Civics and Citizenship - Learning about Democracy (Week 2)


Welcome to Term 1, parents/carers of 2L! I hope you had a wonderful holiday period.

We will start the term by exploring the concept of ‘democracy’ in the context of creating a democratic classroom/school culture. The emphasis will be on democratic values such as care and compassion, ‘fair go’, respect, responsibility, understanding, tolerance and inclusion – the values for Australian schooling (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, p.4). In our unit focussing on active citizenship, we will be learning what it means to be democratic, why it is important, and how to create a democratic culture in the classroom/school.
Figure 1. Children being democratic (Mujiono, n.d.).

Activating Prior Knowledge
As a class, we will discuss what we think/know about being democratic and record our thoughts on a mind map. 
Figure 2. An example of a mind map.

Then students will be asked to have a discussion with you about what democratic values you hold in your family to share in class.

Literature
As a class, we will read The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig and Patrice Barton (2013) – a picture book that enables students to explore and understand the democratic values previously listed in context and have further discussions about why it is important to be democratic and how to create a democratic classroom/school culture.

Figure 3. The book cover of The Invisible Boy (goodreads, 2019).


Video 1. The Invisible Boy (Mr Baker’s Bookshelf, 2017).

We encourage you to read your child stories that explore the democratic values previously listed and have discussions with him/her at home. Please visit these links for a suggested book list:
https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/best-picture-books-teaching-compassion.html
https://childrenslibrarylady.com/respect-picture-book-list/
https://childrenslibrarylady.com/responsibility-picture-book-list/

Active Citizenship in Action
We will create a duty roster for taking care of our class pet fish – Dory and really fulfil the duty to help us become responsible, caring, compassionate and respectful.
Figure 4. Photo of our class pet fish - Dory (Harris, 2011).
By the end of the unit, we will write a play about how to create a democratic classroom/school culture and perform our creation for other students in the school.

Figure 5. Photo of students performing a play in the past (Corrales Arts Center, n.d.).

During the unit, students will be encouraged to reflect on what democratic action(s) they themselves have done or have seen other students doing in the classroom/school, record their reflection/observation on a sticky note and stick it on the designated ‘how to be democratic’ wall for future discussions.
Figure 6. 'How to be democratic' wall.

By engaging in this unit, students will be able to achieve the following learning outcomes from the Early Years Learning Framework (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2009) and Australian Curriculum (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], n.d.a; ACARA, n.d.b):
Figure 7. Links to the Early Years Learning Framework.


Figure 8. Links to the Australian Curriculum.


This active citizenship-orientated unit also encourages effective student involvement in Australia’s democracy by helping students develop the dispositions, values, skills and knowledge of informed and active citizenship (Commonwealth of Australia, 2011), which in turn attains Goal 2 of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians – “all young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens” (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, 2008, p.8).

I am looking forward to a great term! Please feel free to contact me if you want to discuss ways to further support your child’s learning as your engagement in his/her learning is crucial (Department of Education and Training, 2018).

Kind regards,
Miss Lee

References
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (n.d.a). Humanities and Social Sciences. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/humanities-and-social-sciences/hass/

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (n.d.b). General capabilities. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/

Children’s Library Lady. (n.d.a). Respect - Picture books & resources. Retrieved from https://childrenslibrarylady.com/respect-picture-book-list/

Children’s Library Lady. (n.d.b). Responsibility - Picture books & resources. Retrieved from https://childrenslibrarylady.com/responsibility-picture-book-list/
Commonwealth of Australia. (2005). National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools. Canberra, ACT.
Commonwealth of Australia. (2011). About civics and citizenship education. Retrieved from https://www.civicsandcitizenship.edu.au/cce/about_civics_and_citizenship_education,9625.html
Corrales Arts Center. (n.d.). Acting kids. Retrieved from https://corralesartscenter.org/page-18214
Department of Education and Training. (2018). Parent engagement in children’s learning. Retrieved from https://www.education.gov.au/parent-engagement-children-s-learning
Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR]. (2009). The Early Years Learning Framework. Canberra, ACT.
goodreads. (2019). The Invisible Boy. Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17140549-the-invisible-boy
Harris, C.O. (2011). Inside the fish bowl. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/christianoliverharris/5677387468
Ludwig, T., & Barton, P. (2013). The invisible boy. New York: Random House USA Inc.
Mascott, A. (2017). Best picture books for teaching compassion. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/best-picture-books-teaching-compassion.html
Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/national_declaration_on_the_educational_goals_for_young_australians.pdf
Mr Baker’s Bookshelf [Mr Baker’s Bookshelf]. (2017, September 7). The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNHc2XCultQ
Mujiono, T. (n.d.). Vector - Multicultural children cartoon on planet earth. Retrieved from https://www.123rf.com/clipart-vector/multicultural.html?sti=nbrnm40xxjmkyocqbw|&mediapopup=35858836

Comments

  1. Eloise22 March 2019 at 00:30

    Hi Sue Sean

    I value the point you have included on having students reflect. Also, I value the ‘activating prior knowledge’ as parents know how their child is starting the learning, and the pedagogy you are employing to do this.
    I wonder if you can find academic research to support your blog, and to address the criteria and expand more on the ‘why’.
    You might want to try adding links to the Australian Curriculum, as you are teaching year two, and students will formally learn CCE in the next year, e.g. through the aims, so parents know where their child is working towards.
    Referencing and grammar note: Reference the book you will use in the reference list, so if parents want to find it they know the exact words to search. The last paragraph, first sentence, consider changing students’ to student as it reads better.

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  2. Tahlia Adams25 March 2019 at 21:24

    Hi Sue Sean,
    I think the inclusion of the book into your lesson is a great idea and the way you have included it into your blog for parents to be able to listen to the book is a good way to help parents connect with the lesson.
    As you are teaching a year two class adding some content descriptors from the Australian curriculum could help parents see where this unit of work aligns with the curriculum.
    Adding a sentence at the end of your blog about what parents could do to support this at home would also be useful.

    ReplyDelete

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