Assistant Principal's Report

Responsive Teaching in Action

Recently, our staff engaged in professional development focused on Responsive Teaching – an evidence-informed approach that helps teachers check for understanding and adjust instruction in real time to meet students’ needs.

This was facilitated by Bron Ryrie Jones who has a background in classroom teaching, instructional coaching and teacher education (University of Melbourne) and is a published author on teaching and learning. We have engaged in a year long partnership with Ms Jones to ensure that our teachers are provided with high-quality professional development to enact our philosophy: Building staff capacity is paramount. 

Responsive teaching is built on a simple but powerful idea: students don’t always learn exactly what we teach the first time. By regularly checking what learners understand during a lesson, teachers can clarify misconceptions, provide additional support, or extend thinking where needed.

Throughout the session, teachers explored practical strategies to:

• Break learning into manageable steps
• Clearly model new skills and concepts
• Encourage students to explain their thinking
• Check for understanding from all learners, not just volunteers
• Use student responses to guide next steps in teaching

Some of the techniques we are strengthening across our school include structured partner discussions, quick written reflections, mini whiteboard responses, and carefully planned questioning. These strategies allow teachers to gather immediate feedback about student understanding and ensure that no learner “opts out” of thinking.

Importantly, responsive teaching supports:

• Greater student engagement
• Clearer expectations
• Stronger retention of knowledge
• Improved learning outcomes

By embedding these practices consistently across classrooms, we are continuing to build a shared, school-wide approach to high-quality teaching and learning.

We see the positive impact this work is having on our learners and look forward to Bron Ryrie Jones returning to work with our staff on our next Curriculum Day in Term 2 as we continue to support teacher practice that aligns with how students learn best.