1. Chris Maguire – cmaguire@sac.vic.edu.au

2.  To provide you with some practical advice re: your approach to the course  To give you some ideas about how to best prepare your students for the exam  To provide you with some strategies that will enable you to get through what is a very content driven subject

3.  Everything they do, research, writing, discussion, short answer questions, document analyses, SACs, practice questions should all be modelled on the tasks in the examination.

4.  The exam must inform your teaching and the specific tasks that you set:  Section A – Unit 3 Area of Study 1 Document Analysis of either written or visual texts (2, 4,6, 8 marks)  Section B – Unit 3 Area of Study 2 A collection of short answer responses (4, 6, 10 marks)

5.  Section C – Unit 4 Area of Study 1 An Essay (20 marks)  Section D – Unit 4 Area of Study 2 An analysis of a visual or written interpretation (20 marks 4+8+8)  Four Sections  Each with 20 marks  30 minutes on each section  A demanding exam!!

6.  Model your SACS on the tasks that appear in the exam  Individual schools/teachers can choose what task they allocate to each area of study  Eg. Document Analysis  Research Report  Essay  Interpretation of written/visual document (Historiographical exercise)

7.  I give my students TWO exam tasks to be done in 60 minutes.  Advantages of this are:  Development of exam skills  Familiarity with requirements at end of the year  Time management skills are developed  SAMPLE SACS - Handout

8.  Make sure that you and your students are familiar with the examination paper HTAV produced papers from 2005-2013 VCAA Website Past Exams and Assessor Reports www.vcaa.vic.edu.au These are invaluable!!

9.  You must use the study design to inform your teaching - Handout  There are suggested topic outlines but be aware that you do have a degree of choice  Unit 3 – compulsory and mandated by the study design  Unit 4 – There is scope for choice in each area of study

10.  Unit 3 Outcome 1: A new land: Port Phillip District / Colony of Victoria 1830-1860  Unit 3 Outcome 2: Nation, Race and CITIZEN 1888-1914

11.  Here is where you can choose your content:  Unit 4 Outcome 1: Testing the New Nation 1914-1950 1. World War 1 or 2. The Depression or 3. World War 2

12.  Unit 4 Outcome 2: Debating Australia’s Future 1960-2000  Choose one of the following: 1. Attitudes to Indigenous Rights 1967 and 1972 or 2. Attitudes to the Vietnam War 1965 and 1970 or 3. Attitudes to the Environment 1972 and 1983 or 4. Attitudes to Immigration 1964-66 and the boat people of 1970s

13.  There is an enormous amount of content to be covered BUT don’t overdo it. You must help them to be selective.  Consider who you will have in your class – What is expected of them in their final year??  They cannot research all of the content that they need. If there is information that they need and it would be difficult and time consuming for them to find it GIVE IT TO THEM! I give them up to 50% of their information

14.  You will need to supplement their texts with a variety of readings/sources Page 93-105 of the History study design provides fantastic advice on developing a course, a list of suitable resources and most importantly a timeline Handouts provided Useful texts have been highlighted

15.  1. S Mirams – Imagining Australia (very good for the entire course)  Additional texts:  Unit 3  R. Broome “The Colonial Experience” – Area of Study 1  R. Lewis “Nation, Race and Citizen” – Area of Study 2

16.  Unit 4:  Area of Study 1:  - numerous sources on one of the following events:  1. World War 1  2. The Depression  3. World War 2  Generally, I have handed them photocopies of relevant readings from 5-6 sources

17.  Unit 4  Area of study 2:  - numerous sources that explore attitudes on one of the following debates:  1. Indigenous Rights  2. Vietnam War  3. Environmental Issues  4. Immigration  Again, I have tended to photocopy a variety of sources (both written and visual) and handed them to the students

18.  The study design mandates what needs to be taught and will may/will be assessed  This is a “content driven” subject  4 areas of study – all assessed in the exam  4 different skill sets in the exam  2 hours!!  No opportunity for students to cut corners or specialise

19.  The study design must inform your teaching and the students’ learning  Have them create evidence files. Once a dot point from the study design has been covered, encourage them to make up sheets with key headings and get them to fill in evidence (Quotes, events, individuals, primary and secondary sources)

20.  It is so important that you manage this effectively  You must allow adequate time to cover everything and still ensure that you can get through each Area of Study to allow yourself some time to revise at the end of the year  Attempt to have the course ‘finished’ by week 8 or 9 of Term 3  Four Areas of Study - 7 weeks each = 28 weeks  Ideally – Finished by the last few weeks of Term 3

21.  An example:  Unit 3 Area of Study 1: A New Land: Port Phillip District 1830-1860  The three dot points from the study design are:  1. Ideas underpinning the new settlement and the motivations of some groups  2. The impact of this on Aboriginal communities and their responses to it  3. Impact of the gold rushes and the way gold changed people’s visions of the colony

22.  This area is very broad!  You have 7 weeks to cover all of this as well as get students to complete their first SAC  Ideally, you will want to give them a practice SAC as well!  About 2 weeks on each of the dot points  Providing the students with additional readings at home is the only way you can cover everything

23.  Remember that there are 3 dot points for each of the Areas of Study  There are two areas of Study in Unit 3 and Unit 4 You must address each of the three dot points b/c the students can’t be selective Everything could appear on the 2012 exam

24.  Devote as much time as possible to answering SAC/examination questions.  Encourage them to use the words given in the question.  Encourage them, in their MORE SUSTAINED answers and the ESSAY, to consider an alternative side. “To what extent”  Encourage writing to time limits.

25.  Give them model answers.  Give them structured answers with an introduction and topic sentences and ask them to fill in the body of the answers.  Give them answers of varying quality to evaluate.  Prepare answers that are relevant but general and ask them to insert the evidence.

26.  In all of their responses, encourage them to be economical – no padding, just answer the question: ‘One hope that helped shape the federation was…’ ‘Another idea underpinning settlement was…’  Encourage students to examine the study design (don’t forget the preambles as well as the dot points), and make up their own questions.

27.  Teach students how to deal with and incorporate their knowledge of historians and historical evidence. This is particularly important in the essay question and can also be referred to in the 8 and 10 mark answers.  Some ways this can be done include:  Present students with contradictory interpretations (primary or secondary) and ask them to explain the possible reasons for the contradiction eg. Potts and McCalman

28.  Have students examine the introductions or prefaces to specific books on the essay topics. There will often be useful comments on methodology or on problems of evidence.(eg Gammage or Adam Smith or McKernan on the wars, Lowenstein on the Depression).  Eg ‘The Depression story is a mass of contradictions and a minefield for an unwary oral historian.’McCalman,J, Struggletown, p 182  One issue that relates to all three essay topics is that much of the evidence is anecdotal and gathered through interviews up to 40 years after the events. While this evidence is very valuable, there are problems of memory that may interfere with its validity.

29.  I have provided you some examples of student work and SACs so you can:  - Identify some common flaws  - Model some answers for your own students  - Become familiar with the requirements of the SACs /Exam  - Practise marking some student work

30.  The course is:  Interesting  Engaging  Important  Challenging  Rewarding  Good luck and have fun!  cmaguire@sac.vic.edu.au cmaguire@sac.vic.edu.au