Deputy Principal, Teaching and Learning
The Power of Doing Less
‘Gardens are a good metaphor for subtraction. You usually can’t plough over the whole thing mid harvest and start over. Pull one weed, and thing look about the same. Keep weeding long enough and things start to look a little lighter. Sometimes you dig up plants that might be viable, but you need to make space for more important things to keep growing.’ Justin Reich
One of the things I managed to do on the last weekend of the holidays was to get out into the sunshine and weed some of my garden. It was only when I got up close that I realised just how many weeds had taken root in the garden bed, and that there was not just one or two weeds, but a complex web of weeds that were out of control. As I pulled and dug my way around the garden, I started to see the outline of the plants that needed to take centre stage.
Reich’s comments in his article ‘The Power of Doing Less in Schools’ exhorts his readers to consider simplifying the way we think about education. School structures, the infrastructure of the organisation, the curriculum, the daily timetable – doing less is more. What if we had fewer subjects? Less periods in a day? Less interruptions each term? What if we made some changes?
Just like weeding helped me to see the plants in my garden, so Reich’s idea of simplifying an approach to teaching and learning and the life of our school community has helped him to see the potential and power of doing less. Reich’s comments are founded on the context of schools being busy places and during Covid, they have been operating at capacity. At a time when staff and students are tired and we are nearing the end of the year, rather than add lots of new things Reich urges educators to consider making schools simpler by subtracting things.
‘Clear out the marginal and focus on the most important things’, says Reich.
I wonder what you think are the most important things in the life of our college. If you would like to share your ideas, please let me know. Email: sbrabdeer@hamiltoncollege.vic.edu.au
Term 4 Focus:
- Finishing well – End of Year Examinations
- Starting well – Step Up 2023
- End of Year Report
Susan Bradbeer
Deputy Principal, Teaching and Learning
Are You Concerned About Your Child Using Online Platforms?
An opportunity to watch some webinars designed for parents in these tricky technological times we are living through.
The Cyber Safety team have put together some sessions for families in October and November. The Team who have set it up are all educators. Trent Ray has taught primary and secondary students and also adults such as Mr Steer and me in his past role as a Microsoft Educator Advisor. Sam Macaulay and Kiah Allen are both primary teachers. The sessions will be well presented and solutions will be the focus.
The sessions cover Cyber security for families, first mobile phone, digital balance and online gaming. Full details are here: Families - Cyber Safety Project and the first session is on the 11th of October.
If you have questions please feel free to ask them via their online options, or you can ask me. (I don’t know the specifics beyond the website but I can contact Trent if need be.
Best wishes for Term 4,
Margaret Simkin
History Teacher
VCE Visual Arts Exhibition
Erica James
Head of Art