Literacy

Academic Transitioning

The ball is rolling, and we have launched our first Academic Transitioning Project (ATP). Our Year 11 Literature class visited Waverley Meadows on Friday 25th October and began working together on poetry. Before the visit, all students were given the same stimulus and created a poem.

On Friday, students shared their poems and spent the lesson sharing ideas and feedback. Waverley Meadows will visit us in a few weeks which will give students time to re-draft their poetry, acting on feedback and preparing to present a new and improved piece. This is a unit of work, and it is important that we work on the task together and visit each other as much as we need to. On the last visit, students will share their finalised piece to the two classes. It’s a genuinely exciting adventure.

With the increased pressure on schools to assess and measure growth in student learning, we often lose sight of breaking the tasks down. We must allow time for students to experiment with the basic writing process and appreciate the entire experience. For example, to write that last sentence I needed to edit and rephrase before I was happy with it. But if I am honest, in a moment of complete disclosure, I needed to stop and rewind the same scene in The Bachelorette three times before I got the sentence to an acceptable standard.

The important thing is that I realised my error and I had to stop everything, stop distractions and focus on the basic process. What was my main idea/subject in the sentence and how could I express it effectively and concisely? Who am I kidding? I am rarely concise, if you read my work, you know I use 20 words when I could just use 5.

Anyway, (did I digress?) students need to see their older and younger peers working on the same project and actually take their time to share and support each other in the writing process. They need to see each other go through the challenges and the triumphs, development of ideas, the planning, editing, drafting and refining stages. Writing is tough and if we are more open and transparent about how difficult it is, we can start to relax more and appreciate that there is a process AND a rewarding finish line.

So.

When in doubt, stop yelling at Jamie because he will eventually go from The Bachelorette (the producers are obviously keeping him there for ratings). Stop everything and take the time to focus on the process.  

The ATP is about learning from each other, engaging in substantive talk and activities. The difference in year level doesn't indicate that there are tasks out of reach for some or too simplistic for others; writing is already a differentiated task.

The ATP will continue every year and term, when a different English class will be working with Waverley Meadows. Teachers will have the opportunity to moderate the work created and identify the specific skills that students need to grow to become eager writers and readers.

Thank you, Waverley Meadows, we know that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship (we are going to friend-zone each other - Bachie style.)

Claire Hanley

Literacy - Learning Specialist