Month: March 2014

Good Day Kunyung! 🙂

 I must admit I do like to write my own blog articles using examples of work from our wonderful school BUT this week I have included a BLOG POST from a well-known and highly respected educator…Kath Walker (Through a wonderful BLOG called ‘What Ed said……’) I have done this as part of our attempt to further ‘break down’ what the International Baccalaureate actually means! If Inquiry Based Learning is at the heart of the program then it stands to reason we need to know what it actually looks like, sounds like and feels like…..If you would like to look at previous articles please read other posts further below……so here we go…………

Kunyung is an ‘Inquiry Based’ school and last year our staff spent a lot of time inquiring into what that actually means! We asked questions like “In the best inquiry classroom ever- what would the teacher be doing? What would the students be doing? What would the task look like?”

The discussions, conversations and change in practice as a result of this work has been incredible….particularly concluding that sometimes explicit teaching is required to take place that is NOT inquiry practice!! Please read below and think about your stance on inquiry!! Over the coming weeks I shall put examples of our students @ work in an inquiry classroom………visit our blog if you get a chance to  see Level Team examples also!!

This is how inquiry teachers teach… by whatedsaid

I have long been utterly intrigued by the question “what makes an inquiry teacher’ – why is it that some find it such a natural disposition and while others struggle SO much with sharing power or seeing a bigger picture?  But I’ll save my musings on that for another time….  Today, I am thinking about what inquiry means for the act of ‘teaching’ itself.   Here are techniques or approaches I observe inquiry teachers use.  A dozen of the best…..

 1. They talk less.  It’s that simple (I’m still working on that one myself!!) 

 2. They ask more.  The discourse in an inquiry classroom is rich with quality questions – inquiry teachers know how to use questions to help students uncover their own thinking and understanding.

 3. They relate – with the heart as well as the head.  The BEST inquiry teachers I see genuinely enjoy their students and know them.  Knowing your students is the key to successful facilitation – particularly of personal inquiries.

 4. They let kids in on the secret – inquiry teachers have a transparent style. It’s not just about putting learning intentions up on the wall – they constantly ensure their kids know why they are doing what they are doing.  Inquiry teachers often think aloud – they reveal the complexities and the joys of learning to their students by being a learner.

5. They use language that is invitational and acknowledges the elasticity of ideas.  Words like ‘might’ ‘could’ ‘possibly’ ‘wonder’ ‘maybe’ ‘we’ are used far more  than ‘must’ ‘is’ ‘will’ ‘I’.    They remain open to possibility…. and you can hear it in their voice.  Inquiry teachers speak what Claxton calls “learnish”  – and they help their students speak it too 

6. They check in with their kids – a lot.  The teaching itself looks, sounds and feels like an act of inquiry.  They listen, observe and ‘work the space’.  They do not spend most of their time at the front of the room.  They teach beside – sometimes ‘on the side’ and not – for the most part – on the stage.

7. They collaborate with their students. They trust them!  The ‘asymmetry’ of power in the traditional classroom is challenged by inquiry teachers – they allow role reversal and are comfortable letting the learner lead.  

8. They use great, challenging, authentic resources – not just the ones that are easy and on hand.  They are hunters and gatherers – looking for objects, people, places, texts that will bring the world to their kids.

9. They are passionate and energetic.  And that includes some of the most calm and quiet teachers I have ever worked with!  I think that’s true of all the best teachers – inquiry based or not  – but these teachers are passionate about investigation, about the thrill of discovery, about seeing patterns and the learner ‘getting it’ – they are genuinely interested in the world and relentlessly curious.  And it shows.  

10. They see the bigger picture – they have a good grasp of the significant concepts and skills relevant to the focus of students’ inquiry.   They may not know all the facts – but they DO have a ‘birds eye’, conceptual  view that is invaluable in scaffolding learning for children.  You can hear it in the way they question. 

11. They invite, celebrate and USE questions, wonderings, uncertainties and tensions that arise from their students.  They may not be the questions they expected – but they use those questions to scaffold learning.

12. Traditional pedagogy sees the teacher provide a set of instructions, make sure everyone ‘knows what to do’, explain everything and THEN students might be given some time to do a task themselves. It’s about 80% teacher led and 20% student.  Inquiry-based pedagogy gets kids doing, thinking and investigating – and the explicit teaching happens in response to what the teacher sees and hears.  The 80:20 ratio is reversed. Good inquiry teachers know how to get more kids thinking more deeply more of the time

Have a lovely last week of school and enjoy a safe and happy holiday break with your gorgeous children! I am taking a week’s long service leave next week and spending the holidays visiting my brother in Los Angeles! America may never be the same once the Jackson 7 arrive!!!!! Think National Lampoon’s Vacation!! We may be forever known as the New Griswalds!!

Cheers

Kim Jackson

Assistant Principal

Good Day All! What a wonderfully busy place Kunyung has been so far this year…actually just this week even!!!!! Middles swimming sessions, District swimming, Carnival preparations, Family Picnic and Open Classrooms Afternoon (Please go to the previous POST to see what Hamish (Year 6) has put together from the afternoon!), Sub School Assemblies, Fun Friday Fitness, Aerobics rehearsals, Mandarin classes,  Kunyung Singers and dancing, Units of Inquiry, classroom tasks and  activities that include- Juniors writing lists of ‘Healthy Tips’ and how they  can action these tips, Middles writing speeches on ‘What it means to be   human’, Seniors looking at Role Models from a variety of perspectives and our gorgeous Preps finding out about the ‘Roles and Responsibilities people have in a community!’…………the list goes on!! Yep…..written like I talk……fast and annoyingly non-stop!!!!! I haven’t listed all of these things just to show you how good our school is (even though it is!) I have listed them because I have been doing some reflecting lately…………..reflecting on what experiences make a great human! How does it takes a community to raise a child? What is it that influences children to become great members of society? Yes…small  questions I know!! This thinking was inspired last week when I went with Elaine to a PYP meeting in Berwick and we   listened to an unbelievably inspiring young man- MATTHEW ALBERT (A very young  practicing barrister who founded The Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning (SAIL) Program while he  was in undergraduate at Melbourne University. As he was speaking I was, not only impressed by his intellect and ability to tell a fantastic story, not just impressed by   the fact that he attended an IB school as a child, not only by the fact that   he was taking such wonderful action in the community BUT by his ability to   reflect on all the things he had done in his life that had influenced him to be   such a perfect example of a great citizen! He reflected on so many ‘small’ things that made him the person he is………..little things that, as a school and as parents, we provide for our children every day…..they do matter…..children   do remember them…….they do have an impact on our children’s lives……………….. Matthew quoted his Year 5 teacher ‘Think Global, Act Local’ and can remember the impact this simple comment had on his life ‘From little things big things grow’ was another quote he remembered fondly!! You won’t necessarily find these quotes as answers on a NAPLAN test   but they had such a profound effect on his life! So………………celebrate these simple things with   your children, encourage them to have a go at new things, talk to them about their learning and encourage them to reflect on their experiences! We are trying that everyday with our students   at school………………………how many ‘Matthew Alberts’ are out there in our Kunyung Community, how many of our students can make a difference in the   world……….STACKS!!!!!!! Please read more about Matthew and the SAIL Program below! Matthew is a   sessional lecturer and practicing barrister. He was admitted to practice in   2005 after completing articles with the Victorian Government Solicitors’   Office. He worked in the Executive Branch of that Office as a solicitor until   2007 where he advised on tort, contract, administrative and constitutional   law. Before coming to the   Bar, Matthew was the sole researcher to Geoffrey Robertson QC at Doughty   Street Chambers, London. Prior to that, he was the associate to Justice   Habersberger of the Supreme Court of Victoria and the legal researcher to the   Solicitor-General for Victoria (now Justice Tate of the Victorian Court of   Appeal). Matthew has been on   the research staff of the law faculties of the University of Oxford, and of   New South Wales. He contributed to a number of leading international law   textbooks and reports, as well as co-authoring a legal guide for members of   the Australian Refugee Review Tribunal. In 2002, he was the Blake Dawson Pro  Bono Fellow for legal research. In 2004, Matthew   worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Kenya as a   legal protection officer. He has done consultancy work for the United   Nations, most recently on legal issues arising from environmental   displacement. Matthew completed his   undergraduate study at the University of Melbourne and his postgraduate   degree in international refugee law at the University of Oxford, for which he   received the highest mark ever awarded for the course.

Getting to know Matthew Albert

Posted on March 4, 2012 by De Minimis

Matthew Albert, Melbourne Law School alumnus, barrister, co-founder of SAIL, one of six barristers on the Malaysian Solution (the M61 and M70 cases) High Court cases with less than 72 hours to complete all the work, winner of the prestigious Tim McCoy award in 2011, authentic wunderkind.

 

SAIL
The Sudanese Australian Integrated Learning (SAIL) Program was founded by Matthew and a friend while he was in undergrad. When discussing pro bono work, Matthew was quick to point out that if community legal centres are too busy to roster volunteer law students immediately, “just start your own”.
Okay, not necessarily a community legal centre, but a pro bono initiative. SAIL is an ongoing initiative that Matthew clearly takes great pride in running and contributing to. Most
notably he stated that “all the volunteers are there for the right reasons.”

Thank you to all the parents who were able to come to our annual Family Picnic Afternoon. It is an exciting day for the students and teachers to see families at school with their children enjoying the afternoon. It was also great to see families sharing the learning in the classrooms with students and students sharing what they do in class with parents, grandparents and family friends.

Hamish has put together pictures from the day for you to look back on.

Click on the link below to view.
http://youtu.be/m7EykJyq0JA

We welcome your comments below about this day.