Unit 1 Conference

1. Unit 1 Conference “Miss are we doing anything fun today?” Strategies for the Delivery of VCE Unit 1 20th Century History 2 March 2012, HTAV

2. Watch this carefully

3. How many numbers on clock face? 2. How many men in the row marching forward in the opening scene? 3. What was the number of the elevator? 4. Are the men of the ‘above ground’ Metropolis weaning shirts when they are running? Questions

4. Now that we are awake British writer Vera Brittain once stated that ‘…at no previous period has mankind been faced by a half-century which so paradoxically united violence and progress.’

5. Now that we are awake • Course Decisions and the SD • Key Outcomes • Learning Routines • Vocabulary • SACs and Preparations • The Exam • Some reality checks I have gotten along the way… and am still learning by going back to basics…

6. The study design • Unlike other Units, 20th Century History is far from straightforward. • Students should be familiar with the study design… the language should be part of all assessment criteria.

7. Reality check #1 Can most teens understand what this means?

8. Vce history • Tension between delivering a great deal of context (factual) and at the same time developing students critical literacy skills. • Available texts may not be sufficient level of detail. • Tension between depth and breadth.

9. Ummm…

10. Making decisions Hot Dotting is a decision making routine created by Quality Education.

11. Making decisions Making Decisions Explicit and Accessible

12. Making decisions Making Decisions Explicit and Accessible

13. outcomes On completion of this Unit the student should be able to… Outcome 2: analyse and discuss patterns of social life and the factors which influenced changes to social life in the first half of the 20th Century. Outcome 3: analyse the relationship between historical context and cultural expression of the period 1900 to 1945. Outcome 1: analyse and explain the development of a political crisis and conflict in the period 1900 to 1945.

14. Course structure • 3 Areas of Study, 3 SACs, 1 Exam • Give student Area of Study Plans not the ‘whole year.’ Make the language student friendly. • Due to the ‘for example(s)’ in the study design it is very open ended… • BUT (though its obvious) stick to the study design! • HOWEVER… because the course is open-ended make decisions that are based on Year 12 as well!

15. AOS 1 • Provide a historical context (breadth) • Break down each dot point of key knowledge (page 1) • Don’t try to do everything or you will still be teaching World War One in Term 2 – make decisions and be ruthless sticking to them. • If you are studying Germany, do not rush past Weimar period and don’t forget unification of German state in 19th Century • If you are looking at Russia, do not get bogged down in Tsarist Russia and be sure to make a direct link to WW1 world • Warning! If you select Russia you need to deal with World War 2 later on…

16. AOS 2 • Usually a choice between Stalinism and Nazism • Make clear decisions about which groups you will select – and stick to them – also stick to locations (can do comparative)… choose ‘obvious’ examples… • No regime just has a negative effect • Ways in which groups organised? • Change and Continuity (page 26)

17. AOS 2 • Be sure that these link up with Cultural Expression AOS 3 • Look generally at how societies are organised, break down the study design (synonyms) not all students know what political affiliation means • Consider what will work best for your class – GeneralGouvernment • Think about a comparative element like Fascist Italy (this is a good way to introduce Fascism) • Whatever you choose, focus on a) continuity and change, b) different groups and c) different time periods • DON’T FORGET KEY SKILLS DIFFERENT

18. AOS 3 • Consider integrating to strike ‘while the iron is hot.’ • Look carefully at the skills. • Be on the look out for opportunities (Mad Square etc).

19. Key SKILLS summary • Explain the historical issues covered in the key knowledge; • Apply historical concepts related to the period • Analyse and evaluate written and visual historical evidence • Synthesise material and evidence to draw conclusions; • Analyse the way that the experience of the period has been interpreted and understood over time by historians and other commentators • Express knowledge and ideas in writing, presenting material using historical conventions such as quotations, acknowledgement of sources, and a bibliography.

20. Wasn’t this meant to be fun?

21. Learning activities • Learning Activities are students safety net… • Much of your time will be ‘traditional’ • But still need to mix it up to get students excited and to provide opportunities for students to access the content in many different ways • Repetition is key to LTM

22. Learning activities Instructional Approaches

23. Perceive, know, care about Project Zero Harvard, Visible Thinking Strategies

24. Change and Continuity in German Society See, think, wonder Otto Dix, To Beauty, 1922.

25. Change and Continuity in German Society See, think, wonder Wolfgang Sievers, Total Poverty in Berlin Germany 1933.

26. Geopolitical changes due to peace treaties See, think, wonder Paris Peace Conference

27. “If we are to learn anything useful from the great human resource of past experience [it is that] the past, like the present, is simply too complicated and too multiple to be told in a single story.” Inga Clendinnen, Quarterly Essay, “The History Question, who owns the past?” (Back Inc, Melbourne, 2006), 66. Perceive, know, care about Project Zero

28. DDQ Project Zero

29. True For who? Project Zero, Exploring historians views or groups etc

30. Reality check #2 • Just because the loudest kids in the class seem to get it doesn’t mean that you haven't lost 60% of the class who are now busily wondering where you got your hot shoes from… • You are competing for the students attention… if you can find an easy way in then you can build more complex knoweldge

31. Reality check #2 • Dr. Richard Elmore (Harvard Uni) 80% student learning factual and procedural… and students have no idea what it means (2006). • ICT Gen – lots of info, quick, shallow understanding…

32. Low literacy/esl and texts • The reality is students will need to read a lot… much of it independently… • Students will need to synthesise sources which are often written in language difficult to grasp (Wilfred Owen Effect). • NSW HSC Online • GCSE Bitesize by BBC • Smartboard activities from Smart Exchange • Get these students to focus on the lesson “Key Question” and build from there • Synonym Lists and VisuWords

33. Reality Check #3 • This is not university • Do something fun – create DADA inspired collages depicting society in the 21st Century, ask the dance teacher to come in and look for opportunities to get kids involved in the action and immerse them in the topic!!! You will be surprised (FB). • If students do, students will learn

34. Learning activities • Dossier of Sources (page 1) • Postcards from Weimar Tom Ryan (page 18) • Role Plays/one simulation (page 12) • Empire Photo Albums or similar • Debates • Secret spying missions (pages 9-10) and notes

35. vocabulary • The key is to make it accessible… • Look for opportunities for short energisers which are vocabulary based… • Combine with images

36. Reality Check #4 • Just because a kid can give you a verbatim definition does not mean that they understand the term nor that they can use it in context or a new situation. • Repetition is key.

37. vocabulary Robert J. Marzano, Leading the Implementation of a School Wide Vocabulary Program. • 88,500 terms in grades 3-9 textbooks (Nagy and Anderson, 1984). • Frontloading key vocabulary BEFORE the unit commences… • Problem with Cue Cards • Draw words from the topic as well as the STUDY DESIGN…

38. Marzano table

39. vocabulary Engagement and reworking until the students really get it!

40. vocabulary

41. Find your partner

42. Reality check #5 • Students often want to know why Hitler sent Nazi Germany into World War One. • Lesson: assume kids know nothing!!! Explaining for two seconds will save you in the long run (depth/breadth).

43. Context and general knowledge

44. Context and general knowledge

45. Low literacy/esl and texts

46. Sacs and preps

47. Use Year 12 models VCAA Assessment Handbook Page 54

48. Sac strategies • Know what the Year 12 Teacher is doing and model…

49. Sac strategies • Regular written responses and document studies not just SACs. • Present not just in a written way. Activity Time! Was Germany responsible for World War One? Which verdict does your witness support?

50. Sac strategies • If it makes sense, do it (for example, Research Project for AOS 3 fits skills) • Use Descriptors which look like Year 12 Descriptors (page 55) just change the language. • TEES (8+ on exam) (page 34) • Top 5 Report after each SAC (or even SA Questions) (page 53-54) • If you can, write up examiners reports (page 51)