David Rock s4548585

Assesment 1:
Investigating The Literacy and Numeracy Requirements for Middle
Years Students.
Literacy:
1
Humanities and Social Sciences / 710 Economics and Business / Year 8 /
Economics and Business Skills / Questioning and research / ACHES033
Gather relevant data and information from a range of digital, online and print
sources (ACHES033)
Understanding of above point:

Locating information from a reliable source using different types of media to be

able to confidently discuss/debate on a selected topic/statistics.
Are the sources credible? How do you decide?
Process of elimination and comparing/contrasting different articles on the same
topic.
Accessing government websites as opposed to google.
Collecting and organising of opposing businesses data/information so as to be
able to scrutinize and evaluate differences.

Areas of further development and resources to assist:

In order to teach business and economics and to be able to evaluate student
response, I will need to go back to basics and build on my prior knowledge of the
subject area. Coming from an Arts background I have never been interested in
business and economics or anything within a political context, however, I
understand it is an integral part of learning in middle years. By researching and
studying the auscurriculum and finding good teaching methods to assist my
learning, I will be able to get a good grasp on how to teach this subject area.
Another resource I have found is helpteaching.com. Performing and examining
the middle years humanities tests on this site will also help in boosting my
confidence in this area. An example of one of these tests is below:
http://www.helpteaching.com/questions/Economics/Grade_8
2
English / Year 8 / Language / Text structure and organisation / ACELA1543
Content Description
Analyse how the text structures and language features of persuasive texts, including
media texts, vary according to the medium and mode of communication
Understanding of above point:
To educate students in the use of persuasive techniques used in various forms of media,
such as images, emotive language, clich, sarcasm, metaphors and tone, so the
students can recognise these components and more importantly see past the
persuasive/manipulative elements so as to draw their own conclusions of an event.
Evidence of competence:
Particularly in drama, I have developed skills in evaluating texts and gathering
meaningful information for various projects in theatre and film. When gathering
information, it required good comprehension skills and the ability to interpret and analyse
what is quality information and what is manipulative drivel. On a dramatic level it is

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crucial to know how to differentiate and critique scripts and research information for
useful ways in persuading an audience, especially if its a true story. Informatively and
creatively, I have over time developed critical thinking skills when reading through texts,
to better interpret information, so I am confident in this area of literacy.

3
The Arts / Drama / Years 7 and 8 / ACADRM044
Content description
Perform devised and scripted drama maintaining commitment to role
Understanding of above point:
to build a character that creates dramatic meaning for an audience within the context of
a play or self devised piece through directorial vision.
Evidence of competence:
In order to understand a style of theatre and perform it successfully maintaining
commitment to the role, the student/actor must research it thoroughly and provide
evidence. This would include:

Composing of texts, either written or spoken and understanding the vocabulary to

be able to interact with others.
The historical, geographical, political, social and cultural context.
The text through script analysis, uncovering the objectives and actions of their
character.
The playwrights intended impact.
The themes and issues of the script and given circumstances.
identifying and applying the theatrical conventions.

With this research behind them, the student/actor would apply this to their performance
by:

having a clear intent/purpose/intended audience impact which influences the

performers motivation and channels the attention of the audience.
Performing within the parameters of said convention/performance style.
Adjusting the performance accordingly based on directorial and audience
feedback.

4
Years 9 / 10 ACAMAM073
Content Description
Experiment with ideas and stories that manipulate media conventions and genres to
construct new and alternative points of view through images, sounds and text
Understanding of above point:
Understand how visual elements create meaning
Evidence of competence:

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Here, students have to show their understanding of how visual elements create meaning.
To achieve this, they play with different media conventions and genres, either
manipulating these or creating new ideas to express opinions or a different point of view.
Examples:

Editing existing film trailers to create a new one, playing with genres and
conventions
Creating video game characters/games
Create a storyboard of different camera shots and angles, including correct
terminology and explanation of the shots/sequence they have used to narrate the
story.

5
Years 7 and 8 / Digital Technologies Processes and Production Skills /
ACTDIP032
Content Description
Plan and manage projects that create and communicate ideas and information
collaboratively online, taking safety and social contexts into account
Understanding of above point:
Determining a set of dos and donts of acceptable and unacceptable behavior when
collaborating or creating online. For example, taking into consideration other cultural
values and social protocols before posting your opinion, or getting permission from
someone before putting a picture of them online. Also to discuss and debate
Areas of further development and resources to assist:
Being that I am a little behind the eight ball with technologies (or as my daughter so
graciously reminds me; A little? You were the last person ON EARTH to get a
smartphone), I humbly accept that I may have to do a lot of homework to catch up on
this subject. Having looked at the key ideas section of the curriculum, to scootle that
has many different strategies and teaching methods to use, I can see a wealth of
information to point me in the right direction. Two links in scootle which I found
particularly useful were:
Timothy Berners-Lee: connecting all humanity
TLF-IDM017758
Learning areasInformation and communication technologies
Digital

Careers: Online producer and content strategist

TLF-IDM018894
Learning areasTechnologies
Year levels 4; 5; 6; 7; 8

Another great site is the Arts edge webpage. Here, they have a philosophy grounded in
the idea that creativity is as important as literacy and numeracy and talk about how the
arts can be integrated with science and technology by incorporating:

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STEAM-Professional Learning
STEAM: Learning Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in and through the
Arts

for teachers to develop practical ideas to engage students in Science, Technology,

Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in and through the Arts;
to strengthen the working relationships between teachers, arts and cultural
practitioners and STEM organisations and professionals for future collaboration in
education;
to support artists/arts and cultural organisations and scientists/science
organisations to develop a greater awareness of the professional learning and resource
needs of teachers; and
to strengthen the understanding of ArtsEdge about current trends in both sectors
to inform the future development of professional learning opportunities.

Numeracy:

1
Mathematics / Year 8 / Number and Algebra / Money and financial
mathematics / ACMNA189
Content Description
Solve problems involving profit and loss, with and without digital technologies
Understanding of above point:
Investigating discounting methods used in retail stores and profit and loss margins using
percentages.
Evidence of competence:
Having worked in retail for many years as second in charge of grocery departments and
as a night/dawn fill manager, I feel very competent in teaching this area of numeracy.
From meeting KPIs (key performing index), to keeping track of store waste and profit and
loss margins, percentages and discounts are a huge part of retail life. With the
confidence I have in this area, I can draw upon my experience from real life situations to
teach these skills to students.

2
Mathematics / Year 8 / Measurement and Geometry / Using units of
measurement / ACMMG199
Content Description
Solve problems involving duration, including using 12- and 24-hour time within a single
time zone
Understanding of above point:
Identifying the different time zones in Australia and neighboring countries.

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Evidence of competence:
Having worked overseas in America and Hong Kong while working online for an Australian
agent, I have plenty of knowledge in this regard. Its not until you are overseas and have
to battle with three different time zones that the 24hr clock becomes indispensable. A
great idea for a class on this subject would be to get the students to organise a program
for a music festival in Melbourne. Working on a 24hr clock, students have to organise
everything from flight times for incoming bands, to schedules involving who plays first
through to last and duration of gigs etc.
3
Mathematics / Year 8 / Number and Algebra / Patterns and algebra / ACMNA190
Content Description
Extend and apply the distributive law to the expansion of algebraic expressions
Elaborations

applying the distributive law to the expansion of algebraic expressions using

strategies such as the area model
4
Mathematics / Year 8 / Statistics and Probability / Data representation and
interpretation / ACMSP207
Content Description
Investigate the effect of individual data values, including outliers, on the mean and
median
Elaborations

using displays of data to explore and investigate effects

5
Mathematics / Year 8 / Measurement and Geometry / Using units of
measurement / ACMMG198
Content Description
Develop formulas for volumes of rectangular and triangular prisms and prisms in general.
Use formulas to solve problems involving volume
Elaborations

investigating the relationship between volumes of rectangular and triangular

prisms
For numeracy numbers 3,4 and 5 in this assignment I have to do some serious
homework. I chose these last three areas as they really had me stumped. I will use the
curriculum and scootle web pages to resource materials that will further my knowledge in
these areas. I may also have to seek classes that can bring me up to speed, but I am sure
over time I can become competent in these areas.

Looking at literacy at work in Drama, here is a great example of collaborative and shared
learning that is fun and engaging. This requires students working in small groups and
researching different areas of the same topic. As an example, lets say the topic was the
play Hamlet. In groups of five, students would each research one of five different
characters from the play:

The king
The queen

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Hamlet
Claudius
Ophelia

Then the groups are rearranged so all the students who researched the one character are
put together so as to share their information and learn from each other more about the
character they may have overlooked or not considered.
The students are then placed back into their original groups and will then devise a way of
presenting their new knowledge to the class. This way of learning is fun and engaging. It
gives each student a sense of ownership and empowerment as they all contribute to
their group, listen to each other and work together to complete the assignment.
Up until recently I found the curriculum extremely complicated. There is just so much
information and there are three of them available; the Vic Curriculum, Ausvels and the
Australian Curriculum. I do think that being told to access different curriculums by
different teachers can be confusing. It made the task of wading through it all seem
completely hopeless. However, doing this investigation Ive learnt that the curriculum is
there to help and guide us as teachers. It gives us a base to build our educational maps
and it keeps us on point. It has forced me to figure out and navigate the curriculum to
see it for what it is: an indispensable tool that we can always fall back on when unsure.
That said, I still need to play with it a lot more and learn. I also starting to realise that the
curriculum is there as a guide to what you should be teaching but we can be as creative
as we like to achieve the goal. As we have heard so many times in our tutorials: dont
reinvent the wheel! Im now beginning to understand this and am starting to use it to
my advantage.