Greensborough Focus 

Teaching & Learning News 

Whole Staff Curriculum Day Promotes the use of 

Developmental Taxonomies in Rubrics

 

The whole staff Curriculum Day took place on March 6th whereby teachers and ES staff participated in professional development involving interdisciplinary collaboration and robust discussions around rubric construction. With a consistent college-wide approach underpinning the overarching vision for curriculum development at Greensborough College in 2024, the day resulted in some great collaborations. Staff were grouped in random teams and given a scenario to build a comprehensive rubric using a developmental taxonomy. The aim was to order skills from left to right with a clear increase in sophistication and complexity guided by a taxonomy.

 

The activity required staff to list key criteria in the form of skills linked to a simple scenario whereby skills were ranked in terms of sophistication and difficulty using either Bloom’s or Dreyfus taxonomies. With rich discussion and intellectual debate taking place during the construction process, teams were able to present their final rubrics to the whole staff showcasing their final products including the process they went through.

With the PE/Health & Music/Arts faculties sweeping up the prizes on the day it was obvious teams truly excelled in creating elaborate and well thought out rubrics using a developmental taxonomy. A huge thank you to Science & Math staff members- Christie Godby and Brandon Chuah for performing an exceptional karaoke ABBA performance at the end of the session. A great reflection of the enthusiasm and collaboration shown by staff on the day, and a great showcase of the macro skills required to build rubrics in teams using a developmental taxonomy. Learning continuums and developmental rubrics are a key focus of the college Annual Implementation Plan at Greensborough College in 2024 s thank you to all staff who participated, exceptional effort delivered by all. 

 

Kami Gillick-Lewis 

Learning Specialist- Curriculum Innovation 

 

 

NAPLAN

Now in its 16th year, NAPLAN is an established part of the Australian educational landscape.  NAPLAN is now a completely digital experience, with some portions of the test adapting to student responses & offering different questions.  In order to prepare staff to deliver NAPLAN to standard, a professional development afternoon was delivered in Week 5.  With a Kahoot to consolidate learning, Kady Best, Lisa Dunne & Anthony Hitchman were our top-scoring winners.  Year 7 & 9 Year classes also had practice NAPLAN sessions to familiarise themselves with the platform & types of questions they may encounter.

 

We later discovered that our College was selected for a random audit of NAPLAN for 2024. After having our classes observed during the first Writing test, the auditor provided nothing but positive feedback for our fantastic staff & students.  Additionally, great support from Ash, Charlie, Trish, Georgia & support staff (Matt, Sue, Di & Deb) helped to ensure these sessions ran incredibly smoothly. 

 

School-wide results from these tests will be made available on MySchool later this year. Families will also receive individual reports on their child's achievements in NAPLAN. 

 

Andrew Ericksen

Learning Specialist - Literacy & Numeracy

 

 

PLC Update

 

Teachers are once again engaging in Professional Learning Communities (PLC) at Greensborough College. 

 

Over 15 weeks, Professional Learning Communities are an opportunity for teachers to:

  • View & analyse student data
  • Select areas of student learning need
  • Design and implement high-impact teaching strategies to fulfil student learnings needs
  • Evaluate the success of the implemented teaching strategies
  • Share their learnings collaboratively

This collaboration and experimentation with new strategies, allows all teachers to expand their repertoire of pedagogy which benefits students in their classes. In addition, working collaboratively allows teachers to build professional rapport, share curriculum knowledge and develop greater consistency in their classroom practice. 

 

Teachers will begin implementing the strategies they have designed for their classes in Term 2. In addition, teachers will complete peer observations as they implement new strategies and provide non-judgemental feedback. This reflection strengthens Greensborough College’s collective teaching practice. 

 

The PLC process culminates in a Showcase where teacher teams present what they have achieved and learned to the whole staff.

 

Thanks so much to all of the teachers for their participation and diligent engagement in this work.

 

Lisa Dunne

Learning Specialist - Instructional Leadership