| Papers & Workshops |
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Dr Merle Iles
Department of Language Literacy and Arts Education,
University of Melbourne
Dr Heather Smigiel
School of Early Childhood and Primary Education, University
of Tasmania, Australia
To be in touch with our landscapes is to be conscious of our evolving experiences, to be aware of the ways in which we encounter our world.(Maxine Greene, 1978, p.2) In this paper, we explore the concept of texts as pedagogic landscapes, arguing that experiencing and learning to interpret and make meaning from a variety of internal and external landscapes ought to be of critical importance at all levels of the schooling process. The paper represents the authors' attempts to theorise their practice as teacher educators; and to develop a curriculum framework which has an innovative focus on the navigation of meaning in multiple sites and through multiple engagements with text - written, aural, oral, social and visual. Drawing principally on the fields of English and Drama, this new framework goes far beyond current notions of integration across Key Learning Areas in the curriculum of the compulsory school years.
RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
5-9 July 2000