Congratulations to those teachers who have recently completed RE 101. There was a fantastic range of lesson ideas and authentic experiences for your students to have an encounter with Jesus Christ. Cushla has been visiting schools today to hand over your marked assignments!
Well done and continue the fantastic work you complete in Catholic schools.
Cushla with Principal Frank from Sacred Heart Primary.
Cushla with Principal John from Our Lady Star of the Sea School
On Friday Cushla and I traveled to St Thomas of Canterbury College to observe Thomas Newton and his Year 11 Religious Education class. It was fantastic to Thomas using his developed knowledge of Scripture to present it in manners that his students could understand. Thomas has an excellent rapport with his students who were engaged in looking at the religious truths within scripture. Thomas is working hard to develop adaptive skills in his students and focused his lesson on analyzing the differences between the four Gospels in the Resurrection. After his lesson we discussed how he is integrating the prior knowledge of his students into their learning experience of scripture.
We thank Thomas for the invitation into his class and the time he spent with us. Well done Thomas.
The desire for greater collaboration and sharing of best practice has seen four secondary schools in Christchurch come together to analyse how they teach a Religious Education ("Ethical Issues") paper.
The teachers began the workshop by reflecting on the following questions:
What ethical principles/ social actions would you like to explore?
How do you assess your students understanding?
How would you like to assess your students understanding?
What changes would you like to make to your teaching practice in this topic?
How can we develop student curiosity in this topic?
As a group we analysed the standard and broke it down into key features and aspects. (Click link below).
It became evident as we discussed student centered learning that more than just content knowledge is required. We identified key skills to develop within our students and what some effective strategies could be. Some teachers discussed the benefits of creating a cross curricular module and working with staff who have particular expertise in developing these skills within the students in their classroom.
An idea we explored was the use of adaptive skills and how our young people will be in a job market that is characterized by change. With this in mind we looked at the pros and cons of Universal Design Learning and how we could implement this within our teaching and learning programmes. (Click on link below)
The most effective feature of this workshop was the sharing of ideas and experiences. There is a huge amount of skill and passion within our schools and this was evident throughout the workshop.
In Term Three we will be holding two further workshops on topics that are selected by participating teachers. If you are interested in attending please ask your Director of Religious Studies or email jcumming@chch.catholic.org.nz
Sally Betts and Lisa Cody are two dedicated teachers who are analyzing their teaching and learning practice in Senior Religious Education. A key area both were keen to explore is their ability to create NCEA Assessment tasks that apply to a range of learning styles while also providing opportunities for their students work to have authentic audiences. Sally and Lisa spent a day breaking open the "Religious Tradition" topic and how they can make this relevant to their students faith journey.
Lisa and Sally breaking open AS 90817 all whilst parents were calling about sports practice.
Well done to both Lisa and Sally for continuing to develop their professional practice and desire to be authentic witnesses of Christ for the students in their school.
I've just been watching this film from the Let It Ripple Series titled The Adaptable Mind (11 mins) which explores the skills we need to flourish in the 21st Century. Like many other lists that have been created to define and describe the skills/knowledge/dispositions that are needed for the 21st Century (e.g. a previous post Driving the skills agenda), there are several familiar terms here:
Curiosity
Creativity
Initiative
Multi-disciplinary thinking
Empathy
The difference with this list that is so well illustrated in this short clip is that each of these things are in essence a part of what makes us human. There's nothing in this list about specific domains of knowledge, or specific technological skills etc. Even the STEM set isn't represented here. These five things have been the engine of innovation and survival since the beginning of civilisation. We're at a point in history where our human skills are just as important as our knowledge.
The challenge for schools and educators is to maintain a focus on these things amidst the pressure to also ensure we are addressing those fundamental pre-requisites of literacy and numeracy. We're fortunate in NZ that our National Curriculum has at its primary focus the Key Competencies around which the curriculum in our schools should be designed. New Zealand schools have the scope, flexibility, and authority they need to design and shape their curriculum so that teaching and learning is meaningful and beneficial to their particular communities of students.
So one would imagine that in such an environment we'd see amazing things happening in terms of the development of 'an adaptable mind' as this clip celebrates – and we do, but often in pockets rather than in a systemic way. The constant pressure to recognise and measure achievement in terms of the traditional subject areas can mitigate against efforts to develop a curriculum that will truly inspire and develop things like curiosity, creativity and initiative among our students.
As we enter a time in our system where the primary focus of attention will inevitably be on identifying and addressing specific achievement challenges in our schools and clusters of schools it will be important that those leading these initiatives are also able to maintain a focus on the development of these deeper, more enduring skillsets.
As a father of five and grandfather of five also, I have high aspirations for my children and grandchildren, that indeed they will be proficient in the key skills that will enable to learn and be successful in their learning – but just as importantly, I want them to posses the quality of 'an adaptable mind' that is identified in this clip!
