The students are hard at work on their end of term projects on Indigenous Australia. They are going to be evaluated on their oral presentation, teamwork, class activity, and accuracy of the information. Lauren and I have split the students into six different groups that break up our major topic for the Term. It is a very open-ended project where the students have choice and the chance to put on their creative thinking hats. Last week we provided them with the Multiple Intelligence Project Ideas which has allowed each group to choose an activity that is different and engaging for their classmates. My goal is to provide the students with the resources and accurate instruction to make their projects unique to the members of the group. Their work so far has shown me that each group is taking a different approach to the project and their end products will be successful.
School Visits:
Last week Alan took us to a few different schools in the area. We first went to another Primary school, which is located right down the road from Greenhills. Apollo Parkways is a school of about 775 students and is one of the schools that my Grade 5/6's play against for Interschool Sport. We also stopped at Diamond Valley Special Education School which caters to the needs of students who have an IQ under 50. It was a fantastic opportunity to see the different approaches taken to meet the needs of these students. I found the picture communication between staff and students and the use of horseback riding to engage and stimulate student's sensory to be the most intriguing.
Our third stop was to St. Helena Secondary College that consists of Grades 7-12. The school is split into teams, and consists of Junior School (Grade 7 & 8), Middle School (Grade 9 & 10), and Senior School (Grade 11 &12). There are 1570 students attending the school and 1 Principal with 3 Assistant Principals. Students in Grades 7-9 do not have a choice in the classes they take, but once they reach Grade 10 they are given a certain amount of electives they can take. The school day is broken up into six 48 minute periods with two breaks and a lunch. The school has recently built a new Science building and I am so thankful that Alan was able to take us and walk through this school. Australia is currently debating the structure of these schools and looking into how America breaks up this age group. It was hard for me to imagine how keeping children with such different age ranges, maturity levels, and interests could be successful in the same setting, but seeing this school gave me a better understanding of how they make it work.
Other exciting news:
2. Rialto Tower- Alan and Carolyn took us, daytime and again at night- 360 view of the city, gave me a perspective of where we have been and how far away things really are:
- 4 years to build
- 2000 people working on it at any one time
- 1254 steps to the top
- Observation deck opened in 1994
- 823 ft. or 253 m
- Elevator travels at 7.1m per second (Takes about 40 seconds to get to Level 55/Observation Deck)
4. Planning Day (I will explain more of this next time because it was a wonderful opportunity for me to see how my Area works as a team). Below is the agenda that we had for the day:
- Jobs
- Collegiate Visits
- Term One Reflection on Maths and "Dreaming for Tomorrow"
- Space Unit
- English and Maths Planners
- CAT Organization
- Production
6. Science Works/Planetarium with Alan and Carolyn
7. Aboriginal for a Day Incursion
No comments:
Post a Comment