Programming the New Syllabuses (incorporating the

Australian Curriculum)

What we will learn from today...

• Learning plans vs. teaching programs• Units of Learning vs. Units of Work• Split screen thinking and acting• Going from good to great • Catering to the needs of 21st Century Learners

21st Century LearnersThe new context means new expectations.

Most studies include:• Ability to communicate• Adaptability to change• Ability to work in teams• Preparedness to solve problems• Ability to analyse and conceptualise• Ability to reflect on and improve performance• Ability to manage oneself• Ability to create, innovate and criticise• Ability to engage in learning new things at all times• Ability to cross specialist borders

What are the implications for learning?

Using the Strategic Directions and 21st Century Learners

1. What should a Learning Plan look like?

2. What will a Learning Plan contain? Where will you get the information as a teacher?

3. What will a Unit of Learning contain?

4. How will you know the students have learnt and how will you build their capacity to learn?

K-10

What the data tells us:• Drop in literacy levels (students in 2009 were

below equivalent students from 1963 on reading scores)

• Drop in numeracy levels – particularly Year7.• Attendance is 86% for students in HS across

Riverina.

Definitions:

• SYLLABUS: An outline of the subjects in a course of study or learning.

• CURRICULUM: How a teacher, school or learning organisation fulfils the outcomes of the syllabuses.

The purpose of schools is to increase the academic achievement of students.

Pedagogy drives good planning and effective programming.

Data driven pedagogy is the most effective professional practice.Data driven learning caters to the learning needs of ALL students.

Planning for learning. Students have a right to:

• Active engagement with content worthy of sustained attention.

• Thorough thinking about that content.• Deep understanding of key concepts in core

content.• Increased independence through skills they

can use to make current and future content and contexts.

• Access to relevant knowledge.• Power to participate in a democracy- to

interact with, influence and transform their world.

Key points

• Students have the right to think.• Teachers can teach thinking by empowering

students to see the role thinking plays in the world, giving students material worth thinking about, and giving them time to practice skills and reflect on their own learning.

• Thinking requires the same skills as literacy.

Key points

• Teachers need to teach content through text not around it.

• Student success in school and beyond depends on their ability to think.

• Our democracy depends on our ability to empower adolescents to think.

Thinking:

• Is active; it is not something that happens, but an activity that makes meaning.

• Is strategic: it is not automatic, inspired, or random but, learned.

• Highlights what is important; it does not treat all material equally.

• Is focused; it creates a foreground and a background.

What the draft policy states:Curriculum planning and programming guidelinesPrinciples for quality student learning (10.5.12) Across schooling K-12, students are entitled to learning which: • is based on NSW BOS syllabus documents • connects with, and builds on, prior knowledge, skills and understanding• develops deep knowledge, skills and understanding• addresses learning needs and enables students to experience learning

success and challenge• is relevant and engaging • involves students actively in learning• provides opportunities to explore and develop creativity and critical thinking• develops lifelong learning skills.

Cross-curriculum areas1. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and

Cultures [Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander]2. Asia and Australia’s relationship with Asia [A]3. Civics and citizenship [CC]4. Critical and creative thinking [CCT]5. Difference and diversity [DD]6. Ethical understanding [EU]7. Information and communication technologies

[ICT]

Cross-curriculum areas

8. Intercultural understanding [IU]9. Literacy [L]10.Numeracy [N]11.Personal and social competence [PSC]12.Sustainability and environment [SE]13.Work and enterprise [WE]

Assessment for learning is not the same as assessment of learning.

Assessment of learning is assessment for accountability purposes, to determine a student's level of performance on a specific task or at the conclusion of a unit of teaching and learning. The information gained from this kind of assessment is often used in reporting.

Assessment for learning, on the other hand, acknowledges that assessment should occur as a regular part of teaching and learning and that the information gained from assessment activities can be used to shape the teaching and learning process.

What is assessment?

Assessment as learning is about reflecting on evidence of learning. This is part of the cycle of assessment where students and teachers set learning goals, share learning intentions and success criteria, and evaluate their learning through dialogue and self and peer assessment.

Through this learners become more aware of:•what they learn •how they learn •what helps them learn.

Learners are able to build knowledge of themselves as learners, and become metacognitive. In other words, they become aware of how they learn.It also helps them to take more responsibility for their learning and participate in the process of learning.

When students are involved in reflecting on their learning, it helps them understand their learning better.

Students must develop an awareness of how they learn and what in particular helps them, as individuals, to learn (metacognition). They need to develop both self-regulation of their learning and also their role in monitoring progress against clear criteria. They need to become aware of their cognitive strengths and weaknesses and, how to view and use their difficulties as opportunities for learning.

Personal learning planning helps students to learn more effectively by encouraging them to reflect upon their progress.

Students and teachers help to set their own

learning goals.Students and teachers practise self and peer assessment.

Students and teachers identify andreflect on their own evidence of

learning.

SYLLABUSES QUALITY TEACHINGTeachers use a range of evidence from day-to-day opportunities to check on students’ progress.

Teachers talk and work together to understand and apply standards in and across schools.

Teachers use assessment information to monitor their school’s curriculum and progress, and to plan for improvement.

ASSESSMENT

Students, teachers and parents are clear about what is to be learned and what success looks like.

Students are given explicit quality criteria and feedback about the quality of their evidence of learning and how to make it better.

Students and teachers are actively engaged in deciding the next steps in theirlearning and identifying who can help.

Classroom learning involves quality interactions,based on higher order questions, careful listening

and reflective responses.This constructs deep knowledge and

deep understanding.

ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING

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