Head of House 

Tutor Learning Initiative – Semester 1 Update

The Tutor Learning Initiative (TLI) is well underway and embedded into our SOC learning community. We now have five part-time tutors across Literacy and Numeracy, specialised in tutoring 101 students from Years 7-12. 

The initiative is part of the DET’s commitment to support students whose learning was disrupted during the lockdowns of 2020. The tutors provide out-of-class support to students in literacy and numeracy, focusing on catching up on key knowledge and learnings they may have missed last year. So far, we have four students who have ‘graduated’ from the program. During our ‘mini-lockdown’ in Term 2, our tutors continued to provide online support and sessions to students, so as not to disadvantage them further. 

I would personally like to thank our tutors: Frank Dela Rambelya (numeracy), Susan Petousis (literacy), Jeff Wong (numeracy), and Steve McRae (literacy) for their ongoing support and professionalism in this initiative. 

If parents would like to know more about this program, and how it can support your child, please do not hesitate to contact Tim Columbus at the school. We also offer academic support through Homework Club, which runs every Monday and Wednesday after school from 3:15-4:30. 

Positive Education – Semester 1 Update

Term two started off with a whole-staff professional development day exploring Character Strengths. Our focus for the semester has been recognising and building on the Character Strengths of our staff and students, through Mentor Group, classroom activities, staff meetings, and the Year 7 and 8 Endeavour Program. 

In Term 3, we will shift our focus to gratitude and resilience. As one of our core values, resilience is not just the ability to recover quickly from setbacks, but a mindset and life-skill that will allow our students to become lifelong learners and build positive relationships over their lives. 

The following is an article which focuses on the pedagogy of joy – closely related to Positive Education.

The Pedagogy of Joy

 In the entrance to the Diana school in Reggio Emilia, we see a large banner that hosts the phrase, ‘nothing without joy’.  Although attributed to Loris Malaguzzi, Alfredo Hoyuelos notes Malaguzzi’s acknowledgement to the writing of French philosopher, Michel de Montagne in his book, La estética en el pensamiento y obra pedagógica de Loris Malaguzzi. Hoyuelos records the questions posed by Malaguzzi in 1981 and these questions, in the current world crisis, in a climate of despair, worry and fear, are just as pertinent today.  Can we live without joy? Can you teach without joy?

The concept and value of joy should be embedded in our current pedagogical offerings, which, during the COVID-19 crisis, might be offered face to face, in an online environment or in a blended delivery of both.  How can we educate and enrich the lives of children without a spirit of joy, a sense of courage and hope? Every educational service makes ethical choices reflective of their values and, we should ensure that these values are not left at the metaphorical door of the COVID-19 crisis.  We need to be sure that our new interpretation of pedagogy does not subject children to the tyranny of transmissive entertainment and boredom.

According to Malaguzzi, ‘every child born into the world represents a challenge, an interrogative.  A kind of adventurer who may venture a thousand unforeseeable paths.  He has within himself the possibility, ‘the possibles’ of being different from how we know him.  This is his freedom and his responsibility, the one that growing imposes on him’ (Hoyuelos, 2013, p. 65).  This image of the child is one that we should consider in relation to the current image of the educator, most who are finding themselves in unknown and unchartered pedagogical waters. Educators have the possibility and perhaps freedom now to choose which of the thousand unforeseeable paths they will venture down. There are many strategies for educators to embrace the unknown, but whichever they choose, could they include the values of engagement, enchantment and joy?

Could we set the pedagogy of logic and cognition aside for a while and focus our attention on the pedagogy of imagination and creativity; a pedagogy where joy can be generated? Could we shift our focus for a minute from the dominant discourse of the information age to a conceptual age of the 21st century where we may embrace Daniel Pink’s concepts of design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning? Can we use these concepts, and a rich image of the child to stimulate idea generation and experimentation in a new reimagined 2020 pedagogy?

Ask yourself:

• Does your current reimagined curriculum consider the importance of the environment in which the learning is taking place? Are you providing suggestions for children to gather and hunt for materials that will take them outside of the house, to connect with the natural world and to practice observation?
• Are you asking families to record their children’s thoughts, theories, questions and ideas during this time? Are the children’s thoughts and concerns similar? What will their memories be of this time? Can these memories be shared with other children in some way? Are the children’s memories filled with fear? Or joy?  If children are fearful, what can educators do to reorient their thinking? How will this world health crisis contribute to their identity?
• Are you providing or suggesting experiences for children to laugh, to experience enchantment and joy? To wonder what lives at the bottom of a puddle, to create shadows or to make a joke book?

Children are citizens of the present and society and we need to ensure that their rights during this ‘present’ are not forgotten and are not marginalised.  Educators, more than ever, have a responsibility in their daily contexts to enact continuous critical reflection. Let’s embrace this responsibility with a spirit of courage and a willingness to venture down a thousand unforeseeable paths in pursuit of each child right to optimism, playfulness and more pertinently, joy.

References:

Hoyuelos, A.  2006. La estética en el pensamiento y obra pedagógica de Loris Malaguzzi. Spain, Octaedro Ediciones, S.L

Hoyuelos, A. (2013) The ethics in Loris Malaguzzi’s philosophy. Reykjavik. Isalda.

Lockdown 4.0 Journal Entries:

A day in a life of me Keira Chapman (most beautiful of all)

I think that my quarantine has been okay. At first it was a bit hard since my laptop didn’t want to cooperate with me but after chatting with my laptop for a bit it started to work.

I also have started to like drawing and baking. I’ve been making cookies, brownies, and cupcakes; and with drawing I call my friends that can draw to give me some tips and ideas.

When running low on food and sometimes not being able to go and drive to the shops, me and my sister (Lyka) have a midnight meal with uber eats  It’s worth it I swear but of course it’s not healthy. But I have my carrots and apples every now and then. 

Overall, I’m kind of excited to finally go back to school for the first time in a couple of months. I’m just glad this isn’t as bad as last year and hope it won’t get that bad.

Catching up with friends is easy online.  Sometimes I like to go on walks in the morning or play sport to make sure I don’t become a couch potato. My friends like to do that too and sometimes we meet up at the park, say ‘hi’ hang out for a bit WITH MASKS, and then go back home. I have got sick once or twice but only the cough and stomach aches no (you know what) for me NEVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR  *sorry I just ate sugar*

Hopefuly when we go back to school everything will be okay and then we can finally take off our face clothing (masks) and breathe finally 

A day in the life of lockdown 4.0

By James Quattrone

The loud noises of tools flood my ears, repeating sounds of a hammer constantly pounding down on the chisel to create the perfectly fitted door. Well almost.

Hi I’m James and this is what I did during the screen free day on 9/6/2021, so to cut long story short I woke up about 7:30 in the morning, had some breakfast you know just enjoying life, and by about 9 I was ready to go outside and play some basketball in my backyard.

That was until I had seen and felt the weather, I turned around so fast that you could compare it to Kanye West’s career! I went back inside to my mum wondering where I had gone, then she saw my basketball and sighed she then proceeded to lecture me about how cold weather makes you sick I replied with the classic “I know” and walked off.

By 11 on the dot I was about to wake up my sister purely so I could remind her that it was screen free day, just like always she groaned and continued to sleep.

I was bored out of my mind until my dad had woken up and straight away we began building the door to my bedroom, we had needed some renovation for a while so we figured that during lockdown is perfect!

Once we finished it was pretty late and we sat down for dinner, me and my sister played a board game (I know pretty amazing huh) and my family and I watched a movie all cosy and snug ready for the next day of renovation. 

JOURNAL ENTRY  - Fiona Liu

My journal entry today will be regarding my favourite Chinese Recipe which I have successfully learnt to cook over the many periods of lockdown we have been subjected to over the year 2020-2021.

Among the many delicacies, cola chicken wings are my favourite. In order to be able to eat it often, I begged my mother to teach me how to cook it, because once I learned it, I could cook it myself. After talking to my mother about my request, she readily agreed. 

First of all, my mother asked me to wash the chicken wings, and then my mother cut the prepared garlic into minced garlic. When my mother was about to cut the green onion, I said I wanted to try it, but when my mother handed me the kitchen knife, I was a little bit scared. Looking at the sharp kitchen knife, I was afraid that I would cut into my own hand, but I thought I would be a brave child, so I put the onion, holding the top of the kitchen knife in both hands, twice and three times. I did it. Although the chopped green onion may be large or small, this is the first time I have used a kitchen knife. Give yourself a full score! 

Next, my mother used a knife to cut the front and back of each chicken wing three times, and put the chicken wings in a bowl. I added cooking wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and salt to the bowl. In order to make the chicken wings more flavourful, I massaged the chicken wings with both hands and gave them a seasoning bath. After 30 minutes, I added oil to the pot. For safety, my mother put the marinated chicken wings into the pot, and then I would relay the fried chicken wings. When both sides of the chicken wings became golden, my mother asked me to do the best. The most important step is to pour the cola into the pot and open the fire to boil it. Looking at the gurgling cola and chicken wings in the pot, my saliva almost drained. Twenty minutes later, my favourite Coke chicken wings were finally done. Looking at the chicken wings on the plate, I couldn't wait to pull up my mother to taste it. Wow! The sweet and silky chicken wings are so delicious, I instantly feel like a chef!

Journal Entry - Zenani Philips 

Tim Columbus

Head of House: Banksia