Enriching Literacy Development Through a Fictional Story (picture book) with a Citizenship Learning Context

OUR CURRENT LEARNING:

Welcome back our CCE focus is now being developed through literacy.

We are going to use the picture book: What if everybody did that by Ellen Javernick to investigate: 

·  Why rules are important, the consequences of rules not being followed and who makes the rules?

We are using a picture book because literacy is a part of the Australian Curriculum English learning area and the General Capabilities. Our literacy focus is:

·  Visual knowledge 

WHY WE ARE LEARNING THIS?

Understanding rules and their consequences contributes to informed and active citizenship and broader Civics goals, outlined in the Melbourne Declaration (2008): students will ‘act with moral and ethical integrity’.

‘Reading for understanding is central to HASS’ (Gilbert and Hoepper, 2017, p. 155) and using picture books allows students to see how text and illustrations support each other and how illustrations may add additional information or even different perspectives from what is in the text.

HOW WE ARE APPROACHING OUR LEARNING?

We want to approach the picture book in a way that promotes engaged and active citizenship and develops our literacy goal.  

We will read, What if everybody did that, together.

Scaffolding and modelling will then help students to construct their own texts purposefully around our Civics outcome.

Lynch (1992) states, role play support CCE learning. To engage students we will use role play after our first reading to look at the rules being ignored and the consequences.

As a class we will then look at each rule being ignored and brainstorm who made the rule or where does the rule come from? For an inclusive approach, we will also encourage students from an ATSI or migrant background to share other perspectives on rules and who made them.

Next, how our literacy objective is embedded in this Civics activity. We want students to focus on looking at the explicit and implicit meaning in a text (Lohrey, 1998), especially the connection between text and images.

When students understand how this text is constructed to share its messages of responsibilities, why we need rules and the consequences of not following rules; together we will look at actioning, using the text.

Our approach will be collaborative between the students and the teacher to explore options suggested by the text:

Our aim in this Civics unit is to share our presentations with the class and beyond because Civics outcomes benefit from having an authentic audience (Gilbert and Hoepper, 2017).  Our learning outcomes are embedded in the presentation choice student make because they need to include in their work: why we have rules, the consequences for not following them and who made these rules:

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING IN THIS UNIT:

Talk: about rules in context and who made them as they arise at home, in the community and other locations. 

Share: YouTube has a reading of: What if everybody did that by Ellen Javernick. Our classroom has copies of the book for student home loan.

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS LEARNING

Here are the specific Year 3 knowledge and skills outcomes from the Australian Curriculum.

REFERENCES 

Australian Curriculum And Assessment Reporting Authority [ACARA], (2017). HASS year three. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/

Australian Curriculum And Assessment Reporting Authority [ACARA], (2017). English year three. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english/

Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.). (2017). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences: History, Geography, Economics and Citizenship (6th edn.). Southbank, VIC: Cengage Learning.

Javernick, E. (2010). What if everybody did that?. Seattle, United States: Amazon Publishing

Lohrey, A. (1998). Critical literacy: A professional development resource. Lanugage Australia, Melbourne.

Lynch (1992) in Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.). (2017). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences: History, Geography, Economics and Citizenship (6th edn.). Southbank, VIC: Cengage Learning.

Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf

Civics and Citizenship learning: in the context of an aspect of Australian history

OUR CURRENT LEARNING:

Welcome back, our Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) emphasis within HASS has turned to democratic decision making.

Democratic decision making includes; citizens who are actively involved in the community and can negotiate and be inclusive about decisions that affect their community (Hoepper, 2017).

Our combined learning focus is: for History, continuity and change and for Civics, democratic decisions.

Our stimulus material is: Launceston City Park; past, present and future.

WHY WE ARE LEARNING THIS?

Research indicates it is important for students to investigate significant citizenship unifying ideas in engaging and active ways (Brett, 2005). Democracy is both a Civics and Historical concept that can be explored through the HASS curriculum concepts of continuity and change, evidence and empathy.

Empathy also links to the general capability; personal and social capability. Empathy is a Civics notion and we want students to understand how and why decisions were and are made about their local City Park and how they can be involved too.

HOW WE ARE APPROACHING OUR LEARNING?

Our approach uses key questions that keep the concepts of continuity and change and democratic decision making to the fore of student learning. Concepts and essential questions are the significant learning in any topic (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).

Our class will brainstorm what students already know about City Park. To guide students we will consider questions including:

These questions will raise directions to explore.

We will then look as a class, at how decisions are made by the local council.

Students will then have the opportunity to look at a range of photographs of City Park, then and now. To help students critically analysis the images, they will use questions that combine both Civics and History.  

This process will raise questions about what has changed, what is no longer there and what has remained the same. We will construct a timeline to assist our understanding of continuity and change.

Our Civics and History focus will use these questions to investigate who made the decision to change or include something new and was the decision made democratically. 

Students will find that decisions in the past did not fully involve everyone in the community including, ignoring the traditional owners of the land (ATSI perspective).

To focus on our key questions that combine both Civics and History knowledge and understandings, students will consider these questions:

To connect the history to active Civics, students will be asked to engage with the following questions:

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING IN THIS UNIT:

Talk: to them about what City Park was like when you were young and how you feel about changes and decisions in the space
Go:  if you can 

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS LEARNING

Here are the specific Year 3 knowledge and skills outcomes from the Australian Curriculum. 

REFERENCES

Australian Curriculum And Assessment Reporting Authority [ACARA], (2017). HASS year three. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/

Brett, P. (2005). Citizenship through history- what is good practice?. International journal of historical learning, teaching and research, Vol 5, Issue 2, 10-26.

Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.). (2017). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences: History, Geography, Economics and Citizenship (6th edn.). Southbank, VIC: Cengage Learning.

The People’s Park, Launceston. (n.d.). Retrieved from the Launceston Historical Society Inc website: https://launcestonhistory.org.au/

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. (2^nd edn.). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Alexandria, VA. 

To Parents/Carers

OUR CURRENT LEARNING:

Our class has a current Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) focus within our History and Social Science (HASS) program. Citizenship is about belonging locally, nationally and globally. The aspects of citizenship are civil, political and social which inform a civics understanding of democratic processes (ACARA, 2018). In year three the emphasis is local and social. The relevant Australian Curriculum inquiry question for our grade is: How can I participate in my community. The specific learning focus is: Why people participate within communities and how students can actively participate and contribute (ACHASSK072).

WHY WE ARE LEARNING THIS?

Research indicates involving students in active ways is the most effective approach to citizenship education (Gordon and Tudball, 2017). CCE for this age group is relevant when the context is their local community informed by a values based ‘do’ approach (Leighton, 2012). The ‘do’ approach empowers students where the teacher combines requisite background knowledge, skills development and democratic values that build social capital and encourages students to action in their community. CCE when connected authentically between school, home and the community will be a dynamic and engaging process for democratic participation (Tudball and Brett, 2014).

HOW WE ARE APPROACHING OUR LEARNING?

·         Our class will build from prior knowledge using a KWL chart to see what students already know about their local community organisations and how they and others may already participate in them.

·         As an additional stimulus the class will watch a short clip on Communities We Belong Too:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGC0zxgRNJQ

·         Following a discussion including the teacher taking responsibility to prompt for an inclusive and broad approach to organisations that people participate in their local community (including migrant, disability and consideration of ATSI community and student perspectives); the class will collate information into a mind map grouping community organisations by purpose with the assistance of a local map and a box of pamphlets from local organisations to assist them.

·         Next, we will divide the research responsibly. Groups in the class will select a community organisation to investigate, contact and report back on with additional information to the class. The contact step includes inviting by letter a member of their investigated community organisation, into our classroom to speak to us. As a class we would brainstorm some general questions we would like to know about to send out within the invitation.

·         After our speakers day, student groups will create pamphlets as our ‘do’ action plan for distribution in the school, home and community about the organisations that the students and others can participate in or get involved with. The pamphlet will form part of their CCE assessment for HASS.

HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING IN THIS CCE UNIT:

Talk: to them about community organisations you know or participate in
Go: if you can and check one out
Share: the pamphlet your child creates with family and friends

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS LEARNING

Here are the specific Year 3 knowledge and skills outcomes from the Australian Curriculum.

REFERENCES

Australian Curriculum And Assessment Reporting Authority [ACARA], (2017). HASS year three. Retrieved from: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/

Education Services Australia. (2017). Student wellbeing hub: discovering democracy unit citizens and public life-lesson plan. Retrieved from: https://studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/docs/default-source/discovering-democracy_joining-in_acc-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=0

Gilbert, R., & Hoepper, B. (Eds.). (2017). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences: History, Geography, Economics and Citizenship (6th edn.). Southbank, VIC: Cengage Learning.

Kids Academy. (2018). Communities for kids- social communities. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGC0zxgRNJQ

Leighton, R., 2012. Teaching Citizenship Education: A Radical Approach. Continuum International Publishing Group, London.

Tudball, L., & Brett, P. (2014). What matters and what's next for civics and citizenship education in Australia? The Social Educator, 32(2) 4-15]