1,721,095 research outputs found
(Re)focusing the Lens to Make Diversity and Difference Visible : Teaching for Quality and Equity
No full textDespite the evidence that Australia’s children are learning literacy, there is also significant evidence that the poorest and most disadvantaged children are being left behind. To date our understanding of the place of transitions in this has been limited, although there has been work on the fourth grade slump (Gee, 2000, 2008), the transition from primary years to secondary years (e.g. Bahr & Pendergast, 2007; Pendergast & Bahr, 2005, 2010), and transitions when changing schools (Henderson, 2008). In this chapter, we consider the notion of transitioning, as we unpack issues related to recognising and valuing student diversity and difference. We want to highlight ways of providing high quality and high equity literacy pedagogy and literacy outcomes for middle years students. We will also discuss the importance of recognising that students transit to schools and school learning from other significant contexts, each with their own combinations of literacy practices, rituals and values
Planning for literacy learning
No full textEffective planning is an important part of meeting the learning needs of students in middle years classrooms. Yet, this task is inherently complex. It requires teachers to juggle the demands of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, while considering short and long term goals and objectives, the diverse needs of students, and relevant contextual factors. Additionally, teachers often come together to plan and teach a major project. This adds another layer of complexity, as decisions have to be made about how to work collaboratively. Because all teachers, regardless of their specialist teaching area, are teachers of literacy, expertise in planning for content learning as well as literacy learning is essential. This chapter discusses the complex considerations of planning for literacy learning, including backward mapping, resource selection, macro planning and micro planning. It develops a model focused on three learning areas-Science, Geography and English - to illustrate the decision making and directions that an integrated project might take.No Full Tex
Recognising difference: One of the challenges of using a multiliteracies approach
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It’s not unusual for a multiliteracies approach to literacy teaching to be equated with the literacies associated with computers and other information communication technologies. Although literacy educators need to take account of these emerging technoliteracies, a multiliteracies approach should encompass much more than that. What can sometimes be forgotten are the diverse social, cultural and literate practices of homes and communities – the literacy backgrounds that seem to often play a determining role in whether children are successful or not in school settings
Valuing diversity: a multiliteracies project in a remote Indigenous community
No full textIn this chapter, I draw attention to the complexity of working with linguistically and culturally diverse students and their communities, by presenting a multiliteracies project undertaken within a remote Indigenous community. First, I discuss how Australian Curriculum documents frame student diversity, and how the components of multiliteracies pedagogy can help teachers take advantage of, rather than ignore, this diversity. The next section provides outlines of eight activities taken from the project, showing how teachers can help students develop an explicit grammar-or metalanguage-for describing written and visual texts. I conclude by emphasising the importance of adapting pedagogy to suit students' needs, and of working with the talents of students and the community.No Full Tex
"We'd better hide those tats": a transient family tries to fit in to school
No full textAs the two main settings and experiences of contemporary
children's lives, home and school have been foregrounded for their role in constructing and shaping the current parameters of childhood (Edwards, 2002). Research has often focussed on the constraining nature of school based discourses on family practices. By foregrounding school-based literacy practices to the detriment of others, the institution of schooling risks marginalising students and their families and constraining their potential levels of participation. However, little work has been done on the explicit moves that some families make to limit the institutional gaze directed towards their children. To redress this issue, this paper considers the efforts of one
itinerant family, who make deliberate attempts to bridge the gap between home and school, by masking some of their home practices
An invasion of green-stained farm workers from outer space(s)? Or a rural community struggling with issues of itinerancy?
No full textThis paper investigates stories that are told in a North Queensland rural community about the arrival of itinerant farm workers for the winter harvesting season. Permanent residents often represent this annual event as an invasion of the community by undesirable people who break the law, exacerbate racial tensions and take jobs from locals. Such stories are also heard in the community’s schools where significant numbers of itinerant children enrol during the harvesting season. In the face of sometimes hostile reception from permanent residents of the community, many itinerant families work hard to "fit in", trying to ensure positive experiences for their children. This paper explores some of the stories that circulate and examines the way that negative perceptions of itinerant families tend to restrict the community’s capacity to recognise the benefits that families could contribute to community life
Educational issues for children of itinerant seasonal farm workers: A case study in an Australian context
No full textAlthough many Australian children change schools during the course of a school year, the children of itinerant seasonal farm workers can move residences as well as schools on a regular basis, often two or three times annually. Surprisingly, however, educational itinerancy has not been widely researched, particularly in Australian contexts. This paper uses a case study approach to discuss some of the issues that affect the literacy learning of the children from one family, who follow summer and winter harvesting seasons across state borders. Through this approach, the voices of the children and their families are heard alongside those of their teachers and other school personnel
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