SPEC courses provide plenty of exciting authentic opportunities for students to generate their own personal evidence towards the new literacy unit standards.
Students build up a portfolio of evidence showing tasks they have chosen and completed over an extended period of time.
The evidence students generate is agreed between them and their teacher.
The careful planning that takes place at the start of the chosen task and the discussion about what sort of evidence is needed, along with self reflection and a review at the end of the task, provides successful outcomes for students and evidence towards the literacy unit standards.
Schools are using the SPEC courses in many different ways to suit the needs of the students. The flexibility of the courses enables easy implementation as there is also a flexible timeframe for completion. Most schools offer SPEC as an option, however others introduce the course as part of Social Studies, home room situations, tutorial periods etc.
Some schools have introduced the exciting Mainstream Interest Modules into years 9 and 10, offering a choice of titles to the students which are relevant to their age and interest. Click here to view the Mainstream Interest Module titles and content.
SPEC & the New Literacy Unit Standards for 2011