From the PDHPE classroom to history, science and beyond, teachers at Queenwood School are working to raise the bar in discipline-specific writing skills – and an instructional framework is paving the way.
In truth, history is a discipline that has the human experience at its heart. It examines the very substance and art of living. It introduces us to bodies of knowledge and powerful ideas that shape people’s values and understandings of the world.
As a girls’ school, we are able to build the needs, habits and preferences of girls into everything we do. For those like myself, who have been in the field for many years, it can be refreshing to hear the perspective and insights of colleagues who are new to Queenwood and new to teaching in a girls’ school, so Mrs Toohey took the opportunity for this newsletter to interview Mr Tanchevski, who joined us this year to teach Year 2.
Every parent I know would like their child to be an avid reader. Who doesn’t want their child to have better vocabulary, comprehension, writing, general knowledge, conceptual ability and even, in the case of reading fiction, greater empathy and better interpersonal skills? But making that aspiration a reality is hard, and getting harder.
A few weeks ago, we were in a very different situation in NSW; yet as I write the virus is creeping closer. I am full of admiration for the management of this crisis so far by our medicos, public health experts and political leaders. Are they perfect? No. But in NSW we have been exceptionally well-served so far.
As these strange and uncertain times continue, it is tempting to put deeper, long-term thinking on hold. After all, everyone is exhausted, there’s a crisis to manage and who knows what the next weeks and months have in store? There is, however, something restorative and energising about raising our eyes to the far horizon and we have been thinking hard about some of the lessons (so far!) of 2020.
Any NSW resident who has visited Victoria in the last 14 days is required to self-isolate for 14 days once they return home. If your daughter has travelled to Victoria during the holiday break we ask that you keep her home for self-isolation and monitor her symptoms.
I have the clearest memory of watching my two-year-old son exploring the back garden. A very thin twig was poking out from the hedge. He picked up a rock about the size of my fist and slowly, with infinite care, he held the rock gently on the top of the trembling twig… and let go. The rock thumped to the ground, and my son learnt something about gravity and the relationship between the diameter and strength of a tree branch.
Queenwood offers much to develop the perseverance, integrity and resilience required in adult life. School camps are slightly less extreme than bungee jumps and insect stings but the point of the physical challenge is the same. When girls come away surprised at what they can achieve, they learn in a powerful way that anxiety is not a reliable indicator of potential.
Some things are seen more clearly from the outside. And from the outside, it is easy for Australians to see in this week’s scenes from America the injustice, the fear, the racism, the excesses, the manipulation, the hypocrisy, the rage and the despair.
If we set the bar low and expect young people to be interested only in themselves, we will find our expectations sadly fulfilled. If we never expose them to ideas that fall outside the experience of their own short lives, is it any wonder that their interests remain narrow? What a dreary vision of the future. Young people deserve more: more opportunity and more respect. Set the bar high, and they will rise to it.