Tutorial 8                    Home   

You have lots of resources to help you, so use them- The Official course website, this website, the forums , the study guide and the Course Readings- so make use of them.

Readings for Tutorial 9 are now available on the Official course website in the Resources section and in your Reading Book.

Exam News

There will possibly be a choice of questions for each topic- Check the official course website regularly for confirmation

Topic 4 will be covered in lectures and tied to existing course readings. Topic 3 will be covered in Tutorials- Tutes 7 and 8. The rest is up to you and your tutorial group by making the forums a valuable learning tool.

Each week on the official course website, there will be a basic lecture outline for students to bring to the lecture. Fuller lecture notes will be made available after the lectures. Both sets of notes will be posted under the 'Resources' section of the course website.

Other News- The fuller lecture notes for last week's lecture are on the official course website and include the Ali translation of Durkheim mentioned by Bob( quite funny).  I have provided them below as they relate to Exam Topic 3. 

Exam Questions from Students

No, you cannot write handwritten notes on the forum postings. 

The referencing in your examination just has to be so the marker can find it.  So for course readings, "Connell, Reading 2.5" ( Look at this one by the way), would be sufficient.  Add  the page for a direct quote.  Other references must be cited so they can be found eg author and title for books, or for internet sites, the name of the site and enough information to find it- but no more than is necessary.

Activity for this week

Your "homework" was to become Course Coordinator and design an essay question based on Topic 3 for the Exam.  You need to design a plan to answer it, which you can "teach" to another student.  It would be useful to post your idea to the forum, with any references if you have found any.  Here is the basis for the Jigsaw activity we did on the readings which promotes reflective and peer learning. http://cea.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf1996/hoganca.html

Site with quiz on Reading Skills http://www.hope.ac.uk/gnu/stuhelp/reading.htm

Topic 3

Adelaide paper mentionned last week http://www.curriculum.edu.au/mceetya/public/pub322.htm

Essay Skills

Unpack the topic http://powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/projects/edtechcentral/writingwStyle/demand.htm

The Essay exam http://www.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/elejeune/essayexam.htm

More http://www.uwec.edu/geography/Ivogeler/essay.htm

 Forum Topic 3 from Bob's course lecture notes.                               Top

Explain why some features of teaching and learning in Australian schools have persisted for many years, and discuss the factors that may bring about large changes in the next decade or so.

 Exercises

 1.    What are some underlying similarities and differences between the Scholarship tests for Maths, English and other studies (in the Cole excerpt) and those in readings 4.2 to 4.4?

 2.    What aspects of teaching have changed and why have they done so in the way they have?

 3.    Try to locate some factors that are difficult to change in teaching and learning

(Look at some obvious things within a school or classroom and then at things that make it difficult to change them -- eg. what 'outside factors' would go against lowering class sizes in primary school to ensure "head starts" for students living in areas with high failure rates in standards tests)

 4.    Some factors that may bring about change

·       Local development of curricula

·       VET in high schools -- flexible school timetables, combination of work and school, para-professional staff within schools

·       variety of ways to complete the final years of high school

Overview lecture and some exercises for Weeks 8 and 9                            Top

 What do we teach?

 

·       What is taught is derived from a curriculum (an official government document)

 

·       The curriculum content delivered by teachers in classrooms is only one part of what is taught in schools

 

·       Students teach each other a range of things that are often not known by the teacher

 

·       The school, as an institution sets expectations for teachers and students

 

·       The characteristics of the school population can influence the level of content and the pace of learning possible within classrooms (eg. rural, urban, industrial areas, ethnic composition, education and SES of parents)

 

 

Mass education has brought

1.  competition and measurement against standards

 

2.  an increase in comparing school effectiveness

 

3.  family strategies of 'readiness' for academic competition and selection of academically 'safe' schools

 

4.  a movement of students to higher performing schools and a possible concentration of lower performances in other schools

 

5.  higher performing schools teach within a 'moral order' -- they can more easily develop expectations where behaviours like attentiveness and respect for learning are taken as a 'moral' obligation, accepted in contract with the student and their family

 

6.  Differences understandings of the expectations (of the school and the curriculum by students and parents) are more likely in low performing schools.  Behaviour management programs are used to secure order in these situations

 

7.  Why don't schools in point 5 do better in what they teach than schools in point 6?

 

 Da Ali G version ov da sevun principles dat is proposed by Durkheim

 

1.  Education is da influence dat generations hof adults exercise ova me Uncle Jamalng people not ready to enta da adult wales.

 

2.  Every society has an established type hof education. We cannot deviate from it wivout strikin strong resistance

 

3.  Individuals do not think up da type hof education needed at a point in time. Da type hof education we ave depends on wot is happenin in otha institutions (e.g. religion, politics, changes in bits, science, business, industry) We cannot deviate from it wivout strikin strong resistance

 

4.  If me Uncle Jamal want to know da purposes fer our education system, compare it at two points in time to see wot is common (or different) at each point 

All education systems ave to do two things at da one time --

(1) produce individuals who conform wif shared social expectations -- (a general education)

(2) direct individuals to a wide range hof jobs (prepare fer specialisations)

5.  Steerin education systems cannot be left in da hands hof any special group, institution or subculture -- dis has to be done by da state:
 

6. da state has to:
legitimate da principals hof da time hand stea hand monitor em remind teachers (hand schools not unda hits direct control) hof wot is needed to adjust da child to da milieu

Teachers ave a serious role -- to instil self-mastery hand da attitudes necessary to meet da hard realities hof life

 da Ali G productive ones – de pedagogies dat ave beun set by da government

 Teachers can use productive pebitchogies dat focus instruction hand improve student outcomes. Some is more suited fer teachin certain knowledges hand skills 'dan udders.  

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