South+Gippsland+Secondary+College

=South Gippsland Secondary College.=

The first three days of the coaching course have been great. Lots to think about and talk about. I have really enjoyed the company of everyone there, and have liked the way the presenters have been so approachable, i.e asking for, and using our feedback. One of the things that attracted me to the coaching is that some of the skills are the same as counselling - I have a grad dip that I have not used in a formal sense, so I'd like to think I have a handle on some of the skills already. I like the idea of working one to one with other staff, and with small groups.

So, where am I at? I have established a core group with 2 other staff members, and made a meeting time. I have talked to the Year 9 level meeting, briefly, and am briefly talking with the English KLA next week. I have started making a slide-show about coaching, and might show it to Jill before I publish it anywhere! It has helped me to consolidate the sorts of things we have been talking about at the seminars, and I guess my own thoughts about coaching.

I look forward to Jill's visit. Bron Clifton

ps I've ordered 3 books, with 2 coming from the states! I hope that's right! I'd really like access to some more 'tools' for recording conversations, goal setting etc. I've tried to pick books with these in them, but they won't arrive until the end of term.

pps I'd really like to track down the film that was shown on the first day, about real and meaningful learning experiences.....I wanted to show the one from the secondary setting, I know that's vague, but I might e-mail Jill. Also how to buy the cards we used??

From Maureen: Hi Bron - you can access the stories we used on our SparkL website - This is a major partnership initiative that we lead on behalf of our community partners: http://www.SparkL.edu.au The two stories are in the Teaching section (see Tab on Navigation Bar) and under Stories of Teaching and Learning.

The Cards we used are from CCS Corporation: http://www.ccscorporation.com.au Thanks Maureen, for your prompt reply. I don't know if I can attach my pp presentation to this page? Thought others might to have a look at it, and I'd be interested in feedback. Bron. From Maureen: Yes Bron, you can upload your powerpoint to this page. First make sure your cursor is located on this page in the position you want your presentation. Click on file icon above in Editor and then browse your computer to locate the file. Once it has uploaded just double click and it will upload to this page. Then click save.

Last week ( July ) the focus was on moderation of work, and our visiting guru Kathy Toll. I hope it's ok if I say that I was a little disappointed in our guest presenter...Maureen and Jill appear to have just as good a grasp on the theory and also the people skills to encourage learning. I also thought that the lady who did our earlier demonstration of a coaching session much more able to build rapport. I went home early as my 8 year old had broken his arm on the Tuesday while I was driving to the seminar ( ! ) so I hope someone can fill me in on the required homework. Even though I left at lunch time I still didn't get home until 5pm, but I was very glad to find young Tobias nicely plastered and quite his usual chirpy, bubbly self. ( Bright boys - who'd have them?? ) At school the coaching is progressing well. Hayley has used some curriculum time to develop her restaurant unit - it is now much richer and applies to a variety of learning abilities. I met with Nikki this week and she is aiming to build up an integrated English Humanities unit on Immigration. Nikki is aiming to use Blooms Taxonomy and I am sure she will get some great outcomes in the classroom in terms of catering for individual differences. Hayley is happy to do a 'before, during and after' video record of her progress, and Nikki plans to ask a student to do the same but in her classroom so that we have evidence of student progress. Our English and Maths KLA have audited their Literacy strategies, so I may have some questions about areas that are lacking, particularly in the Maths area, as that is definitely not my area of expertise... 11/08/2010 - Our Maths faculty found that were using most of the literacy strategies listed. I went through the areas they were unsure of, and interestingly it was the language that stumped them! Phrases like 'deconstructing texts' were explained etc., so really it was just a matter of explaining the key words....I will see if I can find them a professional reading. Two questions: 1. I am wondering where the literacy strategies are ( DEECD website ) for Technology/Food???

From Maureen: Esther has developed the following design scaffold for Technology with Wellington SC teachers:

She also provided us this example of a Technology unit:

and the design brief for students:

The literacy demands that you are referring to might be in the [|Design, creativity and technology] section of the website.

2. How can I access a rubric for the writing task in Naplan? As we are trying to improve our data in this area, it would be most helpful.

From Maureen: I don't know of an exact rubric for the different year levels but the following [|criteria] are used to make judgements.The[| National minimum standards for writing] are available but I don't think they provide you with the level of detail you are seeking. The genre for 2011 will be persuasive texts. A great book I would recommend for secondaries is The Write Genre by Rog and Krop. It has 50 mini lessons and some excellent rubrics from which you could develop your own with teachers. It has examples of writing tasks from Yrs 3-9.

The BC continuum has examples for Year 10 which might be helpful: Thanks, Maureen. These links are really helpful, especially the information about NAPLAN. Bron 13/8 I seem to be running out of space here...? Do we add another page??

Good news - I had a chat with my principal, Cheryl Glowery yesterday. It looks like there will be a position for a coach here, advertised later in the year to begin 2011. We talked about the needs of our school, which mainly would involve supporting staff to differentiate learning. However, Cheryl was wondering if we could access some job descriptions for coaching...She also reminded me about catching up with my coaching partners, as the process is meant to finish this term....I can see us continuing into next term, because the girls will need time to reflect and get evidence together. I will talk to Jill this afternoon on the phone regardless, but some job desriptions ( particularly anything relevant to smaller secondary schools ) would be useful. 18/8 19/8 AAAAH!!! Homework! Just working through my list of things to do before leaving the school today - have downloaded the reading, but will not have time to make a genuine attempt at the mapping tool in all honesty...Will review them over the weekend though. Yesterday I filmed my coaching partner, Hayley. Might send it through to Maureen in case it is of any use in terms of digital records, for Monday...

Below is a summary of the action I've taken to date:

I also developed an Introduction to Coaching Powerpoint for our staff:



Hi Bron, you are on a roll! Thanks for your regular updates, you will be an inspiration for others. We will be keen to hear of the teachers' reactions to watching themselves on the video. It can be very powerful professional learning for everyone. See you on Monday, Jill

The Document we used this week in Julie Kerr's session "Coaching Teachers In Effective Instruction" will be useful in terms of a job description. I am just waiting to meet with Cheryl today re the role at SGSC. I really enjoyed and also got a lot out of this week's 2 days. Just to consolidate I will write here what I have learned or have been reminded about. 1. Cathy Toll's point of view that coaches don't have to go into classrooms ( although I am aware that this will vary based on needs of coaching partners. ) 2. Cognitive Dissonance/appropriate coaching strategies for teachers at different stages. 3. Multi-modal texts, I loved "Inanimate Alice" and will share it with our teachers of junior classes, as well as possibly use it with my Year 10 Media class. 4. Our exploration of the DEECD guidelines and the strategies that are available.

There are a couple of things I am now working on 1. A recommendation that Communication be reported on by every teacher at SGSC in line with the fact that Communication is listed for every domain - have I got that correct? 2. Strategies for teaching sentence structure and 3. Samples of Esther's research grids - numbers 2&3 being in direct relation to needs in my context.

I met with Cheryl Glowery, our principal today, and it looks like we will work together to create a "Literacy" job description, allowing for a little bit of coaching as well as passing on information in KLD's for 2011. EXCITING!!! Bron 27/8/2010

Just wondering if anyone can recommend other multimodal texts for older students, i.e 9 and 10's? I have been using Inanimate Alice, and I really like the idea of multmodal texts. I 'Googled' it and am finding lots of theory, so I thought writing something here might mean getting a faster answer! I hope everyone has great school holidays. After going to watch Tournament of Minds yesterday at La Trobe, I am well and truly ready to wind down. Bron

From Maureen: Hi Bron - if you go to our SparkL website you will see a range of multimodal texts. Reflections by Istabrak is a very powerful photo story. There are also a number of films by secondary students.

I also viewed an amazing sand animation by a European artist - it's a non verbal performance and you could use a similar analysis to Inanimate Alice: http://www.neatorama.com/2009/08/19/the-sand-animation-of-kseniya-simonova/

Cheers, Maureen Loved the sand animation, have already used it, so will have to get onto SparkLe to do some more research.

Hi there. I am now part of a team looking at literacy in Senior Years, 10 -12. I have to confess that I have mostly been focusing on junior years so far in my thinking and exploration. However, I have said that I have access to the 'gurus' ( Maureen, Jill and co.!! ) and I would post a couple of questions here to see what the response is.

1. Strategies for promoting and engaging students at the Senior Level?

2. How do strategies differ where there is a lot more content to cover?

3. How do we lift those who are disengaged? And how do Senior teachers motivate and enhance the learning of high achievers in the classroom?

Lots of questions, I know. But any specific novels and film texts that work exceptionally well at these levels would also be welcome. Have just printed off my list of things to do for the last day, so better go and retrieve it....Looking forward to it. Bron 14/10

Hi Bron - have a look at the Learning Futures website: www.learningfutures.org These schools are specifically investigating student engagement. Their brochure has an excellent outline of what true engagement really means too. Maureen

From Jenni Kyval, Kooweerup. Thanks for sharing your journey, experiences and success with me on Friday. If you show other teachers the "Visions of the Future" unit I would be happy to get some feedback, even criticism - anything to improve our practice!

This is probably unrelated to literacy, but we have a new grad. teacher looking for work in the Eastern suburbs next year/or Warragul. She is a great teacher and was my coaching partner this year. Subject areas include: English, Legal, Psychology and Maths ( junior only. ) Nikki is having no luck using the DEECD web-site, so if anyone knows of positions, particularly English, please get in touch! Or ideas about how approach the right schools would be really welcome. Bron 29.11.2010

Good news! Nikki has a job in Langwarrin. She was pleased to meet Jill on Monday, as eventually she hopes to settle and bring up her kids in the Warragul area. I just wanted to post a quick reminder that I am still after 3 level reading guides. Jill and I discussed using them last Monday. Merry Christmas to everyone involved in this program, it truly has been a highlight for me. I have moved into my new office this week, and look forward to continuing my coaching journey in 2011, in the role of Literacy Coach. Thank-you everyone, for the opportunities, the support and the laughs this year, it has been wonderful!! Bron 15.12