Teacher

A friend gave me this wonderful book. It's been sitting patiently on my couch for weeks waiting to be picked up. Finally, I had an hour to myself on a plane and got sucked in straight away. Chapter One is an hilarious recount of any afternoon in most teachers' classrooms - until the end when the reader realises the distress of the author's commitment made to children's needs and their education.

This powerful memoir explores the heart of what it means to be a teacher of primary aged children. It's clear on what makes a great teacher and what our children need from their teachers. The author, Gabbie Stroud, clearly has a gift for teaching and she narrates painfully how the system finally broke her. It's brilliant writing but heart breaking to read. I felt sad when she described her Principals and their expectations of her and her colleagues. I would like to think I work hard to protect my teachers as much as possible from system expectations by framing how we teach individual children according to their needs and talents as learning for tall of us in the school. But it's hard when the pressures from above demand success in the system priorities of NAPLAN and regional targets on reporting scales press down on our already overwhelmed shoulders.

Teacher is a work of national importance. It needs to be read by every educator but more so by those who make the demands on how we meet the needs of the little people in front of us every day.

Our system can do better.

NAPLAN by any other name...

I received an email from a teacher today who had elicited an apology letter from a student who had caused a little bit of a ruckus outside the classroom during the Year 3 NAPLAN Reading Test - right after the whole class had been asked to be as quiet as they could to help the Year 3s concentrate.

I opened the attachment and I couldn't help myself - I just laughed out loud. And I'm still chuckling...

Nutplan... as polically incorrect as it maybe to say - I think this little kid is onto something.

Joyful about achievement - so lovely to see

Not so many years ago as a new Deputy Principal I had some awards to distribute to children on Assembly. I called the children out and told the Assembly how well they had done, and to my horror watched children very reluctantly stand up and come to the front - some had to be cajoled by their teachers and one flatly refused. A couple of boys stood uncomfortably trying to hide their faces behind too long fringes and surf burned hair. And so was the culture of this school - it's not cool to achieve, to stand out in front of the group, and learning was not publicly congratulated. For these children, it was more like public humiliation. Over the years, I've seen this a lot - especially in Queensland. And even though I never stopped trying, it was hard to change

But not so at Peregian Springs...

Our NAPLAN results arrived in the school last week and over the last few days I've been congratulating children (and whole classes) whom I've noticed have done exceptionally well. By exceptionally well, I mean not just those children who performed above the average scores in the state and nationally, but also, and probably more importantly, those children who have made faster improvement than expected.

In the Drop Off Zone the other day, I said to a boy from Year 5 - 'Congratulations on your NAPLAN results. Mum and Dad are going to be very pleased when they see your report. Good job!' The other boys around him clapped him on the back and echoed my congratulations, and this little bloke was just beaming. Then before Assembly on Friday I did the same thing with one of Year 7 boys. His teacher was there and so were his friends - a risky environment to applaud the learning efforts of an adolescent boy! 'Well done, *, on your NAPLAN results. You have made a huge leap in your learning since Year 5. Good job!' He looked kind of surprised, and his teacher joined in saying 'Yes, I saw that too.' And again all the boys around him nodded and one shook his hand.

This is what I love about our kids. They highly value learning and they readily applaud achievement - their own and the achievements of others. They happily offer their congratulations and are genuinely pleased when one of their mates does well, no matter what the area. In a country that regularly cuts down its tall poppies and where there is a culture of not standing out from the crowd, it is exceptional to see children breaking the mold and raise the 'cool factor' of doing well, of doing your best, and being pleased with your efforts.

It's that time of the year again - NAPLAN

This week children in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 across all states of Australia will sit the suite of NAPLAN tests. NAPLAN is an acronym for National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy - however, we rarely say all that, and like many acronyms NAPLAN has almost become its own word!

NAPLAN is not a test of content (says the official website). NAPLAN is a test of the literacy and numeracy skills children learn in the year levels previous to the one they are currently in, for example, the Year 5 Test primarily assesses children's ability to write, spell, read and compute based on curriculum covered in Year 4 and built on from learning in Prep to Year 3.

There is always a lot of press about the Tests - who they are for, why they are bad, why we should and shouldn't be doing them, etcetera, etcetera... In the end, we have to do them, and over the years teachers have learned to make the best of it.

Our teachers work hard to ensure that that the curriculum offerings give children multiple chances to learn the skills that are tested. They prepare solid and sequential programs based on the Australian Curriculum, they streamline the programs to match each child's level, they continually assess children's development and make adjustments for gaps, misunderstandings and misconceptions, and they ensure children develop a certain test literacy to develop familiarity with the tool.

On the day, the tests will assess what children know using only one format with no room for asking the question in a different way, giving a child extra time to think or providing a clue or a hint - this is totally alien to the way in which teachers present their lessons every day but the children have had practice at this - probably since the start of the year.

In other words, providing parents have done their bit with sending children to school every day possible, getting them to bed early on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, ensuring they eat a proper nutritious breakfast, and making sure they are at school by 8.30am with their pencils sharpened, then they are as prepared as they are ever going to be. (Actually, it wouldn't be bad if this happened every school day - not just in NAPLAN week!)

At the end of the day, NAPLAN is just one point-in-time assessment that contributes to the total picture of each child's learning. It's not the sum of the picture and it's not a matter of life and death. It's just three short mornings out of the 203 days of the school year - and all children have had the opportunity to be well prepared for it - no matter what their level of achievement.

Best of luck to all our Year 3, 5 and 7 students this week - I know you will do your best, and this is all we ask.

The Art of Persuasion ... Letters from 2B

For the past two years the writing task in the National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (otherwise known as NAPLAN) has assessed the ability of students in Years 3, 5 and 7 to write persuasively. And so it is, that at this time of the year our Year 2 students turn their sights towards learning and consolidating this important life skill.

During the week I received a package of beautifully presented (handwritten) letters from 2B. On top was a sticky note, 'Hi Gwen, 2B feel quite strongly about an issue and thought the best thing to do would be to persuade you to their point of view. It is our first go at persuasion and they had a bit of guidance. I know you're busy so thanks for reading them. The kids are looking forward to your response. Bec'

Hmmmmm... Well, firstly, I'm NEVER too busy to read a child's work, to listen to them read or see one (or more) that present to my office full of pride with a job well done. Secondly, I had a pretty good idea they were going to try and persuade me to say 'yes' to something I'd want to say 'no' to!

And so - what did they want? I read 24 letters imploring me to allow them to bring toy cars to school. They demonstrated true generic style by stating upfront what they wanted and then presenting all the reasons why I should say yes, and finishing off with a summary. It was priceless.

I was informed that playing with cars was better than fighting; that kids were allowed to bring a ball to school and didn't I know that a ball was a toy?; that playing with cars was cooler than running around in the hot sun; that they had lost their privileges to borrow equipment from the sports shed and had nothing to do (???); that they could play in the shade if they had cars; that small cars are a lot of fun; that being able to play with them would encourage them to play 'friendly' and share; that teachers 'needed to get over it' - this, I found somewhat less persuasive; that the adventure playground was too small for everyone; and so it went on.

The fact is, we prefer children don't bring toys to school, as a rule. Losses and breakages cause much angst, and parents and children are rarely happy with the outcome of an investigation which has usually taken up far too much of the teacher's time. But I've never been very good at saying 'no' to kids! Especially when they ask for what they want responsibly and through using a tool that is well recognised as purposeful in achieving social action. 'Yes, if..' can be a far more useful response for building responsibility and teaching important life skills without the interference of the resentfulness an outright 'no' often brings.

So, my reply to them was:
Thank you very much for your letters regarding being able to bring toy cars to school to play with at play time. They were very well written and I enjoyed reading them.

The fact is that we have a rule at school about not allowing toys because often toys get broken or taken and the time it takes to sort out the problem means students are missing out on learning – and most times people can't agree on how the toy was lost or taken.

I agree that we have let children bring the balls they won at the Lap-a-thon to school. This was on the understanding that if they went missing, then it's sad but the teachers are not going to chase around looking for it. Other sorts of toys must be left at home.

So, as your letters were very good at persuading me to think about this more I have decided that if you would like to bring your cars to school you must have a plan that describes things like who can bring cars, how many, where you will play, what happens if one is lost or broken. The plan must have agreement from Ms Brian and all the other staff who do duty in the area where you play. The other teachers need to agree because their children will want to bring cars too.

Let me know what you decide and thank you for being so respectful in asking for what you want. If you can learn to do this well then you will have learned a very useful skill for life.

I remembered belatedly I hadn't included that the plan must state how they will play with the cars without digging up the grass and gardens! I ventured into the playground shortly after pressing send (my reply was an email) and was besieged by students from 2B excitedly informing me they were writing me another letter. I'm assuming it will be the plan and I'm expecting it to be VERY persuasive!

Meanwhile, that evening I was watching Better Homes and Gardens and the handy presenter built a gorgeous sandpit seat - is there a Dad out there who would like to build us one of these? Seemed like the perfect solution to me!