Implementing the Australian Curriculum at

Y7 in 2012

Robyn Ryan MLC

ryanrj@mlc.vic.edu.au

The Australian Curriculum at MLC2010 • AC group convened – Director of Learning and Curriculum; Heads of

English, Maths, Science and Humanities; meetings each month• UbD adopted as framework for curriculum mapping across the College

with common template for use by subjects teams• Subject team review of draft AC curriculum documents at Y7 and 9• College PD sessions and Department meeting sessions allocated to

AC and UbD• History – set of common key questions and understandings developed

Y7-12• Y7 History - Initial decisions/ draft planning of curriculum combining

previous MLC and AC topics and content etc in UbD format

2011 and 2012 curriculum planning and implementation

2011 • UbD framework merged with Atlas online curriculum documentation system across

College• Time allocation for Y7 and 9 AC team leaders• Completion of Y7 and 9 draft AC courses via UbD for 2012 • Mapping of courses across the year• Allocation of teacher pairs to developing draft UbD for each of the 5 sections of the

course• 2 x time release PM planning sessions to share, review, revise and document via

Atlas ready for 2012 2012• Y7 and 9 AC implemented in English, Maths, Science and History2013• Y7, 8, 9, 10* AC in English, Maths, Science and History

Initial curriculum drafting and design process

• Team reading and review of AC documentation with elaborations

• Summary of observations – content, skills, timing etc• Audit - Current curriculum and AC compared – table summary • AC – identified new elements to be incorporated • Depth studies - Team decisions as to relative merit of the

various choices, consideration of current materials, resources etc

• Updating and revisions to planning with subsequent versions of the AC 2011-2

Initial drafting and implementation planning - comments and reflections

from other 2012 AC schools?

Overview planning for the Australian Curriculum at Y7

• Subject allocation 4 x 75 min lessons per cycle* for the year = 34 weeks (17 cycles) = 68 lessons total approx.

 • 10% overview = 8 lessons (In 2 sections –

introductory and review)

• 90% 3 x depth studies (Investigating the Ancient Past; The Mediterranean World; The Asian World) = 60 lessons = 18-22 lessons per topic approx.

Overview of new AC Y7 History curriculum

34 weeks (68 lessons approx)4 x 75 min lessons per cycle*

1. Overview 1 – introductory 2 weeks ( 5 lessons)2. Depth study 1: Investigating the Ancient Past (Intro to

History, Ancient Australia, Egypt) 11 weeks (22 lessons)3. Depth study 2: The Mediterranean World – Greece 10

weeks (20 lessons)4. Depth study 3: The Asian World – China 9 weeks (18

lessons)5. Overview 2 – review and comparison 1.5 weeks (3 lessons)

Overview section 1:PP overview; lecture style and small class activities

Depth Study 1: Investigating the Ancient Past (Intro to History; Egypt and Australia)  

Depth Study 2: The Mediterranean World (Greece)  

Depth Study 3: The Asian World (China)  

Overview section 2:PP overview; lecture style and small class activities

Staff Michaela and Catherine

Robyn, Nick, Iain and Catherine

Fanny and Jo Paul and Mary Michaela and Catherine

Time allocation

5 lessons (2 weeks) 22 lessons (11 weeks) 

20 lessons (10 weeks) 

18 lessons (9 weeks) 

 3 lessons (1.5 weeks)

       Content AC dot points/

elaborations AC dot points/ elaborations

 AC dot points/ elaborations

 AC dot points/ elaborations

 AC dot points/ elaborations

       Lesson Planning

Skeleton lesson planner with core and optional activities

 Skeleton lesson planner with core and optional activities

 Skeleton lesson planner with core and optional activities

 Skeleton lesson planner with core and optional activities

 Skeleton lesson planner with core and optional activities

       Assessment(4 tasks per semester)

• Out of Africa review task 20%

• Intro to History review task 20%

• Egypt History mysteries research task 40%

• Egypt document study 20%

Semester 1: 100%

• Greece legacies oral paired 25% research task

• Greece extended writing task 25%

• China inventions oral paired research task 10%

• China source analysis and writing task 40%

Semester 2: 100%

 No assessment – post reports

Overview of Y7 curriculum - comments and reflections from other 2012 AC

schools?

Semester 1 2012Report assessment tasks

Overview:• Overview P1: Out of Africa review task 20%

Depth study 1: Investigating the Ancient Past:• Investigating the Ancient Past review task 20%• History Mystery (Egypt) task 40%• Egypt document study 20%

Reflections and observations at the end of Semester 1

Overview P1:• The overview can be viewed as the links and connections between the

depth studies but need to address overlap between overview and depth study and reduce in 2013

• Overview P1 – Was addressed by way of PP introductions, text work, teacher lectures, short whole class comprehension exercises but need to cut down detail / depth to allow for more interactive and creative ways of delivering content ; detail level of texts can be reduced

• 2013: Out of Africa theory (1); Types of evidence(1); Personal and family history and timelines (1); Key features of ancient societies (1); Overview and timeline of major ancient societies (1)

• Remove Darwin theory of evolution

Reflections and observations at the end of Semester 1

Depth Study 1: Investigating the Ancient Past: • Was used as a vehicle to explore Egypt but this required large number of

lessons to provide context for research• Not all Egypt mystery topics equally easy to resource (Kadesh etc)• Ancient Australia and heritage sites component needed to be more adequately

covered – ran out of time• Ancient Australia research and presentation activity• Conserving the ancient past activity• 2013: Include archaeologists and historians; types of sources; historical

controversies; Ancient Australia; conservation• Merge Overview and Investigating the Ancient Past review tasks• Broaden History Mysteries task to include Ancient Australia and world heritage

sites• Remove: Class study lessons on Egypt

Reflections and observations at the end of Semester 1

Semester 2: Choice of European civilisations:• The AC reduces the ability to study more than 1 European

civilisation – have to choose between Greece and Rome – will review after study of Greece in 2012 and may choose to study Greece and Rome in alternate years?

Y7 AC Semester 1 - comments and reflections from other 2012 AC schools?

Resources for Semester 1 areas• Much existing material utilised• Student text - Oxford Big Ideas Y7 – pack with student text,

workbook, obook; teacher text – arrived in school end of 2011

• Supplemented materials for Overview P1 and Depth Study 1, particularly methods of historians, Ancient Australia – use pdfs of Pearson extracts, previous materials etc

• HTAV Ancient and Medieval teacher resource pack• Dialogue Education – Teaching History CDROM of PPs –

Ancient Australia• Use of other Y7 texts as they become available - Nelson,

Macmillan, Jacaranda etc

Resources for Semester 1 - comments and reflections from

other 2012 AC schools?

Ongoing planning for 2013 and beyond• Collaborative team use of the UbD framework to refine

each section of the course and review and revise assessment tasks for each section

• Updating of documentation via online Atlas documentation repository

• Expand resources and activity bank for Ancient Australia and heritage sites

• End of 2012 meetings: Determine 2013 selection of assessment tasks across the 2 semester reports; allocate tasks across topic areas and nominate pairs to review and circulate draft versions for team consensus

Ongoing planning - comments and reflections from other 2012 AC

schools?