Assessment 2: Evaluation of Pedagogy in VELS and VCE Humanities and Civics and Citizenship

Andrea Holliday 3633313

Table of Contents
1. TEXTS 1.1 NIGHT, ELIE WIESEL 1.2 MEASLY MIDDLE AGES (HORRIBLE HISTORIES SERIES) 1.3 CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION THAT WORKS 1.4 HUMANITIES ALIVE 2 2. PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONS; PROVIDERS OF EDUCATION SERVICES 2.1 EDUTOPIA.ORG 2.2 THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 2.3 JEWISH HOLOCAUST CENTRE 2.4 HISTORY TEACHERS ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA (HTAV) 2.5 GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA INC (GTAV) 3. DIGITAL RESOURCES 3.1 DIIGO 3.2 PINTEREST 3.3 AUSTRALIA AND THE VIETNAM WAR 3.4 NEWSPAPER ARTICLE GENERATOR 3.5 GLOGSTER 4. SOURCES OF APPROPRIATE FILMS/DVDS; AND/OR FILMS 4.1 DAUGHTER FROM DANANG 4.2 ELIE WIESEL AND OPRAH AT AUSCHWITZ 4.3 HORRIBLE HISTORIES BBC TV SERIES 4.4 THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS 5. SIMULATION GAMES 5.1 BLACK DEATH SIMULATION GAME 5.2 ROADS OF ROME 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 10 10 10 11 11 12 12 12 13

1. Texts
1.1 Night, Elie Wiesel
Publisher: Hill and Wang; Revised edition (January 16, 2006) Night, by Elie Wiesel, is an autobiography written to describe Wiesels experiences as a child during the Holocaust in Poland, and later in a concentration camp. This text is applicable to Level 10 AusVELS History and Civics and Citizenship, if studying the Holocaust as a part of the WW2 in-depth study. At the school I taught at this year, there are no student-owned text books and one class set of a History text, so I was not able to distribute this book to the entire class. However, I found it very useful in providing a first-hand account of the holocaust. It was particularly resonant given that Wiesel is a child of similar age to the students at the time the book is set. It is a short book, and the level of vocabulary is relatively simple, meaning that it was digestible by most students. I was encouraged by the fact that a number of my students purchased this book to read in their own time testament to the fact that they were engaged with this story. I was able to use it in terms of Historical skills to back up the factual information we had covered in class. However, it was also useful from a Civics and Citizenship point of view when we were doing activities where I asked the students to put themselves in someones shoes during the period. It gave them a reference point and an understanding of what people went through and how that affected political events following WW2. This book also tied in very neatly with some YouTube video I was able to source.

1.2 Measly Middle Ages (Horrible Histories series)

Author: Deary, Terry Publisher: Scholastic, London, 2007 I am a big fan of Horrible Histories (videos and books) as they provide an accessible and humorous look at famous and infamous events during history. The Measly Middle Ages book provides content relevant to Level 8 AusVELS Middle Ages unit within the Humanities Domain. The content provided in this book was accessible to almost all members of my Year 8 class, and provided them with a few laughs. Again, there are no class sets at this school, so I used the text in different ways rather than each student having their own. Also, as it is not written in an AusVELS context, the content is not all set out exactly as the lesson plans had been structured, so it meant selecting pieces from a number of chapters and combining them myself to fit the content we needed to cover.

There was one activity I found particularly useful with the class I taught. There was a famous poem written about peasants during the Middle Ages, and this book had that poem with ten words misspelt. I displayed it on the whiteboard and we read through the poem unscrambling the words as we went. We then went back and read through and analysed the poem again. It gave the students a deeper focus on the poem than it otherwise would have had we simply read it. It is also a technique that I will adopt in future with other poetry or text. Other than the fact that it is not written for the Australian Curriculum, the only other drawback of this book is that it is written from a British perspective. So that means that every now and then there are pieces of the book that need to be explained or contextualized for an Australian class. I would definitely draw on this book if teaching Middle Ages history again.

1.3 Classroom Instruction that Works

Authors: Marzano, Robert J, et al Publisher: ASCD, 2001 This text was recommended during a lecture given earlier this year to our group by the Department of Education. I really got a lot out of this text, and found it very helpful planning my classes. The book covers topics such as summarizing and note taking, cooperative learning, and setting objectives and providing feedback. Each chapter covers a different method of instruction, describing the method, summarising the research on that method, and then examples of how to implement the method. I like the fact that the methods outlined in this book are backed up by a number of research studies, and also the fact that it is very practical outlining what to do and an example. The other thing I like about this book is its focus on successful outcomes for the students. I know this will be a text that I refer to many times over the coming years.

1.4 Humanities Alive 2

Authors: Bedson, Cathy et al Publisher: Jacaranda, November 2009 This text is written specifically for Year 8 VELS Humanities. It is written specifically from the Victorian curriculum and as such is formatted and grouped in chapters according to areas of study. It provides text, diagrams, and some pictures, as well as questions and activities for students. I found this text extremely useful when doing my lesson planning. It gave me a very clear idea of what needed to be covered in the unit of work I was teaching which was Middle Ages history. While it does contain some graphics and

pictures, I found that there were not enough when teaching the Year 8s. I tended to use the text as my first point of research on each specific topic. I added the visual component by providing images, videos, and music through the electronic whiteboard. I used some questions and activities from this text book selectively. I also found that the expected standard was too high for some of the students in the class (whose English was at Grade 3 standard). For these students, I usually sat with them at the start of the activity and provided them with a simpler version, eg answer question one in point form, draw me picture of something. It also didnt have extension activities, which I added for those who finished early. Some of the vocabulary was challenging, but I saw this as a positive. The school I was teaching at has a focus on increasing vocabulary across all subjects, so I was able to draw out relevant words from this text book, write them on the whiteboard and discuss with the class. I found this text a very valuable tool for steering my knowledge and my lessons.

2. Professional Organisations; Providers of Education Services

2.1 edutopia.org
Edutopia, funded by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, is my favourite go-to website. It contains information on education from Kindergarten to Year 12, and although an American website, is extremely relevant in Australia too. Although I rarely find anything content specific on this site, their general teaching ideas and discussions are really thought provoking. They provide information, links and videos on issues like classroom management, or the use of technology in the classroom. I subscribe to their regular email, and also their twitter feed. I have been linked into things such as their New Teacher Network, new webtools, and ideas for classroom activities. As an example, a recent article I have filed away for future reference is this one: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/sticky-note-teaching-tool-ben-johnson The article is titled Tools for Teaching: The Amazing Sticky Note, and provides ideas and a video on creative and simple uses for post-it notes in the classroom. One that I particularly liked was to ask students a question, or for feedback, hand out post-it notes, and then have them write their question and post their note on the door as they leave at the end of class. I think that this could become something you regularly did with a class to obtain feedback, check for things learnt or things not yet understood.

2.2 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

www.metmuseum.org The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, USA, has an educational feature on its website: http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-educators/publications-for-educators I accessed this website while teaching the Middle Ages, using this resource: http://www.metmuseum.org/learn/for-educators/lesson-plans-and-pre-visitguides/medieval-beasts-and-bestiaries While there are not a lot of resources on this website, I found them of a very high quality, and thought that bringing art into the classroom was a great way of finding a different angle to look at what we were studying. In the end, I ran out of time to use this lesson, but I have bookmarked it to use at another time, should I teach the Middle Ages again. The lesson I looked at revolves around the artwork of the Middle Ages which combined different body parts of animals to create fictional ones. In this lesson, students draw a head, pass the paper on to the next student who draws the body, and the last student who draws the legs, each done with the paper folded in such a way that they cant see what was done before them. The final activity is to name and describe the creature that was created. I believe that bringing some art history into humanities is really useful, especially for some students who may be more creatively minded than academic. The website sets out class questions, further resources you may like to refer to and other art works. With the emphasis on ancient history in the early secondary years, I think that art work is a great way to access these times.

2.3 Jewish Holocaust Centre

www.jhc.org.au 13 - 15 Selwyn St Elsternwick, Victoria, 3185 Tel: (03) 9528 1985 The Jewish Holocaust Centre is a museum located in Elsternwick which provides artifacts, information and first hand accounts of the Holocaust. The class I taught went to the JHC for an excursion at the conclusion of their Holocaust studies and got a lot out of having a real life experience. The JHC proved to be a useful resource when teaching the Holocaust. They provide a workbook with reference materials for students, which they suggest to work through prior to a visit. I used this workbook with my two classes, however, I altered it a little to make it appropriate to the students and their capabilities.

The JHC website is a very useful teaching resource for teaching the Holocaust. It has some valuable links to other relevant websites throughout Australia and overseas. But perhaps the most valuable thing it provides is information about current relevant events such as movie screenings, public lectures at the Centre etc, and it is these extras which can often bring a subject to life.

2.4 History Teachers Association of Victoria (HTAV)

www.htav.asn.au The HTAV is the organization of History Teachers in Victoria. I have been to their website a number of times, and must admit that I have rarely found anything useful on it. I am not a member, and therefore there may be some more useful items available to members only. However, there seems to be a lack of content specific materials either available or discussed on their website. I did refer to an AusVELS document from the HTAV website, and that is the only thing I have ever referenced from them after teaching only History in my Humanities placement this year. I am disappointed that there is no discussion board or twitter feed to speak of (twitter seems to be only used to promote their conferences). I think there is the potential to use the media to great advantage through this organization. The website and/or twitter account could be used to set up smaller interest groups where teachers could easily share and discuss issues that they are facing. Given my exposure to the website, I question whether membership in this organization would be worth the money.

2.5 Geography Teachers Association of Victoria Inc (GTAV)

http://www.gtav.asn.au/index.php The GTAV is the organisation that represents the Geography teachers in Victoria. The association has a website, with sections accessible to members only, but most accessible to the general public. They also offer one years free membership to student teachers. I have not taught Geography in the past year, so have not needed to access the GTAV for content specific information. However, I have read their website a number of times, and bookmarked it for future reference should I be teaching a Geography class. In my opinion, their website reflects a community of teachers who are willing to communicate and share. There are special interest groups and location based groups, with contact details available on their website. There is information on their website of general geography in the news, and also an archive of their previous newsletters. There is also an invitation to share questions and comments, which they do through Facebook. I think that although it might be in its early stages, this association seems to be making the best use of modern techonology for networking, and providing information sharing with their

members, which is surely the best way for such an organization to prove its worth.

3. Digital Resources
3.1 Diigo
www.diigo.com I love Diigo! Diigo would have to be my favourite online tool right now. It is an online bookmarking tool which enables you to bookmark websites, write notes on websites, and catalogue your bookmarks into folders and groups, and access these from any computer anywhere on the internet. I have used Diigo when researching lessons. It is useful to group things together, and possibly read in more detail later on I like to accumulate and flick through multiple things first. It is also useful when I come across something that I know I will be teaching, but I am not ready to prepare for it yet I simply create a new folder and bookmark it. What I have not been able to do yet, but I am keen to do, is use Diigo in a classroom. I think it is useful to be able to either limit the websites you want students to look at, or provide them some places to start. By creating a class group in Diigo, you are able to do this. Diigo also provides the opportunity to share with teachers from all over the world by joining groups and following individuals, in this way you can expand your network and resources.

3.2 Pinterest
www.pinterest.com Pinterest is beginning to become a useful educational site. It enables people to pin websites and images to a digital pinboard, and to follow other people who they know or have some interest in. I use Pinterest a lot for personal things such as recipes, pictures I like to show my architect etc. I think that it is a great spot for storing images, however, Diigo is much more efficient to use as a website marker. However, the visual side of Pinterest is very different to Diigo, and I think it does provide something else which makes it worth using. The most useful thing is the images provided to use for debate or discussion in class, such as those by Sociological Images. At present, Sociological Images is placing images of Halloween Costumes, and the gender and racial stereotypes they portray. The infographics available on Pinterest are informative, easily read, and often could raise a lot of interesting questions and discussion.

The one drawback of Pinterest is the lack of content at present. There are only images and information on a smaller amount of subjects, but I see this improving with time, and will continue to persevere with its use for educational purposes.

3.3 Australia and the Vietnam War

http://vietnam-war.commemoration.gov.au This website is specifically about Australias involvement in the Vietnam War. It contains very specific information about the battles Australians were involved in, the conditions they faced and visual images both of the war and the reactions in Australia. This website was extremely useful to me when covering the Vietnam War during Year 10 20th Century History (VELS). I found that, in general, there was a lot of information about the Vietnam War, but not so much from an Australian perspective. I thought it was really important that the story and the learnings from the Vietnam War were specifically from Australias perspective. This website allowed me to do that. As well as information, there are links on the right hand side of most pages to relevant primary sources, including personal letters, army reports etc. The website provides a wealth of visual images, which I used in my lesson. The only downside for me was the videos, which were not available on YouTube, and I could not download in a file to play for my class (as I had no internet access in the classroom). The website is described as a work in progress, so it can only get better. However, already, I found this a really useful base for finding factual information, but also starting points for activities in class.

3.4 Newspaper Article Generator

These two online sources proved useful to me, and I used them a little differently with a Year 8 Humanities class and a Year 10 History class. I can see this activity having many applications across Humanities and Civics and Citizenship. The first is the article about the lesson: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/sel-social-studies-lessons-maurice-elias This website described conducting a social studies (humanities) lesson using the activity of writing a newspaper article. The above weblink talks about the objectives of the class, the format, suggested questions to ask the class. Although I altered these things to suit my style, I did follow this idea. With my Year 8 class, I added an article on the specifics on writing a newspaper article as I felt that they needed a little more guidance. The following link is a newspaper-clipping generator. You can add your text to this website and have your work look like a real newspaper article.

http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp Although newspapers may one day be a thing of the past, the writing of a newspaper article gives the students an important perspective on the topic at hand. I encouraged my students to pick a smaller part of the topic and focus on that, to enable them to get a really in-depth understanding. The Edutopia link exposed me to an idea I might not have come up with on my own, and the simple newspaper generator is just a fun thing to make it look a little more realistic at the end.

3.5 Glogster
http://edu.glogster.com Glogster is a website that allows people to create online posters, which can include images, audio and video. The functions are simple and easy to understand, for example how to place and edit text, or input files into the glog. My eight year old was able to build a glog on his own without any input from me about how to use the website. I really like the way that students can include things they find from the internet, but also combine these with their own words, images and videos. I think it is a great way for students to be accessing the internet, learning about filtering and displaying information, but also doing it in a fun way with some scope for improving their technology skills too. I was not able to use Glogster in my school this year, but I am excited about the opportunities I see it opening up to many students.

4. Sources of Appropriate Films/DVDs; and/or Films

4.1 Daughter from Danang
Film: released 2002 I watched and recorded Daughter from Danang from the Hot Docs series on SBS, (which I have found a great source of interesting films). It is a documentary relevant to Year 10 20th Century History when studying the Vietnam War. I would also be happy to screen it to any senior school class on a civics and citizenship basis. The story of the movie is about a woman who was born in Vietnam in 1968 to a Vietnamese mother and an American soldier father. During the American evacuation, many Vietnamese women were told that children of American soldiers would be killed unless they were sent to the USA. The mother in the documentary sent her daughter, Heidi, on a military plane to the USA; she was aged 8. The documentary follows Heidi (now a 30-something mother of two) as

she returns for the first time to Vietnam and to see her family. She has been raised in the USA in a small southern town, and has not even eaten Asian food before she arrives in Vietnam. The movie raises so many issues about the legacy of war, and the lasting ramifications. There were issues relating to the Vietnam War that could be drawn from this film, but also into the present day, and to talk about the lasting effects of the wars we are involved in now.

4.2 Elie Wiesel and Oprah at Auschwitz

YouTube: Elie Wiesel and Oprah at Auschwitz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slZMOkYJFO0 This YouTube (broken into five separate videos on YouTube) is an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, where Oprah and Elie Wiesel return to Auschwitz, where the Nazis held Wiesel prisoner during the Holocaust. The two walk around Auschwitz and discuss Wiesels experiences at certain locations. There are references to events that occurred in his book, but also they walk through the museum now at Auschwitz and look at items there. This film is suitable for the Holocaust unit in Year 10 20th Century History. It is especially powerful if used in conjunction with Wiesels book, Night. I showed most of this episode in the classes I taught. There were some groans when the students heard that Oprah was on the video! However, they were entranced by it once it started. I played this video in two separate classes, and they were both silent for the duration. There is power in seeing that Auschwitz really exists, that there are some buildings remaining, that the train tracks that transported people are still there. The production values are high, and the images are fantastic. I had my classes complete a few questions after watching this film, but I actually didnt think it needed much reinforcing. My mentor teacher has specifically asked for these materials to use again next year.

4.3 Horrible Histories BBC TV Series

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYgRb9_w7no The Horrible Histories videos are from the BBC childrens TV series, originating from the books, mentioned above. The videos cover all eras of history; I used the videos this year in teaching Middle Ages in Humanities to Year 8s. The Horrible Histories videos combine facts with humour and often music. They were extremely useful to me in the class I was teaching as I had some really challenged kids in terms of language skills, so the videos were a light way of appealing to everyone in the class on some level. I really like the humour it is clever, but manages to get across a key historical fact at that same time.

The YouTube weblink I have included above is for a Horrible Histories video I showed during a lesson where we were learning about the nobles and the peasants in the Middle Ages, and comparing their lives. I showed the above video about a French noble in the Middle Ages, Artois, who used to build pranks into his garden to trick and surprise people. I used it to lead onto a discussion about what this said about his life and finances, that he had a whole garden devoted to practical jokes. We then discussed that it would have been the peasants working for him who would have built it, that they really wouldnt have had any garden for themselves other than for growing food to eat. So although it was light and humourous, it enabled a class discussion relevant to what we were studying.

4.4 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Film: released 2008 The film, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, was shown to the Year 10 group who studied the Holocaust at the conclusion of their studies. My mentor teacher chose it, and she shows this movie each year as part of the Holocaust unit. The movie describes the experiences of a young boy, who is the son of a Nazi SS soldier in charge of a concentration camp, as he befriends a boy who is imprisoned in the camp. I didnt think this was the best film that could have been shown at the conclusion of the Holocaust studies. It didnt give enough factual information about the period, or show life in the concentration camps. I also found it quite long and heavy-going to watch. At the conclusion of the movie, the students were asked to complete several comprehension type questions. I believe that a movie should have been chosen that was more relevant to this age group, and I would have liked to have seen something that would spark some class discussion and debate, or provide the basis for some more interesting exploration than 8 comprehension questions.

5. Simulation Games
5.1 Black Death Simulation Game
http://www.michrenfest.com/the_black_plague_classroom_simulation.pdf The Black Death Simulation Game simulates the spread of the black death through a population. Students move through the room and rolling dice for how many nights they spend in a location. For each night they stay in a city, they must take a bean. If they get a black bean, that is the symbol for contracting the Black Death. The number of black beans in circulation increases as the game continues. In this example of the game, students must log where they travel to and how long they spend in each location before they die. They also are asked to

complete post cards from the places they travel to and describe what conditions are like. I really like the idea of this game, as it brings home to students just how quickly the Plague spread, and how widely the population was affected by it. We talked about 1 in 4 of the population dying, but it gives a whole new perspective when it is simulated. The year 8 class, which I was teaching Middle Ages history, was a combination of two classes, which meant that there were 48 students. Due to this, and not a lot of hands on support from the team teachers, I didnt do this simulation in class. I think that the main drawback of this activity is that it is complicated and I think it would be difficult to get it started. Once most studetns understood what they needed to do, I think that it would be a great activity. However, the size of the class and the mix of language abilities meant that it could have proved more of a logistical problem than it was worth. I have put this website in my Diigo collection for the Middle Ages though, because I think it would really be an experience that the students would learn from and remember.

5.2 Roads of Rome

http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/roads-of-rome.jsp The Roads of Rome is an online game that could be used for Year 7 AusVELS History when students are studying Ancient Rome. The game is meant to be played individually, but could be played in pairs on the one computer. The idea of the game is to use your workers most efficiently to build a road to Rome. Players need to be aware of the supply of resources to build the roads, and also ensuring their workers have enough food, and it is all done within a timed environment, so the quicker you get the road built at each stage, the more points you get. Although students are not going to learn a lot of specific Ancient Roman content from this game, I think it would be a really good way of mixing up the unit on Ancient Rome. Getting a competition going in the class could be really fun, and if played say for the first 10 minutes of each lesson, there could be class discussion about sharing tips and pointers, and checking on each teams progress. An internet connection is not needed once the game has been downloaded, but there would be a cost of downloading the game in the first place which is a drawback. I think the competition and strategy that this game would bring to the classroom would be a really fun element, and would love to see how it played out. I think there would be many and varied classroom activities and debates that could come out of this game.