Transformation: Leading Quality

Curriculum

The Conceptual Model

The Planning• Small steps• A stage or faculty leader modelling and leading by

example• Transforming a current unit of work• Begin by asking the question ‘What do we want

the students to learn by the end of the unit?’• Move to examining the scope and sequence

through the conceptual lens asking the same question and the plan the assessment tasks (backward mapping)

The Barriers Exams – Naplan, HSC, but

wait there’s more… Syllabus requirements Parental and community

expectations Teaching to the exam

requirements rather than the course requirements

Time Access to technology Complacency

Leading Transformation

Committed leaders and key players

A purpose and a goal

A plan Small steps: - Term 4: Unit of

work- Term 1: Cross KLA

authentic task

“We have to know where we want to end up before we start out – and plan how to get

there …”(1999, Tomlinson).

Global Demands

Skills Required for the 21st Century Workforce:

Critical thinking Problem solving Innovation CollaborationCreativityICT

Goal 1:• Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence:

promote personalised learning that aims to fulfill the diverse capabilities of each young Australian.

Goal 2:• All young Australians become:successful learnersconfident and creative individualsactive and informed citizens

National Curriculum Goals

A solid foundation in skills and knowledge on which further learning and adult life can be built.

Deep knowledge and skills enabling advanced learning, ability to create new ideas & translate them into practical applications.

General capabilities that underpin flexible thinking, a capacity to work with others, an ability to move across subject disciplines

National Curriculum Expectations

Cross-Disciplinary Recognition that new ways

of thinking are borne out of deep knowledge and its application across disciplines

Students should participate in learning that applies specific discipline-based knowledge and skills across disciplines to encourage thinking and working in new ways.

Cross-Disciplinary: ICT & Design, Civics & Citizenship, Business

The Research Coyle and Colvin (1999): The brain is

phenomenally plastic, and that we construct ourselves through behaviour – “It’s not who you are, it’s what you do and where you do it.”

Hattie (2003) & Dinham (2008): The significance of deep knowledge, direct instruction and scaffolding the learning

Westwell (2009): Creativity is connected to what is already known

QT model based on best practice and effective research

Marry Creativity & Innovation Deep knowledge & deep understanding Integrate problematic knowledge and student direction Process first then product Create the environment for creativity

Quality Teaching Model

Kaplan et al 2006 Maker

“Intellectual work that is challenging, centred on significant concepts and ideas, and requires substantial cognitive and academic engagement with deep knowledge”

Core: Curriculum addresses the core concepts, principles, and skills of a discipline

Content: concepts & ideas that are complex and abstract

Knowledge integration,Problematic knowledge, Higher-order thinking, Background knowledge, Substantive communication

Connections: connect overarching concepts, principles, and skills within and across disciplines, time periods, cultures, places, and/or events

Process: Higher-order thinking skills, self-directed learning

Significance – ConnectednessProblematic knowledgeDeep understanding

Practice: The applications of facts, concepts, principles, skills, and methods in an authentic manner & context

Product: authentic tasks connected to the real world; evaluation; transformation; Synthesis

Quality learning environment,Student direction

Identity: Developing students’ interests and expertise, strengths, values, and character

Learning environment: student centred

“Intellectual work that is challenging, centred on

significant concepts and ideas, and requires substantial cognitive and academic engagement with

deep knowledge” Quality teaching Discussion Paper

The Design Approach

“The first thing that teachers will need to do is select and organise

the essential knowledge, understandings, skills and values from the syllabus around central

concepts or ideas…” Quality teaching in NSW Public Schools

The Design Approach

“Without designing around provocative questions and big ideas,

teaching easily succumbs into an activity - or coverage - orientation

without clear priorities.” Understanding by Design

McTigh and Wiggins ASCD 1999

The Design Approach

The Design Approach Holistic and conceptual model connecting

learning with syllabus content, knowledge and skills and the explicit teaching strategies

Driven by the concepts and key learning ideas

Integrated assessment of, for and through learning – backward mapping

Distillation from concept to key learning ideas to assessment to explicit teaching and learning strategies

Facilitates integration of programs and/or assessment across KLAs, higher-order thinking & problematic knowledge

Technology for learning

Focus on learning

What do I want my students to learn?

Why does it matter? What do they already know? How will they demonstrate

learning? How will they get there?

FocusTopic/Subject/Context/Outcomes

Concept + Key Question or Essential Learning StatementOverarching idea of the unit

(Deep knowledge)Key Ideas + QuestionWhat students will learn

by the end of the unit(Deep knowledge)

Key Ideas + QuestionReflect intent of the

outcomes and concept(Deep knowledge)

Key Ideas + Question(Deep knowledge)

Outcomes and Assessment(Deep understanding, Problematic knowledge, Higher-order thinking, Explicit quality criteria)

Demonstration of key learning ideas - Not too many!

Pre-testing/Pre-assessment (Background knowledge - connections to prior learning)Brainstorming, Graphic organisers – KWL, mind mapping, Y chart, Lotus diagram. Quiz

Teaching StrategiesLearning Activities

Scaffolds / Models – annotated

Teaching StrategiesLearning Activities

Connected & Scaffolded

Teaching StrategiesLearning Activities

Explicit / SystematicBuilding the Field

Teaching StrategiesLearning ActivitiesExplicit Literacy &

Numeracy Strategies

Teaching StrategiesLearning Activities

Integrated ICT

Resources

The Model

What do I want my students to learn?

Why does it matter?

The Concept and Essential Learning

1. What is a concept?

2. How do I arrive at the right concepts?

3. Why would we program around concepts?

The Design Approach

The Topic/Focus

Identify the topic or focus of the unit of work such as:

Global CitizenshipProbabilityShakespeare

The Outcomes

Ask the question what do I want my students to learn by the end of the unit and select the relevant outcomes

Not too many! Take into account the: Continuum of learning Timing of the unit of work Scope and sequence

Interrogate the outcomes you have selected and the learn to and learn abouts

Identify the essential learning of the outcomes

The Outcomes

Re-ask the question what do I want my students to learn by the end of the unit?

Record the essential learning goal

What concept/s capture the learning?

The Learning

A Concept: A significant notion

that reflects the core ideas of the content being taught and enables students to comprehend and create meaning

The Design Approach

A Concept Blend of abstraction and

concreteness Multidimensional “A concept is not an isolated,

ossified, and changeless formation, but an active part of the intellectual process” Vygotsky.

A concept is idea that has been turned, examined, polished and carries resiliency.

A synthesis of the key ideas Represents depth rather than

breadth

A Concept What is your favourite

sport or past-time? What are the essential

skills and knowledge for succeeding in the sport or past-time?

Devise an overarching statement that captures what people need to know to master this sport or past-time?

A Concept White water kayaking Balance, precision, technique, strength, knowing the

water, endurance… You need to be fit, trust your craft, feel the water and

focus. Resilience

The Concept Is the concept grounded in the syllabus or syllabi? Does the concept capture the deep learning that you

want students to have by the end of the unit of work?

Is the concept appropriate and relevant for the specified students at that moment in time?

Have you considered the concept in terms of the continuum of learning?

Does the concept have significance and endurance?

Deep knowledge

Knowledge is deep when it concerns the central ideas or concepts of the KLA/s and when the knowledge is judged to be crucial to the topic or subject being taught.

Key Learning Ideas

Now identify from the outcomes the key learning ideas

Two to three ideas that capture the learning, skills and knowledge of the syllabus outcomes

The overarching question or learning statement

Pose an overarching key question or essential learning statement that encapsulates what students need to learn by the end of the unit

Differentiates the learning

Stage 4 Technology Mandatory

Concept: Green Design Key Question: What is

the role of design and emerging technologies in responding to climate change and global warming?

Key Learning Ideas:- Application of a range of

graphics tools in the

in the development of design projects: What are the most effective graphics tools for persuasive design projects?

- Understanding of the factors influencing design such as environmental and resource availability: What key factors influence design choices?

Stage 5 : Anime Outcomes: 2, 3, 6 & 10 Concept: Cultural Perspectives Question: How significant is

cultural context in shaping our perspectives and our use of textual features?

Key Learning Ideas: How cultural context shapes

perspectives and ideas in texts How filmic techniques in anime

convey cultural perspectives

English

What do my students already know?

Connecting the learning to prior knowledge

Unless new knowledge becomes integrated with the learner's prior knowledge and understanding, this new knowledge remains isolated, cannot be used effectively in new tasks, and does not transfer readily to new situations.

What do they already know?

What do they already know?

Pre-assessment – Data & Background knowledge: This can be informal but it is important as it informs teachers what the students know so that a unit of work or program can be differentiated to suit the learning needs of the students.

Look at the end of stage performance descriptors in the syllabus for your unit!

How will they demonstrate learning?

Quality Assessment

What do I want the students to do or produce to demonstrate their learning and understanding?

Think of the unit you are planning, what task/s would you use?

Assessment

“Focus tasks on relating central concepts and ideas with other concepts, or to particular

contexts. Linking the task to previously addressed ideas (from either prior class work or other tasks) or to new, as yet unexplored,

concepts or contexts are two ways to strengthen the deep knowledge of a task.

Ensure that the task connects and supports the key concepts being addressed.”

-QT Framework

Assessment for Deep understanding

Student direction Personalised Connectedness -

authenticity Higher-order thinking Substantive

communication Explicit quality criteria Problematic knowledge

Deep understanding

Quality Assessment

All current research supports the potent impact of quality assessment and feedback on student learning outcomes.

HSC review identified engagement and enjoyment as influential

Our students need to become independent thinkers and learners; flexible and creative problem solvers; team players; resilient and committed citizens!

Assessment for Deep understanding

Accurate outcomes Key learning ideas Nature of the task in

a clear and precise rubric

The verbs! Explicit quality

criteria Marking guidelines

reflecting the outcomes being assessed

Biggs [1999], p78 UCLAN http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/toolkit/lrg_groups/index.htm

When students truly understand, they can: Explain, make connections, offer good theories:

Make sense of what they experience; show their work and defend it; provide thorough, supported, and justifiable accounts of phenomena, facts, and data

Interpret: Tell meaningful stories; offer translations; provide a revealing historical or personal dimension to ideas and events; make it personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies, models

Deep understanding

Apply and Produce: Effectively use and adapt what they know in diverse contexts, and design effective products.

Appreciate Other Perspectives: See multiple points of view, with critical eyes and ears; see the big picture.

Deep understanding

Empathise: Get inside, find value in what others might find odd, alien, or implausible; perceive sensitively, enter the mind and heart of others.

Self-knowledge: Perceive the personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that shape and impede their own understanding; are aware of what they do not understand, and why it is so hard to understand.

Deep understanding

Quality Assessment: Stage 4 Mathematics

Concept: Navigating: Understanding your place on Earth, physically and culturally, through Mathematics

Key Question: How do you plan a world tour surfing competition?

Key Ideas: - Using knowledge of fractions and circles to specify

location- Measuring distance, time and rate- Interpreting data

What do you want the students to learn? How to measure location, distance, time and speed.

Why is it important? Using mathematics to better understand the content and context of everyday experiences.

How will you know that students are learning? Through discussion, worksheets and a formal presentation.

Stage 4 Mathematics

You have been asked to set up a world tour surfing competition. This will involve selecting locations; planning a travel itinerary; describing local conditions; and basic budgeting. Thirty-two top competitors will be invited to take part. A luxury, ocean going motor launch has been charted to house staff and competitors and will sail to ten top surfing spots.

List your ten sporting spots on worksheet 5.1 along with their latitude and longitude. Create placemarks in Google Earth. Plan a route to get around your chosen locations. Again use Google Earth and measure the distances, in nautical miles, between each location. Record this information on worksheet 5.2.

Quality Assessment: Stage 4 Mathematics

If the motor launch can manage an average speed of 15knots, calculate the journey time between each location. 1knot is 1 nautical mile per hour. You can assume there is sufficient sailing staff to keep moving 24h per day. Round up your answers to the nearest day and complete worksheet 5.3.

Create a spreadsheet that summarises the items of income (sponsorships) and expenditure

Stage 4 Mathematics

Quality Assessment through ICT

“Technology does not directly change teaching or learning. Rather, the

critical element is how technology is incorporated into instruction”

(Bracewell and Faferriere (1996)We can connect with our digital natives

by incorporating technology in assessment.

Concepts: Heritage/Perspectives/Innovation/ Representation

In HSIE students could interview an elder or a community member and scan their original photos to tell their story. They could create a diary entry by a soldier at Gallipoli and add footage from YouTube or Australian Screen such as an interview with Hazlitt as well as a song such as ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’

In a unit of work focused on exploring the concept of how perspectives are represented in a range of texts, students could create a digital story of their own perspective of their world.

In Science or Technology Mandatory students could tell the personal story of a scientist or a famous designer – they could even download a podcast from http://www.mos.org/educators/student_resources/podcasts

In Mathematics students could develop an imaginative piece based on representation of data or number lines

Inquiry-based Research

“with access to the vast amount of information acquisition is now no longer the challenge, but rather it is the synthesis of that information that is the challenge”

(Hawkes, 2001).

Inquiry-based Research Tasks

Research Question: Open-ended and contentious so that it invites debate and argument

Webquests: Create original quests

Wikis: Class encyclopaedia

Faction: Narrative hyperlinking to facts

Topic: Shakespeare’s Macbeth Concept: Representation Task: Pose a research question

that you would like answered about why Shakespeare represented Macbeth as a villain. Present your findings using the medium of production that would appeal to your fellow year 9 students.

Inquiry-based Research Task

Project-based learning

The concept The question The research:

locate, evaluate and synthesise

Probing questions The presentation Supposition

Project-based learning Concept: Sustainability Question: Why do so many

Australians believe that they do not need to reduce their global footprint?

The tools:- Online survey:

http://www.zoomerang.com/ - Vox pops- Blog- Internet The Product: Wiki, Ning, Moodle,

short film, digital report…

How Will they Get There?Explicit teaching strategies &

Learning tools

Identify the literacy demands of the outcomes and key learning ideas you have selected

Plan the explicit teaching strategies to engage and support the students

Aim for depth! Learning is recursive!

How will they get there?

Build the learning! Models, annotated

samples, scaffolds Metalanguage: the

glossary The tools: graphic

organisers; technology Scope and sequence of

skills and essential knowledge

How will they get there?

Way Forward… Continuum of learning Scope & Sequence Revisit the outcomes and develop the concepts

Caution: Cape does not enable

user to fly!