Practice Makes Perfect?

It is interesting to see a school prepare for a production, it is the environment where the phrase ‘practice makes perfect’ is likely to be heard.

We think that well used, and well worn phrases like that are right, and we should be encouraging the next generation. Unfortunately, the phrase is wrong.

Perfect - is it ever achievable or fully understood? Wrong practice will never make any good headway.

Perhaps a better way of explaining to people ‘practice makes perfect’ would be to use a phrase like ‘good practice makes us better.’

This makes more sense to more people, I suspect. If I do something the right way more often, I’ll get better at it. If we explain to our students the right way to do something and encourage them to keep having a go, they will get better at it.

The Apostle Paul adds another dimension to this idea.

““Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” ”

— Philippians 4:9

He tells the people in the church in Philippi to practice what they have seen him do and heard him say. Paul wanted to be a role model for other Christians, and he set a standard so high, he was able to encourage others to imitate him.

Our young people will often ‘practice’ what they see us do. As significant adults in the lives of our students, we have the responsibility, like the Apostle Paul, to show them how to live or do something so they can see what it looks like and how they can get there.

Good practice = what they see us do and how we tell them to do it and repeating it.

Better = Our young people can see they would be better by practising what we are telling/showing them.

We can set our students up for success by modelling and explaining the phrase:

 Good practice makes us Better

Scott Winkler — Principal

Being safe online - it's all of our job

There is no question that we live in an ever changing, fast paced world.

An acronym I have seen a lot lately in my reading is, VUCA. We are now living in a VUCA world. VUCA, which stands for Volatile – Uncertain – Complex – Ambiguous is certainly an apt definition and one that is tricky, even for an adult to comprehend.

Not to sound cliché, but when I was a boy, at the end of the school day, I would catch the school bus home. Once home, it was very rare if I communicated with my friends. Living in a household that only had one telephone, which was situated in the hallway between the lounge room and kitchen, privacy was very scarce. Growing up in the semi-rural area of the picturesque West Tamar, socialising with friends after school wasn’t an everyday event.

Nowadays, this distance between people does not seem to pose the same barriers that my adolescent years presented. When I speak to some students, they appear to be connected almost 24/7. Quite often I find myself pondering, is this a good thing?

In my role as Deputy Principal, dealing with behavioural concerns is just part of the deal. It only feels like a few short years ago that the majority of what I dealt with occurred in the classroom. Unfortunately, this appears to be no longer the case. I would hazard a guess that 80% of what I am currently dealing with on a daily basis, no longer even occurs at school. The majority of issues that present, appear to stem from incidents that occur after hours, online, on social media.

Mean on purpose behaviour can occur online just as easily as it does in the playground or classroom. Online, it appears to happen most frequently via social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and TikTok.

Repeated incidents can be referred to as online bullying. Examples of this may include:

• Posting images of someone without their permission

• Sending mean messages via a messaging app or email

• Leaving someone out of group chats or using group chats to harass someone

• Posting from someone else’s social media profile without consent

• Creating fake identities

• Leaving mean comments on someone else’s social media accounts

Online bullying can be done by a peer, a small group of peers and sometimes even by strangers. Whether these incidents occur as a one off or even periodically, they can be very distressing and damaging for our young people.

Not only is bullying a concern, these social media platforms also present an issue for students being exposed to inappropriate material. Most current research places the average age of children first being exposed to online pornography at 11 years old.  In some cases, children as young as 8 and 9 are also being exposed.

So as parents, what can we do to help our children navigate these tricky times?

There are some simple measures we can do to keep our children safe.

1. Talk openly with your child about their online activity

2. Keep screens and devices where you can see them

   • Create a public space in the family room for kids to use devices

   • Avoid allowing kids in their bedrooms with device

3. Make sure privacy settings to set to private on apps

4. Keep track of how long children are online

5. Have your children place their phones to charge overnight away from their bedrooms.

As parents we need to stay involved in our children's digital world, know the apps they are using, use parental controls where possible, and block and report people who make us feel uncomfortable.

The eSafety Commissioner can help with both online bullying and by getting offensive material removed from sites on your behalf. This can be done by completing a complaint form on their website. A complaint can be made to the eSafety Commissioner by a person who is under eighteen years, or by an adult who is either the parent or carer of the young person who is experiencing difficulties. Complaints can be lodged via an online form on the eSafety Commissioner website.

Before you make a complaint, you should:

• Contact the social media provider and report the abuse

• Keep proof that you have done this

• Keep a note of the date that the report was filed

It is always a good idea to gather as much evidence as you can such as screenshots, videos links and keep any messages.

Making a complaint to the eSafety Commissioner is the best way to go if you have reported abuse to your social media provider and the offensive material hasn’t been removed within 48 hours.

Students and parents should always stay alert – people aren’t always who they seem in online environments where identity is easy to fake.

Drew Roberts — Deputy Principal

Tired Grey Matter

When I was at uni studying psychology, I remember a lecturer telling us that our brains would only focus intently on a single subject for around twenty-five minutes. He therefore included a joke, or a ‘stand up and turn around’ activity into the middle of each of his hour long lectures.

As educators and parents, we would call this skill, ‘the ability to pay attention,’ and I’m pretty sure that a child’s attention span is shorter than twenty-five minutes. When we add to that knowledge the various learning needs experienced in a modern classroom we can understand that we teachers regularly over-reach and can create a bit of extra stress for our students. This is where ‘brain breaks’ can help ease the pressure and help students to recharge their brains and be able to more readily refocus.

Elizabeth Mulvahill in We Are Teachers tells us that…

“‘Whether kids are learning at home or in the classroom, it’s important to build time into schedules for brain breaks. Maybe they need a movement break to get the wiggles out? Or a quiet moment to just stay still? Research shows that giving kids frequent brain breaks to reset their energy level improves their ability to focus, retain more, and stay on task.’”

I decided to go and ask educators in the staffroom at lunchtime to share with me their favourite brain breaks. These were some of their ideas; five minute silent ball; tenting fingertips at the chest and pushing against their finger pads sequentially; sending students on a run where they had to touch specific items (go down a slide, touch a fence, touch something green blue and yellow); jokes time (repeat after me: One smart fellow he felt smart, two smart fellows they felt smart, three smart fellows etc…repeat fast); closing eyes and humming; dancing (everyone loves the macarena); counting to 10 as a class but only one random person at a time, if two say the same number go back to the beginning; breaking into pairs and counting to three one word/person at a time together and then replacing the numbers with claps, or clicks, or stamps; my therapy puppy Elsie was also mentioned. Ultimately anything that involves moving the body and refreshing the screen of the mind. Bek in admin liked the idea of sending kids on a quest and shared her memory of Donkey in Shrek being sent to find a flower. You can watch this scene for a laugh.

I need brain breaks myself. Yesterday I was doing a crossword and stuck on a clue. I decided to take Elsie for a walk and when I got back I solved the clue easily. It’s amazing how shifting focus and moving can refresh the screen of our mind and allow it to function optimally.

We are coming to the end of a long wintery term. Our student’s brains could do with an extended break. Make sure to include some movement, down time, fun and laughter. They really are the very best medicine. To end I’d like to share a news story from Behind The News (BTN) last week; Did you know China has passed a law limiting children’s screen time to three hours a week in an attempt to curb the increasing rate of video game addiction? Watch the story yourself.

Annie Joy — Acting Head of Teaching and Learning

Values

“Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. ”

— Proverbs 19:1

Values are those things you believe are deeply and critically important for how you live, work and play. Values help us decide priorities. Like the rudder of a ship, values guide the direction we are going.

If I was to ask what your top three personal values are, I wonder what you would say? I have been part of this type of conversation in several contexts. Responses range from “I’ve never really thought about it” to “I suppose respect should be on the list ”to“ kindness! We should all be kind, shouldn’t we?”

It can be difficult for us to get our first word added to our list. To find our top two or three can be a huge challenge. Someone whose values include fun and freedom may live differently from a person who values diligence and respect.

If the question about your personal values is not difficult enough, there is a harder question. If I asked you to tell me what other people think your values are, what would they say? If I asked your spouse, for example, what your top three values are, would you be surprised at the list they produce? If I asked your child/ren here at school what their parent’s values are, we could all be surprised.

Our values define who we are. Our values are what others see when they watch our actions and hear our words.

Christian Schools Tasmania schools – Emmanuel, Calvin, Northern and Channel have a powerful Vision, Mission and Values that guide our organisation.

Our Vision is to be a transformational Christian Learning Community. To see that Vision come alive in the school, our Mission is to provide the highest quality Christian education that prepares and equips students for life. The Values that define us in each of our schools are “Faith, Hope and Love”. But the greatest of these is Love.

At Emmanuel, our school values guide us as we live out our overarching Vision, Mission and Values, are Courage, Integrity and Respect. Although we are reviewing these as part of our review process, these three words impact how we act and what we do.

 The Bible gives us a firm foundation to build our lives on. Biblical values set us up for a prosperous and productive future.

Scott Winkler — Principal

A Positive Spin!

Recently, we have changed a few things with our rewards points system. In the past, we have had a large scale rewards day at the end of each term to reward students for their great behavior. It’s a fair while to wait though. If students gained points in the first week of school for serving others; it could have been opening a door for someone or helping out another student with some advice or work, then it’s a long time to wait to reap the rewards at the end of term!

“Everyone can make an effort in learning, making it possible for everyone to get rewarded.”

Because of this, our school has started to give out ‘café cards’ to students who display role model behavior. It could be improving in the work that they are doing, through to serving others. Café cards are also given to students who make wise choices in classes, by getting their work done to the best of their ability.

When we encourage students, we aim to praise effort rather than an outcome such as a grade. Everyone can make an effort in learning, making it possible for everyone to get rewarded.

A favourite Proverb of mine is Proverbs 3:27

Do not withhold good from whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.

Starting the ‘café card’ reward gives teachers the opportunity to praise students when it is due. The only waiting the students have to do is hang out until Friday when the café card can be exchanged for a hot chocolate and a small snack. The short wait appears to set students up with anticipation and excitement of receiving their reward at the end of the week.

Please let us know their thoughts on the café we have set up. Our student leaders run the café, giving them an opportunity to put their leadership skills into practice. Sometimes they even get a café card for working in the café.

Ed Moroni - Secondary Coordinator