To be honest it won’t further my career, add an extra dollar or two to my salary and in fact, most of those I meet wonder why I would waste my holiday reading on topic related books rather than the latest Nick Hornby.
Inquiry-based curriculum develops deeper understandings around concepts. Watching students develop critical and creative thinking skills is one of the pleasures of teaching. A PhD is the ultimate inquiry requiring flexible thinking, persistence and when working full time – exemplary time management! Luckily, the nature of my topic lends itself to holiday ventures into State Libraries and Public Records Offices and I do small amounts of reading and writing during the term – just chipping away rather than spending hours.
Embarking on a PhD is a chance to ‘practise what I preach’ and model depthful inquiry to students. Besides, the opportunity to be a historian as well as a researcher is there and finding that small piece of necessary evidence is both rewarding and fun! Researching at local schools such as Croydon Primary has led to interesting revelations about teaching then and now.
Any-one who has been on yard duty at school dismissal time could relate to the lament of one head teacher who pleaded with the Education Department to widen the road outside the school before an accident occurred. Students were insisting on leaving their carts on the narrow the main road at front of the school and a potential accident was looming. Another report indicated that even then, the boys’ toilets were an issue in summer. At least, today’s Principal, is not admonished by the District Inspector for not using phenol liberally in the toilets. I discovered instructions to trainee teachers on the importance of using visual images to engage learners but the images are those drawn on the chalkboard rather than on an interactive whiteboard.
I’d like to say I chose my thesis topic but I feel as if my topic chose me. Looking for an easy way to complete a B.Ed subject in the late nineties, I discovered that our Christian Education teacher’s mother had written one of Australia’s first fairytales. In 1904, Ernst a sixteen-year-old pupil teacher published one of Australian’s first fairytale books, Fairytales from the Land of the Wattle. She taught at numerous Victorian schools: Croydon, Nobel Park, Horsham, Rutherglen, Orbost and finally at Melbourne High School.
After a couple of chats over morning tea in the staffroom and Helen Dixon’s amazing recall of information, I had a reasonable assignment completed. Although I finished my degree, a sense that Olga Ernst had been excluded, as have many of our early women writers, from a rightful place on the Australian children’s literature timeline lingered
Ernst’s contribution to children’s literature was to challenge the restricted diet of English books available at the time and attempt to create an Australian fairyland for our students. Over a decade ago my initial research on Ernst was based on interviews with her daughter, analysing the few letters available and having access to an original copy of the book with author comments scribbled in margins.
However, a decade is a long time in technology and e-research options have dramatically opened ‘doors’ for me. Rather than visit the University of Melbourne Library during the day, (I hate to admit it but I remember wooden catalogue drawers) I can sit at home in my pjs and access Library catalogues around the world, download journal articles and use translation software to read family documents written in German at any time I choose. It is easy to work in small bites when I choose, rather than long study sessions.
Most of the sites I use can be translated into learning opportunities for students, allowing access to primary resources. Digitised historic newspapers (National Library of Australia, Australian Newspapers Digitisation Program) are available online for students to read news as reported at the time of an event. http://newspapers.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/home
TROVE http://trove.nla.gov.au/general/about supplements search engine information with information from Australia's memory institutions and combines books, diaries, letters, archives, articles newspapers, pictures and photos in a ‘one-stop’ shop.
Of course, Google maps http://maps.google.com.au provides ‘streetview’ which has meant I can check if the places Ernst lived in still exist without needing to use my car.
I have completed almost two years part-time next month and the most delightful aspect of a PhD is that I have time to learn and time to reflect. If you’re interested in a potted history of Olga Ernst visit: http://www.womenshistory.com.au/person.asp?pID=207
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