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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:

For those of you have read my last two newsletter articles, I have written of some different ideas that you can try at home to promote the dispositions of being curious and being determined. This week, I would like to introduce the disposition of being adventurous.

Adventurous learners are willing to take a risk, have a go, try something new, and rise to the challenge, without the fear of being thought stupid, ignorant or babyish if they don't get it right the first time.  

It can often be hard to promote risk-taking behaviours and might be something that you have not even thought about with regards to learning.  However, many learners are self-conscious about trying new approaches in case someone is watching or criticising their efforts. 

Research suggests that significant learning takes place when mistakes are made.  When you are at home with your child completing learning activites (it might be homework or they might be learning something new), take the time to recognise the fact that your child has taken a risk and had a go, rather than not trying at all.  It is easy for them to say things like, 'it's too hard' or 'I'm not good at that'.  However, the real learning power comes when they do have a go, even if they know they might not get it correct.   If they do happen to make a mistake along the way, acknowledge that mistake as a learning opportunity and discuss what they could do differently next time. 

Source: Claxton, G. (2018).  The Learning Power Approach: Teaching learners to teach themselves.  California, USA: Corwin.

If you would like to provide any feedback or a story of your child being adventurous at home, please feel free to email me.  sam.hannant@twb.catholic.edu.au