This week I taught my very first class at the Ballarat Tech School. Jumping straight into the deep end, it was a VR class to a bunch of Grade 7’s. I felt it went pretty well and I only swore once which was very good for me. I thought I did a good job of turning a ‘shit’ into a ‘shit-vers’ as I fumbled through my VR demonstration but it didn’t go unnoticed by the students who will pick up a swear word quicker than anything else I’ll say over the hour long class.
One of the great things about the Tech School is that we get a big cohort of students in and they’re broken up into smaller groups that do two or three rotations throughout the day. With my VR class I was able to watch it be done once by a pro, second one I was able to present with some help and third I was given the opportunity to run the whole lot myself. It’s very much jumping in the deep end but with floaties just in case.
I love the momentum and energy this style of learning creates. It’s scary (nothing like 25 Grade 7’s looking at you expecting something cool to happen) but because I get to repeat the same class multiple times throughout the day you get to improve and iterate quickly. I certainly didn’t ace it but I feel confident that I can do that class again and will continue improve on my previous attempts.
It’s been super interesting meeting all of the teachers that accompany their students to the Tech School. I’ve been able to have lots of weird and wonderful conversations. So far every teacher seems to have a completely different origin story. One thing I’ve found pretty surprising is how they manage the varying levels of learning capabilities within a single class. One Grade 7 teacher for example has some students sitting at a Grade 1-2 reading and writing level and others who are at a Grade 10-11 level. That scope of abilities makes it hard to create a single lesson that caters to both ends of the spectrum and he often has to set two completely different tasks.
Apparently our reluctance to hold students back if they are not succeeding has fed into this disparity among students. In countries like the Netherlands, if you don’t pass the grade, you don’t get to progress whereas in Australia we’re more likely to keep students progressing through with their pairs with support and alternative pathways. This means that most teachers aren’t teaching to their allocated grade but are having to teach content that spans multiple years above and below.
I often think about this sort of thing as we contemplated keeping Frank back when he first started school. If I’d know his first year of primary school was going to be a Covid lock down we would’ve absolutely held him back. We held Alice back and she has been a far more confident student compared to Frank who always feels like he’s behind. I know quite a few families who have chosen to hold kids back around the Kinda and Prep years but I’ve never seen anyone in upper primary or highschool be held back. I guess the argument is around the social impact maybe? I really don’t know but seeing the range of abilities in a single class has been quite surprising.
All of it has been surprising to be honest. My area of expertise is 7-9 years old, and my own at that, so hanging out with high school kids has given me a crash course in teenagers. I’m actually writing this on Thursday because I’m taking a group of these teenagers down to Parliament tomorrow to celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science. ‘Solutions of the Future’ is hosted by ABC science journalist Natasha Mitchell and Speaker of the Legislative House, the Hon. Maree Edwards. There will be a panel discussion with three of the top female scientists in Australia highlighting the challenges facing our world and innovative solutions STEM can offer.
As someone who was never academic (and really struggled at school) it is incredibly exciting to be part of these events and support the actual scientists of the future as they start to understand and accept the challenges that lie ahead. I’ve always surrounded myself with people who are way smarter than me and considered myself to be very ‘genius adjacent’. Working at the Tech School is this on steroids. Not only do I get to work with super smart adults, I get to help influence and encourage the next generation of humans that will eventually be tasked with running the show.
