Learning and Teaching

Writing

What does Writing look like at our school?

At St John’s we strive to engage all of our students and teach them how to be authors. Students from Prep - 6 learn to write for a particular purpose, whether that be to entertain, to persuade or to inform the reader. Writing is taught explicitly each day with designated time spent on modelling, construction, reflection and feedback. Teachers work through a process where responsibility is gradually released to students so they can develop their skills and independence in writing tasks. Students learn how to think like authors and engage in the various stages of writing such as planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing, all the while receiving feedback from teachers and peers. 

Teachers use a pedagogical framework for writing which outlines how writing is taught for each lesson from Prep - 6. Within each lesson throughout the school these aspects will always be evident:

• Explicit teacher instruction and modelling using good quality texts
• Shared writing with students either as a whole class or in a small group
• Peer construction of a text or independent writing
• Focus groups with small groups of students or individual student conferencing
• Reflection time at the end of the lesson which includes feedback and next steps for learning

Because we encourage students to be active participants in their own learning, students set their own writing goals in consultation with teachers. We also use ‘Bump it up’ walls as part of our writing to maintain high expectations. ‘Bump it up’ walls show a visual progression of achievement using writing samples. For each writing sample, criteria is broken down to show what has been done well and what the next steps are to ‘bump up’ the writing to the next level. Teachers and students are creative in designing the criteria together and students are able to use the ‘bump it up’ wall either in their physical classroom or via an online platform to compare their own writing to the samples and identify what they need to do to improve. 

Naomi Ryan - Writing Coach

Mathematics 

Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition (CAT) 

Math Extension Education

Towards the end of Term 2, eleven students were selected from Yr 5 and 6 (upper primary) to compete in the Computational and Algorithmic Thinking (CAT) competition at St John’s through the Australian Mathematics Trust. It is a one-hour problem-solving competition which seeks to identify computer programming potential. Some questions test the ability to accurately perform procedures, others require logical thought, while the more challenging problems require the identification and application of algorithms. In the weeks leading up to the competition the students practiced on trial material and past papers online in small focus sessions via Google Meet.

Congratulations to Tristan and Elisha who received distinctions certificates and were in the top percent of the competition. Congratulations also to all participants who worked diligently throughout the extension program.

EMC3  Maths Project

An interesting article was written in the Herald Sun last week regarding the importance of productive struggle in Mathematical learning. The article cited the work from Dr James Russo and the research from Monash University. St John's is currently involved in this research project through EMC3. The article focused on the importance of struggle in mathematics as it builds critical thinking, resilience and teamwork. 

Kellie Cumming - Maths Coach and Leader