Andersen, ETL421 Assignment 2.pdf

Peta Jinnath Andersen, s268120

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Name: Peta Jinnath Andersen

Student #: s268120

Subject: ETL421

Assignment: 2

Word Count: 2,354 (without references, captions)

Class: Year 10 English Extension.

Term Assessment: imaginative response to a stimulus.

Socioeconomics: low-mid level area.

University: all 24 students intend to move on to university study.

Documentation

0%

13%

54%

33%

NAPLAN Numeracy Data, Year 10 English Extension

Band 7

Band 8

Band 9

Band 10

8%

33% 59%

Student Diversity Breakdown

Indigenous

Non-‐EuropeanOrigin

European Origin


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My activity in assignment one was a story map. A story map is a visualization of data

presented in a story (AdLit.org). This is often a graphic organizer, with students asked to

analyse text then identify key features. It was a general idea for Year 10, building on the

success of the structural activity I implemented in Year 9.

Developmental Considerations

This term, Year 10 English assessment is an imaginative response to a stimulus under

exam conditions. It must be noted here that there are no defined numeracy capabilities

for Year 10 English in the Australian National Curriculum. There are several critical

thinking capabilities, however, and I have integrated these in my activity.

For my original design, I only considered use of spatial representations to structure a text.

Reconsidering the activity in the context of a whole unit, I started to think of the

reverse—how spatial relationships could help students interpret data in a text.

Story Element Examples

Characters Who are the people involved?

Which ones play major roles?

Which ones are minor?

Setting When and where did this event take place?

Over what period of time?

Plot Problem/goal—

What set events in motion?

What problem arose?

Who/what were the key players after?

Events/episodes—

What are the key steps or events that capture the progress of this

situation?


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Resolution/outcome—

How was the problem solved?

How was the goal attained?

Theme What is the larger meaning or importance, the moral, the “so what?”

Figure 1: Graphic organiser/story map, adapted from AdLit.org

Reflective Design Question: How could I continue scaffolding on prior learning

from our Othello unit, in line with Bruner’s notion of a “spiral curriculum” (Bruner

in Westwood, 61).

Prior Learning, Term 3

- use of graphs for narrative arc, protagonist and antagonist arc

- discussion of Vonnegut’s story graphs, events vs. emotions, misery curve

- analysis of distance between characters in part of a visual text and relationship

representations (Othello, O)

- event/information reveals and dramatic irony, the difference between knowing the

whole story, and learning the story piecemeal, integral part of spatial vs. temporal

criticism.

- discussion of personal space/comfort levels

- persuasive speaking techniques and use of space

Using a connectionist approach and Bloom’s taxonomy:

After discussion with AB:

- considered personal knowledge of students. AB noted that I scaffold but don’t

always consider what I know about my students;

- used individual profiles I’ve created for my students, in response to Professional

Knowledge standards 1.1 and 1.3 (highlighted as of key importance by the

AAMT).


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Figure 2 Bloom's Taxonomy, applied to activity

With this connectionist, student-centric approach in mind, reconsidered the spatial

interests from Assignment One:

- spatial relationships are key in certain aspects of literary theory

- how can textual interpretation of spatial relationships be used outside structural

contexts?

- how does this relate to prior unit? can I carry these interests into a new activity

while also helping students consolidate their numeracy (Westwood, 61)?

Reflective Design Question: What do I want to know? What do I want to do/test?

1. What other types of spatial reasoning can students understand?

2. How do they relate to adolescent experiential frameworks?

3. What are the key spatial features in an imaginative text?

4. How are spatial features used outside of the general narrative arc?

5. How can I create overlapping story maps?

6. What learning outcomes do I want to achieve?

Remember narrative arc/character arc

structure/narratology

Understand textual spatial markers

application to relationships

Apply recognising and and applying spatial data to create visualisations

Analyse considering spatial data in

context

consider relationships represented

Evaluate what sort of relationships are modelled?

is this effective? are relationships believable?

Create collect and assess data

consider mulitple

viewpoints and synthesise


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7. Where are my students in terms of abstract thought and critical thinking? Are they

able to interpret text and recast it visually? Can they consider a visual

representation in a social framework?

Moving forward:

- Assessed my students’ NAPLAN data and overall scientific and mathematical

performance.

- Used discussion with Science and Math teachers and discussion with students to

assesses capabilities.

- Considered: “Curriculum making is a deliberate practice”—what was my

intended curriculum (Watson, 186)? How would this relate to my operational and

experiential curricula? Could I use my knowledge of class dynamics and personal

observation to get a sense of likely student experience?

- Students are 14-15 years. Piagetian framework—students are developing critical

reasoning and abstract thought; they are more sensitive to societal pressures and

in the process of developing subjectivity/ideation of self (Berk, ch 9, Lacan, ).

From my reflections:

“they are challenging themselves, each other, and their teachers in a

variety of ways, some conscious, some not. Where they sit and how they

sit are also key in their interpersonal frameworks…when I assigned

seating with name tags for an activity, student dynamics were very

different, and students reacted strongly to the change to who is in their

space” (Andersen, reflection).

Potential Barrier: Absenteeism

- Problem: high rates of absenteeism

- Address via considering reason behind absenteeism: truancy, illness, work

commitments?

- Truancy: make contact with parents, reinforce to parent and student value of

education.


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- Illness/work commitments: work with student to consider gaps. Provide student

with opportunity to ask questions alone—via email or lunchtime appointments.

Make regular check-ins, provide summaries where possible. Communicate with

other teachers for a rounded assessment of capability. Communicate with parents

and be flexible in terms of learning style. Be willing to work via distance.

Redesign

Reflecting on student sensitivity to relationships and dynamics, my interest in spatial

relations, and textual criticism, I revised my original activity to include relationships.

Students would plot a narrative arc and character arcs, then map spatial interactions in a

text and analyse these to work out character-to-character relationships.

75%

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Absences, 2014 YTD, Year 10 English Extension

> 10

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> 50

56% 22%

8% 8%

6%

Absences, 2013, Year 10 English Extension

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> 50


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Time constraints prohibited a full classroom trial. A simulation of a tailored activity did

not seem appropriate either, so, after discussion with AB, I revised my idea to create a

truncated version of this spatial analysis using a micro text. The truncated version was

run over a half period of thirty-five minutes, as a whole class activity.

1. Drawing on my knowledge of students:

- used a 12-word zombie text/pop culture text

2. In line with Marzano:

- ensured clear learning goals and objectives

- separated objectives into skills and discussion! activity builds/assesses numerate

skills, challenges students to think beyond perceptions/use critical thinking skills.

Skills: students will be able to—

- identify key events in a text and graph these in terms of story structure/narrative

arc

- identify spatial clues in a text

- interpret then apply spatial clues in a given text

- draw spatial representations of a text

- re-interpret spatial representations in terms of emotionality and relationships

- apply this understanding of relationships/textual clues to their own writing,

developing “showing” rather than “telling” strategies.

Discussion: students will—

- consider/becomes aware of how presentation of information can change

perception

- consider how they can acknowledge potential biases/identifications

- consider alternate perspectives and interpretations and the validity thereof

- apply critical thinking skills to a text they may otherwise dismiss

- consider the application—and reformation—of narrative rules.


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3. Using Van Manen’s ideas of reflection in action:

- set clear reflective markers throughout the activity ! on reaching a marker, could

consider then continue/adapt.

- set markers in easy to check location. Reflective markers are noted in the activity

narrative below.

Potential Barrier: Method of teaching

- Problem: not all students respond to same method; too much discovery method may be too nebulous; poor communication; disengaged students.

- Individuate during design. Consider problems prior to implementation.

- Continual assessment—use formative methods, bookwork, to assess student levels.

- Think big picture—think about student trends and zone of proximal development.

Focus on a set of skills and connectionist learning/context instead of single skills.

- Check in with students throughout activities, use reflection in action, reflective markers.

- Check in with students a few lessons after an activity and assess retention. Note

what works/doesn’t work.

- Use aids where necessary for individual students. E.g. If a student has trouble with interpreting data in text form, help with graphic organizer scaffolds.

Implementation

Text: Boy glances. Girl smiles. Zombie enters. Bang! Bang! Bang! Girl kisses zombie.

A simplistic story which ticks all the boxes for a narrative arc and three character arcs. As

a class, we played with arrangement of the text and set it out in a graphic organizer to

map structure.


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Figure 3 Variant spatial representations of text

Figure 4 Narrative Arc for Variant 1

Rearranging the text allowed students to consider spatial versus temporal readings of the

text and how these may or may not change relationships. The breaking up of “Bang!

Bang! Bang!” into separate lines gave rise to discussion of what is happening—

Miss, is it a gun?

Is there a gang, or are they in a dodgy neighbourhood?

Does each character have a weapon if the bangs are broken up, because then it looks like

time is passing?


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What else could make three bangs?1

Asked students to consider spatial v. temporal readings—

Story as a whole: we know everything, and multiple bangs are not a surprise—all one

conflict.

Story as a collection of narrative units: each “bang!” becomes a separate perception-

challenging narrative unit, evaluation of each unit is required.

This required students to apply critical thinking skills and ask analytical questions, such

as “what changed?” and “why another bang? Are they different or the same?”

Reflective Marker 1: Are students responding to the text, or would a different text

have been better? Zombie text works. Longer text will probably work, but might depend

on student interest in the genre.

Figure 5 Character Arc for Variant 2

In considering this structural change, students also considered what constitutes conflict in

1 These are direct quotes noted throughout the lesson.


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a story. The narrative arc used in this lesson is a simplified version of several arcs in the

field of narratology (some of which are discussed in Martin and Rose). Genette’s

narratology, alongside Bakhtin’s heteroglossia, gives rise to potential extension here—

discussion of focaliser and the socio-ideological languages of a text—which helps

students identify perspectives and how perspectives can change recitation/interpretation

of events.

Simplifying this, I asked students to think on relationships in the text, and how they could

or couldn’t map them. Next, we created character arcs.

Reflective Marker 2: We’ve done narrative arc before. How much do I need to

remind them? Will they connect it to last term? Students quickly linked these graphs

to last term’s graphs. Some asked theory questions, so I asked them to write them down

for another lesson.

Figure 6 Character Arc: Boy


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Figure 7 Character Arc: Girl

Figure 8 Character Arc: Zombie

I asked students to consider other ways we could diagram relationships. This built on

prior discussion of gesture and persuasive movement from term 3 and asked students to

recall analysis on film positioning from our prior unit.


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This was a challenging part of the exercise because there are no clear spatial relations in

the text due to its shortness. In a full trial, the class will work from textual clues back to

diagrams; for this exercise, the class thought of potential clues that could be added to the

text, then mapped these. Students did achieve clear potential spatial maps of

relationships, as reproduced below.

Reflective Marker 3: Is it easier to work backwards or forwards? Is creating the

cues then mapping them too hard? Students responded well because they could choose

words they recognized instead of trying to interpret straight away. Similar to reversed “I

do” demonstration.

Potential Barrier: Moving to an abstract and symbolic level too soon

- Problem: student does not have concrete understanding but is asked think in

the abstract

- Use explicit teaching to model strategies.

- Use a number of formative checks to understanding over a period of time—re-test

and revise, connectionist approach.

- Use mixed-ability groups for small group work in revision activities.

- Encourage students to use visualization and hands-on representations when

unsure.

Potential textual clues

to add

Relationship depicted

Boy glances to his left. Establishes idea of distance, boy being interested enough in

girl to look outside of his viewpoint. Rising tension,

considering goal.

Girl smiles, shifts in

her chair so he can see

her better.

Establishes girl’s interest is more than politeness, she takes

action to be closer/let boy continue flirting. Rising tension,

considering goal.

Walking past, Girl Shows that Girl had somewhere to go, but interested enough in


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sees the glance, pauses,

smiles.

boy to change plans. Rising tension, considering goal.

Zombie stomps in. Stomping is a strong but slow motion, so Zombie is most likely

some distance from Boy and Girl. Zombie may or may not

have clear motive. Rising tension, considering goal.

Zombie charges in. Charging in is swift, often emotional. Zombie most likely has a

goal before entering. Rising tension/climax/action.

Boy rushes at Zombie

with shovel.

Demonstrates boy is impulsive, perhaps protective of girl or of

idea of masculinity. Positions Boy between Girl and Zombie?

Climax/action.

Girl edges closer to

Zombie.

Girl identifies with/is more interested in/more trusting of

Zombie. Rising tension.

Girl closes the space

between them.

Raises that Girl is interested in pursuing further with another

character, but not clear who. Temporal v. spatial readings.

Rising tension.

Zombie pulls Girl to

him/her.

Zombie wants Girl/goal, Zombie achieves goal/resolution.

Girl must be close to Zombie.

Figure 9 Textual clues and the relationships they may depict.

Spatial Maps

Figure 10 "zero point" spatial map


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Figure 11 spatial demonstrating conflict

Figure 12 spatial map demonstrating relationships/objectifying girl

Figure 13 spatial map demonstrating girl asserting subject position


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Figure 14 alternative spatial map, girl asserting subject position

Summation of Activity, Reflection

- AB noted successful activity, commented on positive engagement, focus, and

general excitement in using a pop culture text.

- AB feedback here was that the strong amount of discussion was the driver of

success, continuing this type of work/reflect/work/reflect journey is important.

- Reminded me that drawing on my knowledge of students and their interests was

the reason I had chosen such an appropriate text—emphasised use of profiles and

personal knowledge is an important part of establishing engagement and trust.

- Successful in terms of engaging and potential learning but difficult to assess

outcomes.

Potential negatives going forward:

- Student disinterest in text! may mean providing students with a selection of

texts to work from.

- Lack of prior scaffolding/connectionist learning! activity requires clear

grounding.

- Base level of numeracy! activity depends on students being able to interpret

written cues and represent their interpretations visually, a higher order numeracy


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skill. All students are not necessarily at the same level within a given class, and

differentiation and extra scaffolding/modelling may be required for some.

General conclusion: successful activity but not clearly assessable as a group. May work

best with a small version with 12-word text as an explicit example, followed by a lesson a

week later with individual/pair share work on a given text.

Reflective methods used in this assignment/practicum:

- Discussion of activities during unit planning. Faculty meetings to discuss

potential implementation of units and resource sharing.

- Discussion with mentor teacher. High level of verbal discussion with my mentor

teacher throughout prac; she has also commented on my self-evaluations and

reflections.

- Cross-departmental pollination. My subject areas are English, General Science,

Biology, and Chemistry (though while on my first prac, I also taught year 7-10

Math, ICT, and History). I’ve spent time discussing strategies for numeracy and

literacy in the Science Department; asked Science teachers and students about

other subjects to provide context within my English classroom.

- Reflective Markers. Clear markers throughout delivery enable me to consider

and adapt my teaching, then apply this to further development.

- Clearly established rubrics/outcomes. Helps me assess positives, negatives, and

forward movement.

Moving forward, ways to add objectivity to my reflective practice:

- Informal SELTS. Formal surveys are intimidating, may limit responsiveness.

Group/class discussion helps establish trust and rapport, helps me adapt activities

to individual learning journeys.


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- Use of buddy system. Working with my mentor teacher has been highly

beneficial; a more “grown up” version of the mentor/pre-service teacher

relationship.

- Where possible, discussion with a consultant. My current school has a literacy

consultant. I’ve discussed ways to develop higher-order literacy skills in the

classroom on a weekly basis. Discussion with a numeracy consultant would also

be helpful.

- Professional development and learning specializing in numeracy. After

working with a high number of ESL students, I undertook formal training in

teaching English as a Foreign Language. I intend to undertake further numeracy

training.


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Appendix 1, References:

AAMT Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers Inc. (1998) Standards for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics in Australian Schools. 2006.

- Professional Knowledge Domain, standards 1.1 and 1.3—know my students and

how they learn, have strong content knowledge myself

- 1.3: how do I use numeracy in text? My work is all textual analysis, evaluation,

synthesis. What is my strong content knowledge? What are my applications, and

how can I alter them for my students?

- 1.1 What do I know about my students? Data, responses, formative assessments.

Consider other class data.

- 1.1 How well do I know my students? What are our areas of rapport? What is

engaging to them? Where do their interests lie?

Bakhtin, M. M. (1935). Discourse in the novel. The Novel: an Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1900–2000, 481-510.

- considering ideologies/languages used in the classroom and potential conflicts

- horizontal ideologies, difference in construct between teacher and student !

approaching design from student perspective. What do I want?

- Spatial relations and vertical hierarchy. How to simplify? Language as strata !

stratified arc? Stratified/concrete conception of interactions?

- Textual clues/intertextuality

- Subjectivity v. solipsism. How are my students forming relationships? What are

their markers of subjectivity? How can I use these to help me consider their

understanding of clues? What will they miss due to own transitional phase?

Berk, Laura E. Child Development. 9th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. Chapter 9. Print.

- development considerations

- students in pre-operational stage


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- capable of some critical thinking, abstract thought ! capable of thinking outside

self? Reasoning/empathy?

Brown, T. (2008). Lacan, subjectivity and the task of mathematics education research. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 68(3), 227-245.

- considering idea of Lack in context of social/specular/ideal I ! what are students

seeing? Feeling? In ways that are related to character?

- What are students capable of interpreting in terms of specular/social I? Is

character relation through spatial visualization too nebulous? Critical reasoning as

a function of subjectivity and interpellation ! will this activity have enough

concrete steps?

- Semiotics/signs and understanding. Bringing Derrida to bear visually?

Ewing, R. (2010). The reflection storyline : Bringing the stories together (Chapter 10). In Curriculum and assessment: A narrative approach. (pp. 185-202). South Melbourne, Vic: Oxford University Press.

- how can I better my reflective processes in the moment?

- often have to write brief dot points after the fact, then expand upon on a weekly

basis, sometimes after teaching two classes within the same grade ! how best

can I contrast experiences?

- Using reflective markers to build on in the moment opportunities, consider and

adapt.

- Using learning goals on the board as markers? Ticking off for student

achievement, but also for mental processing?

Kelly, M., & Gordon, C. (2002). Classroom management: Creating positive learning environments (2nd ed.). South Melbourne: Thomson.

- how much management required in a short activity?

- How much will I need to call back focus? Will repeated calls to focus make the

activity too difficult! will students need recontextualising every time? This is the

case for year 9. Will year 10 be significantly different?


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- Can I break the activity into segments that allow for brief lapses of focus between

segments and let students do their chatting for a minute or two as I set up the

board?

Learning by Design | New Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved September 28th, 2014. http://newlearningonline.com/learning-by-design/

- using a visualization to consider a visualization

- can my exercise be worked/designed with just visual methods? How much

wording/explanation do I actually need?

- Does intensive wording make the exercise less accessible? Where can I remove

text? Where can I remove steps?

Martin, J., & Rose, D. (2008). Stories. In Genre Relations: Mapping culture (pp. 49-98). London: Equinox Pub.

“A major demand of the English curriculum in Australian schools is for students to

evaluate the stories they read or view in 'text responses” Martin and Rose, 46).

- How can I implement numeracy in such a major piece of the curriculum? If text

evaluation is key, what pieces of numeracy can be best applied to it?

- signposts for teaching structure and structure related to interpretation

- unpacked ways for me to consider my ongoing Masters’ research re:

implicit/explicit discourse and heteroglossia in adolescent texts and in the

classroom.

- framework for teaching complex theory through visualisations ! considered this

in implementing my own visual framework to enhance understanding of a text via

textual clues.

- validated my belief that literary theory can be implemented in the classroom

NAPLAN. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2nd, 2014. http://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/about-each-domain/writing/writing.html


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- table of marking criterion for NAPLAN written activity in narrative

- Character ! Character: The portrayal and development of character

- Text structure ! The organisation of narrative features including orientation,

complication and resolution into an appropriate and effective text structure

- Working on ways to assess both of these in terms of numeracy and critical

thinking. Identifying key points for students through curriculum and national

standards weighting.

Pearse, M., & Walton, K. M. (2011). Teaching Numeracy: 9 critical habits to ignite

mathematical thinking. Corwin Press.

- use word webs, maps

- consider non-linguistic representations

- compare similarities and differences—Venn diagrams, graphs etc.

- consider forward/backward movement

- “ask questions that elicit inferences” (p.108)

Westwood, P. (2008). What teachers need to know about numeracy. Aust Council for Ed Research.

“In attempting to implement an investigative approach, a teacher may fail to provide

students with essential information to help them make complete sense of their discoveries

and refine their existing strategies” (Westwood, 58).

- reconsidered how to ensure students have essential information

- system of checks and balances using prior learning, promoting connectionist

approach

“Students will simply forget the mathematics they have been learning and will therefore

fail to become fully numerate, if they are not given an opportunity to revisit concepts and

skills frequently” (Westwood, 61).

- use, but also highlight, return to concepts.


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- get students to go back and consider prior work. Look through notes. Think

actively.

“Too much discovery type activity without adequate support.”

- how can I be sure students are engaged in an investigation/discovery without

depending on them to “get it” alone?

- How can I scaffold to ensure discovery achieves understanding?

- What is too much discovery?

- Teaching students to make concrete models where necessary. Explicit teaching of

a base concept, using discovery to extend concrete understanding! using

discovery for application rather than remembering/understanding?

- Ensuring individuation and appropriate scaffolds for learners more likely to

experience difficulty! start with a detailed scaffold, slowly remove steps while

considering which students are capable of filling in gaps.

Personal Communications

A Braithwaite, personal communication, September 4th, September 26th, October 2nd

2014

- for difficult things, students need a break

- tie to things they know or enjoy. Make the most of what you know about them.

- Don’t pitch too high but don’t pitch too low either. Let them determine their level

of extension.

- Use what they know. Think about what you’ve already taught them.

G Sodhi, personal communication, September 19th, 2014

- don’t give them the opportunity to act up until after you’ve established the set up


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- use very concrete steps for numeracy activities. Make sure you could follow

through a sequence clearly, each piece builds logically. (Me: avoid horizontal

steps)

- think about which students will have the hardest time with the material during the

design process. Start with them, and use them as a check as you go through.

S Maher, personal communication, October 2nd, 2014

- don’t be afraid to alter what you’re doing in the moment. If it’s not clicking,

change it.

- Remember they’re teenagers, not tertiary students.

General Note:

Above, I’ve listed the relevance of various sources to my theory, design and

implementation as per the assignment guidelines. I think it’s important to note, however,

a more general—but strong—reaction I’ve had to many of the texts we’ve read over the

semester, despite it being outside the purview of this assignment. That said, I think this

consideration should form part of assignments going forward.

Teacher Numeracy

Something I’m coming to think about a lot is how pedagogy and theory work in

application—I often feel like I’m reading a text which tells me to individuate my

students, but then presents some very clearly defined categories or, worse, lumps them all

together. (The Westwood text often does the former.)

Similarly, I feel the Westwood text—and others—emphasises educational pedagogy in

the teaching of numeracy without actually establishing teacher numeracy. Understanding

numeracy is important and providing a theoretical framework for this is important, but

said understanding is entirely unhelpful if a teacher is only just functionally numerate, or,


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worse, innumerate. Westwood, alongside other texts, has led me to question why there is

no clear system of checks and balances in teacher education such that we know every

teacher is numerate. We know every teacher is literate, because it is impossible to earn a

degree without being literate. It is, however, easy to “fudge” numeracy. I’ve personally

met several humanities teachers who do not understand standard deviations and their

application to marking and marking schemes, or relative weight. This is a piece of

numeracy that is highly relevant to our field and yet understanding thereof is lacking.

Professional development regarding numeracy is clearly available too—my school

currently has pamphlets on PD and cross-curriculum numeracy within the Marzano

framework. But again, this development focuses on ways to teach numeracy, not ways to

establish it. If a teacher feels their numeracy skills are lacking, where do they go for help?

How do they improve these skills?

Documents

Andersen, ETL421 Assignment 2.pdf