APA News
Dear Parents and Carers,
SEMESTER 1 REPORTING
A-E Definitions
Semester Two Report Cards will be sent home in the final week of this term.
When you receive your child's report card you will notice that nothing has changed and we are still using A-E grades for each area of learning. These A-E results come with definitions which you will also see on the report card.
An example of the 'C' definition is below:
Evidence of the student's work typically demonstrates that the student has the targeted knowledge and
- expected conceptual understanding
- expected application of skills
- they are able to transfer the above to familiar situations
As you can see above, a 'C' result in any learning area (Maths, English, Science etc) is the expected result. Some other key terms that are included in this definition are below:
Evidence: a range of information that teachers collect including data, work samples, digital media, teacher notes, formal assessment tasks.
Typically: allows for those students who may not have displayed this during a particular assessment task, but it is evident in their work with the frequency required within this grade. No longer are grades given based on one test or one assignment.
Conceptual Understanding: connected web of knowledge. Different concepts in maths may include angles, perimiter, area etc.
Skills: These are often the things that students need to be able to do. Some examples include creating texts, asking questions, re-reading and editing and there are many more.
Transfer: transfer is the ability of a student to take their current knowledge, skills and understandings and apply this into a new scenario and/or different context.
Of course, several students will achieve above or below a 'C' grade and the definitions do alter to take this into consideration. The three key terms of conceptual understanding, skills and the ability to transfer knowledge are in all definitions and students show these at different levels and hence the A-E grade.
If you would like any further clarification on the A-E definitions, please don't hesitate to send me an email.
IGNITE LEARNING
At St Saviour's Primary we want our learners to STRIVE at LEARNING and at LIFE and they can do that through the following learning dispositions:
To follow on from Ms Sleba's newsletter article, I too would like to focus on the disposition of determination.
Determinate learners are willing to persist intelligently with challenges in the face of confusion or frustration. They have learnt through experience that the feeling of pride and satisfaction that follows a successful struggle is a very good feeling.
A point to make in relation to this is the fact that learners who have learned to confuse effortless success with intelligence are deprived of this source of fulfillment. When these learners do happen to struggle, they perceive it as a sign of stupidity. In reality, when a struggle is happening, learning is taking place.
To help reinforce the disposition of determination with your child at home you can try the following ideas:
Try three before me - If your child is stuck with homework or a task at home, rather that just doing it for them, you can ask them to tell you three things that they have tried to unstick themselves (e.g. reread the book or instructions, asked a sibling, researched). If they can tell you three things and they are still stuck, you can talk to them about the strategies and perhaps give them a small nudge in the right direction.
So often learners are used to being rescued by teachers and parents and this strategy might just help to increase their determination.
Source: Claxton, G. (2018). The Learning Power Approach: Teaching learners to teach themselves. California, USA: Corwin.
If you would like to provide any feedback, please feel free to email me. sam.hannant@twb.catholic.edu.au
NAPLAN ONLINE 2021
NAPLAN online is now complete for 2021. Well done to all learners in Years 3 and 5 who participated in the testing. Determination was certainly shown throughout the course of the four tests.
Sam Hannant
APA