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The ‘Teachers as Writers’ movement was founded on a belief that ‘when teachers embrace the identity of a writer, their practices as teachers of writing undergo a transformation that enhances the experience of writing and writing performance of their students’ (Locke 2015, p.2). A key issue for teachers across all areas of the curriculum is that they ‘are less confident at writing and the teaching of writing than they are at reading’ (Andrews in Locke 2015, p.2). In order to be a successful Teacher of Writing, Andrews suggests the following:

·      To teach writing, you need to be able to write

·      The teacher should act as writer alongside the students, and be prepared to undertake the same assignments as the students

The best outcomes of student writing have occurred when I have modelled essay responses in my classroom. Collaboratively we ‘unpack’ an example of an essay prompt in order to communicate the process of responding to the writing task. We brainstorm the key ideas that the prompt is asking us to explore and find evidence within the text to support statements or arguments. Following that, I show my students a paragraph or series of paragraphs that I have written in response to the prompt, explicitly pointing out my topic sentence, explanation, evidence or examples and my linking sentence. My students writing has dramatically improved since implementing this form of modelling in my classroom and it has also proved to be an eye-opening experience for me. Locke explains that too often, teachers are institutionalised into a ‘hierarchical arrangement, we are teachers and our students are learners’, however when we as teachers assume the identity of a writer, we can modify the traditional teacher-student hierarchy which results in establishing a community of writing practice (Locke 2015, p.141).

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Seven Ways to Support Student Writing in any Content Area

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Seven Ways to Support Student Writing in any Content Area

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The below image is a visual representation of how to be a 'Writing Teacher' created by Jennifer Gonzalez (2015) from the online resource 'Cult of Pedagogy'.

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The Challenges of teaching Writing in the 21st Century

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The Challenges of teaching Writing in the 21st Century

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As English teachers, it can be challenging to engage our students in the writing classroom, particularly in the digital age when much of our students’ written communication is instantaneous and informal.  In addition to this, identity constructs, creating and maintaining relationships and social interaction occurs through the use of social media. Our students are spending much of their free time looking at a screen, using written communication, rather than spoken, and whilst many students are confident with this type of written language, many find it a challenge when more complex writing is demanded of them as part of the school curriculum.

Locke states that we must ‘think carefully about the way in which technologies feature in your classroom environment as you work on building up a community of writers’ (2015, p.199). He argues that ‘technologies also have affordances that relate to aspects of human interaction’ and notes the importance of seeking ‘your students’ views on ways different technologies support collaborative relationships around writing’ (Locke 2015, p.199). In addition to this, Thomson stresses the idea that ‘we learn by using language’ and thus we should encourage students to ‘use informal, comfortable language in talk and writing as a way of coming to sort out and understand new ideas and to share different interpretations of texts' (Thomson 2009, p.7).

As teachers of English, we must engage with a range of practical, evidence-based approaches to ensure that we are supporting the different types of learners in our classroom, as well as learning and growing with our students. This also means that we can use the advances of digital technology to our advantage. Some websites I utilise to encourage my writing community and collaboration include:

·     Google Docs

·     One Note

·     Padlet (this website)

·     Let’s Recap (Twitter for the classroom)

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Students with learning difficulties exist in almost all classrooms. In addition to that, students may have additional needs or a language background other than English. Marilyn Kell explains that even with nation-wide high stakes testing such as NAPLAN and other standardised tests, ‘a number of children appear to slip through the net’.

In my classroom, I have two students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and four students with language backgrounds other than English. Below, I will list some of the strategies that I implement in my classroom to ensure I am catering to the individual needs of all of my students:

·     Using visualssuch as a visual schedule of the lesson, visual timer for activities, using visual aids such as PowerPoint, Prezi and writing on the board, if watching a YouTube video or movie I have subtitles switched on

·     Limited teacher talk

·     Small group work

·     Group rotations (enables me to work with groups of students without singling out particular students in front of the class

·     Differentiation of tasks

·     ‘Learning about my students’ backgrounds, their cultural, religious beliefs and their home lives where possible

In terms of extended tasks, Marilyn Kell (2009, p.155) provides some helpful strategies to assist students with breaking writing tasks down into smaller chunks:

·     Given the topic, write a list of every word that comes into your mind

·     For each word on the list, write three associated thoughts

·     Write a sentence for each initial word and its associated word. This makes paragraphs

·     Read your work aloud

·     Decide if you need to add or delete anything

·     Decide if you need to rearrange any of your paragraphs

·     In three sentences explain what this writing is about (the introduction)

·     In three sentences review what you have written, highlighting new ideas (the conclusion)

This process gives students a starting point to extended writing and also assists in building writing confidence. I use this as part of differentiated learning and would use it during group rotations so I can work with the group of students as well as writing down my own responses for each section to model the process.

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Creativity in the Senior English Classroom

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Creativity in the Senior English Classroom

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I often wear my ‘Drama Teacher’ hat in my English classroom, particularly when focusing on character analysis. Instead of asking students to individually take notes and write lengthy responses on each character in a particular text, I employ another teaching strategy known as ‘Teacher in Role’, something I learned from my studies at Deakin University. Peter Adams suggests that in this type of creativity in an English classroom, the pupil can begin to gain insights into the quality and texture of life represented in a particular novel, whether historical or contemporary (2009, p.54). In ‘Teacher in Role’, I begin by asking students which character in the novel they would like to meet. Following their response, I explain that I will step out of the classroom for a moment, and that particular character will join them for a Question and Answer session whilst I am away. After I compose myself outside of the classroom, I then return as that character and begin the ‘Q&A’ session with the students, whilst staying in character until there are no more questions. My students love this activity as it is a less formal, yet extremely effective way to explore and analyse a character. It can also be used in a number of ways such as exploring an author or a historical time period. I also encourage students to step into the ‘hot seat’ and assume the identity of a particular character. This activity can be categorised under what Adams explains as an Imaginative Re-Creation of Literature as it ‘encourages students to get inside the text, consider it from different angles, or extend their understanding of it without resorting to parcels of organised adult information about the text’ (Sawyer in Adams 2009, p.54).

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As teachers in the 21stcentury, our classrooms are filled with students from diverse backgrounds. This includes students with additional needs, students with a language background other than English and students from different cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds. I strongly believe in catering to the individual needs of all of my students. To many, this is an extremely challenging and complex task, but it need not be. Firstly, you need to get to know your students and build strong professional relationships built on trust, mutual-respect and understanding.

In Charged with Meaning: Re-viewing English, Wayne Sawyer details what is known as The Growth Model in English. The Growth Model acknowledges the importance of building relationships with students, and in order to cater for diverse learners ‘know the individual and work from there’ (Dixon in Sawyer 2009, p.21). The Growth Model is characterised by three main components – skills, cultural heritage and personal growth. The ‘Skills” component works on the belief that ‘learning activities are acquired through a pedagogy of participation rather than through implicit induction into literary understandings’ (Macken-Horarik 2014, p.10). It works to strengthen writing communities by an explicit and ‘hands on’ approach. I implement aspects of the Skills Model in my own classroom by promoting a collaborative and supportive environment, modelling writing, brainstorming ideas, unpacking texts and responses, formative assessment and class discussion. I also suggest you familiarize yourselves with the State Government of Victoria’s High Impact Teaching Strategies’ (HITS) which are ten evidence-based ‘instructional practices that reliably increase student learning’.

Sawyer explains that the Growth Model focuses on ‘re-examining learning process and the meaning for the individual student’ (2009, p.20). It highlights ‘the importance of personal experience in the classroom’ (Sawyer 2009, p.20). To encourage reflective and creative writing in my classroom, with a dual purpose of getting to know my students, I set tasks such as personal narrative writing, poetry, sharing childhood memories or journal entries.

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Image sourced from the Department of Education and Training 2017

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Example Lesson Plan - Visual Language Analysis

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Example Lesson Plan - Visual Language Analysis

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The following lesson plan and resources detail a class I taught on Visual Language Analysis as part of VCE English, Unit 1, Area of Study 2 - Analysing and Presenting an argument. The cartoon used for visual analysis was taken from The Age newspaper.

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A Portrait of My Senior English Classroom 

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A Portrait of My Senior English Classroom 

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My Year 11 English class is made up of twenty-two students, ten females and twelve males. I have four students who have a language background other than English, two students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and one student with a difficult home circumstance which contributes to his behaviour in the classroom.

My second teaching method is Drama which has had an impact on the way in which I view all of my students. I liken my English classroom to a school theatre production. Everyone involved in a production has a role to play. Their different backgrounds and experiences contribute to what they bring to that role, how they interpret the script or the music, how they collectively deal with the pressures of the forthcoming opening night, how they take direction or feedback and whether they use rehearsal time wisely or their free time to learn their lines. Ultimately, it’s about a diverse group of people coming together to collaborate and create something wonderful and memorable.

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Seating arrangements play an important role in creating and maintaining a supportive and safe learning environment, the fourth of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers developed by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL 2017).  Wright argues that ‘classroom climate and discourse can be altered significantly when seating arrangements are changed’ (2005, p.323). Upon entering a classroom, with the individual needs of my students in mind, as well as desired lesson outcomes and resources, I change the seating arrangement to suit the planned learning experience. I am not in favour of the traditional seating arrangement of rows of desks as it reminds me of my own experiences as a student when I would swiftly walk to the back of the room and seat myself in the last row in order to ensure I could engage in conversation with a friend when the teacher’s attention was divided. Wright suggests that manipulating the layout of your classroom can influence ‘interaction patterns; teacher-student relationships and student-student relationships; classroom atmosphere; and learning opportunity’ (2005, p.328). In my early pre-service teaching experiences, when classroom seating arrangements were not at the forefront of my mind, I would often fail to fully engage my students for the entire duration of a lesson, even when I implemented different teaching strategies and techniques. One of my mentors suggested that I change the layout of the classroom as some students do not respond well to traditional seating arrangements (rows). It was one of the best pieces of teaching advice that I have received.

So, what is the best seating arrangement you ask? Marzano (in Boynton and Boynton 2005, p.103) argues that in order eliminate barriers between teachers and students, the crucial criteria for classroom arrangement include:

·     You can easily see all students

·     Students can easily see all
presentations and demonstrations

·     Frequently used materials are easily accessible

·     Pathways facilitate traffic flow

·     It is easy to organise students into pairs, triads, and small groups

Therefore, my preferred seating arrangement is the ‘U Shape’ or ‘Horseshoe’ (see below) as I believe it accomplishes all of the above, and it has been successful with my Year 11 English class. This particular seating arrangement may not suit your own class, so it is important to experiment and find what works with your own students.

(The image below was created using the website 'Classroom Architecht')

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Adams, P. (2009). Imaginative Re-Creation of Literature. In: S. Gannon, M. Howie and W. Sawyer, ed., Charged with Meaning: Re-viewing English, 3rd ed. Putney NSW: Phoenix Education, pp.53-68.

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2018). Literacy. [online] Australian Curriculum. Available at: https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/literacy/ [Accessed 4 Aug. 2018].

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (2017). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. [online] Australian
Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. Available at:
https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards [Accessed 15 Jul. 2018].

Boynton, M. and Boynton, C. (2005). Educator's Guide to Preventing And Solving Discipline Problems. Minnesota: The Association for Curriculum and Supervision Development, pp.103-113.

Department of Education and Training (2017). High Impact Teaching Strategies: Excellence in Teaching and Learning. Melbourne: Victoria State Government, pp.1-29.

Gonzalez, J. (2015). 7 Easy Ways to Support Student Writing in Any Content Area. [image] Available at: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/content-area-literacy-writing/ [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].

Kell, M. (2009). Learning Difficulties in Literacy: Overcoming A Construct of the Literate Student. In: S. Gannon, M. Howie and W. Sawyer, ed., Charged with Meaning: Re-viewing English, 3rd ed. Putney NSW: Phoenix Education, pp.151-160.

Locke, T. (2015). Developing Writing Teachers: Practical Ways for Teacher-Writers to Transform their Classroom Practice. Oxon: Routledge, pp.1-204.

Macken-Horarik, M. (2014). Making Productive Use of Four Models of School English: A Case Study Revisted. English in Australia, [online] 49(3), pp.7-19. Available at: https://d2l.deakin.edu.au/d2l/le/content/642085/viewContent/3814035/View [Accessed 26 July. 2018].

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Melbourne: Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, pp.1-19.

Thomson, J. (2009). Post-Dartmouth Developments in English Teaching in Australia. In: S. Gannon, M. Howie and W. Sawyer, ed., Charged with Meaning: Re-viewing English, 3rd ed. Putney NSW: Phoenix Education, pp.5-18.

Sawyer, W. (2009). The Growth Model of English. In: S. Gannon, M. Howie and W. Sawyer, ed., Charged with Meaning: Re-viewing English, 3rd ed. Putney NSW: Phoenix Education, pp.19-30.

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (2014). Victorian Certificate of Education English and English as an Additional Language Study Design. Melbourne: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, pp.4-27.

Wright, T. (2005). Classroom Management in Language Education. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp.290-333.

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There are a large number of supports and resources that I draw on when formulating and planning my writing lessons. I have listed some of my ‘go to’ resources below.

Online Resources:

Victorian Association for the Teaching of English (VATE)

http://www.vate.org.au

Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA)

Includes ‘Advice for Teachers’, ‘FAQs’ and other helpful information and resources

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/studies/english/index.aspx

VCAA VCE English and English as an Additional Language Study Design

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/english/EnglishEAL-SD-2016.pdf

State Government of Victoria, Department of Education and Training - English

Teaching Resources, Curriculum Information, Assessment and Professional Development

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/Pages/default.aspx

FUSE

F-10 Victorian Curriculum English Resources

http://fuse.education.vic.gov.au/VC/Teacher?english

School-Based Resources

Key Learning Area Meetings (KLA)

Curriculum development and team planning

Professional Learning Team Meetings (PLT)

Professional learning for teachers to improve student learning and progress

School Based Curriculum Documents

School Assessed Coursework (SAC) Guidelines and Rubrics

Head of English Department

Colleagues

Mentor Teachers

Student Work

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Hello and Welcome!

I am an English and Drama teacher working at a co-educational government school in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. This is my third year of teaching since I completed my Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary)/Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University in Melbourne.

This guide is written for both Pre-Service Teachers and Graduate Teachers of English to help you to navigate your way through the complexities of teaching English at a senior level and to provide you with some of my own thoughts, beliefs, insights and experiences, as well as virtually welcoming you into my own Senior English classroom to show you how I work with my students to develop passionate, thoughtful, creative and confident and knowledgeable writers.

Literacy skills are necessary across the curriculum and writing plays an integral role in all subject areas. The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians states that literacy is an essential skill for developing successful learners in all areas of the curriculum (MCEETYA 2008, pp.8-9). The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority define literacy as involving ‘students listening to, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating oral, print, visual and digital texts, and using and modifying language for different purposes in a range of contexts’ (ACARA 2018).

In this guide, I will share my own personal experiences teaching Senior English, as well as pedagogical theory and how you can utilise these in your own classrooms. There is also an example of a lesson plan I have used with my Year 11 students that you are free to use and adapt to suit your own students.

I hope that you find this guide informative and helpful and wish you all the best in your teaching journey with Senior English.

Siobhan Perkins

I acknowledge the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nations, Traditional Owners of the Land on which I live and work.

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The Age Newspaper 28/01/2018

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I wrote my own responses to the questions whilst my students were writing their own.

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I ran out of time and was not able to write a formal response to this question. I used this as a teaching opportunity.