Signature Pedagogies

There is no better feeling than returning from a conference feeling excited and inspired by what you have seen and experienced. 

Meridan State College, an independent public school in Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast, QLD, hosted a Junior Secondary conference that left me wanting to implement their ideas and practices immediately.

A Pilot Program school for introducing Year 7 into secondary school, Meridan openly shared some of the key pedagogies, developed by their talented and dedicated staff, that had successfully been implemented into their daily middle years program. 

Over the two days, I had the opportunity to view and participate in hands-on activities, visit and observe classrooms, watch demonstrations and attend masterclasses that gave me the opportunity to understand the philosophies, structure and planning behind the pedagogies.

Instructional rounds of classroom visits demonstrated the college's use of Flexi Learning - a collaborative, team-taught, differentiated approach to negotiated curriculum (for an entire year level of 300 students) and Student-led conferences - where students take ownership of their learning, goal setting and scripting to 'change up' the traditional model of parent/teacher interviews, to address some of the signifying principles of Middle Years education.

I also gained an insight into the college's Community structure, Student Leadership program, Action Plan, timetable structures and curriculum time allocations, how to build a school brand, marketing and promotion.

I felt a sense of excitement as I witnessed the Flexi Learning activities in action - an idea that could so easily be adapted and introduced into my own school. Our teachers already used personalised, precise, small group instruction within their individual classrooms. All we needed to do now was move this to a bigger scale and involve the entire year level - at the same time - in the same space. Targeted, small group, rotational activities, based on student needs, identified by the data and taught by an amazing team of enthusiastic teachers who are focused on student improvement. We could do that!

What excited me the most were the Student-led conferences. In six words, if I had to describe the traditional model of Parent/Teacher Interviews, I would say:

"Potentially most terrifying experience for teachers!"

These student-led conferences involve the students gathering evidence (creating folios of assessment pieces and report data), reflecting on the 'snapshot' (summarising strengths and weaknesses, developing strategies for two areas of improvement), setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-framed) with their parents, scripting & directing the entire conference with their parents, in the presence of their teacher - being actively involved in their learning and taking responsibility for the learning process. 

The thing I liked most about the student-led conference was the fact that their parents received "homework" - they had to write a positive personal note to their child about the conference and email it to the teacher, who would print it onto a certificate and give it to the student. What a valuable, positive process! Feedback from the Meridan students involved in the process included: a focused effort to improve, pride in showing and telling their parents what they had achieved, and a sense of partnership between student and parents by formulating the SMART Goals together. We could do that!

What I took away from the conference was that we (Riverside) were almost there - with a little bit of tweaking and courage, we could make the learning experiences for our Middle College students not just great, but AWESOME!