I so enjoy meeting those relaxed and happy smiling faces of students after a holiday break and clearly, – our team is looking in fine spirits.
Yep, it’s term 2 already, and we’re up and sprinting! Australia History is our present topic in the High School, as a lead-in, the students watched a short clip that reversed the colonization situation in Australia. A small group of (white) Aussies is camped in the bush enjoying a BBQ and a beer, the next thing a boat (European style) comes into view being paddled up the river by a group of aboriginal men dressed in uniform. The military men disembark and begin to converse with the ‘locals’. What follows is a reversal of the early meeting of the Australian Indigenous people with the European Settlers and a fascinating look at Australia with roles reversed. It was a kind of ‘tongue-in-cheek’ poke at our history with an undeniable edge. I heard a number of students remarking that they thought that it was racist…… Very interesting, it does make you think. It’s on the student iPads, – parents might be interested to take a look.
We teachers all hope that our students enjoyed a refreshing break, – 3 weeks to chill-out and to make ready for the new term. Ours were the lucky ones, I know of students from a local High School who spent at least three full days of their break doing assignments that were due in the first week of the new term. What are breaks for? – Thank goodness for IFS!
NAPLAN testing is only a couple of weeks away. Many colleges like to use NAPLAN results to make their college’s teaching programs look good. In one local High School the students undertook practice maths NAPLAN tests earlier this week, the tests were then marked with the correct answers shown for any that were incorrect, the students were then told to take the tests home that night and to show the correct working out for all the answers that had been incorrect and to return with them the next day or else face lunchtime detection! For some students that would have meant hours and hours of work that evening, but if they didn’t get correct answers in the first place, how were they to know how to work the problems out that night home alone? Is it the parents’ task to be teaching the students? What if the parents don’t know how to solve the problems either? – Thank goodness for IFS!
On a different note, I must say that it is a struggle for some of our students to take up the responsibility for their own learning, which as you know is our aim. Pleasingly many have risen to this challenge knowing that what they put into a task will be reflected in the final outcome, – producing the bare minimum is an easy out, but not as rewarding. Many students are working conscientiously and making great progress. It is our hope as teachers, that all of our students can, and will, positively take up this challenge and put their best efforts into their every deed. A very good question for parents to put to their students would be: “Are you doing the absolute best that you can during the time you have available at college?”
Kind regards,
Rodney
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