Month: June 2010

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Geoff speaking on ABC Radio about Big Picture PreCAL

Phil Guthrie who works at ASHE (Academy of Sport Health and Education) and is a fill in radio announcer at the ABC invited me to speak about my time at KidsTown and also the Big Picture approach I am using for my PreCAL class at GOTAFE.

ABC Radio Interview

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Exhibitionists – time to display your learning

Today students in the Big Picture PreCAL class get to demonstrate to others their learning and work over the last 2 terms.

It is a celebration in front of guests of their achievements, their learning and work completed.

Each student was invited to do a mini exhibition and receive feedback from their classmates. With this information and encouragement students then modified and added to their presentation.

About 80% of the class will be doing their main exhibition with a few students not organised or willing to do one just yet.

The exhibition takes place in front of guests invited by the student – parents, case workers, other teachers, friends and classmates. The student will be assessed on the following: preparation, organisation, Powerpoint, samples of work, portfolio, other visuals and confidence.

Each exhibition will be video recorded so students can analyse their performance and make improvements for their next presentation towards the end of term 3.

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Frustrating day in class then….

It was a frustrating day in class today. The students were ratty. Some had partied hard over the weekend and were not feeling very well. The one lesson I planned some had found boring and were somewhat disruptive.

I decided to take the class for a short walk to where a couple of the students had been planting trees and there were complaints having to go, it was boring, and why would anyone want to plant trees was the grizzle along the way.

On returning to class very little work was done by some and I could not wait for the end of the school day. When thinking the day was a real waste of time one of the students who had done little work sidled up to me and shared some thoughts. He is a boy who has struggled to find an interest.

“Geoff, I am really keen to start up a business in being a DJ and to sell a range of dance clothes. What would I have to do? It was really good having the lady come last week and talk about how she started her own dance school. Having your own business would be really cool.”

It’s moments like these that make the job so enjoyable, and how you never really know at times when a student is taking ownership of their own learning…how important it is to keep providing opportunities for them to learn from others.