Critical reflection.

1. Evaluate the benefits and limitations of working collaboratively in developing unit outlines.

I believe working collaboratively with other teachers in developing unit outlines can be highly beneficial to ensure the lessons involve a variety of different teaching strategies. As suggested by Yeager (2000), some teachers limit their lessons to a minute range of pedagogies that they have experienced and feel most comfortable with (Yeager 2000, p352). This problem can largely be avoided by collaborating with other teachers to ensure the lessons planned are as diverse and creative as possible, making a greater chance of engaging students. Additionally, if the school is large enough to have the same lessons run by a variety of teachers, it is desirable that all students feel they have been given the same opportunities to learn and develop understandings. The likelihood of this being achieved without collaborating unit outlines is almost impossible, therefore making shared outlines highly beneficial. Alternatively, if teachers do not place equally priority on certain areas of the curriculum, tension may arise in the work place, and accordingly create limitations to collaborative work.

2. Do you think that the integrated approach is valuable for student learning within the Humanities?

As suggested by Banks and McGee-Banks (2009), teachers must be transformative in their tactics to education and challenge mainstream understandings. They state that knowledge is swayed by human interests, and that an important purpose of education is to help individuals improve society (Banks & McGee-Banks, 2009, p134). In this context, it is shown that lesson must be integrated with other learning strands to assist in evoking students interest and in...

... middle of paper ...

...my understanding of planning for teaching and learning with the Humanities.

Works Cited

Banks, J.A. & McGee-Banks, C.A. (eds) (2009), Multicultural Education: Issues and Perspectives, 6th edn, John Wiley, New York.

Godinho, S 2013, ‘Planning for practice: connecting to pedagogy, assessment and curriculum’, Teaching: making a difference 2013, John Wiley and Sons, Milton, Qld, pp. 210-248

Parr, Graham 2010, Inquiry-based professional learning: Speaking back to standard-based reforms, e-book, accessed 29 May 2014, .

Learning to Change: ICT in Schools. (2001). Schooling for Tomorrow, [online] p.10. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264195714-en [Accessed 29 May. 2014].

Yeager, E.A. (2000), 'Thoughts on wise practice in the teaching of social studies', Social Education, 64, 6, pp. 352-53.