Refugees welcome here

English Syllabus K-10

• A student effectively uses a widening range of processes, skills, strategies and knowledge for responding to and composing texts in different media and technologies. (EN4-2A⁵⁷)

  • Text features - Recognise salience and symbolism in picture books

  • Identify themes - Refugees and belonging

  • Students:

    • Use a range of software, including word processing programs, to create, edit and publish texts imaginatively (ACELY1728)

    • Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that raise issues, report events and advance opinions, using deliberate language and textual choices, and including digital elements as appropriate (ACELY1736)

    • Create literary texts that draw upon text structures and language features of other texts for particular purposes and effects (ACELT1632)

• Mid way down the Literacy Activities page is a ‘Read for Australia’ document on using My Two Blankets with Stage 4 English students⁵⁸.

• Compare and contrast with the art and story in ‘My Two Blankets’ with the web comic ‘Madaya Mom’ which tells the story of a family trapped in Syria⁵⁹.

• The journal Scan (you will need to navigate to Volume 36 Issue 1) contains a review of My Two Blankets with a visual literacy teaching focus⁶⁰.

Geography Syllabus K-10

• A student locates and describes the diverse features and characteristics of a range of places and environments. (GE4 - 1⁶¹)

• A student explains how interactions and connections between people, places and environments result in change. (GE4 - 3⁶²)

• A student explains differences in human wellbeing. (GE4 - 6⁶³)

• A student acquires and processes geographical information by selecting and using geographical tools for inquiry. (GE4 - 7⁶⁴)

• A student communicates geographical information using a variety of strategies. (GE4 - 8⁶⁵)

• The Phillips Centre for Health and Well-Being has a chart called 'Insight Series on Liveable Cities' which explores what makes a city liveable⁶⁶.

• Compare changes in refugee circumstances using the UN Global Trends report for 2013⁶⁷.

• To help students visualise world inequity over time use the Gapminder Wealth and Health of Nations interactives⁶⁸.

• In order to visualise world inequity have students explore The StatSilk Life Expectancy interactive world map.⁶⁹

• In 2015 ‘The Economist’ magazine wrote an article discussing the ranking of the world’s most liveable cities⁷⁰.

• Economic information and country profiles are available on the website of ‘The World Bank’⁷¹.

• ‘The World Post’ article ‘After 4 years of war, why are so many fleeing Syria now’⁷².

Visual Arts Syllabus Years 7-10

• A student recognises and uses aspects of the work as a source of ideas, concepts and subject matters in visual arts. (Representation 4.4⁷⁷)

• A student investigates ways to develop meaning in their artworks. (Conceptual strength and meaning 4.5⁷⁷)

• A student selects different materials and techniques to make artworks. (Resolution 4.6⁷⁷)

• A student begins to acknowledge that art can be interpreted from different points of view. (Frames 4.9⁷⁷)

• Refugee week resource kit for organisers and teachers⁷⁸.

• Collections of Asian art around Immigrants and refugees – The Asia Art Archive⁷⁹.

• A range of teaching resources including a link to the Traces Project which is documenting the contribution of refugee artists in the United Kingdoms can be found at the UK Refugee Week website⁸⁰.

• Look at this article from ‘The Conversation’ about the access that refugee artists have to the creative community in Australia⁸¹.

• This page contains links to a secondary schools education kit from the Casula Powerhouse Art Centre which held an exhibition of International artists with a refugee background in 2016⁸².

• An interactive simulation that explores the difficulty of getting to Europe as a refugee⁹⁰.

• Interactive map of refugee migration⁹¹.

• SBS Interactive map of countries refugees flee too⁹².

• Anatomy of a refugee camp and interactive map/picture (needs Flash)⁹³.

• Current information and first person stories are available on the UNHCR homepage⁹⁴.

• World Refugee Day 2009 speech by Angelina Jolie⁹⁵.

• RacismNoWay education website⁹⁶ for Australian schools.

• Refugee Council of Australia⁹⁷.

• 2015 UHNCR subregional operations profile for Northern, Western, Central and Southern Europe⁹⁸.

• UNHCR News story 'Looking for safety and a better life in the Calais’ Jungle'⁹⁹.

• News article Oct 2015 'Why is there a crisis in Calais?'¹⁰⁰

• News article 'Germany and France volunteer to take Mediterranean refugees'¹⁰¹.

• News article 'Crush in Calais tests French attitudes on immigration'¹⁰².

• Independent information for refugees and migrants coming to Europe is available on the Website 'Welcome to Europe (w2eu)'¹⁰³.

• Compass episode on a Sudanese family being welcomed into Dorrigo - "A Small Town Welcome¹⁰⁴".

• The Key of Sea is an album of musical collaborations between Australian artists and asylum seekers¹⁰⁵. These artists have brought their musical skills and culture; the groups are joined together in search of a common goal - unity through music.

• There are 60 000 selected recordings of music, spoken word and environments in the British library “Sounds” collection¹⁰⁶.

• Click on a map to hear music from that region using the World Music Network website¹⁰⁷.

• Edited by Lyn White, ‘Through my Eyes’ is a series of books¹⁰⁸ that focuses on children living in contemporary conflict zones. Extracts, teaching notes and activities are included.

• Home - a poem by Warsan Shire¹⁰⁹.

• Cast From the Storm is a documentary about teenage refugees using drama to tell their stories¹¹⁰ .

The Department of Education is committed to eliminating racism through educating students, teachers, parents and involving the whole school community.

• The Anti-Racism Policy¹¹¹ applies to all department employees and students.

• Guidelines for the implementation of the policy, indicators of racism in schools, its effects and strategies for countering racism can be found in the ‘Anti-racism education – advice for schools’ document, located on the policy page.

To enable students and staff from all cultural, linguistic and religious backgrounds connect and succeed in the learning and working environment, the department is committed to building inclusive and racism-free school communities. An understanding of the nature of racism, its manifestations and effects is required to effectively counter it in schools.

• Access information to help schools understand and counter racism, and learn more about professional learning and resources available on the Anti-racism education page¹¹² of the Multicultural education website.

• Anti-racism education programs, strategies and resources for use in Australian schools are also available on the ‘Racism. No way!’ website⁹⁶.

Culturally inclusive practice is important at the whole school level and the curriculum, or classroom, level.

• Information and resources to support schools in providing culturally inclusive practices is available under the ‘Culturally inclusive curriculum’ heading on the ‘Cultural inclusion’ website¹¹³.

Learning and teaching programs need to include the ACARA learning across the curriculum general capability ‘Intercultural understanding’¹¹⁴ so that all students learn to value their own cultures, languages and beliefs and those of others.

Grouping

Decide how to group students. For example, do students choose their own groups, are groups randomly assigned (such as picking group numbers from a hat), or do you assign members to ensure a mix of ability and learning styles?

Timeline

Decide on timeline and lesson allocation:

• How long will students have to research and develop their item for the kit (allow at least 2–3 weeks)?

• What date will groups present their item to the class for feedback (allow at least one week before final presentation of kit)?

• What date will class present their complete kit?

Assessment

How much and what bits of the task will be assessable? Suggestions for assessing different stages of the task can be found in those sections. A major part of the assessment should focus on the development of collaboration and 21C skills in students. See the ‘21CLD’ tab in this section for suggestions for areas to focus on.

How much are you expecting students to do at home?

Celebration of work

It is vital to celebrate the completion of the whole kit as this makes the task real world and urgent for student engagement. Celebration could be achieved by presenting the kit to a Refugee representative, your local council or other organisation or at minimum at a school assembly. Additionally, putting parts of the kit on display in the school front office and in the newsletter will broaden the audience.

Ask students to listen to and/or read the message from the mayor and identify the audience and purpose for the kit.

Whole class input

Hold a quick class discussion about items for the kit. Allocate at least one item to each group. The suggested items are:

• infographic

• community blanket (Students taking this option would benefit from access to the picture book ‘My Two Blankets’).

• video

• google map

• poem or rap song

• non-spoken guide

The survey

Students will need to take this survey individually for the most honest responses. Their answers are not visible to others but mixed with all other students at other schools who have completed this unit.

Displaying the result for the whole class to see can prompt a strong class discussion of the topic and misconceptions. Having a class discussion on the results before examining the facts will help provoke cognitive dissonance in students with misconceptions.

True/false answers from Survey

Timeframe

Depending on your class this section could take less than one period or might need to be scaffolded and take more than one session to complete. Read through the steps carefully and decide how much scaffolding you will need to provide.

ICT resources

For many of these tasks (and in the later sections) every student will need access to an internet connected device.

• If this is not possible, how much can students do offline? It is possible to download a copy of this entire resource in a zip folder from Scootle. Although the external links will not work students can still access all the content inside this resource.

• Which activities could groups manage with one device per group?

• Do you need to book devices for your lessons?

• Do you need to warn anyone that your students may be using a lot of bandwidth?

• Are there any equity issues around students not having internet access at home?

Collaboration

Highlight that this is a collaborative task: team members will work together to research and to prepare and present the demonstration of their learning. Start a class discussion on the best way to handle collaboration between students using the following chart.

(Text version – Rules of engagement for online collaboration)

Directions for getting started

In order to start planning direct students to look at the ‘Designing your item’ tab in the ‘Culminating Task’ section. This will scaffold the design process for them. If necessary go through this tab with your whole class at the start of the lesson to re-orient them to the task.

Tasks

Students should work through the five teamwork activities, beginning with setting up a shared work space. These steps guide students to establish a collaborative and constructive working group. At the end, students should have a shared workspace in Google Drive or OneDrive that contains:

• discussion guidelines

• some kind of timeline or project organiser document that contains deadlines for feedback presentation and final due date

• a roles and responsibilities document

• a group reflection document

• students should have an individual reflection file of some kind that is shared with you but not their peers.

Project management

Encourage students to use project management software. For classes needing greater scaffolding:

• help them to break their task down into smaller pieces

• give them clear deadlines for the feedback presentation and the final due date for presentation of the completed kit.

Your access

Ensure each group gives you access to their workspace so you can monitor progress and support students as needed.

Aim of research

The aim of this section is that students develop an understanding about:

• what it is like to be a refugee, before and after arrival in their local community

• the fear and danger that refugees would have faced

• the desire for safety and comfort that motivates them

• the common need for peace and freedom to ‘fit into’ the local community.

Resources

• Coordinate the research task of this project with the school librarian.

• Preview the ‘Road to refuge’ website and the SBS interactive. If these do not seem suitable for your students look at the ‘Other resources’ section under the ‘Curriculum’ tab in this section for more options.

• Check that the school internet can handle multiple students accessing the interactive resources at the same time.

• What is your plan for total lack of internet on the day? It is possible to download a copy of this entire resource in a zip folder from Scootle. Although the external links will not work students can still access all the content inside this resource.

Class wide sharing

In this section students are asked to share their findings with the whole class on a presentation document. Create this beforehand and make sure that the whole class has access to it though Office 365 (PowerPoint Online or Sway) or G-Suite (Slides).

Credible sources

Students may need access to specific training on source evaluation at this point. Refugees are a controversial topic and you should refer to the relevant Department of Education policy for guidance on controversial topics¹²⁰.

The following resources can be used by or with students to think about how they evaluate sources:

• Scootle video showing students making mistakes looking at websites (needs Flash).¹²¹

• a great interactive game that teaches them to use the SAFE model when evaluating sources (needs Flash)¹²².

To help your students make good choices about information sources access the following resources:

• sample evaluation sheet for students to use with websites from readwritethink.org¹²³

• the ‘Effective reading’ Quick guides from the Southern Cross University website¹²⁴

• the ‘Choosing credible sources’ page from the Illinois Valley Community College website¹²⁵

• Kathy Schrock has some evaluation sheets that are licenced for classroom use on her Critical Evaluation page¹²⁶.

Blanket specific preparations

Students wanting to create a blanket will benefit from access to the picture book ‘My Two Blankets’ even if this unit is being taught with a Geography or Visual Arts focus. If you cannot find that book other suggestions include:

• ‘The Island’ by Armin Greder

• ‘Home and Away’ by John Marsden & Matt Ottley

• ‘The Little Refugee’ by Anh Do & Suzanne Do

• ‘Refugees’ by David Miller

• ‘Ali the bold heart’ by Jane Jolly & Elise Hurst

Creating a survey?

Decide whether you want the class or each group to create and send out a survey to the wider community. This has the potential to be contentious but also acts as an opportunity to get students focused on data and using data to inform their decisions. The survey is suggested as a possible strategy for groups, even if it is not made mandatory. Students should ask the questions of people outside the classroom such as family, peers and even the wider community if suitable.

Timeframe

This section is envisioned as taking more than one period. Students will need time to:

• brainstorm in their groups

• share brainstormed ideas with the class in a shared document

• find factual and credible information based on the suggested questions

• discuss it within their groups

• create a group research document

• reflect on their progress at regular intervals.

Referring to the item specifications

Direct students back to the introductory information for each item in the ‘Culminating Task’ section. Each group will find item specific links and references to guide and scaffold their investigations.

Early designing

If students are excited to start designing their item during this phase make sure they review the ‘Designing your item’ tab in the ‘Culminating task’ section. Stress the importance of following a proper design process to avoid wasting time and producing the best possible result. Instilling this process into your student’s ways of thinking is a big part of 21^st century learning. You could even remind them that these are the skills that a future employer will want them to have.

Some classes would benefit from a review of the design process at the beginning of each section to remind them where that stage fits into the overall process.

The design process

This section specifically guides students through the design process. As discussed earlier students should have looked through this section earlier on in the unit to help inform their decision making, organisation and investigation but they should now dig into the details of the design process. Stress the non-linear nature of the process and that they should be willing to make mistakes and then learn from them.

The design process used in this section is adapted from the Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit¹²⁷ which is a wonderful resource for teachers that you might like to use in your general practise or as a starting point for designing your own Collaboratus unit¹²⁸.

Assessment

To ensure equality of assessment across the range of possible kit items your rubric can focus on the collaboration, communication and problem solving skills used and acquired by students. In designing your rubric think about the following questions:

• How did the students work together?

• How did they overcome problems?

• How did they respond to feedback?

• How well did they take responsibility for their roles and assigned tasks?

• How well did they communicate their learning throughout the process and in the end product?

For more information on future focused skills and how to design lessons and units with them in mind see the 21st Century Learning Design Rubrics¹²⁹ document.

Resources

A number of the items in the kit require or would benefit from access to specialist equipment:

• at least one sewing machine for the blanket

• a good quality microphone and mixing equipment for music production

• video camera and microphones for film production

Read through the expandable link for each item and prepare for possible student requests. Do you need to speak to people in advance for access to equipment?

Controversial issues in the rap song and poem option for the Culminating task.

As part of encouraging students to prepare for creating a rap song or poem, students are prompted to read this poem about refugees written by Brian Bilston¹⁸. Depending on the background and cultural views of your students this could be a controversial topic. You should prepare in advance to mediate discussion between students with passionate viewpoints. For resources to support you in this effort see the ‘Anti-racism support’ expandable, inside the ‘Other resources’ expandable, in the ‘Curriculum’ tab of this section ‘Information for teachers’.

ICT considerations

Make sure the suggested links work through your school network and filter. To ensure students do not waste time supply alternative links where necessary. For students in need of greater scaffolding, direct them to use specific sites or how-to instructions.

The ‘Troubleshooting’ section

This section deliberately encourages students to try and figure things out for themselves. 21CL has a focus on problem solving and lateral thinking.

Scaffolding

Depending on your class you may need to scaffold them through the design process with directed lessons on each step. The ultimate goal is that students will develop the skills to apply this process in their individual and group work throughout school and into their work life. Your class may benefit from having this goal explained explicitly throughout this unit of work.

Encouraging collaboration

• Your class may benefit from a brief reminder of their group discussion guidelines at the beginning of each period.

• If the teams are working independently you will find yourself in the position of a facilitator who is providing advice and requested resources on an as needed basis.

• Use your access to each group’s shared files and your observation skills to determine when intervention and moderation of discussion or decision making is needed.

• Try to avoid intervening straight away to give students a chance to resolve problems on their own.

Experimentation and prototyping

Put an emphasis on trial and error and trying things out first. Encourage students to make rough versions and test for issues rather than strive to be perfect the first time around.

Software

There are many software tools that students can use to present their progress for feedback. You might ask students to use tools they already have access to or are familiar with. Limiting the choice of tools to 1 or 2 options will assist students who need more direction.

	Tools for presentation

Assessment

If you are assessing this presentation as part of the project Technology rubrics for any classroom¹³⁰ is a resource that provides guidelines for assessing digital student work in a variety of modes and media. Use these alongside your regular content and syllabus focused outcomes. How well does each team explain their design decisions and the problems they faced?

Explicitly teaching feedback strategies

To ensure feedback is supportive and helpful your students will benefit from a range of strategies to enhance peer feedback¹³¹.

Data collection

Ensure students look at their presentation as an opportunity to collect data from their audience. Evaluate whether your class will also need you to collect data on peer feedback to help them refine their work.

Evaluating and reflecting on content and the learning process is a critical part of 21st century education and is encouraged throughout this resource.

Highlight the importance of continual reflection

The ‘Evaluate’ section addresses both audience evaluation and reflecting on one’s own learning. Introduce this section before student presentations so groups have time to make an audience feedback form or quiz if appropriate.

Regular reflections

In the ‘Get organised’ tab, the resource suggests students keep a learning log during the project. Follow your regular reflection or journaling routines, or guide students to use online tools to capture their thoughts.

Your practise

As an educator you can model reflective practise. Think about:

• How can you improve on the delivery of this project?

• What have you learned about embedding 21st century skills into a learning experience?

• How did you modify this resource to better meet the needs of your class or community?