Weekly eNews
Dr Ray Swann
Deputy Headmaster, Head of the Crowther CentreAs we head into the year, contemplating the activities and various challenges it will bring, I’ve been reflecting on some wisdom from author John Marsden. Marsden is a writer and educator best known for his Tomorrow series.
I came across these principles at the Victorian Parents’ Council, and thought you may find them interesting:
John Marsden’s Tips for Parents
- Give children space. Back off. Let them roam. Let them be bored. Don’t over-plan their lives. Cut way back on the after-school activities programs.
- Keep away from all those ghastly, soulless, sterile playgrounds. Keep away from shopping malls. Look for real places. Wild places.
- Be an adult. Say no to your children at least once a day. If the role of adult in your family is vacant, then one of your children will fill it. And it won’t be pretty.
- Don’t take up all the space. If you are dominating, loud, forceful, your children are highly likely to become passive, lacking spirit and personality … and/or sullen.
- Believe about 40 per cent of the dramatic stories your children tell you of the injustices, corruption and satanic practices happening at school.
- Teach them empathy. For example, after their jubilant victory celebrations when they win a sporting match, remind them that their jubilation was only possible because someone else – the losers – have been made to feel awful.
- Help them develop language skills. Don’t finish their sentences for them. Don’t correct them when they mispronounce a word – they’ll work it out sooner or later. Ask them open-ended questions, that need a detailed answer, not Yes/No questions.
- Make sure they have regular jobs/duties at home and that those jobs are done to a consistently high standard.
- Don’t whinge endlessly about the miseries of your adult life. A lot of children now are fearful about growing up because their parents paint such a grim picture of the awfulness ahead.
- Teach them to be very wary of people who Absolutely Know the Absolute Truth about Absolutely Everything! The colour of truth is always grey. Extreme positions are for the ignorant. Every creature, every person and every situation is complex. The universe is a wonderful mystery.
The Effective Learner Program
Brighton Grammar School has three key academic principles driving our teaching and learning approach:
- Academic engagement is the first amongst equals.
- Everyone has a role to play.
- The science of learning drives our shared understanding.
To bring these principles into practise, we have launched the Effective Learner Program in the Secondary School this year.
The program is based on the science of learning and the simple model of memory, aiming to explicitly teach students how to be more effective learners.
The themes for 2024 include:
- Term 1 – Organisation
- Term 2 – Staying focussed
- Term 3 – Summarising & retrieval practice
- Term 4 – Exam/test preparation
The Term 1 focus of organisation is a response to learning behaviour data gathered in 2023 and the idea that the parts of the brain that help with planning and organisation typically develop a little later in boys (Reeves, 2022).
The foci for Terms 2-4 relate directly to the simple model of memory and helping students to remember more so they have more developed memory schema to think with – making them more effective learners.
The program runs during the pastoral time on Tuesday mornings.
Over the last two weeks, students have taken part in a range of activities to support them to use their student planner effectively.
As part of this, teachers are supporting students to habituate their use of the student planner by getting them to write one thing in it at the end of each lesson.
In the last lesson each day, students also spend a couple of minutes planning out the time and tasks they’re going to complete that evening.
To ensure we’re running this program effectively we’re looking to:
- Use a proven framework for promoting self-regulation in leaners, the McDaniel framework
- Seek regular feedback from students and staff
- Develop and use metrics of student uptake and effectiveness
If you’re a BGS Secondary School parent and looking to support your son to be a more effective learner, please look at their student planner and ask them about what they’ve learnt and what homework they have.
Patrick Sanders
Associate Head of the Crowther Centre, Curriculum and Assessment
Ready to Learn Interactive Workshop
Year 7 Ready to Learn
Date: Wednesday 21 February 7.00-8.00pm
Location: The Nexus, Urwin Centre
Register: Free, registration required
During our first parent workshop for the term, Kristen Molloy from the Crowther Centre, and Kirsten Dunsby, Head of Year 7, will discuss what it means to be ‘ready to learn’, particularly in relation to executive function and self-regulation, and how you can help foster and support these essential qualities for learning in your children.