Teaching and Learning
We are all lifelong learners!

Jenni Howard, Assistant Principal – Teaching & Learning

Inquiry Cycles

As we know, great educators constantly seek ways to improve their practice and pedagogy and at Sandringham College our focus is always firmly set on improving the learning and wellbeing of our students. When the final bell rings at the end of a school day, teachers and support staff move off from their classrooms and meet up for a range of meetings and collaborative sessions designed to support them to improve the learning and wellbeing of Sandringham College students.

In the last newsletter, I wrote about Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and in Term 2 throughout Weeks 3-8 our teaching staff will be completing an evidence-based Improvement Cycle led by their Domain Leaders.

FISO Improvement Cycle

PLCs embed strategic approaches by aligning Sandringham College improvement priorities to classroom practice.

So, this term our PLCs are conducting a range of domain-based inquiries which include: the improvement of their assessment through moderation; improving students’ ability to interpret and reach conclusions from graphs/tabular data in exam style questions and improving engagement and understanding of practical report rubrics by providing sample reports which students discuss and mark, just to name a few.

There is much for us to learn about our students and we’ll keep you updated on how these inquiry cycles are progressing!

Jenni Howard

Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning

SEAL Reading Program

This term a new initiative is being trialled in our Year 7 and 8 SEAL reading classes. Students will form small literature circles with their peers and select a text to explore together through discussion and short collaborative engaging tasks. Students can choose from the carefully cultivated selection that include genres and text types such as contemporary YA bestsellers, classic fiction, comedic Australian plays, mystery / thrillers, Gothic, Indigenous work, and the ever-popular genre of fantasy.

The aims of this term's program are to:

> introduce students to new text types, genres and authors that they may not have come across

>encourage reciprocal questioning (as part of our SEAL philosophy of co-constructed curriculum)

> provoke students to engage in critical and creative thinking, specifically focusing on wondering (text prediction) inferences (nuanced reading of text inclusive of subtext) and imagination

> prompt students to make real world links from the texts to their own experiences

> enable groups to engage in higher order thinking skills and show transferral of knowledge through activities that require them to synthesise, analyse and evaluate information from their chosen texts then create work collaboratively.

Who will make the best card game or board game interpretation of their text? Who will stump their peers with the trickiest philosophical questions? Which group will construct the most captivating newspaper front page? All shall be revealed later in the term.

We will be seeking feedback from the two classes trialing aspects of this program to ensure student voice is heard as we continue to refine our curriculum for gifted students.

Masterclasses in Term 2

This term, as part of our gifted education program, we will be offering optional incursions in the form of Masterclasses to our high ability students. Term 2 has a focus on core skills in English and Maths.

The Maths Masterclass will run over two doubles on Tuesday 23rd and Thursday 25th (week 5) and will be facilitated by two of our expert teachers, Mr Callum McCombe and Ms Estelle Ashkar. Students will engage in a range of collaborative tasks and will further enhance their problem-solving and numeracy skills.

Our offering for students who are gifted in English occurs in week 8/9 and will be an incursion facilitated by Joel McKerrow. He is an award-winning author, speaker and educator. He was the third Australian to participate in the Individual World Poetry Slam Championships, and having toured extensively in Australia, USA, Canada and the United Kingdom he is one of Australia’s most successful and experienced performance poets. His sessions on poetry, narrative and the creative process aim to engage and inspire young people. Students will engage in rich discussion and various activities to enrich their understanding of poetry and narrative, support them in the writing process and construction of their own work and use metacognitive skills to reflect on writing and oral speaking skills.

Students are invited based on multiple sources of information including term 1 ALT results, available testing data, student work ethic and teacher recommendation. Invitations for these optional events will be published on Compass in the coming weeks.

We will be offering more MASTERCLASSES in Semester 2 so stay tuned for more details on future offerings.

SEAL students, satire and social etiquette

In the Year 9 SEAL English class, students are studying the classic Oscar Wilde and his renowned play 'The Importance of Being Earnest.' It's been wonderful hearing about the nuanced approach to this text that the SEAL students are taking. A focus of our gifted education program is to add rigour and challenge students with extensive vocabulary, consider multiple perspectives and make connections to their own experiences. Whilst they are learning about the social and historical contexts of the play, they are also deeply exploring the genre of satire, including how witty language functions to engage the reader or viewer, and how social etiquette has changed over time. Their teacher, Ms. Julia Vogel has designed an array of learning activities that stimulate collaborative discussion and provoke students to think critically about why this piece of work has remained popular on stage and screen.

Please enjoy some images below of her 'English tea party-inspired lesson' where students are required to analysis key scenes from the play and explore themes as their polite tea party conversation starters.