Learning Area A1

This subject is not offered in 2013.

120 hours.

Attendance at all classes (tutorial/seminars/practical classes/lectures/labs) is obligatory. Failure to attend 80% of classes will normally result in failure in the subject.

Teacher Candidates must meet the minimum academic study requirements for teaching in specialist areas, in accordance with the Victorian Institute of Teaching's Specialist Area Guidelines, for entry into this subject.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the HDisability Liaison Unit websiteH: Hhttp://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/H

These subjects will build on the work done in Linking Curriculum and Pedagogy and other intensive subjects, further developing the Associates’ understanding of and capabilities in the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment of their specific teaching areas. The subjects will be taught largely online, complemented by workshops at the initial and mid-year on-campus intensive programs. Particular attention will be paid to developing skills in planning and sequencing and in developing a wide range of productive teaching strategies and strategies for monitoring, assessment and evaluation. Associates will be encouraged to link their classroom practice to key theory and research into the teaching of the particular subject. Ongoing online interaction will promote a strong sense of peer sharing, supporting the students in continuously reflecting on their own developing philosophy of teaching in their Learning Area.

On completion of this subject associates will be able to:

• Understand the nature and scope of the learning area as it is taught in secondary schools;
• Demonstrate sensitivity to students’ prior knowledge and pre-existing beliefs and plan meaningful and relevant learning experiences in the learning area
• Demonstrate enhanced competency in the teaching of concepts, knowledge and skills in their learning area;
• Develop coherent learning sequences in accordance with curriculum frameworks, catering for the diversity of student learners;
• Deploy a broad range of teaching and assessment strategies appropriate to the content they are teaching and the learners’ needs;
• Design classroom resources that embody best practice in their learning area;
• Identify areas for ongoing personal learning.

There are two assessment tasks:

• A report outlining designing purposeful learning activities, due in the middle of Semester 1 (2000 words: 50 per cent);
• A reflective report on designing, implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of an assessment strategy, due in the middle of Semester 2 (2000 words; 50 per cent)

There is one hurdle requirement:

• Students are required to complete the nine rounds of online workshops. The workshops require students to personally reflect on the monthly topics and readings in terms of teaching and learning of the specific learning area.

Discipline-specific reading will be available via the LMS.

All: Loughran, J. J. (2010) What Expert Teachers Do: Teachers' Professional Knowledge of Classroom Practice. Sydney: Allen & Unwin and London: Routledge.

Science: Venville, G. and Dawson V. (2005). The Art of Teaching Science. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of the subject, associates will have the knowledge, skills and understanding to enable them to:

• Be skilled communicators who can effectively articulate and justify their practices as knowledgeable agents of change;
• Be flexible and able to adapt to change through knowing how to learn;
• Understand the significance of developing their practice on the basis of research evidence;
• Work in teams with skills in cooperation, communication and negotiation;
• Be independent of mind, reasonable, resilient, self-regulating;
• Have a conscious personal and social values base.