Learning & Teaching

From the Deputy Principal - Learning and Staff

Mount St. Joseph Girls’ College provides timely feedback to parents and carers in a number of ways:

Learning feedback to students and parents

CANVAS

All families should now be familiar with our online learning management system, Canvas. Canvas is an ongoing learning and reporting portal that enables us to give immediate feedback to our students and their families with the aim of improving students learning outcomes. As this feedback is given straight after a piece of work, activity, project or skill is assessed, the information we are able to give to students and their families is comprehensive and timely.

Canvas provides an important opportunity for students, parents and teachers to work together to achieve successful learning outcomes for our students. This is an opportune time to log into Canvas and review any feedback that your daughter has received this term, as all subjects will have provided feedback by a rubric and a comment. This feedback provides students with actions and strategies to improve their learning.

What are learning intentions and success criteria?

This feedback is aligned with the College to make learning explicit by outlining the learning intentions and success criteria for each lesson.

What are learning intentions?

A learning intention for a lesson or series of lessons is a statement, created by the teacher, that describes clearly what the teacher wants the students to know, understand, and be able to do as a result of learning and teaching activities. Clear learning intentions should help students focus not just on the task or activity taking place but on what they are learning. Learning intentions are always linked to one or more learning outcomes.

What are success criteria?

Success criteria are linked to learning intentions. They help the teacher and student to make judgements about the quality of student learning.

It is important that we share learning intentions and success criteria with our students to give them the tools to achieve greater learning independence and assist them in understanding the expectations of successful learning. We need to communicate to them:

What they are going to learn
Why they should learn it in the first place
How they will recognise when they have succeeded.

Study vs. Homework

Developing study habits and behaviours is essential for all students. Study is different to homework and the most successful students establish habits that attend to both completing set work and consolidating learning. Study should involve revising concepts learned or revisiting previous assessment feedback, rewriting parts of essays, re-reading a text or attempting something new.

As we approach Term 4, this period is heavy with formal assessment tasks exams. This can provide great challenges for some students. What is absolutely necessary is for students to be in class and focused on each lesson. Time away from school and out of class only places more stress on students and does not allow for specific teacher support. The advice now is to concentrate on refining work habits that should; keeping a balanced approach to studies, being mindful about the time spent in part-time employment and social activities.

VCE Units 3 and 4

On Wednesday 12 September the College will hold an Information Evening for Year 12 parents outlining the arrangements and expectations for the remainder of the year. Mr Jay McMillan will also provide parents with valuable information regarding the VTAC process and tertiary choices.

The following are expectations for the coming weeks for students completing VCE Units 3/4:

The Trial Exam period is Wednesday, September 26 – Thursday October 4. These exams are compulsory and student absences will be followed up on the day of the exam. Students need to arrive 30 minutes prior to the commencement of each examination. The exam timetable has been distributed to parents/carers and students.

Units 3/4 Connect Education Workshops will take place in week 1 of Term 4. In partnership with Connect Education the College will provide 3 hour Workshops for students enrolled in units 3/4. The revision and exam focus lectures for our students that are subject specific and provide resources to support our students. These will run during normal school hours so students are expected to attend.

The following units are not covered by Connect Education, however, teachers have made alternative arrangement to support students to ensure that student access is equitable:

Informatics, VET Music, Text & Traditions, Religion & Society and Visual Communication and Design.

Joanna De Bono

Deputy Principal - Learning & Staff