Year 8 News

Public Speaking Competition

3 Year 8 students, Tom Hodsdon, Eden Parry & Fynn Williams participated in the regional finals of the Junior Legacy Public Speaking Awards.

The students were outstanding and represented the college discussing the following topic:

- Tom Hodsdon:  The importance of leaving a legacy

- Eden Parry:  Reaching equality and education in developing countries

- Fynn Williams:  The issue of global warming

The above photo was taken at the competition held at the Dandenong RSL.  Barry Smith from Legacy attended our Year 8 assembly and explained the history and role of Legacy emphasising the support given to veterans of war and their families.  Mr Smith spoke in glowing terms about our students who competed in the event.

Thank you to Sacha Hose and Kathryn Jones.

Denise Leggett

Assistant Principal

Using Initiative

As we were full-swing into our short story unit, students had been exploring stories from their 'Step Into Stories' text book, as well as others.  During one lesson, I introduced two stories from the Indigenous Australian perspective, ‘The Lost Girl’ by Ambelin Kwaymullina and Leanne Tobin, and ‘Welcome to Country’ by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy as well as 'The Giving Tree' by Shel Silverstein.  As I was putting on my reading glasses to begin, my students enthusiastically volunteered to read the short books to their peers. A teacher’s dream come true! I welcomed their initiative and students proceeded to listen to each other.  

In groups, they read the stories clearly and with emphasis -- they had their peers engaged!  The stories were chosen for their simplicity, as the activity which ensued required students to work in pairs to engage their higher order critical thinking skills.  Students were to identify philosophical themes, otherwise known as 'abstract nouns' and incorporate these into questions from puzzlement they had about the text. For example, some student generated questions were: Why does it mean to be ‘part of the land’? Who are the ‘elders’? What is a sign of respect? Why do some people take advantage of the generosity of others? Can we give too much? When is it okay to say ‘no’? Where does identity come from?

The student generated questions made up a significant portion of the ensuing lessons in preparation for their Performance Task. Students further explored and unpacked concepts during our whole class discussion. The short stories were vehicles through which students deepened their understanding of philosophical concepts. Analysing the development of characters, settings, plot, conflicts and resolutions are skills students apply to not only their own writing to create rich, meaningful, creative texts but also to understand better the world in which they live.

Michelle Rocca

Student Agency