Secondary News

The Importance of Building the Teacher-Student Relationship

Recently, I came across an article written by Michele Snoke who is a practising school principal. The article talked about the importance of building the Teacher-Student Relationship. Snoke makes some excellent points about why the teacher student relationship is important and how it can help a student to be successful. At Lakeside College, we are acutely aware of how important this relationship is to assisting students grow and develop into the best version of themselves possible. Michele Snoke makes the following key points about why teacher-student relationships are so important:

Teachers spend on an average 180 days a year with students. During the 180 days teachers witness the amazing growth of students academically, socially, and behaviourally. The degree of a student’s achievements and improvement can be determined by the level of relationship built between the teacher and the student.
The initiation of an authentic relationship by a teacher with a student can result positively for a student’s desire to prioritize life of learning and succeeding.
When teachers initiate conversations with students it allows for an expression of interest with an individual student, and making the student feel important.
Students of all grade levels desire to impress the teacher either with their aptitude for learning, or their unique talents. Students feel comfortable sharing their true self when the relationship with the teacher is secure and a level of trust has been achieved.
The next level for teacher-student relationships involves mutual vulnerability where both individuals feel comfortable to sometimes share sensitive information. Once the teacher-student relationship is established, students will organically evolve into a confident and independent thinker and active learner, making teacher-student relationships extremely important and necessary in an educational setting.
Positive relationships between a teacher and a student provide a level of comfort allowing a student to take academic risks that will advance academic achievements. All positivity expressed by a teacher with students impacts educational success.
Engaging an authentic and not forced conversation between a teacher and student develops a positive relationship. The positive relationship can be trusted by the student and sometimes relied upon when students are struggling and need a much-desired ear for listening. The positive relationship requires a respected connection between both the teacher and student in order for a student to feel successful in the classroom.
Secondary school students rely upon teacher relationships for guidance and as role models. Students are seeking to witness behaviour and actions by the adults they trust.
Secondary school students also need teacher relationships for positive encouragement to lead to a successful future. These relationships should be used by teachers for coachable opportunities with students.
Teacher-student relationships provide students with the encouragement and desire to perform well because someone is sincerely vesting the time in the student. Teachers also need these relationships to assist with gauging the effectiveness of instruction in the classroom.

(September 23, 2019 Michele Snoke)

As you read through the Secondary school section of this Newsletter, you will see examples of some of the activities that take place at Lakeside which help develop positive and lasting relationships between teachers and students. Enjoy!

Head of Secondary School

Mr Robert Tassoni

Year 8 Medieval Incursion

Our year 8 students have been focusing on Medieval Europe as part of their unit of study on Ancient History during term 1 and term 2.

In the first week back of term 2, all year 8 students took part in a Medieval Day incursion and made history come alive! Run by Melbourne company, History Up Close, students were up and out of their seats, travelling back in time and immersing themselves in the culture of the medieval world.

Our year 8 students learnt about life in the Medieval World, including various medieval weapons and its evolution overtime. Students dressed up in the clothing and armour of the era and were given the opportunity to go into battle. Students formed a shield wall to defend themselves against archers who were armed with tennis balls! The incursion was a wonderful opportunity for students to experience what life would have been like in Medieval Europe. All students were engaged in the entire interactive activity which helped build upon their previous understanding of this unit gained in class.

This was certainly an interactive experience that they will never forget!

Year 8 Humanities Teacher

Ms Rochelle Rabba

Year 8 Camp

This year we had the pleasure of taking the year 8s out to “The Summit” campsite during the day. We worked our way through a number of different activities that all focussed on conquering your fears. Everyone had to set a Target, Stretch and Super Stretch goal for each of the activities.

This helped us all to gain a better understanding of how we can push ourselves to and beyond what we thought was possible.

The Summit team had an absolute blast with our teachers and students. There were plenty of highlights and breakthroughs throughout the camp. Their coaches have written a blog based on Lakesides attendance which you can read here;

https://bit.ly/LakesideCollegeBlog2022

Leadership Program

Years 10 and 11 recently attended a three-day conference run by Youth Leadership Academy Australia. The program was carefully designed and presented by Will and Tari, who were warmly welcomed by our students. Collaboratively, the students explored the concept of leadership, their role as leaders and advice on how to develop their potential as leaders in our school community.

Everyone enjoyed the environment of the Cardina Cultural Centre as an active learning space, with our students appreciating the flexible program of mini-lectures, small group sessions, Socratic discussions, games that challenged body and mind and the opportunity to gain a fresh perspective on what it means to be a leader.

It was terrific to see our students growing in confidence and recognising their potential to be terrific leaders in our school community.

Year 10-12 Homeroom Coordinator

Ms Michelle Roberts