Term 2 Staff Development Day 2017

Drum rolls... 

Welcome to TERM 2!

I wanted to look a bit professional today so I went for 'navy' colours. The outfit might give you an illusion that I am wearing a dress but I am wearing a $15 Tommy Hilfiger sleeveless blouse top and a $50 high waisted pair of pants. I have been avoiding the pants for a while as it gives me a fuller figure and it is uncomfortably tight on the top. Probably not the ideal outfit to wear when I need to sit through more than 5 hours of teacher development information sessions.

Above: Outfit of the day and photos of my Shih Tzu. It was so hard to walk out the door today!

For our morning session, we had a guest speaker (Paul Hewitt) come in from the NSW Education Standards Association (NESA) to talk about 'Stronger HSC Standards' (a credential awarded to secondary students who successfully complete senior high school level studies). He went through 7 new focuses. I was interested on the minimum literacy and numeracy standard and how we can expand the use of computer-based assessment. Fingers cross we get funding to develop these areas well.

Paul talked about how creativity and critical thinking is important as society can no longer survive through rope learning. This means we need to revisit our syllabus and programs. Less focus should be placed on repetition and recalling. In 2018, the new HSC will be implemented with Year 11 students. By 2019 it will be implemented with all Year 12 students. From 2020 students in NSW must reach the minimum standard of literacy and numeracy to be eligible for the HSC. There will be multiple opportunities for students to demonstrate the standard between Year 9 and when they complete their HSC. 

Above: Information about the minimum litearcy and numeracy standard.

Above: Information about the minimum litearcy and numeracy standard.

Above: Information about the minimum litearcy and numeracy standard.

For the afternoon session, all faculties were split off. Being an Art teacher, I drove to another school where all the Art teachers met up. We had artist Ghasan Saaid come in to speak about his artist practice. He is an artist who enjoys the use of abstract and symbolic outlet. His journey as an artist has shifted and he constantly explores different mediums. His work has a surreal quality to it and can be used as a case study in the classroom. My two favourite artworks are from his recent collection. 

Above: Artist Ghasan Saaid

I also had a chance to present in front of all the Visual Arts teachers in my district. This blog was put up on the smartboard. I started talking about my passions: classroom management, Positive Behaviour Learning, sharing resources and DIY projects. I spent most of the time talking about my top 3 blog entries: Remind App (from 19th March 2017), Hamburger analogy (from 4th April 2017) and Make theory fun (from 5th April 2017). Strategies were provided to teachers to assist them in guiding and motivating students.

While talking, I saw several people write down notes, so I hope they found my presentation informative. If you are on here because of today...THANK YOU for popping by!

If you are just reading this, I suggest:

1. Download the free Remind app. It is like an SMS/ WhatsApp feature for the phone. You can communicate with students efficiently and effectively without sharing any phone numbers. There are so many options such as making a whole class announcement, planning excursions/fieldtrips and/or speaking to students one on one. It is like Google Classroom as students can only sign up to your classroom by giving them a 'code'. I have shared this code with my Deputy Principal so that she can help monitor activities. It has been a blessing so far with students using it professionally and as a great resource to get instant feedback.

Remind App blog post: 

http://missartofteaching.blogspot.com.au/2017/03/remind-app.html

2. Use the hamburger analogy WITH your own marking criteria. This helps students to understand what to do with a simple analogy. They learn about the expectations for each grade and take ownership of their own work.

Hamburger analogy blog post:

http://missartofteaching.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/hamburger-analogy.html

3. Make theory fun by turning it into a game. I have made a few games up and the most popular one is the 'blind painter' game. This works by getting students to work in pairs. One student holds the card and needs to describe what he or she can see. The other student must draw the picture down based on the description. This helps build students' vocabulary and help them with describing and analysing. 

Make theory fun blog post: 

http://missartofteaching.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/make-theory-fun.html

Above: All Art teachers were provided with a hard copy of the Hamburger analogy.