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Teaching Literacies:
Thinking Outside the Square!

Table of Contents: 1) Introduction Teaching literacies for todays students. 2) YouTube Transcript Who am I? Outlines my embodied beliefs that will express my underlying drive for teaching. 3) Teaching Blog My Teaching Pedagogies. Highlights the correlation between teaching literacies and the Performing Arts. 4) An Advertisement A teaching workshop that will explicitly demonstrate the effectiveness of teaching literacies through the Arts curriculum. 5) An Advertorial Argues the benefits of teaching literacies in ways other than at a desk in the classroom. It is titled Teaching Outside The Square. 6) Photo gallery Students in action demonstrating their literal skills to communicate through performance. 7) Power-Point presentation Reflecting on a cultural Performing Arts Exchange to Singapore 8) Summary If you provide the stage, children will perform

Cover Image: Jonty Coad, taken inside Australias oldest theatre The Theatre Royal, Hobart.

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1) Introduction: This multi-genre text is based on a marketing campaign to promote the effective teaching of literacies suitable for todays students.

Kalantzis & Cope argue that's todays students learn more in semi-formal and informal settings and from a variety of sources (2012, p.10) and this assignment will demonstrate the links that exist in the curriculum for students to learn the fundamental skills of literacies in an environment that will have purposeful meaning suited to their future.

Over recent years students have developed self-learning routines of electronic devices and software applications hence the media influence in the following choice of genres (Kalantzis & Cope, 2012, p.10), but even though students no longer feel the need to memorize information due to the ease with which they can access knowledge either online or from other students or from experts, parents and community members (Kalantzis & Cope, 2012, p.11) learning literacy skills to correctly interpret such information are still vitally important to a childs future. Therefore, I am suggesting an alternative approach outside of desks and chairs, in an attempt to cater for all types of learners. ! My reasoning stems from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers who provide a framework for teachers outlining the knowledge, practice and professional engagement required across teachers' careers, The standards also provide a common understanding and language for discourse between teachers, teacher educators, teacher organisations, professional associations and the public (AITSL 2012).

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2) YouTube Transcript:

I have prepared a YouTube clip to use in marketing myself as a teacher to my peers and potential employers. I have chosen a video because the audience can understand and relate better to people they can see and hear rather than just reading a text. transcript:
Hello, my name is Jacquie. that only had 70 students. school. I come from a diverse background that began in a My family moved to the big smoke called Hobart

Below is the

small country town called Franklin, where I went to the local primary school when I was 11 and I spent the rest of my senior years in a private all girls My passion was dancing and I ended up leaving school during Year 11 Many years later I returned This educational to pursue that passion as a professional dancer.

to school to finish years 11 and 12 but this was in a local public school as my private girls school did not accept mature aged students. process allowed me to witness almost both ends of the education spectrum. At 21 years of age and contemplating my first year at University I met an International cricketer and decided that my life with him was more important than my education and as much as my parents tried to tell me otherwise, I was more self absorbed in the thought of travelling the world and seeing where that could take me. I lived in many different countries while my partner was the professional cricketer for a variety of cricket clubs around the world. Although we are no longer together I was able to experience some amazing cultures and experiences that have shaped who and I am and the teacher I aim to become. I continued to dance while I was away and was lucky to expand my knowledge of dance in ways that were impossible had I stayed in Tasmania. at an all boys school for the past 8 years. an extreme passion for photography also. I have since used this experience and knowledge to obtain a role as a co-curricula teacher During this time I have undertaken an arts degree with a major in communications and have developed My goal is to prepare students for
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life outside of Tasmania using a range of practical yet purposeful skills that I have gained in my education and travelling abroad.

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3) My Teaching Blog:

!!!!!!!!!!03/30/2014!

My teaching pedagogies are embedded in who I am as a person. Pedagogy defines who you are as a teacher and is aligned to the beliefs you hold about learning and teaching (Anderson in Churchill et al., 2011, p.200). As a teacher in the Performing Arts, I understand that students are motivated and express themselves differently, whether that is in the classroom or the dance studio, hence the need for varying pedagogical approaches for teaching.

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Both

didactic

and

authentic

teaching

pedagogies

have

correlations to teaching literacies and the arts. A didactic approach to literacies affiliates well because just as a dance teacher demonstrates a section of a routine and expects the students to model the same movements, a didactic approach to literacy would suggest spelling out the learning content explicitly with an expectation of the student to memorize the information. This approach is often called transmission pedagogy or direct instruction (Kalantzis & Cope, 2012, p.92). Similarly, an authentic pedagogical approach is described as a learner-centred approach that aims to provide space for self expression (Kalantzis & Cope, 2012, p.95). This pedagogy recommends immersion in personally meaningful reading and writing experiences, with a focus on processes of reading and writing rather than the formalities of rules and adherence to conventions (Kalantzis &Cope, 2012, p.95). It is aimed at connecting the lives of the students with an understanding that is relatable and practical. Cope, 2012, p.115). During my teaching experience I have often witnessed students who in a solo exercise can let their creativity explode and draw upon their own feelings and emotions to express themselves easily. However, some students prefer to be guided and given sample movements and suggestions due to their lack of confidence or inability to be creative in this manner. This reflects the need for both a didactic and authentic approach to cater for student diversity and is in accordance with the AITSL Professional Knowledge Standards 1.2 and 1.5. This approach is often called progressive or experimental pedagogy (Kalantzis &

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4) An Advertisement:

5) An Advertorial:

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Educators Australia
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For all your educational news

Teaching Outside The Square

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Students interact with advertisements on a daily basis. This can be in the form of logos that appear on everything they wear and use, to the back of a bus or billboard on the way to school. Obviously, not forgetting the advertisements on the television or every time something is typed into Google. Therefore, as advertising surrounds our daily life it makes sense to teach students the literacy skills required to deconstruct and make meaning of it. This is also vital when applying for a job as it holds the key to every students future. !!

Similarly, with todays increasing obesity rates it is becoming more important than ever to get children active throughout the day! The Tasmanian Department of Education is striving for students to have a state of positive health, which comprises of physical, emotional, social and spiritual wellness, allowing people to participate effectively and fully in their daily life (2014). This workshop will highlight the effectiveness of literacies in the arts curriculum and how to use the arts and more importantly the performing arts to get kids active while strengthening literacy skills amongst todays demanding ! curriculum needs. So jump on board this exciting workshop advertised above! !
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Educators Australia Page 2

Jacquie Coad is offering a workshop in June for teachers to think outside the square and onto the stage in an attempt to highlight how dance has many important links to literacy. She believes it can be an excellent platform for students to express their culture, but more importantly themselves. Performing is an environment that has very little boundaries yet requires lots of discipline for it too be expressed correctly. Students learn to communicate their aesthetic and personal values through the movements they are taught, while at the same time developing their kinaesthetic awareness. According to the Australian Curriculum, The Arts have the capacity to engage, inspire and enrich all students, exciting the imagination and encouraging them to reach their creative and expressive potential (The Arts Curriculum) In dance, students use their body as the instrument and their movements are the medium. They learn to use dance compositions to explore, organise and refine movement for choreography and performance (Australian Curriculum). The starting point being everyday movement that builds to hopefully become a performance piece. However, teaching through the Performing Arts doesn't mean the class need to move to a dance studio or are always communicating through movement, instead using a more hands-on and physical approach to the way a subject is commonly taught. The Australian Curriculum states Language, verbal or non-verbal, is critical for the development of literacy skills. The ability to communicate enables learning across the curriculum, the school day and life outside school. Through the Performing Arts, teachers are able to personalise a students learning by selecting content that is meaningful and respects students individual needs, strengths, language proficiencies and interests (The Arts Curriculum). Both literacy and dance have a purpose, history and place in a contemporary life. They can also include social networks and technology to produce innovative lessons. Teachers must be mindful that in any classroom there could be students from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Some could suffer from learning difficulties, or have different learning styles from the majority of other students, so an alternative approach may be necessary. This could also include children with visual or auditory disabilities, children who are gifted or talented in a variety of different ways, and children with a range of behavioural problems " (Campbell & Green, 2006, p.19). Therefore, an alternative learning approach may be necessary. This is where I have used my knowledge and experience in the Performing Arts to think outside the square and put together a teaching strategy that caters for diversity so that each student can achieve. "

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Australian Curriculum (n.d.), Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au Campbell, R. & Green, D. (2006). Literacies and Learners: Current Perspectives (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia.
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6) Photo Gallery:

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6) A Power-Point Reflection:

The Hutchins School Exchange

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Singapore 2012

SOTA & Hwa Chong Institute

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In 2011, I escorted a group of boys to Singapore where they engaged in a variety of activities while being immersed in a very different culture. The boys experienced life as a student growing up in Singapore, where education is considered the highest priority in a child's development. Although we are culturally different countries the boys had a mutual bond in the Performing Arts. SOTA (Singapores School Of The Arts) had only seven boys enrolled in their entire Performing Arts program so they were very impressed when we turned up with ten! We were able to demonstrate that learning through the Performing Arts was just as important for boys too. The boys took language, mathematics, science and drama classes while at the Hwa Chong Institution but admitted performing as part of Hwa Chongs Cultural assembly and also at SOTA in front of all their students, was definitely the most memorable part of the experience.

7) Summary:

Literacy is a fundamental human right (Winch et al., 2009, p.xxxiii). To be an effective teacher you need to be an effective teacher of literacy, even though what it means to be literate varies with history and culture. Literacy is a complex set of skills that we develop throughout our life and this multi-genre text has argued the reasons for exploring new ways of teaching to meet todays student needs.
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References
Australian Curriculum. (n.d.). The Arts. Retrieved from http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/TheArts/Rationale- Aims Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2014). Graduate standards. Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/ Campbell, R. & Green, D. (2006). Literacies and Learners: Current Perspectives (3rd ed.). Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson Education Australia. Churchill, R., Ferguson, P., Godinho, S., Johnson, N. F., Keddie, A., Letts, W., Mackay, J., McGill, M., Moss, J., Nagel, M. C., Nicholson, P., & Vick, M. (2011). Teaching: Making a Difference. Milton, QLD: Wiley & Sons Australia. Department of Education. (2014). Tasmanian curriculum: Health and Wellbeing Retrieved from https://www.education.tas.gov.au/documentcentre/Documents/TasCurriculum-K-10-Health-and-Wellbeing-Syllabus-and-Support.pdf Kalantzis, M. & Cope, B. (2012). Literacies. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Primary resources, (2014). P.E. Resources. Retrieved from http://www.primaryresources.co.uk/pe/pe.htm#dance Winch, G., Johnston, R. R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L., & Holliday, M. (2009). Literacy: Reading, Writing and Childrens Literature (3rd ed.). South Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press.

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