The first two days of Term 3 were set aside for staff professional learning. These days were engaging, challenging and productive.
Growth Mindset
The Monday morning was spent meeting with over 300 educators from surrounding schools at Mount Lawley Senior High School. North Perth staff attended morning workshops run by author, speaker, consultant and trainer James Anderson on Growth Mindsets.
For many years brain physiology, cognitive psychology and the real world of everyday classrooms were miles apart, or connected in the most tenuous of ways. Now, the Thoughtful Teacher truly deliverers better learning outcomes for students, by leveraging, the ideas of Mindset and Habits of Mind.
Even better, the Thoughtful Teacher is not a new breed of teacher. The strategies and pedagogy of the Thoughtful Teacher are easily adopted, requiring only a refocus of traditional teaching – not a whole new tool kit or extra work.
James Anderson
The afternoon was spent back at school with teachers exploring the following articles and reflecting on our practices at North Perth Primary.
‘Boosting Achievement with Messages That Motivate’ by Carol Dweck.
‘Carol Dweck Revisits the ‘Growth Mindset’ by Carol Dweck.
‘How Not to Talk to Your Kids’ by Po Bronson.
‘Tips on Grading for a Growth Mindset’ by Lisa Blackwell.
Team Teach
On Tuesday staff met at school for another full day of professional learning. After a brief session planning and timetabling for Term 3, Paul McFarland (Year 5 teacher) ran a workshop developed by Team Teach (www.team–teach.com.au). This focussed on student behaviour, risk reduction and de-escalation strategies.
Student Support Network Program
Teachers completed data collection for the National Census on students in their classroom with a disability.
Explicit Teaching Lesson Structure
The teachers at North Perth Primary have developed and agreed upon an explicit teaching lesson structure to used by teachers when possible. This forms part of a whole school strategy to support ‘Visible Teaching and Learning’ across the school. On Tuesday the final format was presented to staff. Click here to view.
This was developed after a number of staff attended a John Hattie workshop earlier in the year and numerous teacher working parties looking at other research.
Mathematics Scope and Sequence
The Mathematics Curriculum Team led a session where teachers in year levels placed WA Curriculum Content Descriptors and skills into North Perth Primary School Scope and Sequence documents. This is an ongoing project.
Curriculum Team Meetings
All teachers met in their core learning subject Curriculum Team for planning. There are Curriculum Teams for English, Mathematics, Science and HASS (Humanities and Social Sciences).