From the Principal

Message from the Principal

Welcome to our first Reflections It is true that what students know, can do or believe magazine of the year. At will vary across our classrooms. I believe that it is our Ōtūmoetai College we strive to teacher’s relationship with their students that help to provide a learning environment bridge this gap. that enables students to reach their personal best in their Because of the different needs of our students, teachers academic studies, the arts, are required to be more responsive by adapting their sporting and cultural pursuits. programmes of learning to better suit our students. The Mr Russell Gordon, Our goal is for students to following link is an example of a Year 9 programme of Principal grow into powerful thinkers work that was deliberately developed to help bridge and learners who will embrace this divide. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BlB diversity, resilience as well as developing meaningful wOWhvDkQOCEigHhZ2uQI35etoIcCIs7q33YF0yhc/ relationships with others. edit?usp=sharing 2020 was certainly a year that taught us much about We want every student at Ōtūmoetai College to believe developing resilience, it is my hope that 2021 will be an that ‘THEY CAN’, in order that they get to that place uninterrupted year that will allow us to focus more on where they can look back at their time at Ōtūmoetai embracing what it is to be a powerful thinker and learner. College and say, “I DID!”. In order to achieve these outcomes, we recognise that teaching is not simply the transfer of facts and figures. Effective teaching involves a high level of commitment to our students so as to enable them to be able to think more independently and effectively. Graham Nuthall states that effective teaching is about knowing what students believed, knew, could do before they were exposed to a new topic or standard, and what these same students believed, knew, and could do after they learnt that topic or standard. He goes on to argue that learning, of whatever kind, is about change, and unless the teacher knows what has changed in the minds, skills, and attitudes of their students, the teacher cannot really know how effective they have been.