TATE Workshop

1. TATE Workshop English and the Essential Learnings Statewide workshops August 2005 4.30 – 5.45 pm

2. English in Australia key learning area domain field subject discipline

3. Changing English? English is always subject to the laws of recontextualisation – it takes on different forms in different contexts. No one can claim to have the one true doctrine of English. Nick Peim - National Association Teaching English, 2003

4. Changing English? There are now many versions of English. English - an umbrella term for the many Englishes?

5. Versions of English? literature/literary study communication language literacy cultural studies/media studies l(IT)erary l(IT)eracy

6. English in Tasmania language skills personal growth cultural heritage functional/genre critical literacies critical multiliteracies?

7. English English constantly leads outside itself into other fields of study. English is about nothing in particular but also, therefore, about everything.

8. English Despite some uncertainties around subject English, there are common practices and familiar content in our English classrooms.

9. Senior Secondary English English Studies English Communications English Writing English Applied English 2-4

10. English Communications the power of language in society exploring how communications work in the modern world, particularly in Australia an inquiry approach into relevant issues and contemporary texts producing original and authentic texts

11. English Studies the study of texts that emphasise the use of language to create and interpret experience imaginatively how literary texts - both print and film - represent experience texts and their contexts reflection on the nature of text, self and society

12. English Writing exploration of ideas and issues through writing producing a significant body of original work crafting writing through workshop processes and investigating others’ writing personal reading and viewing

13. English English provides us with the capacity for making meaning and reflecting on texts, language, people and the world. Learning, Teaching and Assessment Guide, 2005

14. English English is about the textual rendering of the human experience. Wendy Morgan - AATE Conference, 2005

15. English English is about how we represent ourselves in our world and how we make sense of representations for us in our world. Gunther Kress, 2005

16. Essential English What does English essentially concern itself with? What does it do that no other area of the curriculum does? Wayne Sawyer – University of Western Sydney, 2005

17. Essential English Essential English is about: the study of language reflection on language the critique of language the creation of language

18. Essential English In texts of the: imagination personal aesthetic

19. Essential English In: print electronic oral and visual forms Wayne Sawyer – University of Western Sydney, 2005

20. Essential English The central concern with language for its own sake. The equal valuing if the critical and aesthetic domains of language. The valuing of imaginative and personal uses of language. Wayne Sawyer – University of Western Sydney, 2005

21. The Essential Learnings The ELs Framework aligns: Curriculum i.e. what we teach. Pedagogy i.e. how we teach. Assessment i.e. how we provide feedback to students and make judgements about learning. Reporting i.e. how we recognise and communicate judgements about learning to others.

22. The Essential Learnings five ‘essentials’ central to contemporary life and work a seamless curriculum guaranteed for all students K-10 concept-based, inquiry-driven world-related clear outcomes and standards

23. The Essential Learnings Interrelates discipline knowledge, conceptual understanding, processes and skills to ensure connectedness and coherence in learning. English constantly leads outside itself into other fields of study.

24. The Essential Learnings Provides a lens through which to identify and select critical content, key concepts, processes and skills from the fields of learning such as English.

25. The Essential Learnings Discipline and subject knowledge will be strengthened through the Essential Learnings curriculum. ELs Parent & Community Pamphlet, 2005

26. Essential English learning We have to get better at the disciplinary to make the transdisciplinary work. Professor Peter Freebody - TATE State Conference, 2005

27. Shifts in approach Moving our thinking from teaching a subject called English towards the notion of English learning within an Essential Learnings curriculum.

28. Shifts in approach From teaching a subject called English towards learning about, with and through the critical content, key concepts, processes and skills of the field of English

29. Shifts in approach From teaching the book Looking for Alibrandi to inquiring into how the book represents family, loss, relationships and identity.

30. Mending Wall Something there is that doesn’t love a wall That sends the frozen ground-swell under it And spills the upper boulders in the sun And makes gaps even two can pass abreast. Good fences make good neighbours… Robert Frost

31. Transdisciplinary English? Does English connect to other fields of study? Do teachers of English spend time in the domains of history, philosophy, social sciences, geography, aesthetics…?

32. Animal Farm

33. Transdisciplinary design Transdisciplinary learning connects two or more disciplines through a conceptual lens or focus to explore complex, life problems or issues.

34. Transdisciplinary design In transdisciplinary learning the ‘interactive synergy’ of the disciplines enables students to develop greater understanding of the problem or issue.

35. Transdisciplinary design In transdisciplinary learning, disciplines maintain their integrity, informing what students need to know, (factual knowledge) understand (conceptual understanding) and be able to do (skills and processes).

36. Key key elements Being literate Inquiry Being arts literate Reflective thinking

37. More key key elements Valuing diversity. Building and maintaining identity and relationships. Being information literate. Being ethical. Understanding the past and creating preferred futures.

38. Being literate working with the codes in which texts are constructed participating in making meaning of texts using texts critically analysing and transforming texts

39. Key concepts Core concepts within Being literate: communication text language meaning

40. More concepts Symbol, word, image, message, code, register, Standard Australian English, language mode, multimodal text, text form, text type, genre, text structure, language feature, audience, purpose, context, strategy, representation, deconstruction, construction, point of view, positioning, ideology, aesthetic appreciation, media, non-verbal communication, print text, spoken text, visual text, multimedia text, intertextuality

41. The process of inquiry asking good questions defining problems gathering information thinking about possibilities making decisions justifying conclusions

42. Literary inquiry involves enjoying texts exploring texts analysing texts critiquing texts appreciating texts valuing texts

43. Literary inquiry Students ask questions about: how the book is made the narrative form

44. Literary inquiry Students ask questions about: the structure of the text the ways in which the text relates to life

45. Literary inquiry Students ask questions about: how does the implied author operates how might we read the text

46. Literary inquiry Students ask questions about: the literary techniques and devices operating in the text ways in which texts relate to each other

47. Designing a task Working in pairs, read the scenario and explore the questions that follow. Be prepared to share your responses.

48. A learning sequence What’s new and/or different in the learning sequence? What’s simply good English teaching practice?

49. Ways forward literary inquiry into texts and language for critical, personal, social and aesthetic purposes literary inquiry and reflective thinking around significant ideas and issues represented in different texts investigating texts, their contexts and relationships

50. Ways forward applying English learning to communicate in public, life-related ways extended negotiated learning ongoing elements – language processes, strategies, skills, conventions

51. Contact details Steven Figg PEO English/Curriculum Support Team School Education Division steven.figg@education.tas.gov.au