Writing Revolution

I wrote in my newsletter last year about a professional development opportunity and writing program, Writing Revolution, that some teachers across our school would be learning and implementing across our school. Next week some of our teachers from Kindergarten to Year 6 will start the 6-8 week professional learning program. 

The Writing Revolution provides a clear method of instruction, known as the Hochman Method. This method has demonstrated over and over again that it can turn weak writers into strong communicators by focusing on specific techniques that match their needs and by providing them with targeted feedback. The method also does more than improve writing skills. It also helps to boost reading comprehension, enhance speaking ability, improve organisational and study skills and develop analytical capabilities. The Writing Revolution breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks and then has students practice the chunks they need, repeatedly, while also learning content. 

High Impact Teaching Practices

We will continue to work with COGLearn this year to implement High Impact Teaching Practices across the school. Our Wave One teachers will continue to be developed in teaching Daily Reviews and Explicit Lessons. We have another wave of teachers who will work with COGLearn to refine Daily Reviews in their classrooms. 

Daily Review

A daily review is a short session in which students recall previously learned content.

Picture yourself in your high school chemistry class. Chemistry is a complex, highly technical subject in which you learn a lot of new words and concepts that you have never seen before. One day you might learn about balancing chemical formulas and the next you might have to apply that concept to a more complex problem.

Now imagine that you learned each topic in chemistry only once. Your teacher introduced it, taught it, and you practiced and then never saw it again until the test. If that sounds stressful, then you probably already understand the need for a daily review. During a daily review, students and their teacher spend a short amount of time recalling what they have previously learned. This process helps learning move into a student's long term memory. 

At St John's our daily reviews are through a short teacher powerpoint presentation. A short teacher presentation includes the most important information that students need to recall.

Rebekah Brown

Assistant Principal and Inclusion Coordinator