ASSESSMENT FOR VCE AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

BECAUSE IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE A PAIN IN THE...

HTAV Unit 3 Conference 2012

Tanya Shegog

The Grange P-12 College

PROGRAM FOR TODAY

Ongoing Formative Assessment Quick & Easy Source Analysis Outside the classroom

Major Formal Assessment Preparing for students for SACs Constructing SACs Assessing SACs Preparing for the exam now

-Discussion is encouraged throughout so be ready to contribute

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT – QUICK & EASY

Most important assessment Ensure students are on track Engagement/Summarisation activities Break up the usual lecture/independent study

routines

So here are some suggestions...

PROJECT ZERO VISIBLE THINKING

See-Think-Wonder Asking ‘What do I see?’ ‘What do I think about

that?’ ‘What do I now wonder?’ Perceive-Know-Care About

Asking ‘What does the figure in the source perceive?’ ‘What do they know?’ ‘What do they care about’

Headlines Constructing a single sentence to sum up the

lesson/source

SEE-THINK-WONDERPERCEIVE-KNOW-CARE ABOUT

QUICK & EASY – QUICK LISTS

Oldie but a goody! Start or end class with this Quick lists

Push/Pull Factors Groups/Individuals (Immigration, Effects of

European Settlement, Effects of gold, Federation, Processes of Inclusion/Exclusion)

Primary/Secondary Sources – Include these to make the students really think

LET’S DO ONE...

Effects of European settlement on Indigenous communities...

SOURCE ANALYSIS

Everyone has their own methods Crux of what we do as historians Do NOT overload students with hundreds of

methods Quick, concise and accurate

VISUAL SOURCES

Simplistic in Aus. History Students need to almost automatically

ascertain: Context Symbolism Message Bias Significance

Here is a method...

APPARTS

Author Place & Time Prior Knowledge Audience Reason The Main Idea Significance

What methods do you use?

WRITTEN SOURCES - PRIMARY The first paroxysm of success and excitement is

gone off. The diggers have ceased to have handfuls of money to throw away [...] The water of the Yarra, saturated with the filth of the town, is to cease to poison the people. Pure and excellent water from the river Plenty […] The Gas Company promises to light up the streets of Melbourne in another six months as well as those of any English town: and coal of excellent quality is ready for the getting [...] The electric telegraph, already working between Melbourne and Williams Town, will soon be extended to the Heads. The railway from Melbourne to Liardet's Beach is complete, and only awaits the arrival of engineers and carriages from England.

Howitt, W 1855, Land, labor and gold, or, Two years in Victoria: with visits to Sydney and Van Diemen's Land, Ticknor and Fields, Boston.

USING THE EXAM FORMAT

Students should get used to the 2-10 point questions of a document analysis

Be clear where the marks come from Command Terms

REGULAR ASSESSMENT FOR SOURCES

My favourite – Double entry journal

What about yours?

OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM – MAKING IT STICK

Best way for students to remember sources is if they see them for themselves

Excursion ideas: Tour de Melbourne Old Treasury Building State Library of Victoria Old Government House/Latrobe’s Cottage Royal Exhibition Building Sovereign Hill

FORMAL ASSESSMENT – PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE SERIOUS STUFF Students must have almost memorised all of

the key knowledge for each AOS Each dot point must be deconstructed so that

students understand everything about it Don’t overload with too much content outside

of the study design – keep focussed Encourage strongly that students always use

the terminology of the study design. Revision and good study habits are the bottom

line Practise all of the key skills throughout the

year so that problem areas are identified Indoctrinate students to never use ‘danger

words’

KEY SKILLS

Explain the historical issues covered in the key knowledge

Apply historical concepts related to the period Analyse and evaluate written and visual historical

evidence Synthesise material and evidence to draw

conclusions Analyse the way that the experience of the period

has been interpreted and understood over time by historians and other commentators;

Express knowledge and ideas in writing, presenting material using historical conventions such as quotations, acknowledgement of sources, and a bibliography.

RESOURCES THAT MAKE LIFE EASIER... http://www.trove.nla.gov.au Public records office of Victoria (PROV) State Library of Victoria – Ergo Australian War Memorial Shrine of Remembrance Founding Docs Marvellous Melbourne – Museum of Victoria Past Exams HTAV Publications Historians to look out for:

A.G.L. Shaw Stuart MacIntyre Geoffrey Blainey Manning Clark Richard Broome Marilyn Lake Bill Gammage Russel Ward

CONSTRUCTING SACS The closer to the exam, the better Mark out of 50, less maths the better

Also, it allows to give maximum marks for each criteria.

Don’t make the actual SACs too challenging – we want them to succeed Using past exams to help construct SACs give

students a true indication of difficulty levels BUT putting students through their paces in

practises isn’t a bad thing 1st SAC should be a document analysis like

Section A 2nd is more open, I personally do research

MAKING SURE STUDENTS UNDERSTAND WHAT IT TAKES TO GET A HIGH MARK

If you can get access to past year’s high scoring SAC and a mid scoring SAC, show them and let the students mark it

Use the descriptors from the Assessment Handbook to show students what a high scoring SAC looks like as well

Allow students to peer assess practice SACs using these guides.

Again, ensure students are 100% clear with the language used

MAKING SURE STUDENTS UNDERSTAND WHAT IT TAKES TO GET A HIGH MARKOutcome 1Explain the motives and hopes underlying the settlement of

the Port Phillip District (later the colony of Victoria) up to 1860 and the impact on the Indigenous population.

MARK RANGEDESCRIPTOR: typical performance in each range41–50 marks

Comprehensive and detailed knowledge of motives and hopes underpinning settlement. Detailed and coherent explanation of the impact of European settlement on Aboriginal communities and/or the impact of the gold rushes and gold on visions of the future. Thorough and relevant application of knowledge and use of concepts such as terra nullius, migration, expansion, ‘new world’, land ownership. Critical analysis and evaluation of evidence that synthesises a range of written and visual sources as well as critical analysis and evaluation of the way the experience of the period has been interpreted and understood over time. Very sophisticated use of historical conventions.

MARKING – THE BANE OF OUR EXISTENCE... This is hard & tedious! Our job is to attempt to give the most marks

for the work produced using the criteria Don’t be too harsh – they are not university

students yet Give specific feedback for each criteria so

students are aware of exactly where their marks came from

If you have someone to cross-mark with, use it! Doesn’t necessarily have to be another AH teacher – skills remain relatively consistent

For example...

EXAM REVISION

Never too early! After every AOS or even dot point, students

should be using past exam questions Again, students must be intimate with the

study design – put them up in your classroom!

So let’s here some revision strategies! Post its Foldable study booklets for each AOS (as shown)

SILLY THINGS TO MAKE IT ALL MEMORABLE

Humour works! Horrible Histories Be a proud dork

Make it authentic – how does it affect them today Particular groups bring their ideologies –

Chartists, Social Darwinism, ideas of Democracy Encourage historical empathy – ditching the

21st century goggles Devils Advocate – argue for ideas that go against

modern thinking Perceive-Know-Care About Speech bubbles

FIN

This is the discussion part What have we done that has worked?

What have we tried that hasn’t worked so well?

What would we like to try?