eta annual state conference and saturday 6 australian...

In his and

ETA Annual State Conference Friday 5th and Saturday 6th August 2011

Australian Technology Park Eveleigh

ETA NSW

PO BOX 299 LEICHHARDT 2040 Phone 9572 6900 Fax 9572 9534 Email [email protected]

www.englishteacher

English Teachers Association NSW

The English Teachers Association NSW is a NSW Institute of Teachers endorsed provider of Institute Registered professional development for the maintenance of accreditation at Professional Competence. Scope of endorsement: All Elements of the Professional Teaching Standards for English. Sessions with Standards appended have been registered with the Institute (IR).

NSW INSTITUTE OF TEACHERS

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Sponsors

The English Teachers Association NSW would like to thank the following sponsors for their support in bringing this conference to you.

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Making Connections that Count

ETA Annual Conference 2011

Program Summary

Friday 5th August Registration 8.15 →

9:00 – 10.00: Session 1 Plenary - The Ken Watson Address Blood and bone: An anatomy of Wreading Dr Felicity Plunkett

Morning Tea 10.00 – 10.30 am 10.30 – 11.45: Session 2 workshops and presentations

Session Title Presenters

F2-1 Running back up the barrel of the canon David Hastie

F2-2 ICT-based peer and self-assessment Stacey Quince

F2-3 'Build it & they will come’ - or will they?: (Dis)connections in the classroom.

Dr Dianne Pizarro

F2-4 Project-based learning and English Bianca Hewes

F2-5 You're the voice of social justice Vanessa Bromhead

F2-6 Texts and thinking skills for Year 11 Advanced English Margaret Hallahan

F2-7 Dismantling the Bomb | Uniting the atoms Aaron Dewhurst, Emma

Henshaw

F2-8 Digital stories and multimodal narratives Kerri-Jane Burke

F2-9 Choosing literary texts for the Australian Curriculum Helen Sykes, Deb

MacPherson, Ernie Tucker

F2-10 Conceptual programming: How to write a quality unit of work Karen Yager, Prue Greene

11.55 – 1.10: Session 3 workshops and presentations


F3-1 Connecting to Shakespeare: Lessons from popular film about the way we introduce the language of Shakespeare to students

Damon Cooper

F3-2 Teaching the documentary David Chapman, Leigh

Shamley

F3-3 Promoting equity and improving student achievement Helen Sara

F3-4 Being an effective teacher in the educational continuum Christine Gietz

F3-5 Integrating ICT in English Melissa Carson

F3-6 Beyond borders: Exploring the self through diverse perspectives Hugo Grieve, Maura

Manning

F3-7 Romeo and Juliet: A big ideas approach Michael Spurr, Mark Easton

F3-8 Connecting self to 'the Other': Indigenous literature from across the world

Melissa McMahon, Sadaf Khan

F3-9 Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia Corrina Hawke

F3-10 8 Aboriginal ways of learning Emma Le Marquand

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Lunch 1.10 - 2.00 pm

2.00 – 2.45: Session 4 Plenary The Australian Curriculum in NSW: The background and current situation Don Carter & Lynne Redley 2.50 – 4.05: Session 5 workshops and presentations

4.15 – 5.00: Session 5a Plenary: Consultation This session will take place if the NSW English 7 – 10 Draft Syllabus is released on 1st August. It will be managed by the ETA Curriculum and Assessment Committee and will begin the support provided by the ETA for members during the consultation period. By the end of the session, participants will have information and structures to access the details of the document efficiently and to assist their faculty in the development of a faculty response.


F5-1 Graphic novels: Different texts for different times Di Laycock

F5-2 Teaching English through social issues: Youth homelessness Ruth Johnstone, Bianca

Orsini, Eva Gold

F5-3 Personalising curriculum in English classrooms Sharyn Stafford

F5-4 Fun and practical ways to build connections and promote collaboration in class

Dr Dianne Pizarro

F5-5 Cultural revolution: Mad Men, ad men and the American dream Emma Henshaw, Aaron

Dewhurst

F5-6 21st-century imperatives: Cross-curriculum priorities in the Australian Curriculum

Deb Simpson

F5-7 Engaging students in Aboriginal perspectives using ICT in Stage 5 Nicole MacAlpine

F5-8 Lend me your Lenovo: Persuasion through the classics and ICT Thomas Elley, Mitchell

Comans

F5-9 Being a Head Teacher English: Strategies and resources for effective leadership

Paul Grover

F5-10 The Australian Curriculum is here. Are you ready? Wayne Sawyer, Jane Sherlock

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Saturday 6th August

8.30 → Registration

9.30-10.30: Session 6 Opening plenary Assessment in the new landscape Carol Taylor

Morning Tea 10.30 - 11.00 am 11:00 – 12:15: Session 7 workshops and presentations


S7-1 Shake things up Brad Horsburgh

S7-2 Preliminary Advanced: Animal Farm and V for Vendetta Wafa Taoube, Iskra Spencer

S7-3 ‘Connecting lines’: The poet’s perspective in the secondary English classroom

Tony Britten, Johanna Featherstone

S7-4 Connecting through CEC English Studies Natalie Pollock, Anne Scott

S7-5 Distinctively engaging Pauline Hageman, Zoe

Smith, Jenny Coyte

S7-6 Writing for the HSC Mel Dixon, Deb Simpson

S7-7 Assessment in Stage 6 Catherine Laughlin

S7-8 Is the Holocaust fit for fiction? Troy Martin

S7-9 Writing the real world: What Aristotle can teach us about writing in and for a civic society

Sarah Golsby-Smith, Susan Thomas

S7-10 Enacting persuasion in academic and civic discourse Sally Humphrey

Lunch 12.15 - 1.15 pm

1:15 – 1.45: Session 8 Plenary Re-imagining Drama with the STC Helen Hristofski

1.50 – 3.05: Session 9 workshops and presentations


S9-1 One slice from the digital pie: Stage 4 authoring tools that work Lizzie Chase

S9-2 The power of assessment to improve student achievement Alyssa Roach

S9-3 Problem-based learning: Making meaningful connections in literature for Stage 6

Shereen D'Souza

S9-4 An integrated approach to grammar in the classroom Mel Dixon

S9-5 Understanding postmodern science-fiction and cyberpunk genres in the HSC

Elizabeth Hayes

S9-6 Ways of thinking: Some models for critical thinking in the English classroom

Deb Simpson

S9-7 Renegades & ropes: Game-play in English Extension 1 Damon Cooper

S9-8 Challenging and extending all students Karen Yager

S8-9 New digital texts, forms and textualities Prue Greene

S9-10 Ambitious tyrant or ‘the noblest man that ever lived’: Conflicting perspectives in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar

Emily Bosco, Mark Bosco

3.20 pm ETA Annual General Meeting - All members welcome

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SESSION ABSTRACTS

Friday 5th August

Session 1: 9.00 – 10.00 The Ken Watson Address Blood and bone: An anatomy of Wreading Dr Felicity Plunkett The emergence of an Australian curriculum offers an opportunity to explore and incorporate some of the most inspiring creative and pedagogical models in our burgeoning discipline. As well as the bones of syllabi and rubric an imagined anatomy of an emerging curriculum must also consider blood: protean and transformative, reinventing itself responsively. In this lecture I examine the possibilities of a fruitful nexus between reading and writing, termed ‘wreading’ by key American theorists. Its focus is on how we do what we do in what I call ‘the charged classroom’, and I offer practical ideas and experiments from the metaphor-strewn laboratory of my own thinking as a reader, writer, editor and teacher. Felicity Plunkett is an academic and poet with a passionate commitment to wreading. She has a PhD in English from the University of Sydney, and was Chief Examiner of English Extension 1 and 2 from 2004 – 9. Her first book, Vanishing Point, won the Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Award and was short-listed for the WA Premier’s Book Awards, the Judith Wright Prize and the Anne Elder Award. Her chapbook, Seastrands, (Vagabond Press) has just been released. She is poetry editor at the University of Queensland Press. Standards: 1.2.2 (IR)

Morning Tea 10.00 – 10.30am Session 2: 10.30 – 11.45 F2-1 Running back up the barrel of the canon David Hastie The Australian Curriculum: English represents a significant retreat from critical literacy to canonical approaches in English education. By framing the history, theory and politics of approaches to the subject English in NSW, the new curriculum is explored in relation to existing BOS syllabi, and some of the challenges and controversies of the shift between old and new are practically investigated for the classroom teacher. Standards: 2.2.2, 3.2.2, 6.2.7 (IR) F2-2 ICT-based peer and self-assessment Stacey Quince Research indicates that peer and self assessment are integral components of effective assessment, yet little has been done to date to marry this with ICT-based pedagogy. This presentation presents findings based on a recent Premier's English Teacher Scholarship study tour in the UK, as well as school-based action learning projects. It includes practical strategies for incorporating ICT into assessment practice. Standards: 1.2.4, 3.2.5 , 3.2.7 (IR) F2-3 Global Education strand 'Build it & they will come’ - or will they?: (Dis)connections in the classroom Dr Dianne Pizarro This session is a presentation of research undertaken by a Head Teacher English in a comprehensive high school in Western Sydney into why students connect or do not connect and why they do or do not choose to learn. This research offers an alternative model of pedagogy to that of Quality Teaching. It challenges traditional notions of student motivation and the role of the teacher. The research highlights the role of student empathy and critical reflection and the desire to learn in the classroom. Standards: 1.2.2, 6.2.3 (IR) F2-4 Project-based learning and English Bianca Hewes This session will give insight into the nature of project -based learning (PBL) and how this inquiry method of teaching can be used to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes in English. The presentation will give a teacher’s insight into her experiences with project -based learning in the English classroom – the challenges, but also the wonderful and often surprising successes. Students use texts as a spring-board for their investigation into real-world problems and share their discoveries with an authentic audience. PBL, enhanced by the Digital Education Revolution, promotes skills in collaboration, problem-solving and critical and creative thinking. Teachers will be given a series of web-based resources to help plan, implement and evaluate an inquiry-based project in their English classrooms. Standards: 1.2.4, 3.2.5 (IR) F2-5 Global Education strand You're the voice of social justice Vanessa Bromhead This presentation provides an analysis of a Year 10 English unit, ‘You're the voice of social justice’, and the connections it provides to adolescents’ intrinsic recognition of justice and injustice. The connections students made with themselves, their world and those less fortunate than themselves through Anh Do’s autobiographical text, The Happiest Refugee, and autobiographical short stories from Growing Up Asian in Australia, edited by Alice Pung, promoted significant student experiences. Standards: 2.2.1, 2.2.2 (IR)

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F2-6 Texts and thinking skills for Year 11 Advanced English Margaret Hallahan Explore a new comparative study combination for Year 11 Advanced English of Jane Austen's Persuasion and P J Hogan's Muriel's Wedding. This teaching and learning program integrates Harvard University's Visible Thinking strategies to make students more aware of their thinking and learning processes.

Standards: 1.2.2, 2.2.3, 3.2.1 (IR) F2-7 Dismantling the Bomb | Uniting the atoms Aaron Dewhurst, Emma Henshaw The Extension 1 elective, After the Bomb, requires students to explore texts that examine the various ways of thinking which emerged during the post-World War II and Cold War era. This workshop will explore strategies to introduce the political climate of the period, examine recommended related material and evaluate possible assessment approaches to help engage students in a rigorous and thoughtful manner. The workshop will feature suggested historical material for introducing the topic and it will also examine the conceptual connections that can be formed between recommended related texts and the prescribed texts. Participants will collaborate to revise a broad repertoire of related material and strategies for teaching and assessing this topic.

Standards: 1.2.4, 3.2.5 (IR) F2-8 Digital stories and multimodal narratives Kerri-Jane Burke Digital storytelling is an exciting method of detailing student lives and achievements that promote supportive student relationships. Creating digital stories allows students to develop and strengthen skills in writing, reading, recording audio files, manipulating images and experimenting with special effects. This presentation aims to outline different kinds of digital stories and demonstrate their application in school communities, via student and teacher examples.

Standards: 2.2.3. 3.2.4, 4.2.5 (IR) F2-9 Global Education strand Choosing literary texts for the Australian Curriculum Helen Sykes, Deb MacPherson, Ernie Tucker There has been a lot of attention on the Australian Curriculum requirement to teach texts that relate to indigenous Australia, to Asia and to sustainability, but there is a real danger that texts will be chosen for their content rather than for their ability to engage and excite readers. What are the best texts available to meet the curriculum requirements? This presentation will recommend a range of suitable texts that will enrich your teaching of the new curriculum. Standards: 1,2,1, 6.2.3 (IR) F2-10 Conceptually programming the Australian Curriculum Prue Greene, Karen Yager ‘We have to know where we want to end up before we start out – and plan how to get there …’ (1999, Tomlinson). This workshop will focus on how to develop units of work shaped by overarching concepts and key learning ideas that are grounded in the NSW syllabus and the Australian Curriculum. Programming using concepts and key learning ideas as the drivers enables teachers to begin with higher-order thinking and achieve depth of learning. Units of work will be used as models and all participants will be provided with a scaffold that is easy to use and will lead to the creation of conceptual programs. Standards: 3.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.5 (IR)

Session 3: 11.55 – 1.10 F3-1 Connecting to Shakespeare: Lessons from popular film about the use of language Damon Cooper ‘… his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes ...’ Benedick, Much Ado About Nothing (II, iii, 17) As teachers, the way we introduce our study of any particular Shakespearean play to a new class is critical. For us, there is something both exhilarating and intimidating about this moment. For the student, there is often little more than the dread of an almost certain defeat of understanding. It is the language, rather than the narrative, that gets in the way. Shakespeare's often poetic form, the rhythm of his iambic pentameter, old-fashioned turns of phrase and a vocabulary that is so far removed from the daily lexicon of modern students can cause them to approach his plays in the same way they might view a document written in code: an archaic curiosity not worth the effort it would take to understand. As teachers, then, that moment in which we first serve Shakespeare to our students must be spent giving them a reason and equipping them with the confidence to break the code of his language. In this way, we can most successfully build connections between the text, the students and their world. This paper will explore ways in which teachers can introduce students to the language of Shakespeare and empower them to ‘break the code’. It will draw on lessons from two popular film versions of two of Shakespeare’s plays. We will examine the introductions of Much Ado About Nothing (dir. Branagh, 1993) and William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet (dir. Luhrmann, 1996), explore the way these films introduce a contemporary audience to the dramatic language of Shakespeare and apply these ideas to the context of the modern classroom. Standards: 1.2.2, 6.2.1 (IR) F3-2 Teaching the documentary David Chapman, Leigh Shamley Documentaries provide for engaging, persuasive and informative messages about important issues from the past and from today. This presentation will detail a range of appropriate documentary films, short and long, for study in Stages 4 – 6. Creation of documentaries by students will also feature, including task ideas and shared experiences from different schools. Standards: 1.2.4, 3.2.4 (IR) F3-3 Promoting equity and improving student achievement Helen Sara Girls in education: a multicultural perspective. Has the work in girls’ education gone far enough? This presentation will examine education practices relating to girls, particularly those who come from a culturally and linguistically diverse background. Is it the language that is holding them back, or are there other factors relating to culture? And does success at school correlate with success in the workforce? The bottom line is, can we be doing more for girls in our schools that can lead to greater success in employment? Standards: 2.2.1, 6.2.3 (IR)

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F3-4 Being an effective teacher in the educational continuum Christine Gietz An effective teacher sees teaching and learning as a holistic process of the total integration of metacognition, the learning environment, programming, student-centric learning strategies, assessment and reporting. Collectively this results in a seamless and progressive cycle or an 'educational continuum'. This paper provides a pedagogical overview of these key elements. Standards: 2.2.3, 3.2.2 (IR) F3-5 Integrating ICT in English Melissa Carson This workshop will assist English teachers as they seek to embed ICT in their lessons. The session will inspire those who are grappling with the demands of the Digital Education Revolution by showing how to construct meaningful learning experiences for their students. Through the demonstration of Web 2.0 tools and their application to effective English teaching, this workshop will allow participants to apply their knowledge and skills using the tools of 21st-century learning. Standards: 1.2.1, 1.2.4, 4.2.5 (IR) F3-6 Global Education strand Beyond borders: Exploring the self through diverse perspectives Hugo Grieve, Maura Manning Although our students are Australian and we will soon be teaching them from the Australian Curriculum, their identity is heavily influenced by both Asia and America. This unit explores the complexities that inform contemporary Australian adolescent identity, which is no longer bound by traditional national borders. The purpose of this unit is to encourage Year 9 students to look beyond themselves and to develop a critical awareness of others’ perspectives to enrich their understanding of themselves and our world. The unit will meet Australian Curriculum requirements through its exploration of the central concept of perspectives using contemporary texts from Australia, Asia and America. The Project Zero Teaching for Understanding framework will underpin the unit, encouraging students to think deeply and creatively. Standards: 1.2.2, 3.2.3, 4.2.5 (IR) F3-7 Romeo and Juliet: A big ideas approach Michael Spurr, Mark Easton Romeo and Juliet is arguably the best known, widely taught and most frequently retold Shakespearean play. This is an approach to teaching Romeo and Juliet that integrates language, literacy and literature. This is done by adapting big ideas pedagogy to the particular needs of English and focusing on the processes of creation, adaptation and interpretation of texts. Standards: 1.2.1, 3.2.2, 4.2.5 (IR) F3-8 Global Education strand Connecting self to 'the Other': Indigenous literature from across the world Melissa McMahon, Sadaf Khan This workshop invites teachers to adopt a fresh approach to teaching indigenous literature from across the world. It maps a unit of work that aims to connect students with worlds that are different from their own. This confrontation with 'the Other' will heighten students’ own understanding of the construction of identity and develop their appreciation of cultural identity and diversity. Indigenous literature from Australia, North America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific will be explored. Standards: 1.2.3, 2.2.3, 4.2.5 (IR) F3-9 Global Education strand Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia Corrina Hawke This presentation will revolve around Corinna’s experiences with the Asia Teacher Visitation Program, which is a joint Department of Education and Training and Asia Education Foundation venture. The program aims to give teachers across NSW direct experience with Asian communities, in an effort to enhance their understanding of these rich cultures and provide material to devise quality resources that strengthen the connections with Asia. In this presentation, Corrina will share her Korean experience from an English teacher’s perspective and explore the way that the cross-curricular priority of the Australian Curriculum, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, may be successfully implemented in the classroom. The presentation will provide a discussion of the relevance of teaching Asian texts and contexts in Australian schools, insights into the world of Korea, information regarding access to valuable teaching resources and tools, an overview and access to a pre-devised unit of work with a variety of pedagogical strategies and tools and ideas for the development of further units of work. Standards: 1.2.3, 4.2.5, 6.2.3 (IR) F3-10 Global Education strand Eight Aboriginal ways of learning Emma Le Marquand This is for all teachers, whether or not they teach indigenous students, who are trying to avoid the tokenistic and would like to embed Aboriginal perspectives into their classroom practice in a meaningful way. Standards: 2.2.5 (IR)

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Lunch 1.10 – 2.00 pm Session 4: 2.00 – 2.45 F4 The Australian Curriculum in NSW: Background and current situation Don Carter and Lynn Redley The development of the Australian Curriculum has presented a unique set of challenges for states and territories around the nation. Syllabus development in NSW has been well-established for a number of years. So what has been different about the development of this new syllabus and what are some possible ramifications for secondary English teachers? Aspects to be covered in this presentation include the nature and scope of the Australian Curriculum K-10 and current status of senior secondary course development; the writing and consultation process for the NSW syllabus; and the thinking underpinning the syllabus and the process from this point on. Don Carter is Inspector, English at the NSW Board of Studies and has extensive experience in the teaching of English as a head teacher in both government and non-government schools. Don has worked as a K – 12 English as a Second Language/Multicultural Education Consultant for the NSW Department of Education and Training. He has been a senior marker and an assessor of English examinations for the NSW HSC. Don was also a local interest group coordinator for the introduction of the new HSC and chaired the English Professional Development Committee for the Association of Independent Schools. He has presented widely in schools and at conferences on an extensive range of topics relating to English and has facilitated the development of curriculum materials for English K – 12 in NSW. Lynn Redley is a Curriculum Manager with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). She has particular responsibility for managing the development of the Australian Curriculum for English, General Capabilities, Technologies and English as an Additional Language. Lynn has extensive experience in developing curriculum and assessment policy and programs K-12 at the national and state level. She began her career as a secondary English teacher in Victorian schools. Standards: 1.2.3 (IR)

Session 5: 2.50 – 4.05 F5-1 Graphic novels: Different texts for different times Di Laycock Graphic novels, as a means to develop the 21st-century multi-literate student, have gained significant ground as texts in the English classroom. Research suggests, however, that teachers’ lack of familiarity with their codes and conventions, along with doubt as to their educational value, continues to hinder the full-blown acceptance of graphic novels as the ‘stuff’ of English classrooms. This presentation will address the hesitancy that English teachers may feel about the use of graphic novels in the classroom. A brief overview of the theoretical rationale for their use will be supported by a discussion of practical strategies that can be used to facilitate students’ consumption and production of the graphic novel format. Standards: 1.2.1, 2.2.3, 3.2.4 (IR) F5-2 Global Education strand Teaching English through social issues: Youth homelessness Ruth Johnstone, Bianca Orsini, Eva Gold When delivering issue-based units, the worthiness of the cause can draw us away from the core of English studies to the details of the issue itself. This session explores the nature of language around social issues, how to teach the documentary and composing texts for social action. It uses as a starting point the OASIS documentary resource, Youth Homelessness Matters, free to all schools, for developing a rich source for English learning and for encouraging students to act on this social problem, a serious one for us all. Standards: 1.2.1, 3.2.4 (IR) F5-3 Personalising curriculum in English classrooms Sharyn Stafford It is a challenge to personalise the curriculum to meet the needs of each student in the English classroom. This workshop will raise the issues that need to be considered in planning and executing differentiation and the challenges involved. Some ideas will be explored and applied in the joint construction of programming ideas and unit development outlines. Standards: 1.2.1, 3.2.3 (IR) F5-4 Global Education strand Fun and practical ways to build connections and promote collaboration in class Dr Dianne Pizarro These are tried and true drama and English activities and games that help students and teachers connect, create a sense of community and reduce bullying. These practical activities are taught in a ‘hands on’ approach, through doing. These activities can also teach effective listening and improve group cohesion. Standards: 5.2.3, 5.2.5 (IR) F5-5 Cultural revolution: Mad Men, ad men and the American dream Emma Henshaw, Aaron Dewhurst

Adaptable to a range of curriculum parameters, this unit provides a study of context, values, attitudes and beliefs within texts. In this sense, the unit could be easily differentiated to suit a mixed ability class, an extension class, Preliminary HSC Standard or

This workshop showcases a unit of work which is centred around the award-winning television series Mad Men and examines a range of literary representations of the social and cultural revolution in 1960s America and the broader world. Designed for Year 10 or Year 11, this unit deconstructs selected television episodes of Mad Men and how they provide a critical representation of the American dream and the rise of Manhattan’s materialistic world of advertising. Students are given a lens through which to evaluate the 1960s suburban idyll, the nuclear family, re-defined gender roles and a social landscape that responded to the events of its time.

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Advanced English. Participants will be provided with a unit program, teaching and learning activities, resources, journal articles and assessment strategies. The workshop will also demonstrate how students can engage with Web 2.0 tools in order to make meaningful connections between their world and the context of 1960s counter-culture. Standards: 1.2.1, 3.2.2, 4.2.5 (IR) F5-6 Global Education strand 21st-century imperatives: Cross-curriculum priorities in the Australian Curriculum Deb Simpson

for the benefit of generations to come. This workshop presents two units of work that address these Australian Curriculum priorities: a Stage 4 unit on Sustainable Futures, based on picture books, film and prose fiction and a Stage 5 Asia literacy unit that incorporates Shakespeare with texts and ways of thinking from Asian cultures. This workshop is sponsored by Global Education, a national initiative to integrate global perspectives into the curriculum, funded by AusAID and managed by the Professional Teachers’ Council NSW. Standards: 1.2.3, 2.2.1, 3.2.3 (IR) F5-7 Global Education strand Engaging students in Aboriginal perspectives using ICT Nicole MacAlpine Using original source material and specific location knowledge, this unit for Stage 5 asks students to engage with actual people and events using a variety of types of text. Students are able to explore the Aboriginal perspective, especially with respect to the Hawkesbury area and European settlement. Students have the opportunity to respond to and compose texts in many forms practising their skills, creativity and interactive communication technologies. Standards: 2.2.3, 4.2.5 (IR) F5-8 Lend me your Lenovo: Persuasion through the classics and ICT Thomas Elley, Mitchell Comans Students' ability to understand and comprehend the art of persuasion and persuasive writing are skills required in all stages of the NSW syllabus as well as in the pending Australian Curriculum. Furthermore, students’ abilities to comprehend persuasive writing have further implications as they engage in their post-school lives. The Digital Education Revolution has enabled teachers to bring into the classroom a variety of new and engaging resources to involve a new generation of students and cater for their needs. Similarly, the Lenovo laptops for Stage 5 students have allowed teachers to rethink their approaches to those 'classic' texts that exemplify the art of persuasion. Texts that were previously branded as boring or dull by disengaged students are now finding a new life with a digital approach to their teaching, allowing teachers and students to make connections between the old and the new. This is a presentation of a Persuasion unit for Stage 5, with a focus on Gifted and Talented students. It will detail a unit outline with safe and appropriate online and offline resources, focus lessons and a structured assessment that requires students to demonstrate what they have learned through a highly engaging (and simple to use) persuasive digital speech. This unit draws on both 'classic' and modern texts to allow students to explore the development of persuasive writing in a changing world. Standards: 1.2.3, 3.2.3, 5.2.4 (IR) F5-9 Being a Head Teacher: Strategies and resources for effective leadership Paul Grover This session is for Head Teachers of English and aspiring Head Teachers. We will be exploring effective Head Teacher strategies for faculty planning, resource and budget management, mentoring new staff, administration, organisation and working with underperforming staff. We will be sharing strategies and resources for enhancing student achievement and forming key issues and ideas about developing an effective faculty team. A variety of resources and templates will be available and group input will be a key aspect of this session. Standards: 6.2.7, 7.2.4 (IR) F5 –10 The Australian Curriculum is here. Are you ready? Prof Wayne Sawyer, Jane Sherlock The implementation of the Australian Curriculum provides an opportunity for us to reflect on our current practices and methods of delivering English to our students. It is also an opportunity for faculty collaboration, discussion, debate and renewal. As head teachers, this will be a time for principled, effective and confident leadership to guide and encourage staff and promote a positive and productive implementation of the new curriculum. Professor Wayne Sawyer from the University of Western Sydney will provide a research-based framework for this session, based on a study of highly effective faculties in Years 7 – 10. The first part of this session will present that research. Jane Sherlock will then focus on some of the practical ways faculties can implement the key features of the Australian Curriculum into existing programs. There will be time for close focus on particular areas of the new curriculum. Standards: 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 6.2.3 (IR)

Sustainability and Australia’s engagement with Asia are new ways of thinking about content and texts in English. Isolationism is a thing of the past - Australian students will live and work in a broad and diverse Asia-Pacific regional community, where Asia literacy and intercultural knowledge and understanding will be essential skills. At the same time, our students must be aware of the need to conserve what we now have, not just environmentally, but also culturally,

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Saturday 6th August

Session 6: 9:30 – 10.30 Opening plenary S6 Assessment in the new landscape Carol Taylor What is different about the 'new' landscape? What does it mean for the way we teach and assess? The development and implementation of an Australian curriculum gives us the opportunity to explore these issues and take advantage of what we know about the relationship between assessment and learning.

Carol Taylor is the Chief Executive of the Office of the NSW Board of Studies and Chair of the Australasian Curriculum Assessment and Certification Authorities. Carol also has over 20 years’ experience in designing and delivering syllabus-based assessment processes and high-stakes public examinations. Under her leadership in assessment and examinations the Board has gained an international reputation for the quality and integrity of the NSW Higher School Certificate and for the formative approach to assessment advocated by the Board. Standards: 1.2.3, 3.2.5 (IR)

Morning Tea 10.30 - 11.00am Session 7: 11.00 – 12.15

S7-1 Shake things up Brad Horsburgh In recent years, there have been efforts to engage students in the work of Shakespeare through modernisation, but perhaps something is being lost. All one needs to do is compare the original ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears,’ with No Fear Shakespeare’s ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen, give me your attention’, to know that something is lost in translation. This workshop is focused on a project-based learning (PBL) approach to teaching Shakespeare in Years 9 and 10, exploring how it is possible to combine the modern with traditional through an exploration of two five-week Shakespeare projects. Although Macbeth is considered as a case study, most activities will be applicable to any of Shakespeare’s plays. The PBL model promotes group collaboration, 21st-century technologies and experimentation with creative ideas to help solve a broad, higher-order thinking problem. Standards: 3.2.2, 5.2.1 (IR) S7-2 Preliminary Advanced: Animal Farm and V for Vendetta Wafa Taoube, Iskra Spencer What do farm yard animals, a disillusioned superhero and students have in common? The desire for revolution! This presentation will explore connections between the texts Animal Farm and V for Vendetta within the framework of 'Utopia and Dystopia'. A comparison of these texts provides a rich entry into Advanced Module A, Comparative Study of Texts and Contexts, in the HSC course. Standards: 1.2.1, 6.2.3 (IR)

S7-3 ‘Connecting lines’: The poet’s perspective in the secondary English classroom

Tony Britten, Johanna Featherstone 2011 marks the fifth anniversary of Papercuts, the Red Room Company’s national poetry education program. Central to our work is the importance of connecting school communities with the practice of living and breathing poets. This workshop provides teachers with the opportunity to share and experience some of the strategies for inspiring and teaching poetry composition used by Red Room Company poets in their work in Australian schools. The resources to be shared will include warm up activities, quick writes, explorations of poetic form and proven strategies for encouraging drafting and editing by student writers. We will demonstrate how the student’s experience of composing a short poem can provide authentic engagement with the language, literature and literacy strands of the Australian Curriculum. Our workshop will include brief readings by eminent contemporary Australian poets. The Red Room Company is a not-for-profit organization based in Sydney. We create, promote and publish new poetry by Australian writers, in unusual ways. Through a range of forms such as radio, podcast, live performance, public arts events and collaboration with artists and designers, we broaden the public's definition of and experience with high quality Australian poetry. Our website www.redroomcompany.org is a valuable resource for teachers, students and the public and houses the nation’s largest collection of audio recordings by contemporary Australian poets. Standards: 1.2.1, 1.2.3, 3.2.4 (IR) S7-4 Connecting through CEC English Studies Natalie Pollock, Anne Scott The CEC English Studies course has brought both successes and challenges for the pilot schools implementing it in 2010 and 2011. Contexts and class cohorts vary considerably, but generic planning tools, the modular nature of the syllabus and a flexible approach have resulted in a relevant and engaging course that targets the needs and interests of students. This presentation will examine the implementation of the course in two different schools and will address planning factors to consider in the context of your own school. Standards: 1.2.1, 6.2.3 (IR) S7-5 Distinctively engaging Pauline Hageman, Zoe Smith, Jenny Coyte The session will focus on using technology to enrich the teaching and learning of Stage 6 students. The Standard English Distinctive Voices text, The Life and Crimes of Harry Lavender, by Marele Day, will be used to demonstrate strategies to ignite adolescent brains. These strategies can be applied to any module and teachers will receive ideas to take back into the classroom. Standards: 2.2.3, 6.2.3 (IR)

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S7-6 Writing for the HSC Mel Dixon, Deb Simpson In this workshop teachers will be introduced to some strategies to use in the HSC classroom or in earlier stages, so that students build up their writing skills. Exercises will be workshopped to show ways to use models, scaffold learning and guide the writing process by focusing on small parts before tackling the whole. Models of responses to the 2009 and 2010 Standard and Advanced HSC examination papers will be provided for teachers to use in the classroom in different ways to develop students’ thinking and writing. The ideas in this workshop will be readily translatable into any classroom and should offer exciting and different ways to revisit modules and electives in post-Trial HSC lessons. Standards: 1.2.1, 2.2.3, 2.2.4 (IR) S7-7 Assessment in Stage 6 Catherine Laughlin Success in Year 12 correlates with success in the preliminary year, in both what is taught and how it is assessed. This presentation will showcase texts and units taught in Preliminary Standard, Advanced and Extension classes and look at how the assessment of these prepares students for their respective HSC Year 12 classes. Participants will have the opportunity to reflect upon their own school practices. Standards: 1.2.1, 3.2.2, 3.2.4 (IR) S7-8 Is the Holocaust fit for fiction? Troy Martin What is it about the Holocaust that enthrals writers? How can studying literature that attempts to capture the experience of the Holocaust engage learners? The Holocaust has been represented in a wide variety of texts across many media and reaches into countless English classrooms in Stages 4, 5 and 6. This presentation will provide insight into a diverse range of 21st-century learning approaches that aim to enliven the teaching and learning of Holocaust literature. Particular focus will be upon the preoccupation of a range of Australian writers who have written significant pieces of Holocaust literature. A central concern will be unique teaching and learning strategies that can be employed when considering the Holocaust through literature. Standards: 1.2.2, 2.2.3 (IR) S7-9 Writing the real world: What Aristotle can teach us about writing in and for a civic society

Sarah Golsby-Smith, Susan Thomas Writing constructs, shapes and influences not only the way we think but decisions we make as a society. The act of writing attempts to bridge a temporal gap between reader and writer, made especially clear in more recent forms of writing in electronic and web-based forms. This paper will reflect on the tendency of high school writing tasks to divorce themselves from ‘real’ tasks, preferring instead to privilege examinations and the idiosyncratic style that this format invites. What happens, then, if we consciously provide writing tasks for students that ignite opportunities for real change? Sarah will consider this from the high school English classroom perspective, while Susan will offer insight from the Writing Hub at the University of Sydney. Standards: 2.2.4, 4.2.5 (IR) S7-10 Enacting persuasion in academic and civic discourse Sally Humphrey Persuasive writing has long been recognised as central to both demonstrating learning in secondary school and getting things done in the community (Schleppegrell 2004, Coffin 2006, Martin 1985). However, despite the focus on persuasion in NAPLAN and curriculum assessment, teachers have had surprisingly little guidance in systematically exploring with their students how persuasive resources vary in response to different rhetorical purposes and to different audiences. This paper draws on emerging theories of Appraisal, within systemic functional linguistics (Martin & White 2005), to explore variation in persuasive genres. I introduce systems of rhetorical devices which expand and contract space for alternative voices, and explore how they are used in academic and civic writing to authorise and challenge opinions. Knowledge of these resources, which are included in the language content of the Australian Curriculum: English, provides students with powerful resources for demonstrating knowledge across curriculum areas and for enacting social change in the civic sphere. Standards: 1.2.1, 1.2.3 (IR)

Lunch 12.15 – 1.15pm Session 8: 1.15 – 1.45 S8 Re-imagining Drama with the Sydney Theatre Company Helen Hristofski This session will be lively and entertaining, offering up some practical ideas on how drama might be used in English classrooms. STC Ed has long been a destination for teachers and students to access wonderful productions and resources. Helen will also share with teachers the philosophies behind the programmes, the joys and pitfalls of working in Australia’s largest theatre company and offer up STC’s vision for the future for your comments!

Helen Hristofski is currently the Education Manager at Sydney Theatre Company where she overseas STC Ed: a broad agenda of theatre and arts-based programmes for children, families, students and teachers in metropolitan and regional NSW. In addition to commissioning and producing theatre Helen co-created School Drama, a co-mentoring programme between artists and teachers, which focuses on the use of drama to enhance children’s English, literacy and social outcomes. Prior to working at STC Helen was the Education Manager at Bell Shakespeare where, amongst other things, she pioneered digital live streaming of performances to students in remote locations across NSW and the NT. This session is not Institute registered.

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Session 9: 1.50 – 3.05 S9-1 One slice from the digital pie: Stage 4 authoring tools that work Lizzie Chase Digital authoring tools are often highly engaging for Stage 4 students. The challenge is to create a sequence of English lessons incorporating the use of these tools to support quality teaching, to extend students, and to build a shared language about exactly what excellence looks like when students are asked to create multimodal texts. This workshop will share one slice from a free e-book for English teachers written by Lizzie Chase and colleagues. Participants will have the opportunity to undertake some of the practical activities from lessons which are based on novels and picture books by contemporary Australian authors. The workshop will be suitable for participants with limited experience with digital tools. Standards: 1.2.1, 1.2.4, 2.2.6 (IR) S9-2 The power of assessment to improve student achievement Alyssa Roach Assessment - a dirty word or a powerful tool for informing teaching practice and student improvement? Too often assessment is associated with exams and end of unit tests. This limited perception discounts the power of formative assessment to engage students in their own learning, to enhance their achievement and to provide meaningful feedback for teachers. This workshop/presentation will provide a range of formative assessment strategies that can be used in any classroom. Participants will be engaged in pedagogical dialogue and practical activities designed to enhance their understanding and confidence in the area of formative assessment. Standards: 1.2.2, 2.2.4 (IR) S9-3 Problem-based learning: Making meaningful connections in literature for Stage 6 Shereen D'Souza As our students continue to tweet and use Facebook expertly, we as teachers are challenged to draw meaningful connections between their world and the wisdom of literature. Problem-based learning (PBL) aims to make that connection by engaging students in literature through problem-solving. This interactive workshop aims to provide teachers with hands-on strategies for PBL to use in various units in Stage 6 as a foundation to develop skills for HSC English. The workshop will focus on two units of work, including a critical study of Othello. Standards: 1.2.4, 2.2.3, 6.2.3 (IR) S9-4 An integrated approach to grammar in the classroom Mel Dixon Grammar seems to be grabbing the attention of the national curriculum discussion but it doesn’t have to be threatening. In this presentation, I will workshop approaches to teaching grammar that show how easy it is to embed grammatical learning in our literature classrooms while balancing this with the literacy requirements of each lesson. The aim is to offer you some easy activities that respond directly to statements in the Australian Curriculum: English and move beyond identification to play games with language. Standards: 1.2.1, 2.2.2, 6.2.3 (IR) S9-5 Understanding postmodern science-fiction and cyberpunk genres in the HSC Elizabeth Hayes The prevalence of postmodern science-fiction (including cyberpunk) texts in the HSC Advanced syllabus requires teachers to have a deeper understanding of the following issues: what is postmodernism, how can we identify texts as being postmodern, and why is this important when deconstructing science-fiction texts. What is cyberpunk and why is it an important sub-genre from social, cultural and linguistic standpoints? How do we deconstruct the science-fiction genre and make it accessible to students while promoting higher-order thinking and engagement with such texts? The purpose of this presentation is to provide teachers with a sophisticated approach to the study of science-fiction texts (with a particular focus on Blade Runner and Neuromancer) in order to facilitate learning in their classrooms. The presentation will include a detailed analysis of the science-fiction genre in relation to these two texts from an academic perspective. As a high school teacher and current PhD scholar, I hope to offer a new, detailed and sophisticated approach to the genre, as well as fresh insight into these exciting texts from the perspective of a New Scheme teacher. Standards: 1.2.2, 6.2.3 (IR) S9-6 Ways of thinking: Some models for critical thinking in the English classroom Deb Simpson State and national syllabuses direct us to the higher-order thinking skills our students should be using and learning about in the classroom. What are some of the models for thinking critically and creatively and how can these be applied in the English classroom? This workshop offers ideas for exercises and activities to engage students in the real business of English: thinking. Standards: 1.2.2; 2.2.3; 3.2.4 (IR) S9-7 Renegades & ropes: Game-play in English Extension 1 Damon Cooper English Extension 1 is a serious business and a little game-play can be seriously effective at engaging students in their learning. This paper will present two extended games that have been used during the early stages of Crime Writing (Module A: Genre) and After the Bomb (Module B: Texts and Ways of Thinking). In Rope, students investigate a crime and pursue a ruthless criminal operating in the hallways and classrooms of their school and in Operation Renegade, students form a top-secret spy ring, contact assets and run counter-espionage in an attempt to recover four classified documents. These games are structured to build a practical understanding of key concepts in the unit and provide students with experiences and emotions upon which they can draw to inform their learning. Aside from the engagement developed through the entertainment of this approach, the games offer students a practical understanding of some of the issues that lie at the heart of their study. They can use this understanding to inform their exploration of texts and generate more nuanced arguments in their critical responses. Students are also equipped with practical and emotional experiences from which to draw, in order to compose more effective imaginative responses. Standards: 1.2.2, 6.2.3 (IR)

S9-8 Challenging and extending all students Karen Yager If we are to challenge and extend our students then we need to create an environment where risk-taking is encouraged and the focus is on learning. This presentation will feature a plethora of ideas and strategies for how to improve and extend student

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learning in English. The focus areas of the presentation will be extending writing, speaking and listening skills and assessment strategies that engage students and stretch learning. A range of resources will be shared. Standards: 2.2.3, 3.2.5 (IR) S9-9 Social networks as texts Prue Greene Webisodes, guerrilla documentaries and Facebook as life writing are new textual forms that could be used in English classrooms. This session will consider these texts in light of syllabus understandings, their relevance to English classrooms, their power to teach English and the complexity through which meaning is shaped. Standards: 3.2.4, 4.2.5 (IR) S9-10 Ambitious tyrant or ‘the noblest man that ever lived’: Conflicting perspectives in Julius Caesar

Emily and Anthony Bosco At the heart of this workshop is a close consideration of the issues surrounding representation in Julius Caesar. Of particular concern are the ways in which Shakespeare’s choices relating to selection and emphasis have impacted on the presentation of events, personalities and situations in the play, thus illuminating the values in the text. Included in the workshop are a number of ideas for teaching the play, to enable students to actively engage with the concept of conflicting perspectives and how and why composers use this as a tool to successfully shape meaning. The workshop will conclude with a portfolio of student responses to the play: a successful essay response and a visual representation completed using Windows Movie Maker, with an accompanying personal reflection. Standards: 1.2.1, 2.2.3, 3.2.3 (IR)

3.20 pm ETA AGM

NSW INSTITUTE OF TEACHERS English Teachers’ Association NSW is a NSW Institute of Teachers endorsed provider of professional development for the maintenance of accreditation at Professional Competence. Scope of endorsement – All Elements of the Professional Teaching Standards for English.

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ETA Annual Conference: BAY 4 of the Locomotive Workshop TRANSPORT INFORMATION

By Car The entrance to the ATP car park is from Garden Street. A Pay and Walk ticketing system has been installed for your convenience. Collect a ticket from the boom gate and drive through to the car park. To gain access to the disabled parking area please contact the security office on Tel: (02) 9209 4666. Parking Prior to leaving the ATP please ensure your parking has been paid and validated at any of the ticket pay stations. These can be located in the following areas: • Bay 8 - Locomotive Workshop • Bay 4 - Locomotive Workshop • Bay 16 - Locomotive Workshop Parking Fees 0 - 30 Minutes - Free 1 - 3 Hours - $10 30 Minutes to 1 Hour - $5.00 3 Hours or More - $15 Please note Parking Ticket Pay Stations accept: $20, $10, $5 notes and $2, $1, 50c, 20c, 10c coins only. By Rail CityRail operates frequent train services between Redfern Station (adjacent to the ATP) and other major Sydney stations including Sydney's Central Station, Town Hall, Wynyard and Circular Quay. Redfern Railway Station is a convergence station for much of Sydney’s rail network. From Redfern Station Exit via Platform 10 at Redfern Station. Walk past the WaterTower apartment block and follow the walkway through to the Australian Technology Park. Pedestrian entry points to the Locomotive Workshops are made through Bays 1, 4 and 8. For information relating to specific building and tenant location, enter through the side door of Bay 1 and proceed to ATP Precinct Management offices, located on Level 1/Bay 4 Atrium or phone (02) 9240 4220 for further assistance. By Bus There are frequent bus services to the ATP from Sydney city and from Sydney's domestic and international airport. The bus stop closest to the ATP is in Boundary Street. For bus timetables call the Transport Infoline on 131 500 or visit www.131500.com.au.

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Making Connections that Count WORKSHOPS & PRESENTATIONS EVALUATION

ETA Professional development activities are organised and conducted by volunteers.

If you are interested in volunteering to help in the future, please join an ETA Committee. http://englishteacher.com.au/aGetInvolved.php

Friday The Ken Watson Address: Blood and Bone: an Anatomy of Wreading Dr Felicity Plunkett

[ ] Brilliant [ ] Very Good [ ] OK [ ] Disappointing Comments:

The Ken Watson Address is an important part of the ETA Conference, giving us a chance to reflect on the past, present and future of English teaching in this state. Are there topics and/or speakers that you would like to see featured as the Ken Watson Address in a future conference program?

Session 2 Title: ………………………………………………………………


Session 3 Title: ………………………………………………………………


Session 4 Plenary


Session 5 Title: ………………………………………………………………


If you are not attending Saturday’s sessions please complete this evaluation by going to

the arrow on the next page

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Saturday Session 6 Plenary Assessment in the new landscape Carol Taylor


The plenary is an important part of the ETA Conference, giving us a chance to reflect on topical professional issues. Are there topics and/or speakers that you would like to see featured in future plenaries?

Session 7 Title: ………………………………………………………………


Session 8 Plenary


Session 9 Title: ………………………………………………………………


What are two suggestions as to how ETA might support and extend your professional learning over the next twelve months? Please provide a brief explanation for each suggestion. (i) Reason:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… (ii) Reason:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Are there any general comments you wish to make about your experience of the conference program? Are there any general comments you wish to make about the conference organisation? Who could ETA invite to present at future professional development days and why? (Please provide a name and workplace for individuals / colleagues you consider can contribute to the professional learning of others.)

Thank you for your thoughts and evaluation Your comments are used to evaluate sessions and help us plan professional development in 2011 and 2012.

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ETA Annual Conference ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Eva Gold – Convenor

Mark Howie – Co-ordinator Plenaries

Rod Carter, Susan Gazis, Alexander Wharton - Photographers Deb Simpson, Penny Waters, Karen Yager - Speaker Managers Rod Carter, Prue Greene - A/V Managers Jay Cooper and Francesca Cucciardi – Administrators

Margaret Youdale and Jay Cooper– Exhibitors coordinators

Matt Bentley – Volunteer co-ordinator

Eva Gold – Catering

Eva Gold and Jay Cooper– Annual General Meeting co-ordinators

Susan Gazis/Carla Mascaro – Financial management

THANK YOU TO ALL THE PRESENTERS WHO SUPPORT THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF OUR MEMBERS THANK YOU TO ALL THE MEMBERS OF ETA COMMITTEES AND ETA EXECUTIVE WHO ASSISTED AND SUPPORTED THE ORGANISATION OF THIS CONFERENCE.

eta annual state conference and saturday 6 australian...

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