Table of contents for Vol. 56 no. 2 2021 in Agora

One of my favourite teaching moments happened in a Year 8 Humanities class in my previous school. This particular group of students had been together for Year 7, so it’s fair to say that they knew each other pretty well, both personally and academically. As I’d had them for the Year 7 integrated studies program (English, Humanities, and Habits of Mind), I knew them well too. They knew my expectations of them, and knew I would continually push them to succeed. Halfway through our study of Medieval Europe, I decided to change the way I would approach the assessment task while remaining in line with the rest of the cohort. Having attended an in-depth, multi-session PD on learning tasks, mastery grids and the cycle of teaching and learning, I felt…

Have you ever wondered how you might become a VCE Examination Assessor? The assessment of the VCE written examinations is a vital step in calculating a student’s final study score. It is a collaborative process involving Leading Assessors, Assessors and VCAA personnel including VCE Assessment Project Managers. This article aims to dispel the mystery that sometimes surrounds the assessment process, and shares the experiences of two assessors. • Deborah Erikson has been both a Lead Assessor and an Assessor of History Revolutions. • James Ridley was first appointed as an Assessor in 2019. His experiences as a new Assessor highlight the value of assessing, and reinforce the importance of new recruits. Applying to Assess VCE Written Examinations Appointments to assess VCE examinations are made annually, with the application being submitted…

Preparing for VCE History exams can be a daunting and even overwhelming task to undertake. Where do you start? What do you remember? What’s the most important thing to revise? There are so many questions, and for some it feels like there is so little time. Well, I have answers. Step 1: Plan Your Takeover The key to success is all about planning and strategy. While the Russian people did force their Tsar to abdicate in February 1917 by being spontaneous, they also didn’t get the government they were hoping for. It was Lenin and Trotsky’s careful planning and strategy that facilitated their seizure of power in October 1917. Likewise, you need to devise your own plan of attack. Start with figuring out exactly what you need to study. This…

The Great Fire of Rome, which began on 19 July 64 CE, lasted a full week. Of the fourteen districts of Rome, three were destroyed completely and seven severely damaged. Soon afterwards, Nero began to reconstruct the city in the Greek style, and to build a huge palace for himself called the Domus Aurea or ‘Golden House’. Primary and secondary sources can help students to understand what it would have been like to live through the greatest fire Rome has ever known, how and why the fire started, and who caused it. The sources are controversial, particularly those about Nero’s actions. The rubrics used to assess two very different Year 7 activities on the fire are fairly straightforward (Tables 1, 2). The rubrics have been written in such a way…

I am impressed that the History Teachers’ Association of Victoria has dedicated not just one article but an entire issue of this professional publication to the topic of assessment. Considering how assessment has been used in schools for decades, with confused purposes that contradict each other and outlandish increases in teacher workload that often amount to little improvement in student outcomes, it is no surprise that few teachers enjoy the topic. Indeed, I’m pleasantly surprised any time I speak on assessment and find that the room is not empty. I’ll open the issue with a few comments about terminology. Formative vs Summative Assessment You will often hear about the difference between formative assessment and summative assessment. The oft-quoted analogy is that formative assessment is when the chef tastes the soup,…

The inquiry approach to teaching and learning history is dominant across Australia, and can be embedded within assessment. Influenced by the UK’s Schools History Project, it continues to feature in curriculum documents. For instance, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) identifies one of the key purposes of learning history as the ‘capacity to undertake historical inquiry, including skills in the analysis and use of sources, and in explanation and communication’.1 Inquiry processes incorporate or involve flexible approaches so that different questions and/or hypotheses can be adopted from the information gathered, the knowledge constructed and the skills and processes enhanced. History is a disciplined process of inquiry into the past that develops students’ curiosity and imagination. Awareness of history is an essential characteristic of any society, and historical knowledge…

Assessment tasks need to provide assessment information about students’ understanding across the three strands of the History curriculum. These tasks should be stimulating activities that support student engagement, and be useful for evaluating teaching practices. Furthermore, assessment data should enable appraisal of individual goals, map out the next steps in learning, and offer information about the successes and challenges generated by the units. Teachers have become increasingly skilled at developing engaging and authentic learning experiences that often include a performance element, such as portfolios, passion projects and expo products. With these new and innovative approaches, which can include digital technologies, it is crucial for teachers to identify and use assessments that provide purposeful evidence that improves student learning. A good assessment task links teaching and learning, is aligned with the…

Creating quality assessments and rubrics can be a time-consuming and stressful process. It is especially a challenge for graduate teachers who are simultaneously grappling with the task of designing lessons that are backwards-planned from the curriculum while learning to manage their classrooms. Also, many students find assessments daunting. This article aims to provide you and your students with catchy, foolproof rubrics to improve student and teacher efficacy. Hopefully this will also help to alleviate the anxiety around assessment for both teachers and students. Identify Problems Much of our work as educators is trying to figure out exactly what needs to be taught and how to assess it. In my first years teaching at Hoppers Crossing Secondary College, I attended numerous HTAV conferences (and still do). The generosity and support from…

I have a strong memory of my pig-tailed Year 12 self being read a sample paragraph in class that our teacher wanted our class to emulate in our next piece of writing. I can recall my frustration that I didn’t have the document in front of me to annotate as I listened, and a feeling of absolute stupidity as I couldn’t imagine myself writing as well as the piece being shared. Today, still influenced by these memories, I regularly offer my students a piece of successful writing in the hope that it will inspire them to work harder and improve their skills. Indeed, I do not know a single teacher who does not relish an exemplar to share with their students in the hope that it will act as a…

In the past 50 years, historical thinking has become a standard in the theory and practice of history education in Western Europe and North America before spreading globally.1 As historical thinking gained acceptance, scholars turned their attention to the problem of how to assess historical thinking, but the development of classroom and large-scale historical thinking assessments has not kept pace with the implementation of historical thinking in curricula and classroom practice. The majority of large-scale history assessments feature multiple-choice questions focused on decontextualised information recall, not historical thinking.2 Assessment programs can and do influence teaching and learning, and Pellegrino et al. call for more ‘classroom and large-scale assessments that help all students learn and succeed in school by making as clear as possible to them, their teachers, and other education…

The humanities are a rich space for conceptual and skills-driven learning that can make powerful connections to the experiences and lives of our culturally and linguistically diverse learners. By considering our students’ cultural knowledge and experiences we can develop engaging and meaningful learning that honours the social and cultural capital that students bring with them.1 Dandenong High School has approximately 1700 students, and is one of the most culturally diverse schools in Victoria—more than twenty languages are represented among the student cohort. A powerful feature of our staff is that they value this diversity and reflect on their practice to create more equitable and inclusive classrooms. Conversation with our students is often inspiring, astonishing and humbling. Their experiences, wisdom and political awareness can be deep, broad and insightful. Despite this,…

Tasks and Assessment for Enduring Understanding ‘Enduring understanding’ is a term that resonates strongly with the objectives of history education.1 It captures the essence of what every teacher hopes to achieve—memorable educational moments and insight that students can apply far beyond the classroom. It sits at the opposite end of the pedagogical spectrum to rote learning and the process of revising for multiple choice exams. Some of the key challenges experienced by History teachers when developing meaningful tasks for assessment include: • figuring out what really is important for students to know and be able to do in history • teaching the skills of ‘doing history’ in a world of testing that often seems to prioritise factual knowledge • identifying and using assessments that provide teachers with better information than…

Of all of the assessment formats prescribed in the current VCE History Study Design, the one that causes teachers the most uncertainty and consternation is the historical inquiry.1 This article outlines three possible approaches to undertaking the historical inquiry School-Assessed Coursework (SAC) task in Unit 3/4 History. All three approaches are consistent with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority’s VCE assessment principles of efficiency and equitability.2 I have illustrated each approach with examples drawn from VCE History: Revolutions. However, you can easily adapt these examples to any VCE History subject by incorporating the relevant inquiry questions, introductory statements, key knowledge and key skills from the Study Design into your SAC design. The Challenges of Undertaking the Historical Inquiry The first challenge when undertaking an historical inquiry is the time commitment.…

VCE History Revolutions may be a daunting and content-heavy subject, but it is academically rigorous and ultimately rewarding to teach. The challenge, of course, is balancing the content covered with activities and both informal and formal assessment to inform teaching choices and formal SAC assessment approaches. So how do I use activities in class to assess my students’ knowledge and/or skills in History Revolutions? First, I try to balance my classes by using engaging slideshow presentations and embedding assessment activities within these to informally assess the students’ learning, knowledge and skills. Second, I use half of my Wednesday double and Thursday single as ‘activities’ periods devoted to source analysis activities. Third, I decorate my classroom with a ‘Causes and Consequences’ wall using colourful visuals of the American and French revolutions…

Rodney Knight Past President, HTAV Dylan Wiliam, the passionate advocate of formative assessment, argues that teaching is really about ‘engineering productive learning outcomes’ in the classroom. In many respects this notion of engineering could equally be applied to the boards of subject associations—engineering unobtrusively in the background to create and sustain a healthy, harmonious, vibrant, focused and financially sound superstructure that delivers a rich suite of productive learning outcomes for members and their students. Central to formative assessment is the feedback loop that focuses on improvement—what you are doing well and areas that could be improved. During my years as President, the HTAV Board engaged the services of a consultant to work with us on a strategic plan and then return periodically to evaluate our progress on a range of…