Middle Years
Year 9 City Experience
Last week I was in Melbourne for the Year Nine City Experience. We welcomed new students; Thomas Hutchings, Hugh Mahar, Tessa Ingham and Jorja Edwards into Year Nine. Students were fully engaged and immersed in city life. I would like to pass on my congratulations to our Year 9 students who quickly adapted to the challenges and worked collaboratively as a group. There is a lot to learn about the city and it takes students a couple of days to ‘get the hang of the city’, how to work cooperatively as a group, manage yourself in the CBD, solve problems when things don’t turn out as planned. Our role, as teachers, is to allow students to figure out the issue, and work out the next action. If we jump in too quickly and rescue them, we aren’t teaching them valuable life lessons. Each day there were problems that needed addressing; lost MIKI cards, lost back packs, bank cards not working, running out of money.
There were some “stand outs” in the City:
- I was impressed with how polite our students were, and how well they communicated with the adults around them.
- They were calm under pressure.
- Friendships grew during this week, as they needed to rely on each other.
- They enjoyed exploring the city. There is an enormous amount of trust put in our Year 9 students while they explore the city, they are given responsibility and this in turn allows them to show their character. I was impressed with the calibre of our students; they are good hearted, kind and engaged young citizens.
Special thanks need to be passed on to the amazing staff for coming to Melbourne.
Food for thought:
Last weekend, it The Australian newspaper there was article titled “Scoreless kids’ sport contests breeding out resilience” by Jessica O’Halloran. Here are some pertinent quotes from the article that resonated with me. I am interested in your opinion on this topic.
Michael Carr-Gregg thinks the scoring bans deny children the chance to learn how to deal with defeat. “My view is that life is full of ups and downs,” Carr-Gregg says. “We’ve got to build resilience. We’ve got to allow kids to experience adversity. The definition of success is to face, overcome and be transformed by adversity. “What these codes have done with this edict — we are going to make sure these kids don’t feel sadness and disappointment. It’s not just scoring. They don’t keep ladders, there’s no finals, this is the wussification of an entire generation of children.” He thinks children should be allowed to take part in a competitive environment from the get-go.
“If you change the structure of sport, then you are denying them the opportunity to learn in a functional way. (We want them) to learn how to cope with the knockdowns, learn how to be satisfied with the contribution they made on game day and learn how to accept that you are not always going to be at the same level or capability as your peers, and that’s OK as long as you are enjoying it and giving your best. “That’s a skill for life, not just for sport. We are never going to get what we want in all circumstances.”
Julia Winter Cooke