Past, present and future
When planning this unit of work, the Year 2 teachers used the Australian Curriculum, history, as the source document. To differentiate the learning for all students, the teachers drew on the general capabilities. Drawing on the personal and social capability, information communication and technology capability and creative and critical thinking general capabilities enabled the teachers to pinpoint aspects to personalise the learning at a higher level for the gifted students.
Other illustrations you may like
Two Year 5 teachers at this school collaborate and team teach as a strategy to meet the needs...
Illustration of Personalised Learning
Australian Curriculum
Learning area
HistoryYear level
Year 2Content description
General capability
General capability
Personalised learning
Teacher intention
There were multiple intentions for this work. One was that the group of gifted students would analyse different aspects of the school and identify the changes in and to the school over the last 30 years. The students could research using different sources and present their findings using different types of technologies including an oral narrative. Additionally, after specific skills training, these children acted as leaders and mentors throughout the class activities. The teachers responsible for gifted education and ICT trained the small selected group, and then monitored the whole class learning when the target group worked within the whole class.Personalised learning
Plan from age equivalent learning content:
The teacher planned using the Year 2 history content to develop a teaching and learning program about “Past, present and future” in reference to the school’s 30th anniversary and the school histo
Use the general capabilities and/or cross-curriculum priorities to adjust the learning focus and to personalise the learning:
The teacher focused on the general capabilities of critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability, information and communication technology (ICT) capability to personalise specific aspects to enrich the learning for the gifted students.
Questions for discussion
1. How might you use the general capabilities to differentiate the teaching and learning to meet the diverse needs of students?
2. How might you involve students in the planning in order to engage them to personalise their own learning and become self-directed?
3. What are some differentiated learning strategies that you consider suitable for all students and which also enable gifted students to demonstrate higher order thinking?
Professional Standards for Teachers
Standard 1
Know students and how they learnFocus area 1.1
Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of studentsFocus area 1.5
Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilitiesStandard 2
Know the content and how to teach itFocus area 2.1
Content and teaching strategies of the teaching areaFocus area 2.2
Content selection and organisationStandard 3
Plan for and implement effective teaching and learningFocus area 3.1
Establish challenging learning goalsStandard 4
Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environmentsFocus area 4.1
Support student participationStandard 5
Assess, provide feedback and report on student learningFocus area 5.2
Provide feedback to students on their learningStandard 6
Engage in professional learningFocus area 6.3
Engage with colleagues and improve practiceSchool details
St Stephen's Duncraig, Duncraig, Western Australia
School type
Non-governmentSchool sector
K-12School location
MetropolitanSchool size
400 - 600 students