BAYVIEW
MIDDLE YEARS 5 – 8
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SCHOOL PROGRAMS IN BAYVIEW ARE DESIGNED TO ENCOMPASS A NUMBER OF CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO EDUCATION WHICH HAVE BROUGHT TOGETHER AN UNDERSTANDING OF RESEARCH THAT FACILITATES THE BEST LEARNING AND UNDERSTANDING. There are many elements to consider when looking at how to maximise student academic performance. Areas worthy of discussion in relation to the learning program at Bayview designed to enhance student learning include the School’s approach to Visible Learning and the importance of teacher appraisal within the school. Mentone Grammar’s Teaching and Learning Department articulates a clear approach to learning within the School. At Bayview, we subscribe to the School’s belief that for optimal teaching and learning to take place, we need to consider where the learner is, where the learner is going and how the learner is to get there. Academic staff are expected plan their teaching in line with Professor John Hattie’s research to ensure that for every lesson, clear learning intentions and success criteria are understood by each child. The learning intention of a lesson, or series of lessons, tell students what they should know, understand and be able to do; the success criteria helps teachers and students decide whether the students have in fact achieved the learning intention.
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Mentone Grammar MENTOR ISSUE 2 2016
Using more effective techniques and activities that provide evidence of student learning is essential to good teaching. Formative assessment assists here. Mentone Grammar defines formative assessment as gathering and using information about student understanding to make decisions in the next steps in instruction. From this definition, there flows a simple process that our teachers follow when teaching their classes: 1. Teach a concept 2. Gather evidence to see whether students understand 3. Make an instructional decision about whether to move on, or to re-explain the concept. A number of formative assessment techniques, related to the work of Dr Dylan Wiliam, regarded as one of the world’s foremost authorities on formative assessment, have been employed by Bayview teachers. Using more effective techniques and activities provide teachers with powerful opportunities to help them modify, monitor and improve their classroom instruction, which empowers student
learning. Techniques involving students in all Bayview classes include: No hands up; allstudent response systems; electronic voting systems; finger voting; mini-whiteboards; traffic lights and exit passes. Mentone Grammar’s constructive Teacher Appraisal Program is firmly embedded at our Bayview Campus. Teachers have a profound impact on student achievement. The Gratton Institute, 2014, espouses: ‘High performance systems around the world know that improving the effectiveness of teaching is the way to lift school performance. They seek to improve the quality of teaching. They know that teaching improves when teachers learn from each other. So they ensure teachers are mentored and teach classes in front of skilled observers, who provide constructive feedback. They make time for teachers to undertake practical research in their schools on how to lift student learning….’