The Value of success

I would like to start by posing a big question 

"What is success for a student at Westmount?"

"The ability to walk out of school on a Friday and into a job on Monday and be productive from day one."  (Gary Andrews HR)

I believe that this is the fundamental driver for us as teachers in this space, and while the answer may differ by student and by campus, the community focus is to develop work ready individuals who are ready to participate and contribute in a way that adds value to the workplace.

The question we should really be asking ourselves is......

"How does my learning programme support my students to reach success?"

This is a really good point in the year as we come up to the end of term one, to pause and reflect on why and how we are delivering our content.

Balancing between academic attainment and work ready skills

As a school our focus is around delivering teaching and learning experiences that encompass the whole of the curriculum document, and what I mean by this is developing a balance between the content laden curriculum levels within National standards and NCEA and then the key competencies (or in the Westmount context the indicators of a proficient Self Directed Learner.)

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Focus on the whole package!

One method that is being widely promoted in the education field is PBL (Project based learning).

Project based learning, (is in my mind SDL working at its optimum.) Where students and teachers work on a real world project that has relevance to the students context and interests, while also collecting evidence towards academic attainment. 

This week I came across an article published on the Edutopia website called “PBL” and when watching the video and reading the resources that I have linked here for you, I was struck by the simplicity of the steps required for success.

http://www.edutopia.org/video/5-keys-rigorous-project-based-learning

The focus is on:  Project Based Learning which by definition is a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge.

Establishing Real-World Connections in Projects 

Building Rigorous Projects That Are Core to Learning 

Structuring Collaboration for Student Success

Facilitating Learning in a Student-Driven Environment

Embedding Assessment Throughout the Project

I chose to share it with you as a community to start a conversation around the similarities with SDL working at its best. Also to capture what is happening across the school in this area. I know that we have some really good initiatives/ programmes of work being undertaken nationwide, but often the busyness of life around us takes precedence and focus tend to narrow in on our own piece of the universe.

 But I would like to share a project that was undertaken at Northland campus this term. It was a fantastic piece of real life contextual project based learning, where the students organised the opening of their new learning centre, you can see from the link bellow how well the event went.

https://westmount.wistia.com/medias/lv843qgg1x

The aim of this blog is to share stories and case studies of what is being undertaken across 'Westmount' from a teaching perspective and I welcome hearty discussion and sharing in the comments section, if you have a story to share around what is happening on your campus, in your PLG or in your Curriculum area please let me know so we can continue to share.