Talks with Principal Tom

Learning has indeed been a big theme for us this term as staff as well. Our Head of Learning and Innovation, Mrs Kirsty Hansen, was accompanied by all of our Learning Leaders on a tour of innovative schools in NSW and QLD, which took place earlier this term. The collegial sharing certainly was encouraging and exciting for us as educators as we consider to vision what learning at Cornerstone College looks like in the coming years. We look forward to engaging our students and our families in this process as we co-create a vision for learning which empowers our students to grow. Innovation and serving the unique needs of our learners is an exciting thing to be a part of.

So much of what my colleagues shared connected with what many of us have been reading in 10 Steps to Develop Great Learners - Visible Learning for Parents, written by John and Kyle Hattie. This book can be purchased here. In particular, I heard how powerful effective feedback is when it is provided to students and to everyone involved with learning. It reinforced what we considered in my last reflection on Hattie and Hattie's suggestion that feedback is effective when it:

Clarifies success.
Informs the learner of progress relative to success.
Offers guidance about the next steps to improve.
Is not mixed with praise.
It is given and understood in a high trust environment.
It is heard, understood and actionable.
...

This week's chapter is titled 'I am a parent, not a teacher,' and please don't let this chapter title put you off continuing reading.

At Cornerstone College we believe in the power of the powerful connection between child, family and educators. When all three partners are in line have a common language and purpose, wonderful learning and development happens. We get the privilege of seeing this a great deal here at the College and this is a wonderful part of my role. Hattie and Hattie discuss this at length in this chapter. I'd like to take a moment to highlight two areas they focus on this week.

Firstly, parents need to know the language of learning so that they can know the how and what of their child's learning. I know that our recent parent survey indicated that our Cornerstone families would love greater assistance from us in this space and we look forward to meeting this desire. Hattie and Hattie go further to state that this is critical for student learning. The modern narrative of learning can no longer have the focus on grade achievement and must have a focus on the growth that happens each day as part of the learning struggle. The perennial parent question at the dinner table, 'What did you learn today?' can be more powerfully replaced with 'What was something you found challenging in your learning?' or 'What struggle did you have and how did you move through it?' (Less 'what did you do at school?' and more 'tell us about your learning' - Hattie and Hattie).

Secondly, parents need to know how to talk to teachers about their child's learning. I would also add that we as teachers need to help parents do this by responding promptly to those questions, helping parents understand the learning and proactively engaging with families who ask no questions at all! Some great questions to start with include:

What has my child mastered and what skills are they needing to develop to keep growing?

How well do they remain engaged in their learning when they find a concept hard? What do you find motivates them to persist?

Is my child's progress trending below, at or above their previous results?

What question about my child's learning do you wish I would ask you?

Parents are not classroom teachers, but they are key educators. They advance and support the learning of their child outside of school. Together with other members of our learning community we gather together to undertake our God given duty to educate the young people in our care.

Thank you for partnering with us with this wonderful task.

Blessings

Tom Brennen
Principal