Helen Maynard – Director of Studies K-6

How can parents foster attributes for Lifelong Learners in a rapidly changing world?

With new technologies advancing the way in which people work, live and play our place in the world is changing rapidly. How do we as educators and parents prepare our children for a world that is unknown to us?

Education was based upon rote learning content, with a focus upon retaining facts that were thought to be useful. Whilst knowing a certain amount of facts is useful, our children also need the skills to be able to cope in our changing world. It is no secret that education is changing to meet the needs of the learners and that the focus has shifted to teachers being mindful of how they plan experiences and respond to children as they learn, support children’s dispositions to persist, find interests, take responsibility, select and assess their own learning goals, and take an active part in their learning.  

As educators, we often refer to these attributes as learning dispositions. Learning dispositions are characteristics or attitudes to learning that are life skills. Taking responsibility, persistence when faced with problems and coping with change, are all learning dispositions or ways children respond to learning. I saw dispositional learning in action in my Mathematics group when the students were given an unfamiliar mathematical problem to solve. Some of the children, recognising this problem as something they had not been taught, said they could not do it, and made little attempt without teacher intervention. The other children still recognised this as something new but they then applied what they knew from a similar situation and had a try. The 2^nd group showed persistence and confidence in thinking they could solve an unknown problem. They showed a ‘can do’ attitude.

Parents are powerful teachers of learning dispositions for their children. Rather than give your child the answer to a question, help your child to find an answer for themselves. Answer a question with another question to foster deeper thinking. Accept that finding an incorrect answer and recognising that this is not quite correct, is as important as finding the right solution. Work together to find places that will give you the information or skills you need. As a parent, it is important to model to your child that you are learning too. You can learn with and from your child. Parents can demonstrate how to cope with trying something new and not getting it quite right the first time. Model how to celebrate success as well as cope with disappointment. If you show a ‘can do’ attitude then your child will do the same.

Children who see themselves as someone who tries new things, keeps going when it is hard, knows when to stop and ask for help, learns from making mistakes and has good support networks, are children who will be successful in an unknown world.

Creative thinkers and doers have shaped our world’s history and contributed to the future direction of humanity for centuries. Long before formal schooling, children and young adults followed their passions and used their talents to create some of the various masterpieces, technological advances, literary works and musical pieces we know of today.

Creativity, problem-solving and abstract thought is available from early on in our children’s lives. It grows by being fostered, encouraged, supported and allowed to happen.

The best strategy we can adopt as parents and caregivers to aid in the growth of our children’s creativity is to slow the pace down. Allow time. Creativity takes time. Avoid overscheduling our kids. Give them down time and therefore their own ‘think’ time.  If you have a potential artist in your family, have a box of paints, a big old sheet and a space on the lawn outside for them to go crazy with a canvas. If you have a musician, load up a playlist with a variety of genres of music, expose them to music, without the rigidity of practise and learning.  If they are truly passionate about learning their craft, they will motivate themselves to do so when they are ready. Allow children to be bored. This is ok  Boredom will inevitably give way to new ideas, thoughts, creations and ultimately master pieces.

The process of creating is far more important than the product itself. And often as adults we wait for the final product. The process has itself grown the creative ability of your child and in turn given them opportunity to foster learning dispositions.

All children need creative skills to face the world ahead. Back in our parents’ day, it was inevitable that the employment they started out in would generally be the one they retired in. But our children now may very well be employed in jobs that have not yet been invented, or that will have a limited shelf-life before making way for new roles in response to new technologies. Creativity gives our children the ability to be flexible, resilient and responsive to their world around them.  As parents and educators, we need to recognise the importance of these skills and foster their abilities in a natural and responsive way.

Royal Botanic Gardens visit – Year 3

As part of our Science and Technology unit and our Make A Difference project, Year 3 recently visited The Royal Botanic Gardens. We viewed a Pollination-themed exhibition and discovered how animals affect the life cycle of plants. Practical ways to use the four Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Respect) at home and at school were explored and so were sustainable living practices. It was a wonderful day out and we would like to thank the parents and teachers who accompanied us.

Below are some wonderings from the excursion:

“I wonder if everything has a science base to it?” (Sanne)

“I wonder how often they water the plants at the Botanical Gardens?” (Misha)

“I wonder how often the flowers are pollinated?” (Seoyeon)

“I wonder how many bugs there are in the gardens?” (Zarah)

“I wonder how long a worm can live for?” (Seoyeon)

“I wonder why they made the Botanical Gardens?” (Julia)

“What is a horticulturist?” (Seth)

“I wonder if we have Golden Wattles at school?” (Archie)

“I wonder if we can grow carrots at school?” (Jacob)

K-2 Reading Group volunteers

Thank you to those parents and grandparents that have offered to help with the K-2 Reading Program. This will commence the week beginning 5 March on the day that you selected. You would have been contacted if there was a change. Please note that groups that fall on Tuesday 20 March (Week 8) will be cancelled due to a school event. Thank you so much for your ongoing support.

Calendar dates

Please refer to the calendar on the Parent Portal for all upcoming dates and events. https://myportal.emanuelschool.nsw.edu.au/calendars/