Classroom Focus
Great Planning is the key
Our school has implemented 5 week planning cycles which reflects the FISO inquiry cycle schedule. Teachers plan in their teams for a 5 week learning block. Every five weeks they have a half day to review their progress and make adjustments accordingly. This method means greater flexibility for staff and more quality control - for example... if you plan learning for the whole term and students need more time to embed some concepts then this can be accommodated. So it is more responsive to student needs. Also teachers can track student progress more regularly and make adjustments to the class and individual's plans.
At the conclusion of each term our teachers are involved in half day reflection and planning. (students are also involved in a review and in the planning for the next term) Aspects of the current term are reviewed, successes identified, assessments compiled and recommendations and plans to address any areas identified for improvement are completed.
Our school has spent considerable time and effort to develop our planning document proformas and to ensure agreed non negotiables and common elements are observable in all planners. This ensures consistency right across the school. Visitors to classrooms will observe similar teaching strategies and approaches being implemented - consistency is so important. An analogy we use is that if there were triplets attending the school and they were in different classes we want each of those students to have the same learning opportunities and experiences.
Curriculum design is so important - students need to be stimulated and challenged. Planning engaging and interesting learning tasks is the key learning goals and curriculum focus using the Victorian curriculum.
Our term planner documents outline each week of the term. They include the major focus for English, Maths and our Inquiry focus.
Staff utilise current student assessment data to inform the establishment of our teaching groups for each key learning area.
Our school has implemented 5 week planning cycles which reflects the FISO inquiry cycle schedule. Teachers plan in their teams for a 5 week learning block. Every five weeks they have a half day to review their progress and make adjustments accordingly. This method means greater flexibility for staff and more quality control - for example... if you plan learning for the whole term and students need more time to embed some concepts then this can be accommodated. So it is more responsive to student needs. Also teachers can track student progress more regularly and make adjustments to the class and individual's plans.
At the conclusion of each term our teachers are involved in half day reflection and planning. (students are also involved in a review and in the planning for the next term) Aspects of the current term are reviewed, successes identified, assessments compiled and recommendations and plans to address any areas identified for improvement are completed.
Our school has spent considerable time and effort to develop our planning document proformas and to ensure agreed non negotiables and common elements are observable in all planners. This ensures consistency right across the school. Visitors to classrooms will observe similar teaching strategies and approaches being implemented - consistency is so important. An analogy we use is that if there were triplets attending the school and they were in different classes we want each of those students to have the same learning opportunities and experiences.
Curriculum design is so important - students need to be stimulated and challenged. Planning engaging and interesting learning tasks is the key learning goals and curriculum focus using the Victorian curriculum.
Our term planner documents outline each week of the term. They include the major focus for English, Maths and our Inquiry focus.
Staff utilise current student assessment data to inform the establishment of our teaching groups for each key learning area.