From The Principal

Bonjour à tous, and Wanju

A teacher recently said to me that Term 3 is the hardest term.  Even after an 11-week Term 2, it still appears so.  When I asked, “why do you think that is?”, we came up with a number of contributing factors.  The one thing that I know for sure is that everyone is pushing through, to get to the break.  On behalf of the school community, it is really appreciated, and I thank you.

The Southwest Japanese Festival was held on the weekend.  It was good to see some of you there enjoying the fine weather and cultural events.  It was a great relaxing event with something for everyone.

I have said this before and I really want to reiterate, our teaching practice is a skill, not an expression of who we are.  That is, there are researched back teaching skills that are effective and some practice that is not effective.  Like tennis, painting or public speaking, the mechanics of our practice can be observed, evaluated, and coached to be more effective.  This is no more a slight on us, than a tennis player being coached to improved their backhand.

The school provides a coaching team in the school, a shared instructional framework, CMS and other professional learning to help you take the steps you want to improve your practice.  I remind you that you can access TR time to have peer observations or coaching through the Instructional Leadership Team. Take advantage of that as much as you like.

Recently Almarie and Lewis have been completing their CAT 2 training and would relish the opportunity to conference staff on a CMS observation.  Please see Adam about getting one of these two into your room.  If there is more that we can do to assist you improve either your classroom practice or leadership practice, please see your relevant deputy principal.

Have a great week. Boorda

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