Thread: Teaching our history sounds like an idea

Originally Posted by nugge t

When my second was in 2nd or 3rd year they covered Burke and Wills. The teacher asked if anyone had been to the Dig Tree. Sal was the only person in the class to put her hand up but refrained from telling the teacher that she had actually been there 3 times

Same here with our two children. We were lucky enough to be able to travel to some of those areas when they were very young. The Dig Tree, Depot Glen etc. also Port Arthur in Tas. Then a couple of years later we were visiting North East Arnhem Land where they learned so much about the Aboriginal people and their lifestyle and beliefs.

Travelling around Australia ...even though they might have missed a little bit of time at school......was a great education for them. Their teachers would often remark on how much knowledge they had on Australian history.

My wife studied Australian History at high school and found it much more interesting than English History...even though she was born in the UK. However, our daughter Sharon (who now lives in Arnhem Land - and loves it there) majored in Ancient History in high school.

But yes, we agree that Australia does have a most interesting past.

While it would be great if everyone was interested in history, the fact is that not everyone is interested in it, or any other subject for that matter. You're battling uphill to get a kid whose main interest is, say, maths or science or playing basketball or flirting or Dragon War to take an interest in history if they don't want to, no matter how much effort the teacher puts in to making it interesting.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using AULRO mobile app

The Australian Curriculum - History is required to be taught through an inquiry pedagogy. This means that the Teacher should facilitate discussion and the students probe for meaning in a student centered format of inquiry.
The history that most of us grew up with was determined by the text book being used and the bias of the author.
In today's world student's are given the power to question the validity, authenticity and bias of all forms of media and texts. It is through inquiry that student's embark on the journey to find truth and meaning.
History is not about remembering dates and facts but about gaining insight and meaning from historical events, in isolation and globally.

Please remember that the school curriculum is extremely crowded and parents wish to hand over more and more of their responsibilities to the schools and teachers.
The curriculum is so crowded that History is allocated as little as 18 - 50 hours a year.
There is only so much quality teaching that can be achieved in less than an hour a week.

woody

Originally Posted by stallie

And that's half the problem. When I finished school twenty odd years ago, teaching was the course you did if you couldn't get into anything else.

Having said that, there are some brilliant teachers out there. But some duds too.


And don't get me started on kids not having to learn times tables.

You obviously have no contact with modern teachers. And do you have any idea of the work they put in? let me enlighten you. Our daughter is teaching in the country town of Gayndah. Her day starts at 5 am , making sure the she has everything ready for the day, [ years1/2 composite.] At school at 7am, prepare the class room. home about 5 pm, after sorting through the day's effort, up 'til about 8 pm , preparing the next day's lessons. 5 days a week, Friday is talk to the Parents day, [unless a problem pops up]. Their are no dud teachers, just dud education policies, and dud politicians [ educated by the dud teachers , probably] Times tables? I grew up with times tables, but I can tell you, that does not help in the modern society. Bob

Originally Posted by Landy Smurf

There are support materials and some have worked example of activities to teach, but generally that is what teachers work off.

The advantage of a syllabus document being broad in scope and not detailed is that the teacher/school can modify it to suit local history, which is always going to get kids more engaged, e.g. did you know that Ian Fleming based James Bond's character on a fellow called Sidney Cotton, who was born at Goorganga, 5km south of Proserpine? Our kids here in Prossy love to hear that sort of thing. You can also get kids engaged in actually doing things and learning history that interests them if you've got the flexibility.

Unfortunately, the Qld syllabus is so crammed with facts and specific and detailed in what to teach and when that everyone I speak to to, teachers and students, are bored silly. My kids hate History at school for this reason, even thought they'll watch hours of Horrible Histories on telly whenever it is on.