The Australian Curriculum : HISTORY

1. The Australian Curriculum: HISTORY HTAV, HTAA and other competitions and prizes.

2. A practical workshop for primary teachers of history introducing the history competitions available to schools.Learn what the judges are looking for and view successful entries.

3. Opportunities The Australian Curriculum: History offers great opportunity to integrate new teaching styles into your curriculum. These new styles or techniques could include the ability to offer students the chance to extend their historical knowledge and skills through the use of valuable competitions that are presently offered by the History Teachers’ Association of Australia, the History Teachers’ Association of Victoria and other bodies. These competitions fit neatly into the semester pattern seen in most schools and can be a part of, rather than an addition to your existing curriculum offering. The competitions are: The National History Challenge – 29 August 2014 Young Historians Award – Victorian Community History Awards – August 2014 Melbourne Day - Junior Lord Mayor - Design Melbourne’s Birthday Card Competition September - August 2014 The HTAV Historical Fiction Competition – October 2014 DVA Anzac Day commemoration 23 May and the Shrine of Remembrance, ‘Remembrance Day ‘ poster 22 September

5. Timeframe - 2014 The Challenge opens in February to March. Students have from then through to nearly the end of Term 3 to carry out their research and to develop their response. They can work individually or in teams of up to four students.

6. THE NATIONAL HISTORY CHALLENGE The National History Challenge is a research-based competition for students. ‘It gives your students a chance to be an historian, researching world history, examining Australia’s past, investigating their community and exploring their own roots. It emphasizes and rewards quality research, the use of community resources and effective presentation.’ There were changes to the National History Challenge in 2012, with all histories being accepted and the competition running from primary through to Year 12. This year’s theme is ‘Changing Perspectives’. Primary school entries differed greatly reflecting the influence of the new curriculum.

7. The Theme in 2014 Students need to consider How perspectives of events and people can change over time. How changing perspectives help to build a complex picture of the past How historians change perspectives by re-interpreting evidence How changing attitudes may lead to new perspectives Students may like to consider perspectives on, for example, fashion, food or social structures in different eras. New discoveries of historical evidence or scientific understandings may also change perspectives of history.

8. What are the judges looking for? An original approach Use of primary sources, documents, artefacts, interviews Interest and involvement Understanding Not just pretty, real history obvious!!

9. FORMATS Students can now present their information in a variety of different formats with categories including ‘essay’ (Individual), ‘museum exhibit’ and ‘other’, which means that scrapbooks, poetry, art, diary entries and multimedia presentations can now be submitted. This, in the past, has appealed to the lateral-minded students with entries such as cake decorating, scrap books, tapestries, paintings and documentaries. For more information, visit the website at http://historychallenge.org.au/ You will find past entries and sample work as well as other conditions for entry there.

10. WHERE TO START - HOW TO!! At the Secondary level I’ve used the Challenge as both a class exercise and as an extension activity. In both cases winners have emerged as students gain an interest in their topic and delve into it. Entries have ranged from traditional essays through to role plays and student-made documentaries. In Primary you could use the Challenge as a means of carrying out the ‘History’ that you need to teach at your level. In some cases entries I’ve seen from other schools are of such a standard that I happily use them in my classroom. I’ve seen skills develop as students follow an area of interest, discover new things about their family or realise that the beliefs that they have held previously, or stories that they have been told, can be viewed differently.

11. PRIMARY NATIONAL AND STATE WINNERS

12. Fantastic Mount Carmel College four win National History Challenge prize

13. The Grade 5 girls worked as a team and came up with the idea to go down the path of ‘Australian Women of Firsts’.  They brainstormed a few significant women of firsts and decided to go with First Women in Australian Politics.  The women chosen were Edith Cowan, the first female in parliament, Roma Mitchell, the first female court judge and Governor, Quentin Bryce, the first female Governor General and Julia Gillard, the first female Prime Minister. The Grade 5 girls purchased wooden dolls to represent the chosen women, dressed them up in outfits that the four women would be seen in and put the dolls on a time line from when they were born. Unfortunately, it wasn’t all about the art, the Grade 5 girls also chose to write a letter congratulating each of the women on what they had achieved on behalf of the people of Australia.  In the letter it also gave some information about the four women and their achievements. s. In Grade 6 the girls were asked to write an essay or produce a museum exhibition piece.  Each girl worked as an individual, with Lucy Allwright producing a time capsule about Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith.  Grace Moritz wrote an essay on Sally Morgan, highlighting her achievements as a female aboriginal, Meg Dickens wrote hers on Nicky Winmar and his fight for equality on and off the football field and Ella Scanlon produced a piece on Nancy Bird Walton for the museum exhibition. Once all the pieces from both grades were finished, they were sent off to Clarence High School to be judged.  We were all waiting anxiously and finally during the September holidays the College got the results back from Miss Sluyters.  The Grade 5 entrants had won the State Final for the museum exhibition and Grace Moritz won the State Final for her essay. At the beginning of Term 4 the Grade 5’s got some even more exciting news.  They were announced as National Winners with a trip to Canberra planned in November.  

14. Another set of winners from the Asia Education sectionhttp://vimeo.com/17308993

15. https://vimeo.com/77380834

16. Benefits Maggie Catterall of St Monica’s Primary school points out students use a range of primary and secondary sources to investigate the past. frame research questions and plan their own enquiries. comprehend and question sources, make judgments about the views and values being expressed and the completeness of evidence develop empathy use appropriate historical language and concepts to develop historical explanations present their understandings in a range of forms. know the difference between fact, supposition or theories.

20. Categories You can select ten entries in all from your school. All are automatically judged in the Primary Category. From the ten you can select entries that fit into the Special Categories. It is often in this area that Primary students do well. Any Museum exhibits are automatically judged in that format section as well.

21. Special Categories Asia and Australia Australian Democracy Australian Wartime Experience HTAA Prize Human Rights Migration Sport The Life and Times of John Curtin Using Primary Sources from the NAA Women’s History

22. Young Historians Award This award has been developed by the Royal Historical Society of Victoria to encourage school aged students to engage with local history, increase their historical understanding and discover more about the history of Victoria. Students can explore local communities and identities, significant Victorian events and Victorian heritage topics. Applications for the 2014 Victorian Community History Awards will open in June 2014. Once the site is open check for specific details. http://www.historyvictoria.org.au/programs/victorian-community-history-awards

23. Now open to Primary Entries! Prize $500.00

24. Possibilities!! Ex-students of the school who have become people of standing in the community Local history – buildings, the school itself Important local monuments Scar trees

25. Presentation possibilities Documentary Role plays Small booklet Collection of articles by different sections of the school

26. HTAV HISTORICAL FICTION COMPETITION

27. Take Part in Our 2014 Historical Fiction Competition! The History Teachers’ Association of Victoria Historical Fiction Competition. Get your Year 5 and 6, your 7 and 8, & your 9 and 10 students to create stories based on historical events and people. Students can write about any period of history as long as the entry has a convincing setting that is historically correct in time and place. Winning students will each receive a cash prize of $150.00 and a medallion. Years 5 and 6 - there will be one prize for the best individual story.

28. Entry Rules Entry Rules 1. Entries are free. 2. Entry is open to all students in Years 5 & 6, 7 & 8 and 9 & 10 in the academic year 2014. 3. Entries can be linked to the student’s existing AusVELS work or to their historical interests. 4. Entries must be word-processed. Original illustrations may be included. A maximum length of 4000 words applies. 5. Winning entries will remain the property of the HTAV. The HTAV will be unable to return entries, so please ensure that you make copies. 6. Each entry must have a completed entry form attached which can be obtained from the HTAV website. Entries open: Monday, 3 February 2014 Entries close: Wednesday, 1 October 2014 Display: History Week, 19 October – 26 October.

29. How to start! Who are you writing for? What period are you setting your story in – think A. SETTING B. COSTUME C. MANNERS AND BEHAVIOUR D. HOUSING, FOOD AND HABITS Create a strong plot or storyline. Develop key characters and their personalities. Attitudes need to be appropriate to the period. Don’t bring in vampires or supernatural unless relevant to that period of history.

30. Literacy This could be a writing task that links to Geography and History Students could explore and expand their AusVELS units by creating a story in the time period and place that they are studying Research into dress, habits, living styles will all add to their learning

31. MAXIMUM!! The story does not have to reach the maximum number of words Short but interesting Illustrations can be scanned into the story later if students want to

32. Examples WITCH HUNTER by Georgina Coope Chapter 1 Last night was the last night of my life! It was also the worst. I think what hurts most is the knowledge that it didn’t have to end like this. I know I brought this upon myself, and I can’t say life was too short. An old, bent, some might say crazy old woman, with coarse white hair and wrinkled features, should probably say her time had come. But it hadn’t. The horrific events of these past couple of days were nothing more than pure evil! My name’s Alice Bennet and I lived all my life in the small, remote village of Oaknell Rising. I can’t say I was particularly friendly towards the other villagers. In a way I was sort of cut off, I don’t really know why, but that’s what age does to you. That was how I liked it. Children scared each other with stories of the mysterious, old crone who would boil you in a pot if you came to close! People did come to see me though, whenever anyone had an illness that needed curing, or a wound that needed treating. All day long I busied myself making remedies for those brave enough to venture near me. Not that they had a choice. There was no doctor for miles around, and everyone knew that medicine bought from me was guaranteed to work. There was a lot of speculation surrounding my secretive formulas. Nobody knew what was in them and I would never in a million years tell my secret to anyone. It would be buried with me in my grave. Yet they trusted them all the same, because they had to. Chapter 3 We knew who he was immediately, one of the many money seekers now roaming our countryside, taking advantage of people’s superstitions and fear. A witch hunter! A man who rid communities of their witches for a fee any terrified villager would be more than willing to pay. As soon as I saw him my door was open and I was outside. In one glance I knew this was the one person I could not hide from, no matter how hard I tried. I could feel his eyes piercing me, even when my own were tightly shut. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the fight to start. “Alice Bennet I presume?” I nodded. What could I say? Suddenly Mary threw herself at his feet! “Sir I beg of you. Wipe this murderer from the face of the earth!” Gently he pulled her to her feet. “What reason do you have to believe that Alice Bennet is a witch?” he asked. There was nothing I could do except grit my teeth and listen as Mary recounted every detail of the previous night. “She made them sick. Look at them they’re dead and it’s her fault!” Fresh tears cascaded down her face. It was no good I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer. “It’s not true sir. Yes, she did come to me last night and yes, I did refuse her a remedy. But the consequences of that were not my doing. I can’t help it if people are unable to pay. I need food and shelter just as much as them.” “So you deny threatening her?” “No, but it was only words. Nothing became of them.” “How is it then,” he continued “that this woman’s children somehow all caught the sickness and died of it in the same night?” That did it. A surge of rage boiled up inside me, threatening to explode! “Listen to me! Mary said herself last night that it was only a matter of time before the others caught it. This whole event is nothing more than pure coincidence.” “You can cure the sick” someone yelled out. “And won’t tell anyone how!” “We’ve all heard you” added someone else. “We’ve all heard you nattering away to yourself all night long. That’s what witches do!” I am sorry to say that Selky chose that particular moment to leap out the window and arch her back at the apparent intruder. “Her Familiar!” a man called out. “She’s a witch. Kill her!” I stared at them in disbelief. It was only too clear that this witch hunter had seen what he came for. “My name,” he told the wild crowd, “Is John Hemming. And you, Alice Bennet, are on trial on suspicion of witch craft! Prepare the swimming test!”

34. MY NAME IS NERO My name is Nero. You do not need to know my surname. You do not need to know anything about my past except that my mother was captured as a slave and my fate was the same. It does not matter where my mother or I were seized from but it does matter that I, Nero, am a Gladiator. You may question why am I a Gladiator when before I was just a mere slave? That does not matter, you will find out in time. But I must not lose my focus. The crowds are cheering and screaming as I am standing in the amphitheatre. I am looking around and as I do, I can see nothing except the faces of roman citizens. Free roman citizens, some with their slaves who are sat with baskets of grapes and wine for there masters and mistresses to feast on while watching this bloodthirsty match (I have found in my stay here that the people of Pompeii are thirsty for spilt blood.) They are sitting here to watch the fight that I, Nero the gladiator, am risking my life in. but it will be worth it. I am facing another gladiator for my freedom. And If I win I will become a free man along with Lenia and everyone else, because, although I am a gladiator and a fine one too, I am still a slave to Titas. I want to become free! That is why I am risking my life, my most prized possession for mine and Lenia’s freedom. The fight will start quite soon and if I do die, I want you to know I die proud. And that my Past is history, but my future will make history… The first years of my life was spent all by myself in the town of curium. My mother was captured under the Ceasers reign. She was sold as a slave to Silvia, the owner of the baths at Curium and all through this she was pregnant with me. Silvia was a good woman and helped my mother through the birth but my mother had always been rather sickly, as I’ve been told, and lived only a couple of hours to see me before she died. Thankfully Silvia, and her husband, Maximus, were childless so I was raised as if I was there’s. Life seemed good and most people knew I was their slave, but at first glance people often thought I was there child. We were a family, as Silvia said. But my happy life soon ended when I was 9. Silvia fell pregnant, but I was not jealous, I was happy for her. I knew I would still be treated as a son, just that I would be treated as an older brother to. But in the midst of it all Silvia became ill and died like my mother. Sadly my soon to be brother died to. Maximus became angry then. He was heartbroken and couldn’t bear to have anything that would remind him of Silvia. He spent all his money on wine and would drink heavily. Finally his money ran out and Maximus could not afford to keep me anymore. So I was put on the market. I was a hard one to rid of. Who would want a skinny, sickly, weedy runt like me? But finally, after months I was sold. But not to a good man or woman like Maximus had one been with his wife. I was sold to Titus, a fat and wealthy man. Now this is where my story really begins The people are chanting now and a loud cheer is rising up as Gladiator Asiacus enters the arena. The fight is beginning. It is Asiacus who strikes first. My heart is in my mouth as his sword scrapes my arm. I thrust my sword and smirk as a small trickle of red catches my eye. The first bit of blood has now been spilt… and it is not mine!

35. Junior Lord Mayor of Melbourne Competition Children aged 10 to 13 years of age simply answer a few multiple choice questions and tell us what they love about Melbourne and what they would buy Melbourne for a birthday present. Finalist will meet the judging panel and join official Melbourne Day events with the winner announced at the official Flag Raising Ceremony. A great prize pack include a framed certificate, photo opportunity with the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, a tour of Melbourne Town Hall, gift pack of entry tickets to city attractions and the opportunity to join the Lord Mayor on his mayoral duties. To enter download an entry form at http://melbourneday.com.au/education.html

36. Altona Gators Basketball Club Abigail Dinan - Junior Lord Mayor Melbourne Last year’s winner Abigail Dinan

37. Altona Gators Basketball Club Abigail Dinan - Junior Lord Mayor Melbourne Don’t forget Shrine of Remembrance - Remembrance Day Competition Each year the Shrine of Remembrance holds a competition for Primary school students to design a poster. The poster is used to promote the Shrine’s activities for the following year. Last year the winning entry was by Angus Grant from grade 2C at Lloyd St Primary School. His entry features a striking yellow Shrine set against a turbulent blue Melbourne sky in which the words “Lest we forget” are written on a white background. The poster is completed with the images of the eternal flame in the foreground juxtaposed with a huge single poppy floating effortlessly in a white panel. All in all, a striking poster, which will wonderfully represent the work of the Shrine in 2014. Congratulations Angus! If your students have artistic talents, in painting, drawing, collage or design, why not encourage them to submit an entry in the competition this year. Closes 22 September. Entry details and application forms can be obtained from the Shrine at: http://www.shrine.org.au/Education/Poster-Competition Anzac Day Schools Awards 2014 Find out how your school can participate and compete for cash prizes and recognition. Closes 23 May. Go to: http://www.dva.gov.au/commems_oawg/commemorations/education/AD_schools_awards/Pages/index.aspx