OUR CONTEMPORARY LEARNING FOCUS 2011/12

Students take responsibility for the negotiation and direction of their learning and to take action that matters to self, others and the

world.

THE 5/6 FOCUS FOR TERM 3our ‘Big Idea’

•History• Events that have changed history

•Communications• Off and online• Media• Electronic• Printed

•Information and Communications Technology• Blogging

How does our focus link in with VELs?

• Compose, comprehend and respond to an expanding range of texts in print and audiovisual and electronic forms.

• Explore relationship between the purpose and audience of texts and their structures and features.

• Develop knowledge of how texts are constructed for particular purposes, and examine and challenge generalisations and simplistic portrayals of people and social and cultural issues.

• Learn how to draw evidence from texts to support points of view.

• Experiment with several strategies when interpreting texts containing some unfamiliar ideas and information.

• Write texts for a range of purposes.

• Become systematic in their use of strategies for writing and make decisions about appropriate structures and features of language in texts for different purposes and audiences.

English - Level 4 - Learning Focus

• Engage in exploratory talk to share and clarify their ideas, to formulate simple arguments and to seek the opinions of others.

• Participate in oral interactions for different purposes, including entertaining, informing and influencing others.

• Sustain a point of view, and provide succinct accounts of personal experiences or events.

• Experiment with spoken language features such as pace, pitch and pronunciation to enhance meaning as they plan, rehearse and reflect on their presentations.

• Build capacity to combine verbal and visual elements in texts to communicate ideas and information by using, for example, presentation software or overheads.

• When listening, identifying the main idea and supporting details of spoken texts and summarising them for others.

• Identify opinions offered by others, propose other viewpoints, and extend ideas in a constructive manner.

English - Level 4 - Learning Focus

• Learn about the significance of key events.

• Learn about key people in Australia’s history who have brought about change.

• Explore links and comparisons with contemporary Australia.

• Develop an understanding of the histories of the cultural groups which have contributed to the Australian identity.

• Use a range of written, visual, oral and electronic sources to study the past.

• With support, frame research questions and plan own inquiries.

• Question sources and make judgments about the viewpoints being expressed, the completeness of the evidence, and the values represented.

• Develop explanations in a range of forms such as timelines, oral presentations, posters, multimedia presentations, reports and narratives.

The Humanities - History - Level 4 - Learning Focus

• Learn to use tools, such as database software and graphic organisers, to organise and analyse data and information.

• Use ICT tools to produce information products that demonstrate their knowledge and skills for all areas of the curriculum.

• Explore new software functions that promote effeciency and effectiveness.

• Develop and maintain a digital bank of evidence that demonstrates their learning.

• Apply file management procedures that assist in securing their files.

• Work in a collaborative global environment.

• Share knowledge with their peers through email, and seek advice from others through frequently asked questions (FAQs), websites or by directly emailing experts.

• Consider methods of sharing information with a wider audience, and develop knowledge of protocols for sending and receiving electronic information through the Internet by creating and sending emails with attachments and uploading files to protected public places on intranets or the Internet.

• Use recommended search engines and begin to refine search questions to locate information quickly on the Internet.

ICT - Level 4 - Learning Focus

• Practise listening attentively to identify and communicate main points to others.

• Reflect on the implicit messages received through body language and begin to understand that verbal and non-verbal messages do not always correspond.

• Experience a variety of aural, written and visual communication forms in both formal and informal settings;.

• Understand that interpretation may be influenced by own knowledge, values and beliefs, emotive language, and opinions of others.

• Continue to develop skills in asking clarifying questions and seeking validation of interpretations from peers.

• Compare and contrast differing interpretations and explore why they differ.

• Recognise the purpose of specialised language across the curriculum and to use this appropriately in own communication.

• Develop their skills in organising ideas and information logically and clearly to suit their purpose and the needs of their audience.

Communication - Level 4 - Learning Focus

Today we will focus on the area of Literacy

What have we been doing in Literacy this term to link it in with our term FOCUS?

LITERACY TERM 3Looking at news items regularly – BTN, local newspaper, Current affair programs, etc.

Current topics or those suggested by students are used for “Debate Mondays” Discussing and comparing features of multimodal media and texts

Students using their group blog and year level blog to enter into discussions about news items discussed at school.

Had an expert come in to visit with students from local newspaper.

Students were asked to chose an event/person/thing that had an impact on history and research it further,.

Created own front page of imaginary paper for St Therese – with headlines, smaller articles, etc.

Written own newspaper article – Melbourne Storm Salary Cap Scandal.

Now in the process of writing their own news script individually to create a BTN episode in small groups .

EVIDENCE COLLECTINGRubyRose

RUBYROSE

11 year old girl Year 5 Started at St Therese this year, from a school in

Williamstown Extremely hard working student Perfectionist Quite often in that last group to finish tasks, not due to

talking or being distracted. LOVES reading and writing

RubyRose’s question for Big Idea was “Why was Phar Lap so famous and why did everyone love him so much?”

This is a written piece created by RubyRose, one way in which she chose to present her findings about Phar Lap.

RubyRose also used ToonDoo as a tool to show what she had discovered about Phar

Lap

RubyRose’s blog page

RubyRose’s news report on Phar Lap

RubyRose’s newspaper article about the Melbourne Storm Salary Cap scandal

RubyRose’s news report on the

Melbourne Storm salary scandal

BASELINE DATA

At the start of the year each person in the Contemporary Learning Team chose 5 students from each year level in the school that would be tracked. RubyRose was one of these students.

Each student was asked 7 questions in March, with these questions being repeated at the end of 2011.

My Question

Where to from here with RubyRose?