Teaching and Learning Corner

A significant portion of a teacher’s responsibility is to identify, and foster the factors that enhance student learning, while simultaneously attempting to eradicate those factors that inhibit learning. Educators have decades of research to help inform our understanding. Drawing on research and our own experience, the staff of Christway College have created a classroom creed to guide teachers and students alike in conduct that is conducive to a productive and positive learning environment. Our creed is Ready, Respectful and Responsive. 

You may already have seen teachers wearing badges that promote these core values, or you may have seen a sticker on your child’s laptop. 

It is our desire to embed these values in our language, both spoken and written, and make these values part of our lived experience – our culture. 

What does being READY look like?  Being “Ready” means having the right equipment, being set up for success and having the right attitude. If a student is hungry, sleepy, distressed, agitated or resentful, he cannot learn. A good night’s sleep and a healthy breakfast go a long way to enabling a positive experience at school. Being organised with all the equipment required for the day and a fully charged laptop position the student to enter the classroom calm, focused and able to engage. 

To help students achieve a state of calm and focus before entering the classroom we have instituted a simple routine that takes place at the door of every classroom before every lesson. We call it “Meet, Greet and Seat.” The students line up, the teacher asks for quiet attention, greets the students with some words of welcome and then invites the students to enter the room calmly, to firstly, take their places and, secondly focus their attention on the teacher for a warm greeting and then, to listen for their first instruction. It may seem an incidental thing, but it actually has many benefits. It is predictable, it sets an expectation of orderliness, and it establishes a relationship of cooperation. It means learning can happen. It doesn’t guarantee learning – that takes two more factors, Respect and Responsiveness. 

In the next Newsletter, I will unpack what Respectful means within the context of the Christway classroom. 

Quote of the month

“If you are not willing to learn, no one can help you. If you are determined to learn, no one can stop you.” Zig Ziglar

Angela Landy

Head of Academic Culture