Blog Three

Welcome!

Hello and welcome back to another blog. My name is Miss Pridmore-Johnston and whilst I am teaching this year’s year five students, this blog is aimed for a year three class. The focus of this topic and following lesson is for students to examine information to identify different points of view and distinguish facts from opinions. This is then specified as exploring stories about places and people told by people from Asia.

Asia

There is a growing emphasis for schools to develop knowledge and understanding of the Asian culture, as Australia’s engagement with Asia expands and Asia’s growing influence affect different aspects of the world. This is further emphasised in the Melbourne Declaration where it is noted that countries like India and China, as well as other Asian countries, are expanding their influence throughout the world. There are five learning aspects, which focus upon global education, that have been brought to attention by Curriculum Corporation. These aspects are interdependence and globalisation, identity and cultural diversity, social justice and human rights, peace building and conflict resolution, and sustainable futures. All aspects have an underlining priority of spatial and temporal capacity.

Human Library

For this topic, a similar Human Library like the Hobart Human Library may be used. The Hobart Human Library is a resource tool based upon the concept of exploring discrimination and bullying. The aim of this resource is for individuals to learn about an individual’s story, emphasise with their situation and expand their perspectives and points-of-views. Whilst the Human Library will not be used to explore discrimination and bullying, it will be used to explore the lives and experiences of individuals from the Asian Culture. Students, in groups of no more than six students, can listen to the story of an individual and ask any questions they wish to know about the Asian culture. During the use of the Human Library, students will be making a profile of the speaker. ACARA explores the use of posing questions to investigate people, events, and places. The profile can include name, country of origin of story, gender, and details of the story. The students can ask the speaker for further details of the story. Teachers may choose to include any further details they wished to include. After the Human Library has finished, students can then be asked to create a visual representation of the story that was just told. The picture can include the speaker, and must include a focal point of the story.

Parents and guardians may be welcome to join the lesson and learning of this culture with their children. Another way to be involved is if parents and guardians who come from the Asian culture are more than welcome to become a part of the human library for students to learn from. 

Blog Two

Welcome Back

Welcome back! My name is Miss Pridmore-Johnston and I am currently teaching this year’s year five class. This blog will focus upon Sustainability and how this can be addressed within the classroom. 


The focus of the topic is to explore the ways natural and human resources are used to support the growing human population and how this can affect future generations. This can be done through the use of evaluating evidence to draw conclusions. Such evidence can include charts of the consumption of natural items, the growth of human resources, etc.

Sustainability is described as the process of meeting the present society’s needs whilst still being able to provide for future generations’ needs. This is done through the use of the environment. This generation has the capacity to change and alter the use of natural and human resources to produce sustainability around the world, without compromising the needs of future generations. Sustainability has a focus in the areas of society, economics and environment as well as the capacity to produce of a better quality of life. Furthermore, the Melbourne Declaration of Education Goals for Young Australians also emphasises the need for education on sustainability to be promoted and taught throughout the schooling years.

There are many activities that can support the learning of sustainability. 

Students can learn to create a home-garden, 






Students could start a compost bin at home, 










or Teacher could organise a recycling bin in the classroom, or a reward chart for recycle a few items each day. The teacher could start the topic through classroom discussions, start the garden as a science project, or involve think-pair-share activities. Students can also learn that the environment requires priority and promotes the learning of sustainability. 

With human resources, teachers can talk about growth in house construction, population growth, etc. 

Parents and guardians can become involved in the learning process by supporting sustainability projects. Parents and guardians can do small projects like rewarding recycling, or start home-gardening or a compost bin. Encouraging walking to work and school, or taking buses can also support this. This could encourage students to follow the parents’ and guardians’ lead in producing more sustainable living.

Blog One

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome to a brand new school year. I hope everyone had a good holiday and are ready to get into a Humanities and Social Sciences full year. My name is Miss Pridmore-Johnston and I will be teaching this year’s students in year five. This blog is designed to guide parents, teachers and fellow educators in their future teaching and learning. To begin with this term, this topic will be looking at the purpose of the Safe Schools Program.

Civics and Citizenship Education

To start the new term with, students will be exploring the purpose of the Safe Schools Program, in alignment with the Australian Curriculum: Civics and Citizenship Education strand. The Australian curriculum explains Civic and Citizenship Education as the learning of the procedures of government and democracy, the laws that guide Australian society, the citizens (and citizenship), as well as the diversity and identity of individuals. The focus of this topic is the key values that underpin Australia’s democracy (ACHASSK115). This may be conducted through examining different viewpoints on events and issues.

Furthermore, the Australian curriculum succeeds the aims of the Melbourne Declaration. The Melbourne Declaration emphasises the need for young Australians to become the main focus of the education system, by improving the education system itself. The Melbourne Declaration on Education Goals therefore provides set goals to achieve this aim. The topic of controversial issues surrounding the Safe Schools Program was chosen based upon goal one of the Melbourne Declaration. This goal states that students have the right to attend schooling without the possibility of discrimination based upon different aspects of their identity, such as race, religion, values and sexual orientation. Halstead and Taylor explore the concept of values further. Halstead and Taylor (2000) imply that values in education advise and support behaviour and norms of individuals that may be deemed appropriate. These values can be shaped by a society or culture. 

Safe Schools Program

This topic explores the Safe Schools program. This program is aimed to further educate young students and Australians about the same-sex, and diverse gender communities. This program, when partnered with schools, promotes the rights and responsibilities of all students, and assist schools with the learning and supporting of the issue. The Foundation of Young Australians (2016) suggests that research has shown that possibly thousands of young Australians, or more, are discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation and identity.

 

Learning about this issue can occur through either the use of think-pair-share, or debating in small groups. Students can, therefore, decide which type of classroom discussion they would like to use, suitable to the given topic.  

Parents and guardians can become involved in their children’s learning through support and guidance.