Clip 2: Jo and Trevor
Trevor:
So, how do you think that we could approach doing that with her? Because I know that there have been some discussions with Leslie previously that she’s really interested, and she wants to do something about addressing the sorts of literacy challenges that her kids encounter. But she feels very nervous about doing anything like that. And perhaps I guess it’s like lots of teachers really, who don’t feel they that have the literacy background that they need to change their practice in the way that we’re talking about. And so they tend to rely on that teacher-lead piece: “I need to keep delivering the content”. So how do you think that we might start thinking about shifting?
Jo:
Seeing more modelling, actually in the classroom, of that strategy being used with her kids, there's a specific to art, to her subject. Leslie is very scared at this beginning point, and it’s the nervousness that if she doesn’t use the strategy correctly, it will actually affect, hinder their progress. So if she can actually see the modelling and get some understanding of the strategies, it’s going to help her.
Trevor:
So we can have a student focus group, we can certainly talk to the kids. Do you think that we need to do anything specific like one of the literacy assessments?
Jo:
Not for this subject. It doesn’t actually have any written requirement under exam conditions. I think we’re really interested in finding out what the kids are actually using and their perceptions of literacy in art and design. What strategies do they use at the moment? What the reading challenges are? What the writing challenges are? I think the tendency is that we do the thinking for the students, and we don’t always make sure that we take children through the journey that we’ve gone through – the thinking journey – and we just sort of present them with the solutions.
Trevor:
Now I guess the other thing we need to find out too, before we start doing any modelling, is just where we’re up to in the course. What are the current achievement standards that they’re working through, and where we can most easily slot this work, the modelling work in particular, into the work that they’re currently doing? Because we don’t want to give them something artificial. They won’t use it, Leslie won’t use it. You know, it’s got to be something that is really relevant to them at this point.
Jo:
Yeah, it’s got to be real. As you say, we want them to remember it and ultimately use it as an independent strategy.
