CHCSPrincipal

Celebration evening

2011-12-09T16:54:00.000-08:00

December 14th Wednesday - 7.30. A special night - our night of nights. A chance to celebrate achievements from throughout the year.

Students to please wear uniforms

Homework part 2

2011-11-15T17:10:00.000-08:00

In my previous post and in the school newsletter I spoke about the value of homework, not necessarily in raising student achievement, but in setting good study habits and in allowing students to either practice newly acquired skills or prepare themselves for an upcoming lesson or do some extension work out of class.

In following this up I want to indicate that there are three types of academic homework that can be done.

1. Practice homework. This is work designed to reinforce newly acquired skills and is very important in the early years of school and whenever new skills are being learnt such as in mathematics. Spelling homework, reading activities, English skills, learning specific vocabulary for a specialist subject also fall into this category.

2. Preparation homework. This is work designed to get students ready for activities that will be done in the classroom. This becomes more important in the older years especially when in English for example a novel is being read and students need to read a chapter before class. Without doing this preparation the classwork is largely ineffective and most likely confusing. Other activities include studying for a test, watching a video, reading an article, viewing a webpage.

3. Extension homework. This either builds on work done in the classroom or is a longer term assignment that parallels work being done in the classroom.

All three of these types of homework have value and teachers will often use all three at different times. In my Grade 9/10 Geography classes at the moment I am using ‘preparation style’ homework, where students are asked to view something before class so that they have had a chance to think about the topic before we discuss it. This is a very typical type of homework in the post secondary years of training and education.

How much homework is too much?

The research paper commissioned by the Queensland Education Department concluded that: “The number of out-of-school hours per day spent on homework is positively related to student academic achievement but reaches a point where too much appears to be detrimental” (page 4 and 11 Homework Literature review).

So overall it seems that some homework is better than none at all, but the work needs to be responsive to the students age and development. On my blog I have placed a poll about homework that I invite parents to respond to. It is found at the bottom of this blog page.

Please feel free to leave comments about homework as the school seeks to re-establish productive homework attitudes and habits in the coming year.

Homework Part 1

2011-11-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

The following is a version of the text of my newsletter article from Tuesday November 8th.

Homework is one of those words guaranteed to raise strong opinions and feelings. Homework can be defined as ‘referring to any activities that school students are asked to complete outside of lesson time’. page 3 Homework Literature review November 2004, Queensland Education Department

http://education.qld.gov.au/review/pdfs/homework-text-for-web.pdf

In all my years of teaching I have heard strong arguments from both sides of the debate about the effectiveness and value or otherwise of doing homework. I also know how much time a teacher can take in following up students who have not done their homework. This often results in more work being set to be done at home or the student loses their lunch time to do the work then. The net result can be a strong questioning of the value or otherwise of setting homework.

Recently I have been reading a paper entitled ‘Homework Literature Review’ which was commissioned by the Queensland Education Department in 2004 and it seems that while researchers are divided on the value of homework in raising student achievement, they are generally agreed that homework is important for establishing good study habits as well as developing student initiative, independence and responsibility. Research also suggests that students who complete homework generally outperform students who do not complete homework at least on some measures of academic success. (page 6 Homework Literature review)

“In the early years, activities are usually based on supporting literacy, numeracy and thinking skills. In the Middle phase of learning, homework is more likely to focus on reading, revising, report writing, investigating and project work. Students in the senior years are likely to undertake a range of homework activities dependant on the course of study being completed.” (page 6 HLR)

Students in the senior years of school and in post secondary education will also need to be able to study and be self directed. I believe it is much easier to learn the habit of regular work outside of the classroom boundary when you are younger. Our Grade 11 and 12 student will be discovering in the next two weeks, the effectiveness of their study over the year as they complete end of year exams. However, if their preparation for these exams only began in the last month of the year and if they neglected on a regular basis to complete assignments, read the materials they needed to have read before class and set regular time to understand the work they were doing, then they have set themselves a very difficult task to do really well in their final exams. Good preparation begins many months, indeed years before, when homework becomes a regular habit.

I personally see value in setting homework but it must be work that has a point and a purpose to it. It will either be helping to establish a new piece of learning, preparation work for a class activity or extension work from a unit of study being done in class.

I have in the past used homework time as a way for students to finish work they didn't get done in class. I am currently re-thinking this and am interested in people's views on this.

I think one homework activity that has great value is asking students to spend time with their parents through talking, helping with work in the home, washing up the dishes, maybe going for a walk after tea, getting the groceries, playing a game, etc. As a school that values the family unit, this is a homework activity that should be factored into the equation along with academic work.

The role of a Principal

2011-11-09T17:21:00.000-08:00

What is the role of a Principal?

Recently the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) published the Australan national standards for Principals that describes what they do in easy to understand terms.

It is a public statement which sets out what principals are expected to know, understand and do in order to achieve in their work. The standard recognises three leadership requirements which are that:

Leaders require vision and values

Educational leaders need to have specific knowledge and understanding and

Leaders are required to have appropriate personal qualities and social and interpersonal skills.

These 3 leadership requirements are expressed in 5 practices.

Principals lead the teaching and learning in the school
Principals continue to develop themselves and others
Principals lead improvement, innovation and change in the school community
Principals lead the management of the school
Principals engage and work with their community

These professional practices will result in high quality learning, teaching and schooling for our students which will result in them becoming succesful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens.

As a Christian, who is also a teacher, I clearly desire these outcomes. The mission statement of our school says that "We aim to develop fully the God-given potential of each student enabling them to serve mankind as disciples of Christ." This will give us successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizesn - young people who know who they are, have a purpose in life, a hope for the future and a strong sense of community.

My role is to work hard to ensure that my teaching staff can do their job well because when teachers are effective then student learning increases. I want to see the Circular Head Christian School become the best Christian School it possibly can be utilising the best teaching methods and the most relevant and up to date resources available to us. As we keep moving towards that ideal we will bring God glory.

The AITSL website for standards for Principals in Australian schools is found at:

http://www.aitsl.edu.au/national-professional-standard-for-principals.html

Welcome

2011-11-08T02:20:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my Principals blog, a place where I can share ideas, initiate discussions as well as encourage, inspire and stimulate parents students and staff in our shared committment to education and specifically to Christ Centred education.

I am a registered teacher with 32 years experience in the classroom having commenced teaching at Ulverstone High School in 1980. I have been Principal at this school since 2007 having spent a number of years here since 1994 looking after the High School section and overseeing the move towards Grade 10 and then the introduction of years 11 and 12. I believe that having experience in both the state and independent school systems allows me to have a balanced view of educational experiences and needs across the two sectors.

I have been married now for 32 years to Joanne and we have two children; Caitlin 22 and and Austinn 13. We have lived in Circular Head since 1986. I have two enduring memeories of my first few months here. One was the unending wind up Tier Hill where we lived in a rented Department of Education home and the second was watching snow fall in the courtyard at Smithton High in 1986, an experience yet to be repeated again here.

I welcome your comments and questions and trust that over time you will find this blog informative and stimulating.