AATE Statements of Belief

Learning log p. 6 Quick Write and reflections from attached articles

Reading 1.3 AATE Statements of Belief

1. We respect the enduring values and traditions of Australia's cultural heritage.

In English, students learn to appreciate the values and traditions which are part of this nation's cultural heritage. Students identify and evaluate these values and traditions as central elements of the context in which texts are created, read and viewed.

Hearkens to the theoretical underpinnings of cultural heritage and the Western European tradition, and the literary heritage of the said tradition. It does acknowledge critical thinking and importance of cultural diversity.

The values of a 'fair go' which is now also entrenched within the values and traditions of Australia, and I wonder if it still has the same connotations and the same influence today compared to when I grew up as a child in the 1950's. Strange that this has been included as the first central belief. Has it been given any particular significance because of its place as #1? Why?

See David Homer's comment Reading 1.4 how cultural concern is now “something to again be firmly asserted” as evident by the inclusion of #1 and a somewhat 'politically strategic move'. Homer feels that such self evident beliefs have always been embedded in English, and to see it included, he feels has been as 'a response to a particular political situation'.

2. We believe students come to understand themselves and their world through engagement with a range of cultures and the ways these cultures represent human experience.
   The human condition has been a central historical concern of English. The development of self-understanding and a better understanding of others are key aims of the English curriculum.

Keyword 'range of cultures' is important. Indicates a move away from cultural heritage (while not excluding it). Linking to a sociocultural approach with a focus on the multicultural nature of Australia. Better understanding of ourselves and others by looking at different representations of ethnicity, culture, class, gender, language, sexuality and socio-economic status. Includes multimodal texts in addition to class and popular texts, fiction and non-fiction. Personal growth model inferred with reference to recognition that texts provide pleasure along with other purposes.

Anne McGuire in the attached reading clearly deconstructs the statement, by leading us step by step to explore how we really need to look closely at how words within the profession of English teaching (and really throughout society and cultures) as their definitions and associations have undergone substantial transformations over time. As she notes – we need to share with our students “our awareness that language is not static but constantly transformed and transformative in relation to broader contexts.” (McQuire, 26). She delves deeply into the keywords of the Statement 2: culture/s - range of cultures – engagement - representation

“This broadened focus questions the concept of a single cultural heritage, and can provide students with key understandings that allow them to read across and within cultures – to analyse how and why some bodies of texts might be valued as canonical within a culture, or why popular media texts which are not valued in the same way still have powerful effects within cultures. In actively engaging with cultures thus broadly defined, students indeed come ‘to understand themselves and their world’. Students’ engagement with a wide range of meaning-making processes help them to understand their own shared maps of meaning as part of a broader context, and to be self-reflexive in relation to their own cultural values and judgments. Thus the key words of this statement have complex meanings that are both a product of, and a key to understanding, today’s world.”

2. We value the power of the imagination and literary expression to provide pleasure and enrich life.

The study of literature provides opportunities for various experience of other lives, places and times; greater understanding of the human condition; and increased appreciation of artistry in the use of language.

Personal growth model – importance of literature, and reading for pleasure

Sociocultural approach – language and text shapes cultural and personal identity

Critical thinking – language used for critical purposes

Wendy Morgan – article: The Literary Work or the work we do with literary texts?

Morgan sees the dominance of traditional humanism in this statement. She also remarks how she “see[s] signs of a struggle between older and newer views of the nature and purposes of literature and the work of readers.”

She reminds us to remember that there are always implications within what we read, that any text or discourse will necessarily include certain assumptions that it takes for granted or expects us to. That we need to bring 'ethical and political critique into consideration' even when reading this document.

Morgan notes how the statement has 2 parts:”It identifies what the study of literature offers; and it states the benefits to students of this study” and continues to say “At the outset, I’m struck by a romanticising and valorising of the imagination”. I do agree that it is a value laden statement. For Morgan, for imagination and literary expression to provide only pleasure is perhaps simplistic...that there are texts where 'pleasure' is not brought into play in the reading. 'Pleasure' therefore does not allow for the power of engagement where the reader is provoked, and other emotions, stronger emotions, are brought into play. I remember reading several books where I really was loathe to continue reading, although I could not put down the book. The fable of 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' is one such book.

Morgan also comments on the introduction in the elaboration of the word 'texts' which “allows for a wider array of modes and genres, that accommodates the popular as comfortably as it does the high-cultural, literary text, that moves between fiction and non-fiction, between texts created by those who are on the margins and not just those who lay claim to the centres of society and culture.” which brings in to play the more recent views of what constitutes the nature of literature and the reader.

4. We are committed to developing powerfully literate citizens who are able to effectively participate and realise their goals and aspirations in the 21st century.

Effective language use lies at the heart of active participation in individual and community life. English teachers draw from a rich repertoire of teaching strategies, which acknowledge and extend the experiences of the young people they teach.

Importance of structure and context of language and how it is used in multiple communicative situations in order to be literate in today's society. Language conventions – of home, the school, work place. Also acknowledges “rich diversity of language backgrounds”. What does it mean to be 'powerfully literate' as opposed to 'literate'? What are those literacy skills that will allow us to effectively participate in society today, ie. In the 21^st century?

Wayne Sawyer addresses these questions and Statement 4 in his article The Powerfully Literate Citizen.

Sawyer commences defining literacy and how we have seen a broadening of the term 'literacy' to become more multi-faceted, and with that the inclusion of different sets of demands. We now need to “be able to write and speak and create texts in a variety of media confidently and competently – and to respond to the texts of others in the same way – before their uses of those texts can become ‘powerful’. “

It appears to me that Sawyer's reflections while pertinent to this particular statement also spiral to address other Statements, namely #1 and #2. As he states:

“ Teachers of English respect the cultural heritage offered by the Western canon, but at the same time recognise that the question of cultural heritage is not a simple one in multicultural Australia – respect for the plurality of heritages being a necessary concomitant to respect for the Western cultural heritage. ... Powerfully literate citizens have knowledge of the works of their heritage and the heritages of others, and realise that plural approaches to, and shifting interpretations of, these texts are in themselves marks of respect for, and necessary to having ‘power’ over those texts.

This article is one that I think I will return to again to reflect upon more.

5. We use research and evidence to inform practice and improve the learning of students.

Quality educational research is rigorous and evidence based. Effective teaching combines strong research and theory and helps improve student learning....

Importance of understanding current educational theory in order to improve teaching and therefore student learning.

6. We are committed to ongoing professional learning especially through active participation in a range of professional communities.

As included within statement “Ongoing professional growth and development are critically important...” including importance of standards, of innovative practice. Teachers have “primary responsibility for their own professional learning”.

I read the attached article by Terry Hayes and what struck me as significant is that although we usually consider individual teachers as 'making a difference', teaching is essential a 'collegial' and 'collaborative' profession. To be successful teachers is to recognise that we need our teaching colleagues to learn with and from one another. It is important that teachers see themselves as a community – not only within their school, but physically and virtually across national/international and regional boundaries. I personally feel this has contributed to my own professional development as a Teacher Librarian over my teaching career, from local networking with other librarians in my school area to virtual communication with other TL's from across international schools in different countries. Colleagues, who I have 'physically' never met, yet have communicated and exchanged ideas, and developed professional and personal connections with.

EML442 Curriculum Method 2: English

Well my next session has started. This is going to be tricky, travelling the west coast USA for the summer and keeping up with my studies!
The introduction to this course includes this quote:
"English teaching is a rewarding career but there is a tough side to it. Trying to understand what we are doing, and why we are doing it, is tough. Trying to think up learning activities and sequences which will fulfil syllabus requirements and engage and transform our students is touch because it requires intellectual and creative energy. But the pleasures of reading, or watching a film, browsing a website, remain a consolation for the hard times. As do our students' engagement and intellectual growth and often their delight."
I feel this epitomises teaching generally.  At the beginning and end of the day we want our students to be engaged, to enjoy what they learn, and to build upon what they know, so that they want to be in the classroom with you, and both you and the student themselves can see themselves growing intellectually. It is tough and indeed a balancing act for teachers, as we need to ensure that what we plan and teach (those learning activities and sequences)   meet and fulful syllabus requirements - it involves teaching and assessment, and ensuring the students have the skills and strategies that will enable them to build upon their current knowledge and understandings to reach deeper understandings in their subject area, in this case English. Assessment not only of our students' learning but of our own teaching and own course content, so that we too can continue to improve our own teaching practices. Teaching is really a lifelong journey of learning for both teacher and student!

Thomson, Jack. 'Post-Dartmouth developments in English teaching in Australia'

Changes in English teaching 1966-2009

1. Learning processes:

Deeper understanding of and awareness of interconnection between cognitive development, emotional-intellectual feeling, role of language in learning, language development, development of writing & reading abilities & skills

thinking & language processes - importance of metacognition - of students reflecting on their learning

2. Relationship between theory and practice:

importance of teachers theorising their own practice - to be able apply relevant aspects in their teaching - intentionally explore theoretical understanding how best we learn

3. Language as a tool of learning:

we learn language by using it and we learn by using language

language is a tool of learning = language and learning (Britton 1970, Wilkinson 1971,1975)

language across the curriculum (Barnes 1976)

negotiating the curriculum (Garth Boomer 1982)

change from emphasis on language & language processes to emphasis on learning and learning processes

central importance - passing on the secrets of the curriculum to students - make explicit purpose of all that we ask them to.

4. Learning language: Brian Cambourne's eight conditions of language learning (1988) relevant to all kinds of language learning:

1. immersion
2. demonstration
3. engagement
4. expectation
5. responsibility
6. approximation
7. employment
8. feedback

Reading, writing, talking, listening = treat as a unity = ie 'whole language' 'holistic literacy development' = importance is the meanings and purposes of students literacy activities - comunicating and understanding meaning. Culturally acquired way of learning.

5. Learning about language: the contribution of linguistics

language difference is not language deficit - need to accept & positively encourage dialects of non-dominant social groups, while also teaching mastery of the standard dialect - in context of purpose, why they need mastery = to give them access to wider culture and ability to operate with more choice and power in it.

Range of language functions we use language for & different purposes language serves - work by Michael Halliday (1973) and James Britton et al (1975) - emphasis importance of organising language activities in the classroom so that students develop competence in all functions and to the highest levels of performance.

The conscious exploration of language in the classroom - textuality

Doughty, Pearce and Thornton (UK 1970s) - creation of materials for student exploration of social uses of language (genres, discourses, registers, function of languages). Further developments by Leslie Stratta, Andrew Wilkinson & John Dixon (in Patterns of Language) - hasfurther developed into classroom work on textuality - learning processes of construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of texts of different kinds for students own transactive (authentic) purposes. Links with  'rhetorical model' of English teaching (Richard Andrew) & critical literacy (Hilary Janks 1993, Wendy Morgan 1996, Colin Lankshear 1994).

6. The development of a deeper understanding of the relationship between language and power

Hilary Janks 'critical language awareness' - concern with politics of meaning - ways dominant meanings are maintained, challenged and changed

7. The development of wider definitions of literature and new ways of teaching it

describes forms of writing - includes student's own imaginative writings - students write as well as read literature - rewriting eg. imaginative exploratins of alternative possibilities of texts - 'dependent authorship' (Peter Adams) - students learn the rhetorics of literature as apprentices to master writers.

8. A developing understanding of contemporary cultureal and literary theory and its porfound implications for the teaching of reading, writing and textuality

goes beyond reading different kinds of lit, to reading all the sign systems of our culture

"a literary canon is itself a cultural formation serving the specific aims and interest of the gorups who contstructed it in the first place"

The important question: 'Whose canon is it?'

'Who constructed it, and for what purposes?'

'Whose interests does it serve?'

'Our job is not to produce "readings" for our students but to give them the tools for producing their own" (Scholes 1985)

Texts, readers and reading practices culturally constructed - reading and writing two sides of same active process - students learn to read texts from a writer's point of view and to write texts from a reader's point of view - can choose to read a text in many different ways.

9. Questions for readers and stages of reading development

'What is it that I am bringing to this text that causes me to respond to/interpret/construct it as I do?'

Robert Scholes - reading - largely unconscious activity - requires as much knowledge as skill - 'our job....is to show them the codes upon which all textual production depends, and to encourage their own textual production' (Scholes 1985)

Understanding own reading is being able to answer ' what makes a story a story?', 'how does a writer construct a character?' etc

Intrepetation - understanding the cultural codes implicated in any text

Criticism - one way is "to ask them where their sympathies are in a text and where they think the author's sympathies are"...ask "is it posssible that they are by manipulated by the text?" - to generate discussion

to unpackage concealed ideologies - transpose their elements (Hollingdale 1988) eg changes of gender, race, nationality, class and age - can be entertaining & revealing e.g. imagine the character as.......

See Thompsons (1987) identifying 6 levels of response to literature

Moffett (1968) & Brittton (1975) development model of thinking from concrete experience to more abstract conceptualisation - Britton - developmental levels of transactional writing - Moffett's scale of lanaguage development

10. Developing understanding of multimedia technology and increasing mastery in using it

Students are increasingly able to read, interpret and criticise a range of multimedia technologies and use them to construct texts of their own

11. An increasingly powerful range of assessment & evaluation procedures

In the best English classrooms student's work is now being assessed by themselves and their peers, as well as by the class teacher, and larger groups beyond the classroom. Teacher's assessment more meangigul to students as it now takes place in context of negotiation in which students are fuly conversant with teachers assessment criteria - made explicit to them in advance

 Students required to reflect on & evaluate own learning & performance =to understand processes of their own learning & develop practice of questioning what is hapening in classroom - active role - also student's contribution toward cooperative projects group work

12. New models of English teaching

includes older models of English teaching but extends to include:

cultural heritage model - awareness of way students own cultural history has positioned them

language skills model - mastery of all language skills - not teaching individual & unrelated skills outside of any context - but language in use (Doughty et al 1973) & critical literacy work (Hilary Janks 1993, Wendy Morgan 1996) - teaching language  skills in meaningful social and cultural context

personal growth model - (Dixon 1967; Sawyer)Personal growth (PG) & development still crucial, including pleasure & enjoyment in reading & values of beauty & ethical understanding. PG extended by deeper understanding of historical, cultural and political/ideolgoical contexts

cultural studies or textuality model - English placed in wider cultural context - incorporate enlarged definition of 'literature' & range of texts - all sign systems of high,popular & mass culture that can be read for their social purposes.

= new model rhetorical and ethical model - Rhetorical, Ethical, Socio-Cultural, Political model - RESPonsible model or REPresenting humang agency  (Andrews 1992; Thomson) - involves:

          personal growth

          full awareness of relationship between language and power

          familiarity with social practices & their discourses

          understanding of political & ideological formation of texts

          understanding of matters of value & ethics

Thomson emphasises: "in helping students to develop the literary - and literacy - abilities to make such judgements, we want such judgements  to be made by students themselves and not to be imposed on them by teachers (or by media commentators, politicians or other community leaders)

- fostering in our students a genuinely critical stance towards language & its discursive formations...active participants, not passive

Ethical teaching practices - see implications for classroom practice # 18-22

Implications for the classroom:

1. classroom activities "can be either agents of literary growth and empowerment for students or meaningless routines of industrious futility merely filling the daily time available for work in English"

2. students need to understand the point of doing them ie. within context

3. students need to be able to reflect on their learning  - looking at what and how they have learned

4. students need to know their own  preferred ways of learning. Teachers need to be aware of differences (individual, cultural) preferred ways of learning

5. teachers need to be able to understand and articulate what is the present theory of leanring that underpins our present practice

6. encourage students to use informal & comfortable language in talk & writing to sort, understand & share new ideas and interpretations

7. talking informally in small groups

8. writing expressively - notes, response statements, reading journals, learning logs, self reflection

9. make explict to students point or purpose of all that we ask them to do

10. accept & positively encourage dialects of non-dominant social groups 

11. authenticity/context/purpose

12. extending literature from deconstructing texts to reconstructing & writing new texts of their own

13. importance to promote students to analyse, to think, to reflect, to make judgements

14. self & peer assessment

15. teacher assessment criteria made explicit in advance

16. importance of reflection & evalation of student's own learning & performance

17. cooperative, collaborative group work

18.do not teach one reading practice as if it were the only way to read

19. do not impose own value judgements on students, but be honest about your preferences when asked

20.teach students all of reading practices available in community so student can read same text in multiple ways, & choose a preferred reading

21.help students to recognise & respect point of view of other readers whose preferred interpretations arise from different repertoires (of experience, cultural knowledge, values, & historical-cultural positioning)

22. help students to understand that cultural differences be respected

23. rhetorical/ethical model

            invite students to challenge and question their world

            students take responsibility for their own learning

            to come to understand themselves in relation to others

            to learn to cooperate with others to solve problems

            to make choices about what they do

            to make decisions, & to understand & make informed responsible & tolerant judgments about issues of values & ethics