use engaging videos to create customized lessons.

We have all heard or looked at TED over the years. The site is an amazing source of stimulating talks.  Now there is TED-Ed! TED-Ed is a great resource to support your teaching on any topic. You can use, tweak, or completely redo any lesson featured on TED-Ed, or create lessons from scratch based on any video from YouTube.

In particular, the site advocates Flip lesson planning. "Flipping" a video allows you to turn a video into a customized lesson that can be assigned to students or shared more widely. You can add context, questions, and follow-up suggestions to any video on TED-Ed or YouTube.

Worth a look: Humanities and English resources for AC

Related links
Geogsplace
Socialsense
Thebarton Senior College Moodle

Email contact:
malcolm.mcinerney@thebartonsc.sa.edu.au

 

Resources supporting the Australian Curriculum for English, History and Geography

Over recent weeks we have seen the publication of on-line resources to support the Australian Curriculum for English, History and Geography (also Mathematics). These resources have been developed by the national teaching associations for the subjects (HTAA,  AATE and AGTA) with money supplied from the Australian Government via Educational Services Australia (ESA). The SACOL (Supporting Australian Curriculum Online) resources are worth a look because they contain professional learning materials on our learning areas as well as specific teaching materials for the new F-10 Australian Curriculum in these subjects. As well as providing some useful professional learning in humanities, the resources may also provide some teaching ideas and activities which can be adapted to our Stage 1 subjects.

As time goes by, the sites are likely to include materials to support the Year 11 and 12 courses as they are published by ACARA. These sites are worth a look to see what is going on with the Australian Curriculum, which is already impacting on F-10 schools and indirectly will impact on us next year by the fact that some of our students will have undertaken the Australian Curriculum subjects instead of SACE in their Year 10 classes this year.

If you have not already done so, go to the ACARA Curriculum Portal to view the English, Geography and History curricula prior to looking at the resource sites to get some background on these three new curriculum's in our faculty area.

Here are the SACOL sites relevant to English and Humanities at Thebarton Senior College for your preview:

The English site

The History site

The Geography site

... and the Mathematics site for those interested

The Science site (ASTA) should be published by the end of June. As for the business and economics and civics and citizenship sites, no decisions have been made as yet (waiting for the money from the Federal Government). Hopefully these learning areas will have the chance to develop resources to support the Australian Curriculum in those subjects when they are published by ACARA.