THE WAY (Term 2 Week 2 - 4 May 2020)
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Appointment
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Adapting Cycles of Improvement under shifting circumstances
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Professional Learning Teams - A Blended Learning Approach
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Ideas for Check-ins During Blended Learning
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Supporting Attendance During COVID-19
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Privacy and National Consistent Collection of Data Evidence
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Professional Learning
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Learning Plans for K-6 for all of Term 2
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WriteOn Competition
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Maintaining Strong Personal Relationship
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My Learning
Catholic Schools Office
Tracey Hughes-Butters was appointed to the role of Project Officer – Learning and Teaching in March but only began working with the Learning Services Team this week. She has a depth of experience, including running her own Mathematics consultancy and joins us, having been with the Armidale Diocese for the last few years.
We congratulate Tracey on her appointment, which officially commenced on 28 April 2020 and welcome her to the Lismore Diocese.
Cycles of Improvement will remain an expectation for all teachers and leaders as the year moves ahead. The new and unusual circumstances in which we are currently working provide all of us with learning and professional practices we have not before experienced. It is recommended that teachers and leaders use this current context to log these experiences and reflect on their learning as evidence towards their own professional development. These can then be used to develop a goal(s) around Blended/Online pedagogy and/or the leadership challenges in this environment.
Goals may be individual, cohort specific or collaborative to include a PLT, KLA or team.
Evidence may include but is not limited to: lessons created; online resources collected; evidence of learning; formative tasks completed; student work; documents assisting in the organisation of the school as well as your own reflection of the strengths and weaknesses in the approaches you have taken.
For further clarification or information, please contact Bruce Smith.
To access the COI site click here.
The document is situated on the Learning From Home site or can be found here.
This document has been created to assist Teachers with Student check-ins during Blended Learning.
The document is situated on the Learning From Home site or can be found here.
Attendance monitoring and following up non-attendance during the current Blended Learning situation will be slightly different to the normal processes.
The attached memo, as adapted from an article prepared by the Catholic Education Office of Parramatta and used with their permission, may be of assistance. The memo identifies attendance requirements and strategies to assist.
Some schools have noted that Catholic Schools New South Wales (CSNSW) have the capacity to upload ‘evidence’ directly into student personalised plans within the CSNSW PP tool in NETiD. This is not the preferred place for ‘evidence’ for students in our schools. Lismore Diocesan schools will continue to use Schoolworx.
It is timely and appropriate to make everyone aware of their obligations under relevant Privacy Legislation when it comes to ‘evidence’ such as diagnostic assessments, specialist reports and other sensitive, personal health information contained in a Personalised Plan and/or stored in Schoolworx.
Schools are actively reminded to ensure they have efficient processes in place to obtain and store written parental consent to request, obtain, share or access student personalised plans and associated evidence from other educational settings.
In short, explicit written consent from parents, is required so that schools can:
- Initiate the transition of evidence in Schoolworx to other schools ONLY after they have received parental consent to exchange this personal and health information with another school.
- Accept the transition of evidence from another school ONLY after they have received parental consent to request and/or receive this personal and health information from another school.
Some Important Points:
- The above also applies for initiating and accepting evidence between schools within the one diocese and parish.
- Schools and dioceses should ensure that parents are aware of what is actually in and attached to a student’s personalised plan before gaining their consent to initiate a transition.
- Written parent permission must be obtained and stored before ‘evidence’ can be transferred between schools such as primary to secondary, preschool to primary and to other third parties.
To support the move to a blended learning environment, we are providing a series of online professional learning opportunities to support teachers.
The second course, “The blended learning cycle”, is available to register on My Learning. The purpose of this course is to provide professional learning and support to build teachers’ capacity to create technology-enabled learning experiences using the SAMR framework and the Blended Learning Cycle.
Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how technology can enable effective pedagogical practices in blended environments.
The Catholic Schools Office (CSO) is continuing to develop Learning Plans for K-6 until required in Term 2. This will include:
- Term Overview - Mapping outcomes covered
- Inquiry-based Learning Plans across KLA's (Focusing on Creative Arts and STEM)
- Mathematics, English and Religious Education learning experiences
- Programs (CSO Template) for the inquiry project
Phase 4.1 Learning Plans will be available at the end of Term 2, Week 1. These Learning Plans are a 2-week inquiry unit focusing on Creative Arts.
These resources are optional and should be modified and contextualised for your students.
WriteOn is an annual writing competition open to all NSW primary students in Years 1 to 6. It can be used as a whole-class teaching activity or as an individual project. To maximise the purpose of the competition, teachers are encouraged to refer to the NSW English K-6 Syllabus.
WriteOn provides students with the opportunity to become published authors. Outstanding entries from the 2019 competition have been published in the Best of WriteOn 2019 anthology.
The current circumstances we all find ourselves in is a test of our resilience, ability to cope and our relationships with others. It is understandable to feel anxious as we try to navigate through the uncertainty we are all facing. As with any crisis, we will need the support of those around us to get through it and we need to be mindful of our relationships and how we communicate with those around us.
It is important for us to exercise compassion for others and to carry an awareness of how we are personally travelling each day. The following tips may help you support and nurture your personal relationships as we navigate the complexities of term two.
- Don’t take things personally. Make allowances for the fact that we are all stressed. Stress can make you more sensitive in reacting to others behaviours. Stress and anxiety can make others act out of character or even unkindly.
- Defuse anger and frustrations before they build up. Remind yourself that we are all experiencing challenges in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. Find ways to positively describe specifically what you’re feeling in a single circumstance, how their behaviour impacts you and what you would like in the future.
- When you experience negative feelings with those around you, pause and take a deep breath before responding to the other person.
- Be mindful of how you communicate with those around you, and be aware of other’s moods as well as your own. This can be as simple as asking “are you ok?” Make sure to label emotions such as “I’m feeling sad right now” and allow the thoughts to drift away. Alternatively, you may need to distract yourself with something you enjoy. Sometimes it can help if you make a conscious effort to do something to change the mood.
- Embrace technology. Whether you are a seasoned FaceTimer, Zoom user or new to the experience, this technology can be instrumental in keeping relationships healthy. Help older family members or colleagues get connected and see them smile.
For additional support, whatever the nature and extent of your concern, feel free to call the Employee Assistance Program, available to all Diocese of Lismore staff at no cost, on 1800 818 728.
Staff are reminded that individuals are required to register for all professional learning courses through the My Learning site. The site has the facility to recommend courses to others. This will be potentially useful for Principals and Assistant Principals who wish to recommend staff to register for particular courses.
Staff are reminded that the closing date for courses is five working days prior to the course.
To register, please visit My Learning.
School Admin Staff / General Employee Professional Development
General Employees are invited to attend a number of PD opportunities offered virtually by the School Resource Services team throughout Term 2. Maximum limits on session participation will ensure participants have the opportunity for valuable conversation and Q&A. Small group discussion will provide opportunities for deeper conversation, adapting learning to participant's local context. Schools interested in exploring additional training are invited to contact hr@lism.catholic.edu.au to discuss further.
- Session 1: Strengthening Communication and Interpersonal Relationships
- Session 2: Data Cleansing
Interested participants must first obtain permission from their Principal to attend this PD.