100% (1)
Pages:
7 pages/≈1925 words
Sources:
7
Style:
APA
Subject:
Education
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 27.72
Topic:

Working with community

Essay Instructions:
THIS ASSIGNMENT SHOULD BE WRITEN AS IF YOU ARE A STUDENT-TEACHER WHO IS COMPLETING TEACHING PLACEMENT AT A PRIMARY SCHOOL. THE PLACEMENT SCHOOL IS 'BAYSWATER SOUTH PRIMARY SCHOOL' WHICH IS LOCATED IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA - PLEASE SEE http://www(dot)baysouthps(dot)vic(dot)edu(dot)au/ -- THE WHOLE ASSIGNMENT (ESPECIALLY PART A) SHOULD BE RELATED BACK TO THIS SCHOOL AS IF YOU ARE A STUDENT-TEACHER THERE. ALSO, THIS ASSIGNMENT IS A REFLECTION ESSAY AND IS TO WRITEN IN 3 SECTIONS. PLEASE SET IT OUT WITH HEADINGS (AND SUBHEADINGS IN PART C) FOR THE 3 SECTIONS - THANK YOU. PART A: Community characteristics (500 words) THIS SECTION MUST BE ABOUT - BAYSWATER SOUTH PRIMARY SCHOOL AND THE AREA OF BAYSWATER IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA. Please write this section in essay form but answer the following questions in your response. 1. How would you describe/define the community in which your (placement) school is located (geographic, demographic, historical, cultural, political etc)? 2. How is the school positioned within the community – what projects/partnerships/identity/connections does the school share with the wider community? 3. Does the school broaden its curriculum to include/involve community participation? If so, what role does the broader community play in the school? 4. How, if at all, is teaching and learning linked to community? 5. What potential exists for any future relational possibilities/partnerships that are yet to be fully realized by the school? PART B: School/wider school community relations (500 words) THIS SECTION WAS COMPLETED BUT WAS IN NO WAY RELATED TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS OR AUSTRALIA - IF IT IS A GLOBAL ARTICLE IT MUST BE PRIMARY SCHOOL RELATED. For this part of the assignment you must locate and describe TWO case studies (journal articles or book chapters) that exemplify school/broader community relations/partnerships and practices. For example, shared local (or global) projects that bring people together through a focus on ecology/movement/design/sustainability/arts/water, which encourage children to work with community members beyond or within the school grounds. PART C: Implications of case studies findings (1000 words) FOR THIS SECTION PLEASE USE THE QUESTIONS AND HAVE SUBHEADINGS. Drawing on the findings from EACH of the two case studies (article/chapter), discuss the practices, processes, and outcomes that inform your understanding of how curriculum (CURRICULUM INFO CAN BE FOUND AT http://vels(dot)vcaa(dot)vic(dot)edu(dot)au)can be taught through a community framework. 1. What are the strengths/limitations/implications of the two case study projects? 2. How do the case studies correlate (if at all) to your placement school? 3. How do the case studies inform your understanding of the pedagogical role of community? Refer back to the work of Ife and Tesoriero (2006) in your concluding statements. Elaboration on the instructions: BACKGROUND: A community enables the valuing, production and expression of a local or community-based culture, which will have unique characteristics associated with that community, which will enable people to become active producers of that culture rather than passive consumers, and which will thus encourage both diversity among communities and broad-based participation. (Ife and Tesoriero, 2006, p.98) In Week 4 we began to explore the relevance of schools and broader community relations. Using Ife's and Tesoriero's work (above) we examined and defined the meaning of community with the assistance of the five characteristics of community (2006, pp. 96-98). Whilst these characteristics are valuable in understanding the relevance and meaning of community, the term community is contested, complex and not always easy to define. TASK: In this assignment, we use community as a framework for considering how our placement schools engage/identify with the broader community. You are required to look beyond the boundaries of the school fence and describe and comprehend the characteristics and involvement of the wider community. N.B. In order to successfully complete this task you will be required to make critical observations and partake in strategic conversations with school staff (not just your mentor teacher) throughout your teaching placement throughout your placement. PART A: Community Characteristics (500 words) Use the following questions to frame your response (these same questions will be used to assess your work in the rubric criteria). 1. How would you describe/define the community in which your (placement) school is located (geographic, demographic, historical, cultural, political etc)? 2. How is the school positioned within the community – what projects/partnerships/identity/connections does the school share with the wider community? 3. Does the school broaden its curriculum to include/involve community participation? If so, what role does the broader community play in the school? 4. How, if at all, is teaching and learning linked to community? 5. What potential exists for any future relational possibilities/partnerships that are yet to be fully realized by the school? Part B: School/wider school community relations (500 words) For this part of the assignment you must locate and describe TWO case studies (journal articles or book chapters) that exemplify school/broader community relations/partnerships and practices. For example, shared local (or global) projects that bring people together through a focus on ecology/movement/design/sustainability/arts/water, which encourage children to work with community members beyond or within the school grounds. Part C: Implications of case studies findings (1000 words) Drawing on the findings from EACH of the two case studies (article/chapter), discuss the practices, processes, and outcomes that inform your understanding of how curriculum can be taught through a community framework. 1. What are the strengths/limitations/implications of the two case study projects? 2. How do the case studies correlate (if at all) to your placement school? 3. How do the case studies inform your understanding of the pedagogical role of community? Refer back to the work of Ife and Tesoriero (2006) in your concluding statements. EXTRA INFO: - the placement school that MUST be used is Bayswater South Primary School (http://www(dot)baysouthps(dot)vic(dot)edu(dot)au/) - Statistics about the location (Bayswater) can be found on the Australian Bureau of Statistics wesbite (http://www(dot)abs(dot)gov(dot)au/) and on other various websites. - REFERENCE: Ife, J., Tesoriero, F. (2006). 'Community'. In Community development: community-based alternatives in an age of globalisation (3rd ed.) Frenchs Forest: Pearson, pp. 96-103. This reference MUST be used and will be attached as a file to my order.
Essay Sample Content Preview:
Running Head: WORKING WITH THE COMMUNITY
Working with the Community
Name:
University:
Lecturer:
Course:
Date:

Working with the Community
Section A
Bayswater South Primary school is famous for its high level bilingual Immersion curriculum. Located in Enfield drive in Bayswater Victoria, the school is known to encourage students to embrace learning and to achieve their full potential. The school is also known to have a group of dedicated teaching staff who aim at nurturing their students scholarly. Students are provided a curriculum in which they learn English and German (Bayswater South Primary School, 2011). Other subjects that are taught in the school include Sciences, visual arts, technology and others. LOTE is also taught in the school. However, unlike other lessons LOTE is taught in German which is known to be the school’s second language.
LOTE stands for languages other than English and saw further expansion in the school from 1992 to 1995.At Bayswater South Primary School, the program was implemented through the use of German and specific subjects were chosen to be taught using the language. The subjects were Science, Art and physical education. The subjects were allocated five hours weekly in the school curriculum (Bayswater South Primary School, 2011). The program continues being funded through the bilingual schools project and in 2010 the school began to teach visual arts, design creativity and technology in German. This principle aim of the program was to improve in the area of second language teaching. The immersion of the language into various subjects in the curriculum is aimed at enabling the students to become familiar with the language and to participate successfully in the program.
Bayswater South Primary school is known to run under the Victorian Essential learning standards. Its purpose in learning is to be able to produce students that can be successfully immersed into the global market. This is the reason why for 25 years the school has transformed into an example of how to best implement second language learning. To this extent it is recognized both nationally and internationally as being a leading educator of bilingual education not only in Victoria but also in the whole Australian region. Through the execution of the bilingual program using German, students are able to acquire various skills (Bayswater South Primary School, 2011). These include problem solving skills, language skills and others which give them competitive advantage in the working world.
Bayswater South primary School is an active member of the Department of education and Early Childhood development (DEECD) bilingual schools project initiative which works toward integrating a foreign language into the curriculum of a school. Through the German program the Bayswater South Primary school community gets access to other opportunities such as excursions, trips to South Australia and Germany, easy transition into local secondary schools that have German programs and other opportunities.
The curriculum at Bayswater South primary School is also a comprehensive one that allows community participation to take place in the school community. This is seen through the inclusion of certain programs into the curriculum such as the sports program which gives students the opportunity to participate in the District cross country competition every year (Sanoff, 2000). This is a good way of promoting sports in the community.
The school also has other programs which include the peer meditation program and the junior school council. The junior school council allows the children to be able to develop their leadership skills and the peer mediation program gives the students a chance to become fully aware of their responsibilities and the part they play in the school environment (Bayswater South Primary School, 2011). In the future the school hopes to develop a curriculum that stresses on the importance of caring for the wider community and the school environment at large. It also aims at developing school activities that will promote self esteem and assist in the building of a strong school spirit through performing arts, the German bilingual program and others (Burns, 2004). The school also hopes to include the thinking curriculum into their present curriculum. Furthermore, it hopes to implement a drug education program that will connect the school and the wider environment. Lastly it hopes to encourage students to set their own learning goals and also asses their individual performance.
Section B
This section will look at two journal articles that show how schools have been involved in broader community relations. The first article is a journal article by Sharma et al (2007).The journal is based on a multi institutional community based program for diabetes prevention amongst first nations. The project was carried out in Ontario Canada by the Zhiiwaapenewin Akino’maagewin: Teaching to prevent diabetes. The project involved including a curricula that dealt with healthy life styles in grade 3 and 4.The schools in North America were able to integrate a year long curricula that used story telling and activities that encouraged the student’s participation (Sharma et al, 2007). The activities involved teaching and reinforcing healthier eating habits amongst the children and also encouraging more physical activity. The students were also to be educated on the risk of diabetes to their health and well being in overall. Two sites were targeted for the projects which were the remote sites and semi remote sites in North America.
From the research it was deduced that at least 23% of households from the semi remote communities had one child in grades 3 and 4 (Sharma et al, 2007).Investigators and program staff affiliated to the program introduced the curriculum to teachers and other interested school staff at the beginning of the program. Teachers were requested to give a lesson concerning the issue at least in every 2 weeks. Grade 3 were expected to have 17 lessons in total and Grade 4, 16 lessons in total. Furthermore, it was necessary to have four family packs sent home over the year in order to involve the parents.
At the end of the curriculum It was found that on average nine out of 17 of the grade three lessons were taught completely or partially (Sharma et al, 2007).For grade four the lessons taught averaged 8 out of 16.Both grades recorded an average of 16 students in attendance. Furthermore 63% of the planned lessons were delivered and out of the 139 family pa...
Updated on
Get the Whole Paper!
Not exactly what you need?
Do you need a custom essay? Order right now:
Sign In
Not register? Register Now!