Significant Australian Emblems
Grade 3 learning sequence
Why learn this?
Australia is a diverse country.
Approximately one-quarter of Australia’s population were born overseas and one-fifth of our population speaks a language other than English (Australian Human Rights Commission, n.d). It also should not be forgotten that approximately 670 000 people identify as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016).
Approximately one-quarter of Australia’s population were born overseas and one-fifth of our population speaks a language other than English (Australian Human Rights Commission, n.d). It also should not be forgotten that approximately 670 000 people identify as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016).
It is vital that your child develops an understanding of
different celebrations that occur throughout Australia in order to develop
intercultural and ethical understanding. This involves learning to
value other cultures and constructing a ‘socially oriented ethical outlook’ that
enables students to have an awareness and respect for other cultures (ACARA,
2016).
Furthermore, values education is a key goal outlined in the
Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. This declaration highlights the desire for students to become active and informed citizens. This involves acting with ethical and intercultural consideration,
respecting diversity, communicating effectively across cultures and becoming responsible global citizens (MCEETYA, 2008).
 |
| Figure 1. Australian Diversity (Best China News, 2016). |
What will they learn?
During this lesson sequence, a greater influence will be placed on significant emblems and whether they are representative of Australia's people.
History Strand: Days and weeks celebrated or commemorated in Australia (including Australia Day, Anzac Day, and National Sorry Day) and the importance of symbols (ACHASSK064).
Inquiry Skills Strand: Reflect on learning to propose actions in response to an issue or challenge and consider possible effects of proposed actions (ACHASSI060).
Locate and collect information and data from different sources, including observations (ACHASSI053).
Draw simple conclusions based on analysis of information and data (ACHASSI058)
Present ideas, findings and conclusions in texts and modes that incorporate digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms (ACHASSI061).
(ACARA, Humanities and Social Sciences, 2016).
An integrated curriculum
will be implemented in order to support your child's understanding. This
involves connecting learning areas to allow students to make greater meaning as well as connecting learning to real world contexts (Reynolds, 2014). In this instance, literacy will support the learning of HaSS, and vice versa.
Literacy: Identify the audience and purpose of
imaginative, informative and persuasive texts (ACELY1678).
How will they learnt it?
Literacy development involves being able to communicate and justify ideas as well as producing texts that deliver meaning appropriately (Reynolds, 2014). Furthermore, being literate involves being able to express ideas and opinions (ACARA, 2016), which can lead to active citizenship and the promotion of action and change. In this instance, students will be provided with the opportunity to improve upon the existing Australian flag in order for it to be more representative of Australia's people.
Figure 3. Lesson sequence table.
Lesson 1
| Lesson 2 | Lesson 3 |
As a class, create list of logos and emblems. These may include sporting club logos,
school and state emblems.
Literacy & ICT - In pairs, your child will select
one of the symbols listed and research the importance of that emblem and why
it represents a state, school or club.
Literacy - Students record their findings using written methods. |
As a class, discuss the Australian flag and its components.
Literacy - Students write a half page summary on why the elements have been included and whether or not the flag represents all Australians. |
Students create their own Australian flag that they think is
more representative of Australia’s people.
Literacy - They then write a letter to parliament putting forward the notion of changing the existing flag and replacing it with one of the student's newly designed flags. |
Questioning–
What does our school logo look like? Why were those images/symbols chosen?
Why are they significant? Would you change/improve this logo? Why/why not?
|
Questioning –
Have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples been represented on the
Australian flag? Do you think that is fair?
|
Questioning -
What could we change to make the flag more inclusive?
|
An integrated
approach to teaching and learning enables meaningful connections to be made, it
provides a real-world context to learning and it limits knowledge being taught
in fragmented ways (Gordon, 2014).
- Come to our class and take part.
-Discuss with your child experiences you have had with diversity and whether or not tolerance and discrimination has improved/worsened since you were a child.
Reference List
-Discuss with your child experiences you have had with diversity and whether or not tolerance and discrimination has improved/worsened since you were a child.
Reference List
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2016). Estimates
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Australians
– June 2011. Retrieved from
Australian Curriculum Assessment and
Reporting Authority. (2016). Foundation to year 10
curriculum:
english. Retrieved from
Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2016, December 16). Foundation to
year 10 curriculum: general capabilities. Retrieved
from
Australian Human Rights Commission.
(n.d). Face the facts:
cultural diversity. Retrieved
from
Best China News. (2016). 90% of Australian Chinese people
have been subjected to racial
Gordon, K. (2016). Integrating the curriculum. In R. Gilbert & B. Hoepper (Eds.), Teaching humanities
Discrimination,
the data is shocking! [Image]. Retrieved from
Gordon, K. (2016). Integrating the curriculum. In R. Gilbert & B. Hoepper (Eds.), Teaching humanities
and social sciences: history, geography, economics and citizenship in the
Australian
curriculum (p.
322-344). South Melbourne, VIC: Cencage Learning.
Ministerial Council on Education,
Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008). Melbourne
declaration
on educational goals for young Australians [PDF file]. Retrieved from
Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching humanities and social
sciences in the primary school (3rd ed.).
South
Melbourne, VIC: Oxford
Good justification in terms of diversity, traditions, celebrations etc ... although what year level is this? Also are you going to include a content descriptor link? (again, as an image so that it doesn’t count as ‘words’). What HaSS curriculum learning are you trying to integrate here?
ReplyDeleteWhere it is not as well justified is in terms of how literacy and HaSS can be linked – this goes to some of the things that we discussed in the tute. Justify to parents how and why literacy (which they may just associate with English) and HaSS can and should be integrated, and what benefits can result. You only really have the Gordon chapter on integrating the curriculum. Can you include a reference or two regarding / justifying literacy specifically, particularly in the context of HaSS?
Ian
This is a really interesting topic with lots of well-supported reasoning behind the importance of learning about diversity. I truly believe it is one of the most critical topics we can teach children - the ability to accept and appreciate diversity.
ReplyDeleteI am curious how you see the literacy being embedded into this lesson and think some further explanation on how and why literacy is used would be important. I haven't quite understood how literacy fits in to this lesson. The general capability for Literacy may be a good starting point to inspire some ideas about how the link can become stronger?
I found it really interesting to explore the four roles of literacy and how these can interwoven into learning to develop students comprehension and composition of literacy texts. Class picture books are a favourite of mine to collate student work samples into a collaborative book to promote sharing and discussion. Week 6 had some great examples of different text types (diaries, letters, newspapers, scrapbooks etc) and how they could be used to support both comprehension and composition. I think this lesson ideas offers some great potential to link literacy - and of course some terrific possibilities for civics and citizenship!
One key problem I feel many parents have is getting their children to open up about what they are learning about at school. Many friends become so frustrated because their children return home but are so reluctant to share anything about their day, for a number of reasons. I don't have this problem with my own children (because they talk endlessly) but I wonder how you could support parents to have discussion with the children at home. Could you suggest some conversation starters, or share something of interest to provoke family discussion?
Thanks for sharing such an important topic! You have obviously thought hard about the relevance of this topic and I think it would be an interesting topic to explore in the classroom.
Hello Bec,
ReplyDeleteIt is incredibly important as a teacher to have open communication with parents to ensure that students are provided with the best opportunities. The information that you have provided within the “How to become involved” could be very overwhelming for some parents. Some parents might not have an understanding of what inquiry is, could you provide an example? Could you get parents to prompt students about other logos and their significance? What about when they are out, mcdonalds, sporting teams etc. This will also get parents thinking about the importance of logos and labels.
My little brother is in grade 2 and when I asked him what he did at school today, I quite often get: “work”, “sport”, “not much.” Is there a way that you can help parents to make them feel more involved? Can you send the flags home? Give students “homework” to ask someone at home about what they think the Australian flag means? Provide a letter/ newsletter for parents on what you have done that day and ways to assist their children? I understand that some parents are incredibly busy and can be very time poor so it is important to factor this in.
Yet again another really interesting subject for students to discuss, Taylor Assmann