13%
Band
7
Band
8
54%
Band
9
Band
10
59%
33%
Indigenous
Non-EuropeanOrigin
European
Origin
Documentation
My activity in assignment one was a story map. A story map is a visualization of data
presented in a story (AdLit.org). This is often a graphic organizer, with students asked to
analyse text then identify key features. It was a general idea for Year 10, building on the
success of the structural activity I implemented in Year 9.
Developmental Considerations
This term, Year 10 English assessment is an imaginative response to a stimulus under
exam conditions. It must be noted here that there are no defined numeracy capabilities
for Year 10 English in the Australian National Curriculum. There are several critical
thinking capabilities, however, and I have integrated these in my activity.
For my original design, I only considered use of spatial representations to structure a text.
Reconsidering the activity in the context of a whole unit, I started to think of the
reversehow spatial relationships could help students interpret data in a text.
Story Element
Examples
Characters
Setting
Plot
Problem/goal
What set events in motion?
What problem arose?
Who/what were the key players after?
Events/episodes
What are the key steps or events that capture the progress of this
situation?
Resolution/outcome
How was the problem solved?
How was the goal attained?
Theme
event/information reveals and dramatic irony, the difference between knowing the
whole story, and learning the story piecemeal, integral part of spatial vs. temporal
criticism.
Remember
narrative
arc/
character
arc
structure/
narratology
Understand
textual
spatial
markers
application
to
relationships
Apply
Analyse
considering
spatial
data
in
context
consider
relationships
represented
Evaluate
what
sort
of
relationships
are
modelled?
is
this
effective?
are
relationships
believable?
Create
collect
and
assess
data
consider
mulitple
viewpoints
and
synthesise
how does this relate to prior unit? can I carry these interests into a new activity
while also helping students consolidate their numeracy (Westwood, 61)?
7. Where are my students in terms of abstract thought and critical thinking? Are they
able to interpret text and recast it visually? Can they consider a visual
representation in a social framework?
Moving forward:
-
Used discussion with Science and Math teachers and discussion with students to
assesses capabilities.
Truancy: make contact with parents, reinforce to parent and student value of
education.
> 10
19%
>
20
>
30
75%
>
40
>
50
8%
>
10
56%
>
20
>
30
>
40
>
50
Redesign
Reflecting on student sensitivity to relationships and dynamics, my interest in spatial
relations, and textual criticism, I revised my original activity to include relationships.
Students would plot a narrative arc and character arcs, then map spatial interactions in a
text and analyse these to work out character-to-character relationships.
Time constraints prohibited a full classroom trial. A simulation of a tailored activity did
not seem appropriate either, so, after discussion with AB, I revised my idea to create a
truncated version of this spatial analysis using a micro text. The truncated version was
run over a half period of thirty-five minutes, as a whole class activity.
1. Drawing on my knowledge of students:
- used a 12-word zombie text/pop culture text
2. In line with Marzano:
- ensured clear learning goals and objectives
- separated objectives into skills and discussion! activity builds/assesses numerate
skills, challenges students to think beyond perceptions/use critical thinking skills.
Skills: students will be able to
-
identify key events in a text and graph these in terms of story structure/narrative
arc
Problem: not all students respond to same method; too much discovery
method may be too nebulous; poor communication; disengaged students.
Think big picturethink about student trends and zone of proximal development.
Focus on a set of skills and connectionist learning/context instead of single skills.
Check in with students a few lessons after an activity and assess retention. Note
what works/doesnt work.
Use aids where necessary for individual students. E.g. If a student has trouble
with interpreting data in text form, help with graphic organizer scaffolds.
Implementation
Text: Boy glances. Girl smiles. Zombie enters. Bang! Bang! Bang! Girl kisses zombie.
A simplistic story which ticks all the boxes for a narrative arc and three character arcs. As
a class, we played with arrangement of the text and set it out in a graphic organizer to
map structure.
Figure
3
Variant
spatial
representations
of
text
Figure
4
Narrative
Arc
for
Variant
1
Rearranging the text allowed students to consider spatial versus temporal readings of the
text and how these may or may not change relationships. The breaking up of Bang!
Bang! Bang! into separate lines gave rise to discussion of what is happening
Miss, is it a gun?
Is there a gang, or are they in a dodgy neighbourhood?
Does each character have a weapon if the bangs are broken up, because then it looks like
time is passing?
Figure
5
Character
Arc
for
Variant
2
In considering this structural change, students also considered what constitutes conflict in
1
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a story. The narrative arc used in this lesson is a simplified version of several arcs in the
field of narratology (some of which are discussed in Martin and Rose). Genettes
narratology, alongside Bakhtins heteroglossia, gives rise to potential extension here
discussion of focaliser and the socio-ideological languages of a textwhich helps
students identify perspectives and how perspectives can change recitation/interpretation
of events.
Simplifying this, I asked students to think on relationships in the text, and how they could
or couldnt map them. Next, we created character arcs.
Reflective Marker 2: Weve done narrative arc before. How much do I need to
remind them? Will they connect it to last term? Students quickly linked these graphs
to last terms graphs. Some asked theory questions, so I asked them to write them down
for another lesson.
Figure
6
Character
Arc:
Boy
11
Figure
7
Character
Arc:
Girl
Figure
8
Character
Arc:
Zombie
I asked students to consider other ways we could diagram relationships. This built on
prior discussion of gesture and persuasive movement from term 3 and asked students to
recall analysis on film positioning from our prior unit.
12
This was a challenging part of the exercise because there are no clear spatial relations in
the text due to its shortness. In a full trial, the class will work from textual clues back to
diagrams; for this exercise, the class thought of potential clues that could be added to the
text, then mapped these. Students did achieve clear potential spatial maps of
relationships, as reproduced below.
Reflective Marker 3: Is it easier to work backwards or forwards? Is creating the
cues then mapping them too hard? Students responded well because they could choose
words they recognized instead of trying to interpret straight away. Similar to reversed I
do demonstration.
Potential Barrier: Moving to an abstract and symbolic level too soon
-
Problem: student does not have concrete understanding but is asked think in
the abstract
Relationship depicted
to add
Boy glances to his left.
her better.
considering goal.
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smiles.
Zombie stomps in.
with shovel.
Zombie.
between them.
him/her.
Spatial Maps
Figure
10
"zero
point"
spatial
map
14
Figure
11
spatial
demonstrating
conflict
Figure
12
spatial
map
demonstrating
relationships/objectifying
girl
Figure
13
spatial
map
demonstrating
girl
asserting
subject
position
15
Figure
14
alternative
spatial
map,
girl
asserting
subject
position
AB feedback here was that the strong amount of discussion was the driver of
success, continuing this type of work/reflect/work/reflect journey is important.
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skill. All students are not necessarily at the same level within a given class, and
differentiation and extra scaffolding/modelling may be required for some.
General conclusion: successful activity but not clearly assessable as a group. May work
best with a small version with 12-word text as an explicit example, followed by a lesson a
week later with individual/pair share work on a given text.
Reflective methods used in this assignment/practicum:
-
Discussion with mentor teacher. High level of verbal discussion with my mentor
teacher throughout prac; she has also commented on my self-evaluations and
reflections.
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Use of buddy system. Working with my mentor teacher has been highly
beneficial; a more grown up version of the mentor/pre-service teacher
relationship.
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Appendix 1, References:
AAMT Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers Inc. (1998) Standards for
Excellence in Teaching Mathematics in Australian Schools. 2006.
-
1.3: how do I use numeracy in text? My work is all textual analysis, evaluation,
synthesis. What is my strong content knowledge? What are my applications, and
how can I alter them for my students?
1.1 How well do I know my students? What are our areas of rapport? What is
engaging to them? Where do their interests lie?
Bakhtin, M. M. (1935). Discourse in the novel. The Novel: an Anthology of Criticism and
Theory 19002000, 481-510.
-
Textual clues/intertextuality
Berk, Laura E. Child Development. 9th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. Chapter 9. Print.
development considerations
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Ewing, R. (2010). The reflection storyline : Bringing the stories together (Chapter 10). In
Curriculum and assessment: A narrative approach. (pp. 185-202). South Melbourne,
Vic: Oxford University Press.
-
often have to write brief dot points after the fact, then expand upon on a weekly
basis, sometimes after teaching two classes within the same grade ! how best
can I contrast experiences?
Using learning goals on the board as markers? Ticking off for student
achievement, but also for mental processing?
Kelly, M., & Gordon, C. (2002). Classroom management: Creating positive learning
environments (2nd ed.). South Melbourne: Thomson.
- how much management required in a short activity?
-
How much will I need to call back focus? Will repeated calls to focus make the
activity too difficult! will students need recontextualising every time? This is the
case for year 9. Will year 10 be significantly different?
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Can I break the activity into segments that allow for brief lapses of focus between
segments and let students do their chatting for a minute or two as I set up the
board?
Does intensive wording make the exercise less accessible? Where can I remove
text? Where can I remove steps?
Martin, J., & Rose, D. (2008). Stories. In Genre Relations: Mapping culture (pp. 49-98).
London: Equinox Pub.
A major demand of the English curriculum in Australian schools is for students to
evaluate the stories they read or view in 'text responses Martin and Rose, 46).
-
How can I implement numeracy in such a major piece of the curriculum? If text
evaluation is key, what pieces of numeracy can be best applied to it?
21
Pearse, M., & Walton, K. M. (2011). Teaching Numeracy: 9 critical habits to ignite
mathematical thinking. Corwin Press.
-
Westwood, P. (2008). What teachers need to know about numeracy. Aust Council for Ed
Research.
In attempting to implement an investigative approach, a teacher may fail to provide
students with essential information to help them make complete sense of their discoveries
and refine their existing strategies (Westwood, 58).
-
Students will simply forget the mathematics they have been learning and will therefore
fail to become fully numerate, if they are not given an opportunity to revisit concepts and
skills frequently (Westwood, 61).
-
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get students to go back and consider prior work. Look through notes. Think
actively.
Personal Communications
A Braithwaite, personal communication, September 4th, September 26th, October 2nd
2014
-
tie to things they know or enjoy. Make the most of what you know about them.
Dont pitch too high but dont pitch too low either. Let them determine their level
of extension.
Use what they know. Think about what youve already taught them.
dont give them the opportunity to act up until after youve established the set up
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use very concrete steps for numeracy activities. Make sure you could follow
through a sequence clearly, each piece builds logically. (Me: avoid horizontal
steps)
think about which students will have the hardest time with the material during the
design process. Start with them, and use them as a check as you go through.
dont be afraid to alter what youre doing in the moment. If its not clicking,
change it.
General Note:
Above, Ive listed the relevance of various sources to my theory, design and
implementation as per the assignment guidelines. I think its important to note, however,
a more generalbut strongreaction Ive had to many of the texts weve read over the
semester, despite it being outside the purview of this assignment. That said, I think this
consideration should form part of assignments going forward.
Teacher Numeracy
Something Im coming to think about a lot is how pedagogy and theory work in
applicationI often feel like Im reading a text which tells me to individuate my
students, but then presents some very clearly defined categories or, worse, lumps them all
together. (The Westwood text often does the former.)
Similarly, I feel the Westwood textand othersemphasises educational pedagogy in
the teaching of numeracy without actually establishing teacher numeracy. Understanding
numeracy is important and providing a theoretical framework for this is important, but
said understanding is entirely unhelpful if a teacher is only just functionally numerate, or,
24
worse, innumerate. Westwood, alongside other texts, has led me to question why there is
no clear system of checks and balances in teacher education such that we know every
teacher is numerate. We know every teacher is literate, because it is impossible to earn a
degree without being literate. It is, however, easy to fudge numeracy. Ive personally
met several humanities teachers who do not understand standard deviations and their
application to marking and marking schemes, or relative weight. This is a piece of
numeracy that is highly relevant to our field and yet understanding thereof is lacking.
Professional development regarding numeracy is clearly available toomy school
currently has pamphlets on PD and cross-curriculum numeracy within the Marzano
framework. But again, this development focuses on ways to teach numeracy, not ways to
establish it. If a teacher feels their numeracy skills are lacking, where do they go for help?
How do they improve these skills?
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