Observations+on+the+Context+of+My+Teaching

Observations on the context of my teaching

Firstly it is important to me that I teach in a Catholic comprehensive girls’ school. Domremy Catholic College is part of the Inner West Region of the Catholic Education Office, Sydney. It is a 7-12 Girls’ school of approximately 700 students founded by the Presentation Order of Sisters in 1911. The Presentation Sisters have an ongoing presence within our school and the upcoming centenary celebrations in 2011 will further strengthen this connection. The four house patrons have recently been reviewed as a focus within our school and I have developed four historical profiles that the school has been using. These four women represent a range of characteristics such as persistence, courage, integrity and service. I believe their stories provide a road map for students facing challenges and in setting goals. In particular the work of Nano Nagle celebrates the strength of the human spirit to bring about change. I enjoyed researching her life for the school as it brought to life a woman with a great sense of humour who people loved to be around.

A Comprehensive School

Domremy, unlike many non-government schools, operates in what has been described as a relatively ‘public’ manner. It actively seeks to include all that come to our school regardless of scholastic ability, behavioural issues and in many cases, ability to pay the school fees. Whilst the school’s enrolment policy provides educational opportunities for girls from practicing Catholic families as a priority it accepts students from a range of social and cultural backgrounds. The school has something of a reputation within the region for catering to students with special needs and as a result each year group has a high percentage of specific learning needs students. As Year Coordinator I am aware of the extent of family welfare issues within our community. I am also actively involved in supporting students who live in multiple homes. This is a particular area of adjustment for transitioning to secondary schools.

Multicultural Background of Students

Domremy has a solid multicultural community with the majority of students coming from Italian, Lebanese, Greek and Chinese backgrounds. Whilst we have students from LOTE backgrounds there are mostly Phase 3 ESL learners. This raises its own set of challenges as students are often verbally competent and able to succeed in junior studies, however gaps appear when asked to write using formal, academic language. When I first began at the school I was amazed at the sophistication of the spoken responses and the lack of fluency in written expression.

My colleagues and I have often discussed the culture of learning within in the school, in particular in our Domremy Effective Educators Project (DEEP) group, and one area, which we are working towards improving, is striving for academic success for every student. I have commented in this portfolio on a number of strategies I have been involved in.

Leadership

I have experienced three very different Principals at Domremy and I am grateful for what I have learnt from each of these. The current Principal, Robyn Glover, is truly an inspiration in regard to her leadership style, which allows others to have an impact. She has been instrumental in supporting a number of teaching and learning initiatives I have been involved in. Each year Robyn provides a focus for the school and this year, in keeping with the school’s building program the focus is on ‘building community’. I have adopted this focus in my classroom where I have created the focus of ‘together we build our learning community’. This is proudly displayed above my whiteboard as well as reflected in the collaborative learning strategies I employ. Robyn is a person of great integrity, with a true sense of servant leadership and a vision for the students at our school. Robyn has also been instrumental in developing a social justice focus for the school. Domremy is currently raising money for a Girls school in Southern Sudan. The Sudanese representatives have visited the school on a number of occasions and spoken to students about the experience of girls in the Sudan. This has transformed the fundraising efforts at the school and made real the struggle many girls have around the world to get an education. Understanding the role history plays in the problems now faced within the Sudan has become part of my teaching with a focus in Year 11 on imperialism in Northern Africa.

School Culture

Coming from teaching at a Co Educational school in Marrickville my first observation of school life at Domremy was that it was like someone turning the master volume down. Domremy was calm, it was ordered and there was gentleness about the whole culture of the school. On further reflection I believe this came from the very pastoral approach teachers had and there were constant references to the welfare of the girls and their well being. I believe this originated in part from the structure of the school with its emphasis on the role of the Guidance Coordinators and the function of homeroom and the Pastoral Care Program. I also believe that teachers naturally conformed to this ethos and therefore it was translated into their approach to assessment and reporting. Whilst I believe this to be very positive in terms of developing the whole person, in some ways I felt that these benefits had partly been at the expense of challenge and excellence in academic studies. The self-esteem of students was placed at such a premium that students were sometimes rewarded for handing in half-hearted work. I particularly saw this happening with the students who had been identified as having high academic ability. I believe that every student should experience the joy of working hard at something and seeing improvement. I have sought to challenge students to work beyond their comfort zones and take greater risks with their learning. This can be seen in my cross curricular tasks and in the differentiation work I have done. Our school is currently working on developing a series of statements to reflect our whole school pedagogy through the IDEAS process.

Guidance Coordinating

In many ways my work as a Guidance Coordinator has given me insight into the home lives of students in our school. The beautiful grounds, the smart uniforms and the seemingly healthy smiles of Domremy students would lead many to believe that these girls have all the benefits of a happy, stable home-life to support their education. Many of our students come to school having spent the morning caring for younger siblings. They sometimes don’t have time to prepare their own breakfasts. Often they will return home to care for other family members, young and old. These students struggle to get homework completed and find just getting to school with the right equipment a challenge. Many of these students also juggle two or three home environments, staying at Mum’s, Dad’s and Nonna’s. There is increasingly little adult supervision at home as parents work longer hours or in many cases evenings. I have worked closely with a number of students over the years developing strategies such as study plans, calendars and daily checklists that support them in their studies. I have suggested ways they might cope with moving from house to house such as having a study box that goes with the pyjamas and toothbrush. I also regularly meet with parents and listen to their concerns. I have developed a strong relationship with the parents of the students in my current year group and I feel this really supports the partnership between home and school. As Year 7 and Year 8 Guidance Coordinator I encourage parents to maintain the level of involvement they had with their daughter’s primary school. Often parents are unsure of how to work with secondary schools which can lead to a reluctance to approach the school on matters that impact on student’s education.

I work diligently to keep teachers informed of any possible special consideration these students may need, while keeping the privacy of students in mind. Working with the teachers of students, I believe, is the most effective way of developing positive results for students. These are often the cases that are easily improved. One observation I have had in working in the area of student welfare is that you cannot change the homelife of every student. It continues to amaze me that some students even manage to get to school each day let alone finish assignments and have the correct uniform. In my teaching I am always conscious that for the students sitting in my class there may well be issues that impact on their ability to learn on that day. I hope that the flexibility, support and encouragement I present in the culture of my classroom contributes to them doing their best.

Religious Dimension of the College

I have always thought that the religious dimension of our Catholic schools provides a template for the development of kindness, compassion, forgiveness and respect for others. Whilst these are values celebrated in many secular school environments, I have always felt that the articulation of these values in the Gospel stories provides a simple and accessible way for students to consider their actions and the actions of others. Prayer and liturgy are a regular feature of our school and these times provide moments for all members of the community to stop, reflect and consider whatever bigger issues might be troubling them. As Guidance Coordinator I have developed a number of liturgies and prayers that I hope focus students on taking an active and reflective role in their development. I have also developed prayers for the parent evenings and I hope that through my work I have been able to communicate the schools vision and ethos.

Building Project

In 2010 we began work on a substantial building project for a school hall and series of classrooms. The hall will allow for a number of whole school activities previously done off-site such as awards evenings and the school musical. The hall will also provide an opportunity to display the school banners which have been developed as part of the new ‘vertical’ system of school pastoral administration. I have been involved in this process and believe it will further cement a whole school appreciation of our heritage and traditions.

This project will provide a number of areas for the development of our cross-curricular project as the new learning spaces will fit both single and multiple learning spaces. I have been involved with a small group of teachers in researching how these spaces might be used and recently visited a school in Sydney’s north to see what they have achieved. I see this as an exciting step for Domremy to be taking and I look forward to these new buildings further invigorating the teaching and learning of the school.