Learning & Teaching
This term, all students from Foundation to Year 6 will be involved in Personal Passion Projects (PPP). These projects will provide opportunities for students to explore and learn something new they have always wanted to do, or further investigate something they already know a lot about. Students could learn a musical instrument, practise or develop a new skill like cooking or painting, compose and teach a fitness routine for isolated kids, critique a game and make their own, dance using their hip hop moves, build a unique model using their Lego skills, or learn about the history of space travel. The sky’s the limit!
Personal Passion Projects are a wonderful chance for students to develop their own personalised learning styles, develop their creative and critical thinking and take ownership of their learning. Students will have the opportunity to gain new knowledge, skills and understandings in an area they are passionate about and that is meaningful to them.
Students will be given a framework and support to assist them to work within a timeline and plan to meet deadlines. They will set goals, work to meet them and reflect on their progress as they work independently and check in with their teacher during Focus Child Zoom Sessions. Students may even think of a platform to share their work highlighting what they have learned to teachers, peers and parents.
Starting a Passion Project
This week, during Focus Zoom Sessions, students are being asked to think about things they are passionate about or interested in (being passionate means you are really good at something and/or you have a lot of knowledge about something. Being interested means you want to develop your skills and find out more).
Once a passion/interest has been decided, students will highlight all the reasons why they have chosen their idea and will then map out the direction they want to take. Whatever route students want to take, the one thing each should have in common, that lays at their very foundation, is a single sentence:
“This would be fun.”
What You Can Do To Help
We’re asking for your support as we work together to assist your child choose an appropriate focus for their project and stay on track to complete it. Have a discussion with your child and find out the interest/passion on which they would like to base their PPP. Use open-ended questions to get your child to articulate a route they would like to take and ask them to give as many reasons as they can as to 'why' they want to follow certain path(s). Remember, teachers will be checking in with students throughout the week and these are just suggested ways you can help.
Some parents may want to get involved in their child's project. This may especially be the case with younger students. As long as parents guide and allow children to choose their own passion/interest areas, as long as parents support students through successes and allow students to experience failure, and as long as parents do not 'take over' and make projects their own, that is okay. Asking open-ended questions along the way is a great way to develop your child's thinking.
As you may be aware, Wednesdays have been timetabled for students from F-6 to work on specialist tasks and PPP. Of course, we encourage and will be delighted if students work on PPP for a short amount of time each day. It's a great stress relief, it's a break away from formal learning and it's what a leader, a creator, an entrepreneur does. E-ve-ry day.
Finally, if you have the time and are willing to share your own passions, talents or skills, we invite you to email your child's homeroom teacher. Let us know what you can do. We have already created a spreadsheet with our staff's passions, for students to tap into. All experts are welcome, so look out, we may be in touch.
If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with your child’s class teacher. We can't wait to see what our young minds come up with!
VICTORIAN ASSOC. for GIFTED and TALENTED CHILDREN
DET VAGTC Free Parent Seminar Series 2020.
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