(Re)designing a unit - Rationale

'Black Snake' - Was Ned Kelly a villain, victim, or hero?

As mentioned in my previous post, I have (re)designed this unit from one I taught earlier this year. However, I altered a considerable amount thanks to my increasing knowledge of inquiry learning. In redesigning this unit, I primarily focused on:

• Reducing the amount of teacher-directed content in each week, opting instead for student-led literature circles. It is hoped this will allow students to "be on the inside" of understanding rather than observers to knowledge creation (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 122).
• In order to facilitate this change, I used Carol Kulthau's Guided Inquiry Design model to organise the stages of inquiry.
• I paired this with an instructional model, the Gradual Release of Responsibility (Fisher & Frey, 2014), which forms part of my schools pedagogical framework. I felt that this allowed for some direct instruction (for example modelling text annotation, character analysis and literature circle preparation in the initial stages) but also opened up a lot more space for student exploration and mandated it in a way the previous unit did not.
• I incorporated the GeSTE windows to ensure that the learning taking place encouraged critical evaluation of information.

The challenging part of working in an MYP school in Australia (and elsewhere I'm sure) is aligning the ACARA curriculum and content descriptors with the MYP criteria and requirements. MYP is a concept-driven framework in which the learning should revolve around the key and related concepts. This unit has drawn its content from the ACARA content descriptors for Year 7 English and assesses students (as required by the school) against the MYP criteria. The unit overview and assessment can be found here, in addition to my previous post which provides further context for the unit (re)design. I have used the unit planner required by my school, as it has all the specific requirements of the MYP built in, but the unit is adaptable for non-MYP teachers looking for a Year 7 Ned Kelly unit as well.

Sidney Nolan The trial 1947 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of Sunday Reed 1977. Image courtesy of https://nga.gov.au/nolan/

This unit is a guided inquiry which is designed around a mixture of teacher and student direction (Martin-Hansen, 2002; Bell, Smetana & Binns, 2005). It is organised around Carol Kuhlthau's Guided Inquiry Design (GID) model, which I especially like for this unit as it incorporates create as a way of making and communicating meaning. This more easily allows for explicit teaching of 'Communication skills', as one of the Approaches to Teaching & Learning required by the MYP. Additionally the GID incorporates sharing of learning, which is important for a unit in which students are working collaboratively much of the time and developing their oral speaking skills for an audience. This model also accommodates 'blurring' of the process so that phases can overlap in a connected series of learning experiences: the process appears linear but is "messy" (Kulthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2012, p. 2).

It can be challenging with text studies to make English assessment authentic, which is often seen as an important element of meaningful inquiry (Lupton, 2012). Being an MYP unit however, this inquiry is designed to be driven by learning around the Statement of Inquiry (SOI) (I've always thought this something of a paradox, but nevertheless) which provides an opportunity to situate learning in a real-life context and can also provide powerful stimulus ideas for an 'opener' to activate student curiosity and connection to the content (Kulthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2012). Students are encouraged in this unit to consider and present their own examples of how the SOI might be applied to their own lives and the lives of others in the 'open' phase of the inquiry. Activities in this phase of inquiry should aim to unbolt a door, or bridge a 'gap' between the students' worlds and the world of the curriculum, forming a 'third space' (Maniotes, 2005, cited Kulthau, 2010, p. 5) where students feel motivated to build expertise and ownership so that meaningful, lasting learning can take place.

However, meaningful inquiry must also have a sense of direction (Barell, 2008). The questions which will guide the direction of this unit represent related sets of topical and overarching questions (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) which are directed by the MYP questioning framework of factual, debatable & conceptual questions. 

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These form the essential questions of the unit and the conceptual and debatable questions in particular are designed to stimulate, provoke and inspire further questions, as well as offer opportunities for transfer (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005; Wiggins, 2007). These latter two categories of questions are what really signpost the big ideas, illicit interesting and alternative views and spark meaningful connections between learning and the real world (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, Wiggins, 2007). The questions in this unit have been designed to capture the 'four connotations' of essential questions (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005; Wiggins, 2007), as I believe all are important to asking meaningful questions in different ways:

Summary of Wiggins & McTighe's (2005) 'four connotations' of essential, pp. 108-110.
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One of the most delightful outcomes of having taught this unit in the past, and something I hope is retained, is the way in which students could be heard debating the question of Kelly's heroism outside of the classroom, so the question really 'came alive' (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, p. 108). The factual questions are more usefully thought of, in my mind, as the content framing questions or generative questions (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) which stimulate inquiry and direct students toward the concrete knowledge that can be gained. Given many of our students arrive in Year 7 without prior knowledge of the MYP, in this unit I have chosen to provide quite a few of the questions as a guide, but I would encourage teachers to have students use these questions as a starting point. For example, the factual question 'what was Australia like in Kelly's time?' could be conducted as a jigsaw research activity in which students develop their own further questions to answer. This is an opportunity to model and scaffold student learning about how to ask good questions and to create a 'Wonder Wall' of further questions to be answered throughout the unit. Here, I encourage teachers to use an additional questioning framework in the opening stages of the inquiry to both establish prior learning and add student questions to the unit. Something like KWL (Ogle, 1986) is a useful framework for helping students to unpack further and guide reflection at the end of the unit. KWL asks:

• What do I know?
• What do I want to find out?
• What have I learned?

This kind of activity could also be used to group students according to interest, which can facilitated both differentiation and collaborative learning. Another way in which this unit is designed to encourage collaborative construction of knowledge (Kulthau, Maniotes & Caspari, 2012) is through the use of literature circles to examine the text Black Snake: The Daring of Ned Kelly, by Carol Wilkinson. The text has 6 chapters and the unit plan (Suggested Learning Sequence - Weekly Overview) allows 3-4 weeks for literature circles. In this unit they will operate as Harvey & Daniels (2009) define them: small, peer-led reading discussion groups. Initially I had thought to use role sheets, but upon reflection my concern is that these might hinder discussion or make responses mechanical rather than genuinely interested (Harvey & Daniels, 2009). I also steer away from using Harvey & Daniels' complete model (as it risks confusion by inserting an inquiry within an inquiry), but instead take pertinent suggested teacher and student actions to guide student preparation for literature circles. Initially this is through teacher modelling (the 'I do'/'we do' phase of GRR) and then through student collaboration and independent preparation ('you do together'/'you do alone'). I have adopted key actions from Harvey & Daniels' small group inquiry model, for both teachers and students, and used them with the factual, debatable & conceptual questions from the unit to guide student reading & discussion. Students use the essential questions to make post-its notes, keep a learner portfolio or dialogue journal (where students are in 'dialogue' with the text) while reading for literature circles.

Adapted from Harvey & Daniels' (2009) small group inquiry model, pp. 201-202.
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This unit engages all four of the GeSTE Windows:

Link to full document here. Click image to view full size.

The exploration of historical context through research enables students to engage critical with sources and develop their information literacy (Lupton, 2016), using the Generic and Situated window. The focus on using multiple sources to uncover information about characters and context too, encourages students to glean information from multiple text types and documents, including Wilkinson's own, arguably heavily biased, view of Kelly. The unit requires students to consider the socio-historical features of the time that may have impacted on Kelly and others, influencing their perspective on events - this employs both the Transformative and Expressive windows, in that it invites students to consider the economic and social inequities of the time that may have motivated Kelly, asks them to imagine what different characters may have thought and experienced, and requires them to generate opinions and create identities around these perspectives which they express through their speeches. Ideally too, this unit would engage with questions about whose voices are not heard? Whose stories are not told?

In my experience students really enjoyed the investigative and creative aspects of this unit. It is my hope that these have been enhanced by my (re)design and the inquiry process clarified and simplified so as to allow deeper and more critical engagement with the text and more time to develop critical literacy, analytical and communication skills.

References:

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). (2017). Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

Approaches to Teaching and Learning in the International Baccalaureate Programme (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/digital-tookit/flyers-and-artworks/approaches-to-teaching-learning-dp-en.pdf

Barell, John. (2008). Chapter 4 : How Do We Plan for Students’ Questions? In Why are school buses always yellow?: teaching for inquiry, preK-5 (pp. 45–61). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Bell, R., Smetana, L. and Binns, I. (2005). “Simplifying inquiry instruction.” The Science Teacher 72(7): 30-33.

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2014). Better learning through structured teaching : a framework for the gradual release of responsibility (2nd edition.). Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD.

Guided Inquiry Design. (2018). Retrieved from https://guidedinquirydesign.com/gid/

Harvey, S., & Daniels, H. (2009). Comprehension & collaboration: inquiry circles in action . Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Kuhlthau, C. (2010). Guided Inquiry: School Libraries in the 21st Century. School Libraries Worldwide, 16, 1–12. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/docview/217762150/fulltextPDF/137CFC812C0546AD67E/1?accountid=13380

Kuhlthau, C., Maniotes, L.K. & Caspari, A.K. (2012). Guided Inquiry: Learning in the 21st Century. Santa Barbara, California: Libraries Unlimited.

Language and Literature Guide, MYP Program. Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/curriculum/language-and-literature/

Lupton, M. (2012, August 22). What is inquiry learning? Retrieved from https://inquirylearningblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/what-is-inquiry-learning/

Lupton, M. (2016). Critical evaluation of information: GeSTE windows overview. Retrieved from https://inquirylearningblog.wordpress.com/2016/08/18/critical-evaluation-of-information-geste-windows-overview

Martin-Hansen, L. (2002). “Defining inquiry: Exploring the many types of inquiry in the science classroom.” The Science Teacher 69(2): 34-37.

Murdoch, K. (2012). Walking the world with questions in our heads. Retrieved 25 October, 2018, from https://www.kathmurdoch.com.au/blog/2012/10/28/walking-the-world-with-questions-in-our-heads

Ogle, D. (1986). “K-W-L: A teaching model that develops active reading of expository text.” Reading Teacher 39: 564-570.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design, expanded 2nd edition. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral.proquest.com

Wiggins, G. (2007). What is an essential question? Big Ideas. Retrieved October 25, 2018, from http://www.authenticeducation.org/ae_bigideas/article.lasso?artid=53

Wilkinson, C. (2005). Black Snake: The Daring of Ned Kelly. Newtown, NSW: Walker Books Australia.