TaNuj^’s Weblog

After the success we had with our previous project (write on, write now), in which many of the students and teachers performed the act of enthusiasm. Now it was time to move onto our next project, which was given the name of, “Australia Then and Now”. As the name would have suggested that this project would looks at aspect of history, history of great nation that today we know as Australia. In order to under take this task students were given a formal document, which highlighted things that are asked from this project….

“AUSTRALIA”

The compendium to the movie

To coincide with the release of Australia the movie, director Baz Luhrmann and his production company have promised to release a compendium to the movie so that an international audience may better understand the setting and context for the film.

The compendium to the film shall include a brief history of the nation from settlement until the present. Selected historical writers have been asked to complete different chapters. One chapter, Australia to 1901-1914, is to be written by school students from Sydney.

 The compendium is to be launched in 2 weeks time to coincide with the Sydney premiere of the movie. Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman will also be available for a book signing at Angus and Robertson’s Pitt St. store on November 25th (cough, cough – like this would be true)

Even though we have only spent few lessons on this project, yet students have taken in quite a lot of content into them. As a class we have done an extensive research on- the world to 1914. In doing so we encountered many facts, which still shock many people. In my opinion the best way to describe the period from 1901- 1914 would be, clam breeze which blows before a storm. In say so I’am referring to periods just before World War 1. A bloody battle which we know took lives of many courageous warriors. Now you must be wondering how come our project is based on Australia, and yet we are doing all this research about the world, and wars. The reason behind this sort of research is for us students get a better knowledge on many sorts of alliances which were formed, during wars. This was done in-order for us to have a clear understanding in the relationship of Australia and its mother country- Great Britain. During our research work we covered many topics such as-

• Empire/Imperialism
• Arms Race
• Dreadnought- Naval Race
• Triple Entente
• Triple Alliance
• Boer War
• Boxer Rebellion

If you look from your eyes at all those topics it would seem useless, but if see from the sight of a historian you will see fascinating topics which hold so much mysteries about our past.

Anyhow, later in the week we got together as class and viewed couple of videos. These videos had an in-depth look at the situation in Australia. We looked at the topics such as…

• Constitutional convection in Australia
• Federation taking place ;uniting as a country ( “either we work as a team, or die as individuals”)
• United Defence Force
• Trade and Economy
• Woman Suffrage

From my prespective this project tends to be on rocky grounds, simply because there is no means of social networking (google docs., Ning) involved. But I’m sure my teachers and friends -Lucy and Sac with whom I developed in my learning this year would be able to convert it into a superior project.

“There is a long way to go, but at least a sturdy start has been made”

So here are few photographs I took, which convey our learning…

Who imagined that learning could be this fun ….

Over the last few weeks year 9 students at my current high-school have been working on a project so called “Write On, Write Now”(fabulous title, in my opinion). A project which has been created by the likes of amazing and enthuziastic teachers such as- Lucy, Dean , and few other new comers.  It was a project in which we(students) had an in-depth look at the aspect of reading and writing.

Walking to school I had many of my mates and teachers talking of this project. Which required students  to read George Orwell masterpiece- Animal Farm, and later go onto writing a book of their own consisting 8000 words – that to in ONE, SINGLE SCHOOL DAY!. At Hearing of such an extraordinary project, only thought that ran through my mind was- “gi harsh times lie ahead of Social Studies teachers”. It would have sound as a nightmare for some of the students… reading 2 chapters a day of Animal Farm, a book which consists of so many morals, and in-depth meaning. If that wasn’t enough, for students to rock up to school on one particular day and be asked to write a book, right from the scratch. Never had such a project been carried out, especially with teachers having such high expectations. 

Teachers at our school are really starting to blossom as 21 century tutors. A major part of being such a group of talented teachers, undertaking PBL( problem/project based learning) for first time in entire Australia, is that they to are learning alongside students. But they also realise, and look at the projects from the perspective of students. In doing so, they were able to make out releasing all of the project at the same time would send many of the students into panic, and in some cases lose the enthusiasm of students. In order to prevent such negative things to happen, teachers released project bit by bit.

First phase of the project asked students to read this marvelous book Animal Farm . Alongside students had to communicate and answer questions about the book via sharing google documents. None of the students knew who their teacher was, but they knew that they had to work hard towards achieving 30 marks, which were set upon this section. Here is an example of a student communicating with his/her teacher – Napoleon…google docs..

In order for students to understand various message that Orwell was trying to get across to the audience. Many of the students analyzed chapter by chapter, using various techniques such as- mindmaping.

After a week of vigorous reading, did our class finally manage to finish this book which left us with a thought  that ” Power put into wrong hands can create a work of a devil”. Throughout the book we not only learnt about the abuse of power, but also the way Russian Revolution that took place many years ago . I for one was quite fascinated with the way Orwell depicted his message through the use of animal characters. 

Soon it was the time for 2nd phase of our project. This portion, consisted us (students) to further develop our creativity, and make use of descriptive language (similes, metaphors, and personification…). I was quite amazed (in a happy way) to see such content be involved in our project. To be particularly honest throughout this extravagant year that PBL- Social Studies have had, still not a lot of literacy techniques have been taught (something for teachers to think about). Anyhow as the days went on Lucy and Sac spent many hours with the class- giving them their advice on writing, and at times holding tutorials as a class. Special mention to Lucy who devoted ENORMOUS amount of time to this project, just in-order for each of her students to become life long learners who leave her classroom with heaps and heaps of knowledge and understanding.

Leading up to our writing day was a tutorial held with a well known author Bernard Cohen. With him students learnt and developed many writing skills, being an author we got given first hand advice for minor things to look out for in our writing.

Anyhow after receiving many tutorials, the judgement day had arrived. Students knew of nothing, except that they will have to plan and write a book on their chosen topic, for me it was - T*H*U*N*D*E*R*S*T*O*R*M: A Collection of Short Stories on the Use and Abuse of Power. This project not only taught students variety of literacy skills, but also skills which would be needed at the workplace, example- planning, and time management. Here are few examples of marvelous work done in a single school day…The Blood line, Dream on President, Geriant Quest for Freedom

So in conclusion, what a project we have had?. Never had I even imagined of doing something like this, many thanks to the Social Studies staff, Lucy, and Dean for their contribution. As I have mentioned many times, fair enough students made a book, but none of it could have had been possible without English Loving Teachers we have at our school.  It has been a great journey and a terrific experience. Now I look forward to the Projects that lie ahead. As Boxer once said’ “I will work harder”.