Transcript New Teachers of Australian History - Welcome

Chris Maguire – [email protected]



To provide you with some practical advice re:
your approach to the course
To give you some ideas about how to best
prepare your students for the exam
To provide you with some strategies that will
enable you to get through what is a very
content driven subject

Everything they do, research, writing,
discussion, short answer questions,
document analyses, SACs, practice questions
should all be modelled on the tasks in the
examination.



The exam must inform your teaching and the
specific tasks that you set:
Section A – Unit 3 Area of Study 1 Document
Analysis of either written or visual texts (2,
4,6, 8 marks)
Section B – Unit 3 Area of Study 2 A collection
of short answer responses (4, 6, 10 marks)






Section C – Unit 4 Area of Study 1 An Essay
(20 marks)
Section D – Unit 4 Area of Study 2 An analysis
of a visual or written interpretation (20 marks
4+8+8)
Four Sections
Each with 20 marks
30 minutes on each section
A demanding exam!!






Model your SACS on the tasks that appear in
the exam
Individual schools/teachers can choose what
task they allocate to each area of study
Eg. Document Analysis
Research Report
Essay
Interpretation of written/visual document
(Historiographical exercise)






I give my students TWO exam tasks to be
done in 60 minutes.
Advantages of this are:
Development of exam skills
Familiarity with requirements at end of the
year
Time management skills are developed
SAMPLE SACS - Handout

Make sure that you and your students are
familiar with the examination paper
HTAV produced papers from 2005-2013
VCAA Website Past Exams and Assessor
Reports
www.vcaa.vic.edu.au
These are invaluable!!




You must use the study design to inform your
teaching - Handout
There are suggested topic outlines but be
aware that you do have a degree of choice
Unit 3 – compulsory and mandated by the
study design
Unit 4 – There is scope for choice in each area
of study


Unit 3 Outcome 1: A new land: Port Phillip
District / Colony of Victoria 1830-1860
Unit 3 Outcome 2: Nation, Race and CITIZEN
1888-1914


1.
2.
3.
Here is where you can choose your content:
Unit 4 Outcome 1: Testing the New Nation
1914-1950
World War 1 or
The Depression or
World War 2


1.
2.
3.
4.
Unit 4 Outcome 2: Debating Australia’s
Future 1960-2000
Choose one of the following:
Attitudes to Indigenous Rights 1967 and
1972 or
Attitudes to the Vietnam War 1965 and 1970
or
Attitudes to the Environment 1972 and 1983
or
Attitudes to Immigration 1964-66 and the
boat people of 1970s



There is an enormous amount of content to be
covered BUT don’t overdo it. You must help them
to be selective.
Consider who you will have in your class – What
is expected of them in their final year??
They cannot research all of the content that they
need. If there is information that they need and it
would be difficult and time consuming for them
to find it GIVE IT TO THEM! I give them up to 50%
of their information

You will need to supplement their texts with a
variety of readings/sources
Page 93-105 of the History study design
provides fantastic advice on developing a
course, a list of suitable resources and most
importantly a timeline
Handouts provided
Useful texts have been highlighted





1. S Mirams – Imagining Australia (very good
for the entire course)
Additional texts:
Unit 3
R. Broome “The Colonial Experience” – Area of
Study 1
R. Lewis “Nation, Race and Citizen” – Area of
Study 2







Unit 4:
Area of Study 1:
- numerous sources on one of the following
events:
1. World War 1
2. The Depression
3. World War 2
Generally, I have handed them photocopies of
relevant readings from 5-6 sources








Unit 4
Area of study 2:
- numerous sources that explore attitudes on
one of the following debates:
1. Indigenous Rights
2. Vietnam War
3. Environmental Issues
4. Immigration
Again, I have tended to photocopy a variety of
sources (both written and visual) and handed
them to the students






The study design mandates what needs to be
taught and will may/will be assessed
This is a “content driven” subject
4 areas of study – all assessed in the exam
4 different skill sets in the exam
2 hours!!
No opportunity for students to cut corners or
specialise


The study design must inform your teaching
and the students’ learning
Have them create evidence files. Once a dot
point from the study design has been
covered, encourage them to make up sheets
with key headings and get them to fill in
evidence (Quotes, events, individuals, primary
and secondary sources)





It is so important that you manage this effectively
You must allow adequate time to cover
everything and still ensure that you can get
through each Area of Study to allow yourself
some time to revise at the end of the year
Attempt to have the course ‘finished’ by week 8
or 9 of Term 3
Four Areas of Study - 7 weeks each = 28 weeks
Ideally – Finished by the last few weeks of Term 3






An example:
Unit 3 Area of Study 1: A New Land: Port
Phillip District 1830-1860
The three dot points from the study design
are:
1. Ideas underpinning the new settlement and
the motivations of some groups
2. The impact of this on Aboriginal
communities and their responses to it
3. Impact of the gold rushes and the way gold
changed people’s visions of the colony





This area is very broad!
You have 7 weeks to cover all of this as well
as get students to complete their first SAC
Ideally, you will want to give them a practice
SAC as well!
About 2 weeks on each of the dot points
Providing the students with additional
readings at home is the only way you can
cover everything


Remember that there are 3 dot points for
each of the Areas of Study
There are two areas of Study in Unit 3 and
Unit 4
You must address each of the three dot points
b/c the students can’t be selective
Everything could appear on the 2012 exam




Devote as much time as possible to
answering SAC/examination questions.
Encourage them to use the words given in the
question.
Encourage them, in their MORE SUSTAINED
answers and the ESSAY, to consider an
alternative side. “To what extent”
Encourage writing to time limits.




Give them model answers.
Give them structured answers with an
introduction and topic sentences and ask
them to fill in the body of the answers.
Give them answers of varying quality to
evaluate.
Prepare answers that are relevant but general
and ask them to insert the evidence.


In all of their responses, encourage them to
be economical – no padding, just answer the
question: ‘One hope that helped shape the
federation was…’ ‘Another idea underpinning
settlement was…’
Encourage students to examine the study
design (don’t forget the preambles as well as
the dot points), and make up their own
questions.



Teach students how to deal with and
incorporate their knowledge of historians and
historical evidence. This is particularly
important in the essay question and can also
be referred to in the 8 and 10 mark answers.
Some ways this can be done include:
Present students with contradictory
interpretations (primary or secondary) and
ask them to explain the possible reasons for
the contradiction eg. Potts and McCalman



Have students examine the introductions or prefaces to
specific books on the essay topics. There will often be
useful comments on methodology or on problems of
evidence.(eg Gammage or Adam Smith or McKernan on the
wars, Lowenstein on the Depression).
Eg ‘The Depression story is a mass of contradictions and a
minefield for an unwary oral historian.’McCalman,J,
Struggletown, p 182
One issue that relates to all three essay topics is that much
of the evidence is anecdotal and gathered through
interviews up to 40 years after the events. While this
evidence is very valuable, there are problems of memory
that may interfere with its validity.





I have provided you some examples of
student work and SACs so you can:
- Identify some common flaws
- Model some answers for your own students
- Become familiar with the requirements of
the SACs /Exam
- Practise marking some student work








The course is:
Interesting
Engaging
Important
Challenging
Rewarding
Good luck and have fun!
[email protected]