Assistant Principal - Learning and Teaching
The Power of Collaborative Learning
Learning with other students can be a very powerful way to improve your learning outcomes. You might be sitting next to each other discussing what you are learning, or working together in a group online and sharing your screens, or giving a friend feedback about an assignment. There are many benefits to learning to work with other students.
MOTIVATION: Studying together can be much more motivating than studying on your own. Setting targets and working towards them together can help keep you focused on completing assignments. Often study done together is more active and engaging than studying on your own and this is much better for retention.
DEEPEN UNDERSTANDING: Discussing with a friend, being able to bounce ideas off each other, ask each other questions – all of these activities will help strengthen your neural networks and deepen your understanding of what you are learning. This can help to develop our higher order thinking skills.
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES: Sometimes we don’t realise that we are only looking at things in one particular way and there are different and diverse viewpoints to ours. Learning with a friend can help you see things in a different light and broaden your perspective. This can help develop our critical thinking skills.
BUILD TEAMWORK SKILLS: Learning to cooperate, negotiate and problem solve with other people is a great skill to have in later life. By learning with other students you will have opportunities to learn to be a more active participant in group work and also develop communication and leadership skills.
Engaged Learners - Classroom Entry and Exit Routines
Students will now see this graphic appear in classrooms and electronic screens. The aim is to have a greater student engagement in their learning and consistency of practice amongst our staff and student body. The following graphic is an expectation of what our lesson should look like:
Study Skills
Learn more about the ‘managing stress’ resources through the units on www.studyskillshandbook.com.au . Our College access details are:
School’s Username – stjohnpaul
School’s password – 89success
In addition, our subscription to Elevate Education may assist in this area.
This online platform contains resources and useful study tips that all SJPC students will find effective. We encourage them to access this Student Portal and try some of the strategies. Students have the password to this site. The password can also be found on the Curriculum Noticeboard.
AMDG
Assistant Principal
Learning and Teaching