Instructional Model 

Our wonderful teachers at Greensborough College are always actively engaged in continued professional development to enhance their teaching practice and pedagogical knowledge. In Semester 1, teachers worked through improvement cycles in Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to explore, implement and evaluate the Department of Education’s Positive Classroom Management Strategies (PCMS). This term we will be focusing on vocabulary. Teachers work through improvement cycles in PLCs, continuing to explore opportunities to engage students and enhance learning. 

Through the PCMS last term, teachers reflected on classroom management strategies, expectations and routines, as well as utilising a range of techniques to enhance learning. Examples of these include: the sequencing of lessons, (including choice where possible to increase student agency) and increasing opportunities for students to actively participate. Teachers gather data on the strategy they implement to determine the efficacy of the strategy.  

Vocabulary will be the focus for our next improvement cycle and staff have started to reflect on its impact on teaching and learning. Teachers have been identifying essential vocabulary including Command Terms and high-level terminology, specific to each learning area. Students having very clear understandings of Command Terms such as ‘describe’, ‘explain’, ‘justify’, ‘evaluate’ helps to ensure that they understand what is being asked of them in exams across many learning areas. As part of this improvement cycle, teachers will also been reviewing the processes with which students retain new terms in their long-term memory as required.  

Through these improvement cycles together with other professional learning opportunities, teachers continue to enhance their practice to support students in their learning.