Wednesday 2 July 2008

Adelaide

I am over the jet-lag and having a fabulous time in Adelaide, where I am catching up with all of the excellent work undertaken by researchers at the Centre for Studies in Literacy, Policy and Learning Cultures. I also visited a wonderful primary school today, Glen Osmond, where I was knocked out by the children's work. One class teacher had set up a 'Crime Scenes Investigation' in the school and donned a white suit as worn by forensic teams. The children had to investigate environmental damage in the school and drew from their viewing of CSI in making notes, interviewing, setting up crime scenes and so on. This was all recorded digitally and a slideshow created. Children had also created clay animations of stories based on investigations in science and geography. They were having a red-carpet Oscar ceremony that afternoon and children were preparing for their roles as presenters of awards, security guards, film fans and paparazzi. Such excitement and a huge sense of commitment, vision and energy from staff. As Australia moves towards a national curriculum, let us hope that it avoids some of the problems encountered in England over the last 10 years, so that this professional autonomy is not diminished in any way.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Jackie, Thanks for the delightful feedback - staff were delighted to see you comments about your visit to GOPS - we will share them with the Governing Council. We also enjoy the presentation at unisa - it generated lots of discussion about the inclusion of popular culture texts in classroom programs.
Thanks for finding the time to visit.
Regards Kerry

Jackie Marsh said...

Hi Kerry, thanks again for organising my inspirational visit to your school and do keep me in touch with what you are doing!

Anonymous said...

Hi Jackie, Well the CSI crew are off and running again this term with an investigation that is guided by the following statement " Here's the wall... so where are the rabbits?' Heather, Fran, Kathy and Barbara are working at 'hooking' children's school learning onto the Olympics and an investigation into China generally - exploring similarities and differences between Australia and China.

The statement comes from a very popular TV Ad. Not sure if you saw the ad while you were in Australia but briefly the ad is a conversation between a father and son about the son's school project. The son asks the father why they built the Great Wall in China and the father tell him that it was built by Emperor (well known Rice TV Dinner Brand) to keep the rabbits out. Given rabbits are feral animals in Australia it makes a lot of sense!

It is great to see teachers having fun while they are planning!

Regards Kerry