Students\u27 Observations and Perceptions of Teacher Performances in the Classroom

This paper documents students’ observations and perceptions of their respective teachers’ “performance” within the context of four year nine English classrooms. Drawing upon student interview data – and signalling researcher observations on occasion – it identifies key themes pertaining to the performances of the teachers. Specifically, it addresses the students’ perceptions of the qualities or characteristics of their teachers, and the sets of practices employed by the teachers; and the students’ views of the types of learning activities with which – and the classroom contexts within which – they were expected to engage. The paper identifies those teacher performances deemed by students to be “effective” and “ineffective” and the constitution of these performances, and draws conclusions as to what we, as educators, might learn from the students with regards to effective teach-er/ing practice. Finally, it is noted that while this paper draws specifically upon student observations and perceptions of English teachers’ performances, these offer valuable insights for all teachers – teachers of all subjects and across all sectors of education

Secondary school students' perceptions of, and the factors influencing their decision making in relation to, VET in schools

This paper addresses the issue of Vocational Education and Training in Schools – an issue that has recently attracted significant political attention particularly in light of current national skills shortage in Australia. Specifically, it investigates secondary school students' perceptions of VET in Schools [VETiS]. It also explores the factors influencing their decision-making in relation to VETiS – that is, why one might choose, or choose not, to enrol in a VETiS course of study. In view of the findings presented, the paper argues that VET, and more particularly VETiS, is experiencing an "image problem" – one underscored by the need for curriculum design and delivery reform – and suggests that there is much work still to be done on the VET agenda

Success for Boys: planning guide and core module

This publication does not have an abstract

Literacies

With the rise of new technologies and media, the way we communicate is rapidly changing. Literacies provides a comprehensive introduction to literacy pedagogy within today's new media environment. It focuses not only on reading and writing, but also on other modes of communication, including oral, visual, audio, gestural and spatial. This focus is designed to supplement, not replace, the enduringly important role of alphabetical literacy. Using real-world examples and illustrations, Literacies features the experiences of both teachers and students. It maps a range of methods that teachers can use to help their students develop their capacities to read, write and communicate. It also explores the wide range of literacies and the diversity of socio-cultural settings in today's workplace, public and community settings. With an emphasis on the 'how-to' practicalities of designing literacy learning experiences and assessing learner outcomes, this book is a contemporary and in-depth resource for literacy students

'The boys' present... hegemonic masculinity: a performance of multiple acts

This article explores the performance of masculinity(ies) within the classroom site. Drawing upon research conducted in two co-educational secondary classrooms, it examines the ways in which two groups of boys took up positions of dominance within their respective classrooms and, more specifically, focuses upon the ways in which they came to construct themselves, and perform, as embodied masculine subjects. In doing so, it examines the gendered and sexualized discursive knowledges and practices mobilized by these boys. Furthermore, it illustrates the ways in which these performances are constituted by, and constitutive of, versions of hegemonic masculinity while demonstrating the range of ways of 'doing' hegemonic masculinity-the various performance techniques available to do this 'work'. The article also examines how these boys' performances served to position their peers within the classroom and, furthermore, explores their intra-group interactions and the ways in which they came to position each other

Popular culture in the classroom: a plethora of possibilities

When given a place in the curriculum and our classrooms, popular culture texts offer a plethora of possibilities for teachers and students alike. In the case of popular magazines targeted at our students in the middle years - the tweens and teens of the contemporary world - this is particularly so. These 'textual treasure-chests' provide all teachers, regardless of subject area or year level, with resources and opportunities for working with their students in relevant, engaging and worthwhile ways. In this chapter, I demonstrate how these magazines, and the discrete text forms found within their pages, can be used across the subject areas of Science, Geography and English

Navigating the terrain of contemporary English education

This paper was prepared for use-in an Undergraduate Secondary English Curriculum course. It was constructed with a view to introduce these stiJdents - pre-seNiee English teachers - to the\ud discursive knowledges. and practices, or 'models', that have come to inform and continue to\ud constitute Subject English, and to alert these students to the 'slippery' propo$ition of attempting to\ud define the subject.\ud Given recent 'attacks'in the press·on contemporary English teaching practices and syllabus\ud documents, as marked out by tails to bring "mumbo jumbo' teaching to [an] end" (Slattery, 2005),\ud it seems timely to (re)visit the complex phenomenon that is Subject English and the multifarious\ud practices that haye come - ane( cOntinuE! - to constitute it

All the way with CDA: using critical discourse analysis to investigate the complexities of the classroom site

This paper explores critical discourse theories, in particular Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of discourse analysis, and highlights their role as an invaluable analytic tool within the field of educational research. It also signals the comparable view of language, discourse and subjectivity – as shared by many critical discourse theories and poststructuralism(s) – and suggests that these theoretical frameworks and associated analytical tools are in this way complementary. More specifically, the paper identifies the ways in which critical discourse theories provide an avenue for examining and unravelling the complex and multifarious site that is the classroom. Following discussion of the theoretical and analytical underpinnings and merits of critical discourse theories, the paper focuses upon the effective use of critical discourse theories in one classroom-based research project.\ud \ud In line with the premise upon which the classroom-based study is founded, the paper advocates that classrooms are discursively constituted sites and that discourses, often competing and at times contradictory discourses, operate as organisers of social interactions within these sites. It also contends that classrooms, given that they are discursively constituted, are inextricably sites in which relations of power are produced and circulated, and in which individuals are positioned and/or take up particular subject positions. Further, the paper proposes that ‘the lesson’ – as constructed and as takes shape within the context of the classroom – is to be conceived of, and to thus be read, as a ‘text.’\ud \ud Focusing upon the application of critical discourse analysis in the classroom-based study, this paper addresses a number of specific areas. It indicates how critical discourse analysis served as a tool that enabled the researcher to examine the discursive knowledges and practices employed by teachers and students within the classroom site. It also signals how critical discourse analysis enabled the researcher to read and account for the impact of the discourses operating within the classroom site upon what came to constitute the lesson and the classroom context. Further, it allowed for exploration of the power relations that were played out within the classroom and the subject positions made available to and taken up by those in the classroom

'Just boys being boys'?

Drawing on data collected for aresearch project at a state\ud secondary school in North Queensland, this research paper\ud reveals the problematic nature of narrow, "common-sense"\ud understandings of boys and of discourse about them. The\ud author holds that by constructing themselves as identifiably masculine subjects, boys engage in a sophisticated range of embodied "performance practices" and complex masculinities. The paper reveals how regarding these "performance practices" as "just boys being boys" results in the denigration; marginalisation, silencing and sexualising of girls. Finally, the paper critiques the Boys: Getting it right Report on the inquiry into the education of boys document (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Training 2002)