Resource+3

Resource 3 [|Newspaper article]

KIM BARTLEY 17 May, 2010 04:00 AM Dubbo and western district farmers who receive satellite pictures identifying land clearing on their properties will have to provide an explanation to the NSW Department of Environment Climate Change and Water (DECCW). The department has begun issuing letters to the owners of land where native vegetation has been removed, some of them possibly unaware of the satellite surveillance. The letters include “before and after” pictures. The department insists it has embarked on a “high-tech education program” to encourage compliance with native vegetation legislation and inform landowners of the “proper channels” available to them if they want to clear, such as property vegetation plans. The move is set to inflame debate on native vegetation laws, addressed by a recent Senate inquiry following the hunger strike of Cooma grazier Peter Spencer. The inquiry’s recommendations, released last month, stated there were “legitimate concerns about the impact of the current native vegetation laws upon a small group of Australians, namely landholders in rural and regional Australia”. In response the NSW Farmers’ Association supported calls for a national review of the laws and described mooted “new compliance pressures on farmers” as “a bit disturbing”. On Friday the DECCW Director-General Lisa Corbyn said it had been using satellite technology for “some time” to target changes to vegetation cover that “may warrant further investigation”. “Now we are also using the technology as an education tool,” she said. The department’s other tools included strategic investigations, prosecutions, penalty notices, stop-work orders, remedial directions, and warning and advisory letters. The latest set of letters also alert landowners to incentive funding available to restore and protect native vegetation on their properties. A spokesperson for the department yesterday said letter recipients would have the “opportunity to go to the CMA or department” for talks. The department says the Native Vegetation Act was introduced in 2003 to bring an end to broadscale land clearing in NSW.
 * Letters from the eye in the sky watching farmers **

Letters from the eye in the sky watching farmers by Kim Bartley, is a newspaper article about the effects of land clearing. This article is taken from the Daily Liberal therefore the local area where the students in the school are from. This article discusses that there is satellite images of land clearing in the farming region of Dubbo and that the government is going to make a major crack down on land clearing in the future.
 * Explanation of Resources: **

Our focus outcome is- Therefore the following article is an effective introduction for students to learn about land clearing and the effect on their local community. The Daily Liberal is a Dubbo newspaper therefore it becomes more relevant for students as they are talking about farms around the town they are living in. Students need to make connections between what they are learning at school and their environment. This article is a useful link to do so.
 * Relevance to Outcome: **


 * Aspect of Literacy suitable to be explored. **

This text has been used at the beginning of the unit and its purpose is to inform students of the issues surrounding land clearing in their local area. Students may also explore expositions through the use of this text, as its social purpose is to ‘argue a case for or against a particular point of view’ (Droga & Humphrey, 2005, p.144). Through this text students are presented with a controversial issue especially living in a country town.

Students need to be exposed to different text types throughout their primary schooling to help them develop the skills for their later years of schooling. To effectively create texts in the critical domain students need to have a good control over the specialized text types (Droga and Humphrey, 2005, p119). Using a local newspaper article make this resource more relevant to students and helps them make connections. ‘The focus in on learner-centered, real-life social practices with texts under an umbrella framework of design’ (Kalantis and Cope, 2004).

The use of different multimodal texts throughout the unit will engage students and broaden their learning experiences. ‘Multiliteracies underpin a students engagement with the curriculum’ (Wilde and Marek, 2002).

References

Droga, L. & Humphrey, S. (2005). //Grammar and meaning: An introduction for Primary teachers.// Marrickville: Target Texts.

Healy, A. (2004). The critical heart of multiliteracies: four resources, multimodal texts and classroom practice in text next: new resources for literacy learning (pp.19-35) Newtown, NSW: PETA

Wilde, L. & Marek, A (2002). Beyond learning areas: Literacy and the rich project curriculum in practical literacy programming. Sydney: PETA pp.35-53