Implementing the Australian Curriculum at Y7 in 2012 Robyn Ryan MLC

The Australian Curriculum at MLC 2010 AC group convened – Director of Learning and Curriculum; Heads of English, Maths, Science and Humanities; meetings each month UbD adopted as framework for curriculum mapping across the College with common template for use by subjects teamstemplate Subject team review of draft AC curriculum documents at Y7 and 9 College PD sessions and Department meeting sessions allocated to AC and UbD History – set of common key questions and understandings developed Y7-12common Y7 History - Initial decisions/ draft planning of curriculum combining previous MLC and AC topics and content etc in UbD format

2011 and 2012 curriculum planning and implementation 2011 UbD framework merged with Atlas online curriculum documentation system across College Time allocation for Y7 and 9 AC team leaders Completion of Y7 and 9 draft AC courses via UbD for 2012 Mapping of courses across the year Mapping Allocation of teacher pairs to developing draft UbD for each of the 5 sections of the course 2 x time release PM planning sessions to share, review, revise and document via Atlas ready for Y7 and 9 AC implemented in English, Maths, Science and History 2013 Y7, 8, 9, 10* AC in English, Maths, Science and History

Initial curriculum drafting and design process Team reading and review of AC documentation with elaborations Summary of observations – content, skills, timing etc Audit - Current curriculum and AC compared – table summary AC – identified new elements to be incorporated Depth studies - Team decisions as to relative merit of the various choices, consideration of current materials, resources etc Updating and revisions to planning with subsequent versions of the AC

Initial drafting and implementation planning - comments and reflections from other 2012 AC schools?

Overview planning for the Australian Curriculum at Y7 Subject allocation 4 x 75 min lessons per cycle* for the year = 34 weeks (17 cycles) = 68 lessons total approx. 10% overview = 8 lessons (In 2 sections – introductory and review) 90% 3 x depth studies (Investigating the Ancient Past; The Mediterranean World; The Asian World) = 60 lessons = lessons per topic approx.

Overview of new AC Y7 History curriculum 34 weeks (68 lessons approx) 4 x 75 min lessons per cycle* 1.Overview 1 – introductory 2 weeks ( 5 lessons) 2.Depth study 1: Investigating the Ancient Past (Intro to History, Ancient Australia, Egypt) 11 weeks (22 lessons) 3.Depth study 2: The Mediterranean World – Greece 10 weeks (20 lessons) 4.Depth study 3: The Asian World – China 9 weeks (18 lessons) 5.Overview 2 – review and comparison 1.5 weeks (3 lessons)

Overview section 1: PP overview; lecture style and small class activities Depth Study 1: Investigating the Ancient Past (Intro to History; Egypt and Australia) Depth Study 2: The Mediterranean World (Greece) Depth Study 3: The Asian World (China) Overview section 2: PP overview; lecture style and small class activities StaffMichaela and Catherine Robyn, Nick, Iain and Catherine Fanny and JoPaul and MaryMichaela and Catherine Time allocation 5 lessons (2 weeks)22 lessons (11 weeks) 20 lessons (10 weeks) 18 lessons (9 weeks) 3 lessons (1.5 weeks) ContentAC dot points/ elaborations Lesson Planning Skeleton lesson planner with core and optional activities Assessment (4 tasks per semester) Out of Africa review task 20% Intro to History review task 20% Egypt History mysteries research task 40% Egypt document study 20% Semester 1: 100% Greece legacies oral paired 25% research task Greece extended writing task 25% China inventions oral paired research task 10% China source analysis and writing task 40% Semester 2: 100% No assessment – post reports

Overview of Y7 curriculum - comments and reflections from other 2012 AC schools?

Semester Report assessment tasks Overview: Overview P1: Out of Africa review task 20%Out of Africa review task Depth study 1: Investigating the Ancient Past: Investigating the Ancient Past review task 20% Investigating the Ancient Past review task History Mystery (Egypt) task 40% History Mystery (Egypt) task Egypt document study 20% Egypt document study

Reflections and observations at the end of Semester 1 Overview P1: The overview can be viewed as the links and connections between the depth studies but need to address overlap between overview and depth study and reduce in 2013 Overview P1 – Was addressed by way of PP introductions, text work, teacher lectures, short whole class comprehension exercises but need to cut down detail / depth to allow for more interactive and creative ways of delivering content ; detail level of texts can be reduced 2013: Out of Africa theory (1); Types of evidence(1); Personal and family history and timelines (1); Key features of ancient societies (1); Overview and timeline of major ancient societies (1) Remove Darwin theory of evolution

Reflections and observations at the end of Semester 1 Depth Study 1: Investigating the Ancient Past: Was used as a vehicle to explore Egypt but this required large number of lessons to provide context for research Not all Egypt mystery topics equally easy to resource (Kadesh etc) Ancient Australia and heritage sites component needed to be more adequately covered – ran out of time Ancient Australia research and presentation activity Conserving the ancient past activity 2013: Include archaeologists and historians; types of sources; historical controversies; Ancient Australia; conservation Merge Overview and Investigating the Ancient Past review tasks Broaden History Mysteries task to include Ancient Australia and world heritage sites Remove: Class study lessons on Egypt

Reflections and observations at the end of Semester 1 Semester 2: Choice of European civilisations: The AC reduces the ability to study more than 1 European civilisation – have to choose between Greece and Rome – will review after study of Greece in 2012 and may choose to study Greece and Rome in alternate years?

Y7 AC Semester 1 - comments and reflections from other 2012 AC schools?

Resources for Semester 1 areas Much existing material utilised Student text - Oxford Big Ideas Y7 – pack with student text, workbook, obook; teacher text – arrived in school end of 2011 Supplemented materials for Overview P1 and Depth Study 1, particularly methods of historians, Ancient Australia – use pdfs of Pearson extracts, previous materials etc HTAV Ancient and Medieval teacher resource pack Dialogue Education – Teaching History CDROM of PPs – Ancient Australia Use of other Y7 texts as they become available - Nelson, Macmillan, Jacaranda etc

Resources for Semester 1 - comments and reflections from other 2012 AC schools?

Ongoing planning for 2013 and beyond Collaborative team use of the UbD framework to refine each section of the course and review and revise assessment tasks for each section Updating of documentation via online Atlas documentation repository Expand resources and activity bank for Ancient Australia and heritage sites End of 2012 meetings: Determine 2013 selection of assessment tasks across the 2 semester reports; allocate tasks across topic areas and nominate pairs to review and circulate draft versions for team consensus

Ongoing planning - comments and reflections from other 2012 AC schools?