Year 7 Update

Classroom update Term 3 - Respect, Courage, Care, Culture

It was an eventful Term 3 in the MITS classroom. In Term 3 we worked hard to live our school values authentically, focusing on an element of a school value each week. We have unpacked these by noting what this value would look like in action, and then applying these within our classroom. Students have voted each week on a peer who they think has best displayed that MITS value for the week. It has been really nice to watch the students acknowledge and celebrate each other as exceptional value keepers.

Writing

The focus for our writing classes in Term 3 was around different forms of informative writing such as biographies, factual recounts and descriptions, and information reports. Students have been practicing how to engage their reader by using a sizzling start, how to build momentum in the middle of their writing pieces, and ways to end with impact. 

Write your own sizzling start for a News Report on ‘Fatberg’s’

What’s that enormous, slimy, floating masses are made up of fats, oils and non-biodegradable items that have been incorrectly disposed of in sewer? 

“Oh that’s just a Fatberg.” ~ Emma Douglas (starting with a question)

“Ewwwwwwww” I thought to myself as Ms Tara showed the class a video on ‘fatburg’s’ ~ Nariyah Hood (starting with an anecdote)

Write a sizzling start for a news report on plastic pollution

I open my eyes and I see all the plastic water bottles spread across the beach and I wonder how many sea creatures could be harmed. ~ Zaya Hood (Paint a word picture)

‘Splash’ as the water bottle hits the bottom of the drain. That could have been one of the 13 million pieces of plastic that ends up in the waterways every year. Imagine if I had just picked it up off the ground and just put that in the bin. Imagine saving a life. ~ Olivia Donzow (Starting with a sound)

Wellbeing Wednesday

In the middle of Term 3 we had ‘Wellbeing Wednesday’, a day to reset our minds and a day to take a break. All MITS staff were invited to participate in the activities for the day. Lia and Ed took on a cooking group, and cooked us all a delicious lunch of sausages, potato salad and a green salad. Tara set up a painting table at 364 and enjoyed mixing paints and creating a textured flower design onto canvas. Michael set off with groups on bikes, and Jayden took on some skateboarders around Yarra Park. Brad enjoyed board games in the lounge at Lockington and Annie held origami workshops. 

Wellbeing Wednesday was really run. I went on a fun bike ride and climbed on a rock wall. After morning tea at Lockington, I did a STEAM activity, then board games with Mr Brad. Everyone was really playful. Then we went to the MCG and played a game!

~ Lily Hood

Wellbeing Wednesday was a lot of fun. It was exciting at first then it got interesting because we did painting and it turned out to be calming and amazing. At recess I sat around the fire pit and got warm. Winston was on the other side of the fire pit being a chef, and cooked us a delicious damper.

~ Jamelia Ashley

Monash University Museum of Art Project

In June the MITS class of 2022 joined with Jenna Lee and the Monash University of Modern art to create amazing objects, bowl like creations and dilly bags that were made from natural objects. Created with plaster and the paper from Aboriginal word books this project was a hard, delicate, and peaceful time. To me it was a unique and inspirational moment.

 It helped me to realise that I don’t need to know or speak my language, participate in artwork, hunt, or do any traditional practices to be connected to my culture. Working and participating in Jenna Lee's workshop was an amazing opportunity. It's not every day you get to do artwork with an Aboriginal leader and proud First Nations woman. 

~ Olivia Donzow

I’d like to thank Jenna Lee, MUMA & the Monash University for inviting the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School to be a part of this exhibition. I am grateful to have opportunities like these to share my art with other people. 

~ Alexis Chatfield

ACMI

Yesterday afternoon, we - the MITS mob - visited ACMI in federation square to participate in one of their workshops. Thank you to Tara who organised this. We started off by doing an interesting group activity where we made a stop motion film under a birds eye camera. The instructor taught us how to make our own short film using costumes and puppet-like objects. The aim of this was for each group of students to have their own movie made by the end of the workshop. We ended the workshop with a thankyou from Dwayne and I. 

Soon after that, we headed down to the ACMI exhibition which everyone loved. We spent plenty of time there playing with their interactive games and set-ups which I found really interesting. There were a few arcade games, xbox & playstation games, binoculars to look through and lots more. Something a lot of us enjoyed was using our discs to virtually collect items throughout the exhibition, which we later discovered that we can log into them online and see what we got! 

Overall, it was a great day and we hope to go back again!  

~ Alexis Chatfield & Dwayne Whitehurst 

Electives

In Term 3 and 4 we have offered a selection of classes for students to choose from every Tuesday afternoon. The electives we have had available include: Tree of Life, Coding with Lego, Masterchef Cooking, Brad’s Bootcamp, Didgeridoo and Skateboarding.

Outdoor Education Camp - Lake Eildon (see highlights video here)

Finally we arrived at Lake Eildon. I leapt off the bus with a keen eye. I had no idea where we were and what to expect on day one at Camp. After we had lunch we wiggled into difficult wetsuits for kayaking.

~ Desmond Morgan

SEDA sport -

MITS continued its partnership with SEDA senior secondary school in Term 3. Our students participated in both a 3 week soccer program and 3 week netball program. SEDA used their expertise in their respective sports and delivered enjoyable and professional sessions with our students teaching and refining their existing sporting skills. The highlight of SEDA soccer was the MITS vs SEDA big game at the end of the program where we sadly went down 3 goals to 2. The students loved getting to access Melbourne State Hockey and Netball Center in the for our final netball session.