current_teaching

For the last few years I've been mainly involved in teaching senior VCE English and Literature at Years 11 and 12. As my role at my school is the Director of Learning and Curriculum I usually only teach one class, and I look forward to every lesson.

For the last couple of years I've been teaching Year 12 VCE Literature and I'm looking forward to that again in 2013

This year the course has been revised again a little with an even stronger contingent of women writers (I teach in an all girls school) and comprises Dorothy Porter, Adrienne Rich, Virginia Woolf as well as Shakespeare, Peter Carey and Oscar Wilde.

I've been trying to use technology effectively too. I've been using a series of wikis for some time now with Year 12//.// My classes mostly use **OneNote** as the main organising tool as well as a series of in-house wikis. In fact, in 2013, besides the set texts, the course was pretty much totally paperless. I also use Adobe Connect to set up online revision meetings after hours at critical times in the course, though it's a bit clunky and I'd love it to be a more engaging experience somehow. This year, I'm part of a trial of teachers using iPads as teaching tools, which is exciting. As a writer myself, I'm interested in the ebook reading experience.

But the best thing about teaching Literature is the students, and the privilege of working with enthusiastic young people entering the world of senior literature study for the first time. Remember the first time you read a great book like //The Great Gatsby// or //The Catcher in the Rye//? The impact it had on you? It's nice to be part of that learning process with students who are often wanting to go on to Arts, Arts/Law or related Humanties studies at university level.