5/3/2012
After reading the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians it seems there is a vested political interest in education. The system of outcomes looks like the only way for the government to show that they are effectively teaching things and the only way of proving they are making a difference. Curriculums are hard to define but seem to be dictated by politics as well. For me, curriculum seems to be "Curriculum is all planned learnings for which the school is responsible", though even this leaves something to be desired. Curriculums can also have ‘characteristics’ but these do not seem to guide specifically what is taught, they just give reminders and ideas of how to do things. Learning about and relating to Asia seems to be recurring theme in the MCEETYA 4 year plan; I guess in anticipation of Asia emerging as a business superpower in the future.
The reason for the political intervention may also be to ‘narrow the gap’ between children from poorer families and indigenous children. These children seem to be the focus of many ‘outcomes’. Why does such a gap exist? I would have thought the difference would be negligible, though I suppose the families must be largely to blame.
6/3/2012
Schools and teachers can harbour different ‘orientations’ to curriculum, which may affect what they teach and will definitely affect how they teach. There could be countless orientations but seem to be 3 main ones: vocational/neo-classical, liberal-progressive and socially critical. The vocational orientation is the classic view of teachers and students, with teachers deciding what is taught and how the students are assessed. The liberal-progressive seems the best, with teachers focusing on getting the students to learn how to learn, discover what interests them and applying what they have learned. The socially critical does not seem realistic and focuses on society and societal change.
None of these orientations seem to explain all aspects of teaching and learning and all seem quite open to interpretation. I suppose these only act as rough guides of how to approach the curriculum. If any school religiously operated under only one of these orientations I think it would quite ineffective. I can see room for adopting all 3 orientations or for the school to create their own.
10/3/2012
Just like orientations to curriculum, schools can have different philosophies when they approach their curriculum. Once again, these could be countless but seem to have been narrowed down to 4: perrenialism, essentialism, progressivism and reconstructionalism. These seem even broader than orientations and I don’t think one philosophy could be solely applied to the one school or class with much success. These may be useful when designing lessons or deciding on large blocks of work, as they could guide what sort of activities should be included. In the final chapter the authors say that a philosophy is essential for directing actions and it does seem that way when reading their chapter, but how can a philosophy be implemented? All of them seem very ambiguous and broad. I think I will need to see these in action before I can appreciate them.
15/3/2012
The design of teaching materials seems much more appealing to me, as unlike the previous curriculum activities, this one is something that the individual teacher can work with. I like the idea of authentic teaching materials for keeping students interested but it is already obvious that this would take a lot of work and careful selection. Created materials seem like the usual, boring textbooks and so on, but given that they have to be screened and edited for a given purpose shows how effective they should be.
Selecting the right materials then goes back to the curriculum, where a teacher would need to identify the outcomes they were targeting. This would be a difficult task and would be made much easier by using created materials. I imagine this would also involve some collaboration between teachers of similar subjects to decide on appropriate materials and the desired outcomes. I had never thought too much about where teaching materials come from but I realise now that a great deal of work goes into their production. This module seems to be the introduction to assignment 1.
16/3/2012
I was surprised at how many learning materials there were on-line; so much work must have gone into their creation. This also posed a problem for me, though, as I could see teachers being lazy and teaching these materials instead of their own authentic materials. In a way, student’s learning could be dictated by what is freely available, though I would hope that this is not the case. I also wondered how much of this work would go to waste if the materials did not really address any curriculum outcomes.
This also seems to relate to ‘pedagogy’; another approach to learning, though one that the teacher is responsible for once again. The way that teachers teach things seems equally valuable as the materials they use, perhaps more so. Also, teachers have to assume responsibility for students to understand the different aspects of their subject and teach these effectively as well. Literacy is one of these.
20/3/2012
As I have been learning in teaching and learning 2, the development of students plays a key role in how you can teach them effectively. In order to make teaching styles and materials effective and stimulating you need to think about what stage your class is at and also the circumstances of individual students. This should probably come first before selecting materials, or deciding how to teach them as a guide to what will be appropriate. This seems to fit in with the orientations and philosophies relating to curriculum from earlier.
I can see now that appropriate selection of materials and effective teaching needs to take into account all of these things, which seems quite imposing! Given so many criteria it seems there would be very few materials to fit the bill, though the teacher has the power to adapt their teaching to suit. All of this has given me a much clearer idea of what is required for assignment 1; putting all of these aspects together to find an effective way of teaching something.
25/3/2012
My assignment is nearly finished now. When I first started I tried looking for some interesting materials that were in some way related, but as soon as I read the curriculum outcomes and decided on an orientation I immediately changed my mind and found two completely different materials. I can see how the guidelines of curriculum and developmental stages form the best framework for deciding what to use. Deciding on the types of assessment tasks to be used is also an area that is clearly difficult, as is deciding on how to teach the materials and how much freedom to give the students. If one had to think about these things for every topic they taught then there must be a colossal amount of work in teaching, though I am sure it gets much simpler with experience.
What is also clear is the difference between different curriculums. The SACSA and national curriculum are quite different in many ways and I can see that each has had different influences/stakeholders to shape the outcomes within. Through the assignment, the importance of literacy has also become clear. Student’s literacy has a huge bearing on their perceived comprehension of their subjects and would need to be developed early on to ensure that they understood all of what was being taught. ESL students would particularly struggle here and their inability to understand another language could prove a huge impediment to their learning if it were not addressed properly. There would be no easy way to overcome this and the pressure on the ESL student would be great.
27/3/2012
Assignment 1 finished!
After learning about NAPLAN and the associated testing, I can see how teachers would ‘teach to the test’, which is disappointing. NAPLAN seems to have many downfalls, but if I were in the government’s shoes I think I would have done the same thing. It is sad to think that this has created an atmosphere where schools, states, students and even the government are afraid to be highlighted for their poor results and will look for alternatives like dumbing down tests to avoid this. This is a conundrum, as if the teachers focus on teaching for the test or if the government dumbs down the tests, the whole purpose of the test becomes meaningless.
After reading the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians it seems there is a vested political interest in education. The system of outcomes looks like the only way for the government to show that they are effectively teaching things and the only way of proving they are making a difference. Curriculums are hard to define but seem to be dictated by politics as well. For me, curriculum seems to be "Curriculum is all planned learnings for which the school is responsible", though even this leaves something to be desired. Curriculums can also have ‘characteristics’ but these do not seem to guide specifically what is taught, they just give reminders and ideas of how to do things. Learning about and relating to Asia seems to be recurring theme in the MCEETYA 4 year plan; I guess in anticipation of Asia emerging as a business superpower in the future.
The reason for the political intervention may also be to ‘narrow the gap’ between children from poorer families and indigenous children. These children seem to be the focus of many ‘outcomes’. Why does such a gap exist? I would have thought the difference would be negligible, though I suppose the families must be largely to blame.
6/3/2012
Schools and teachers can harbour different ‘orientations’ to curriculum, which may affect what they teach and will definitely affect how they teach. There could be countless orientations but seem to be 3 main ones: vocational/neo-classical, liberal-progressive and socially critical. The vocational orientation is the classic view of teachers and students, with teachers deciding what is taught and how the students are assessed. The liberal-progressive seems the best, with teachers focusing on getting the students to learn how to learn, discover what interests them and applying what they have learned. The socially critical does not seem realistic and focuses on society and societal change.
None of these orientations seem to explain all aspects of teaching and learning and all seem quite open to interpretation. I suppose these only act as rough guides of how to approach the curriculum. If any school religiously operated under only one of these orientations I think it would quite ineffective. I can see room for adopting all 3 orientations or for the school to create their own.
10/3/2012
Just like orientations to curriculum, schools can have different philosophies when they approach their curriculum. Once again, these could be countless but seem to have been narrowed down to 4: perrenialism, essentialism, progressivism and reconstructionalism. These seem even broader than orientations and I don’t think one philosophy could be solely applied to the one school or class with much success. These may be useful when designing lessons or deciding on large blocks of work, as they could guide what sort of activities should be included. In the final chapter the authors say that a philosophy is essential for directing actions and it does seem that way when reading their chapter, but how can a philosophy be implemented? All of them seem very ambiguous and broad. I think I will need to see these in action before I can appreciate them.
15/3/2012
The design of teaching materials seems much more appealing to me, as unlike the previous curriculum activities, this one is something that the individual teacher can work with. I like the idea of authentic teaching materials for keeping students interested but it is already obvious that this would take a lot of work and careful selection. Created materials seem like the usual, boring textbooks and so on, but given that they have to be screened and edited for a given purpose shows how effective they should be.
Selecting the right materials then goes back to the curriculum, where a teacher would need to identify the outcomes they were targeting. This would be a difficult task and would be made much easier by using created materials. I imagine this would also involve some collaboration between teachers of similar subjects to decide on appropriate materials and the desired outcomes. I had never thought too much about where teaching materials come from but I realise now that a great deal of work goes into their production. This module seems to be the introduction to assignment 1.
16/3/2012
I was surprised at how many learning materials there were on-line; so much work must have gone into their creation. This also posed a problem for me, though, as I could see teachers being lazy and teaching these materials instead of their own authentic materials. In a way, student’s learning could be dictated by what is freely available, though I would hope that this is not the case. I also wondered how much of this work would go to waste if the materials did not really address any curriculum outcomes.
This also seems to relate to ‘pedagogy’; another approach to learning, though one that the teacher is responsible for once again. The way that teachers teach things seems equally valuable as the materials they use, perhaps more so. Also, teachers have to assume responsibility for students to understand the different aspects of their subject and teach these effectively as well. Literacy is one of these.
20/3/2012
As I have been learning in teaching and learning 2, the development of students plays a key role in how you can teach them effectively. In order to make teaching styles and materials effective and stimulating you need to think about what stage your class is at and also the circumstances of individual students. This should probably come first before selecting materials, or deciding how to teach them as a guide to what will be appropriate. This seems to fit in with the orientations and philosophies relating to curriculum from earlier.
I can see now that appropriate selection of materials and effective teaching needs to take into account all of these things, which seems quite imposing! Given so many criteria it seems there would be very few materials to fit the bill, though the teacher has the power to adapt their teaching to suit. All of this has given me a much clearer idea of what is required for assignment 1; putting all of these aspects together to find an effective way of teaching something.
25/3/2012
My assignment is nearly finished now. When I first started I tried looking for some interesting materials that were in some way related, but as soon as I read the curriculum outcomes and decided on an orientation I immediately changed my mind and found two completely different materials. I can see how the guidelines of curriculum and developmental stages form the best framework for deciding what to use. Deciding on the types of assessment tasks to be used is also an area that is clearly difficult, as is deciding on how to teach the materials and how much freedom to give the students. If one had to think about these things for every topic they taught then there must be a colossal amount of work in teaching, though I am sure it gets much simpler with experience.
What is also clear is the difference between different curriculums. The SACSA and national curriculum are quite different in many ways and I can see that each has had different influences/stakeholders to shape the outcomes within. Through the assignment, the importance of literacy has also become clear. Student’s literacy has a huge bearing on their perceived comprehension of their subjects and would need to be developed early on to ensure that they understood all of what was being taught. ESL students would particularly struggle here and their inability to understand another language could prove a huge impediment to their learning if it were not addressed properly. There would be no easy way to overcome this and the pressure on the ESL student would be great.
27/3/2012
Assignment 1 finished!
After learning about NAPLAN and the associated testing, I can see how teachers would ‘teach to the test’, which is disappointing. NAPLAN seems to have many downfalls, but if I were in the government’s shoes I think I would have done the same thing. It is sad to think that this has created an atmosphere where schools, states, students and even the government are afraid to be highlighted for their poor results and will look for alternatives like dumbing down tests to avoid this. This is a conundrum, as if the teachers focus on teaching for the test or if the government dumbs down the tests, the whole purpose of the test becomes meaningless.