Dear Parents, Carers, Boys & Girls,

Teachers Learn Too!
What type of learning counts and what doesn’t? What does it mean to truly grow and evolve over a lifetime? By making lifelong learning part and parcel of who we are as educators we can provide better educational opportunities and support for our young people.

As part of our school improvement, our K-2 teachers and the leadership team took part this week in professional learning, observations and demonstration lessons, with Jordan O’Sullivan to further our knowledge on the ‘Science of Reading’.

Jordan is one of the directors of Shaping Minds, and is an experienced leader and curriculum expert who also provides high quality professional development to schools on effective literacy and numeracy instruction. He has been successful in leading instructional and school-based curriculum change initiatives that have resulted in significant improvements in student outcomes. He now works with schools and teachers to share this experience and support them on their own journey.

On the first day of next term, our staff will join other educators from the Canberra/Goulburn Diocese and participate in professional learning focusing on Explicit Instruction, Daily Review and Engagement Norms with Dr Lorraine Hammond. Dr Hammond, is an Associate Professor at the school of Education at Edith Cowan University. She is a specialist in teacher-led instruction, early literacy development, literacy-based learning difficulties and classroom coaching. 

We are fortunate to have such exceptional educators/coaches as Dr Hammond and the Shaping Minds team working with all the St Mary’s staff this year. We look forward to working with our coaches to further improve our teaching and learning programs across the school to uphold the high expectations we have for the students that attend our school.

Explicit Instruction
When considering best practice in terms of how children are taught in schools, it is important to start with the question, “What do students most need from their time in school?”

The short answer is that students need to be literate and numerate to be able to actively and successfully participate in the world. By explicitly teaching literacy and numeracy skills students will have the tools at their disposal to help them learn how to conduct inquiry, to be problem solvers and finders.

Children need to be able to communicate their learning and learn with and from others. They also need to be able to critically evaluate information and ideas. To support children in this journey they need to be taught how to do these things. They need to be guided through the process. They need to see how experts approach these processes. They need opportunities to practise these skills with appropriate levels of support and scaffolding. They need to be given tools to use and be shown how and when to use them.

In order to equip students with the above mentioned tools, skills and to develop life-long learning dispositions, at St Mary’s we use the High Impact Teaching Practice known as Explicit Instruction. 

Explicit instruction is instruction that is concrete and visible. The teacher explains new concepts and strategies in clear and concise language. Explicit instruction involves the teacher modelling and explaining concepts and skills using many examples. Teachers provide a high level of support as students practice and apply newly learned concepts.

Explicit instruction involves breaking down what students need to learn into smaller learning outcomes and modelling each step so that students can see what is expected of them. Providing explicit instruction limits the mental effort for students allowing them to process new information more effectively.

The I Do – We Do – You Do model involves a series of steps starting with the teacher leading instruction and finishing with students working independently. 

There are 3 main stages

I Do
The teacher tells the students what they need to know and shows them how to do the things that they need to be able to do. It involves teaching strategies such as informing, explaining, modelling and providing examples. We use a lot of visual supports to support our students’ comprehension of tasks.

We Do
This stage involves doing tasks together. It is at this stage that we start to gradually release responsibility to our students. The teacher will often have a work sample on the board for students to help complete the missing steps.

You Do
The You Do phase of a lesson involves students practising and applying what they have learnt. This helps them become fluent with what they need to know and be able to do. We give clear and direct feedback which adds further improvements to their learning.

 When used well, the I Do – We Do – You Do model:

• Helps all students to master what they need to learn
• Suits novice learners (which most students are)
• Nurtures self-efficacy
• Reduces task anxiety

Students feel less anxious due to the clear modelling and the scaffolded opportunities to practice. These same factors help students to experience independent success, which in turn builds their self-efficacy. 

End of Term 1
When I look back over the term, it is amazing to see just how much we have all accomplished. We have so much to be grateful for considering we are still dealing with COVID-19 and extreme weather conditions. This term has been filled with rich learning opportunities as well as many exciting events to build our community.

My sincere thanks to all our families for your continued support throughout this term. Without you working in partnership with your child and their teachers through their educational and spiritual life we would not have achieved the many exciting opportunities this term. When parents and carers are engaged and support positive attitudes towards learning, this builds our student’s motivation, enjoyment and confidence and transforms them into lifelong learners. 

All of our students need to be congratulated for their hard work, for never giving up on the learning they are constantly challenged with and always looking out and caring for others. 

I wish our St Mary’s community a very happy and blessed Easter in the coming weeks. I hope over the school holiday break everyone has a chance to relax and enjoy special times with their families.

May our Easter break bring our community peace and rest, knowing God has a plan for everyone. It is our faith in the resurrection that will support us in living out God’s plan.

God bless and take care,  

Sue Heffernan
Assistant Principal