Convict+Central+Website



Convict Central website Resource Evaluation by: Anna Frost

The website //Convict Central// presents factual information around the colonisation of Australia. The website is an initiative of “the Dead Person’s Society”, a Western Australian based group aiming to foster genealogy interest on the internet. It is a resource that would be useful for an HSIE unit covering the change and continuity outcome CCS2.1: //describes the events and actions related to the British colonisation of Australia and assesses changes and consequences// (Board of Studies, 2001). Furthermore, it can be used to explore the key grammatical features of factual text types.

// Convict Central // explores different aspects of Australian colonisation, focusing mainly on the experience of the convicts. Being a website based around genealogy, students are able to click on names of real convicts who were sent to Australia to discover a little about them and what they were sentenced for. The website also includes a clear, albeit brief, timeline of events surrounding Australian colonisation and pages of information about life for convicts in general that include the journey to Australia, punishment systems and convict tattoos. It is presented in an easy to read and eye catching format that is suitable for stage 2 learners. The website also includes an online quiz that students can do to test their knowledge on the convicts in an engaging and interactive way. These features highlight the website’s relevance in a unit based on British colonisation of Australia.

Along with providing relevant information around colonisation, the text can be used to explore literacy also. The resource uses mainly written text to describe the experience of the convicts. The text type of factual recount is used significantly throughout the website, following the structure of orientation, record of events and reorientation (Droga and Humphrey, 2003). The resource can be used to demonstrate to students the necessary grammatical features of factual recounts such as use of topic-specific vocabulary, past tense, reference to time in theme position and use of Judgement and Appreciation as forms of evaluative vocabulary (Droga and Humphrey, 2003 and Winch and Holliday, 2006). Students can explore how they are made to feel about convicts through the author’s use of these features. The text can also be used in conjunction with others to demonstrate features of factual texts in general such as using paragraphs to ‘bundle’ information, use of topic sentences and use of logical connectives (Winch and Halliday, 2006).

The site’s inclusion of names and stories of real convicts makes the information more significant as students can relate the general information to a real person and context. Students can use the factual information to create writing or drama that demonstrates how the convicts were feeling and what it was that was making them feel that way. Such an activity would demonstrate students’ higher order thinking and raise Intellectual Quality, a necessary component of the Quality Teaching Model (NSW DET, 2003). // Convict Central // is a highly relevant and appropriate resource for a unit on the British colonisation of Australia taking an English and HSIE focus.

REFERENCES:

Board of Studies. (2001). //Human Society and It’s Environment K-6 Syllabus//. Sydney:Author.

Department of Education and Training. (2003). //Quality Teaching in NSW Public Schools.//

Droga, L., & Humphrey, S. (2003). //Grammar and Meaning: an Intorduction for Primary Teachers//. NSW: Target Texts

Perth Dead Person’s Society (2002). //Convict Central//. Retrieved September 20, 2011 from www.convictcentral.com

Winch, G., Johnston, R., March, P., Ljungdahl, L., & Holliday, M. (2006) //Literacy, writing and children's literature// (3rd ed.). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press