If applying interleaving successfully, students (and teachers), should resist the temptation to repeat the exact same process multiple times in a row. Instead, the practice of new processes should be interwoven with other previously learnt skills and processes. This switching causes an interruption to repetitive practice and forces the brain the think more critically about what strategy to use to solve the problems.

For example, when solving mathematics equations, students will typically complete five of the same problem, or 10 of the same problem. Instead of doing that, they should try to complete different problems in different orders. Another approach could be if students are learning to calculate the area of a triangle, instead of having them do 20 problems with triangles, have them do one with a triangle, then one with a circle, then a triangle, then a square.

This approach is more challenging, so students may potentially make more errors initially, but they will also be learning something very important, which is how to choose a particular strategy for each problem, as opposed to just repeatedly doing the same thing over and over again.

As we begin to head into the busy end of the term, I want to reflect upon the purpose of drafting. It is important to make the distinction between feedback given as part of the teaching and learning process and structured feedback given as part of developing an assessment response. The purpose of drafting is to provide students with feedback so that improvements can be made to the assessment response. Drafting is a consultation process, not a marking process. Teachers do not award a notional result or level of achievement for student work that is in draft form.

What is a Draft?

A draft is a preliminary version of a student’s response to an assessment instrument. The quality of a draft may vary from a brief outline to a response that is nearing completion. A draft can be used to provide feedback on a response as well as to authenticate student work.

When submitting a draft, students may be required to:

• submit a written outline about their approach
• discuss their approach with their teacher
• submit a full written draft

What sort of Feedback will be provided?

Teachers will provide feedback on a maximum of one draft of each student’s response. Continual feedback on multiple written scripts will not be provided as it is not an effective way of assisting students to develop independence.

Feedback on a draft must not compromise the authenticity of student work. Teachers may not introduce new ideas, language or research to improve the quality of student responses. Similarly, teachers may indicate some key errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation and calculations, and remind students that the draft requires more editing, but should not edit or correct all errors in a draft.

Students may be advised to:

• consider other aspects of the text, report, performance or activity they are creating or responding to
• develop their response to show more awareness of the audience
• give priority to the most important points by rearranging the sequence and structure of ideas
• conduct further investigation to support an argument or communicate meaning
• adhere more closely to the referencing style selected by the school

All assessment instruments indicate the required length of a response as a word length, duration of time, or page count. This information is provided to:

• indicate the depth of the response required
• encourage conciseness of the response
• ensure equity of conditions for all students
• meet the requirements for endorsement, where applicable

Teachers may use a range of suitable strategies to provide feedback on the draft response. The strategy chosen may differ depending on the mode of response. Possible strategies include:

• written feedback
• verbal feedback
• feedback provided through questioning
• a summary of feedback and advice to the whole class

It is then the student’s responsibility to act upon the feedback that they have been given. I hope that as we begin to move into the business end of term that students are working towards submitting their best drafts to get feedback on how to improve. This is particularly pertinent for our Year 11 students as we approach the mid-semester break as our senior students no longer operate on a term-by-term basis – they will have drafting to complete over the mid-semester break as Unit 1 will conclude at the end of week 4 in Term 2. 

Interim Reports

Interim Reports for students in Years 7 – 12 are now available in Parent Lounge. These reports provide information on your daughter's learning habits in her subjects from Term 1. The details for the criteria are on the report. Contained in this report is an indication if your student's teacher would like to meet with you at the upcoming Parent Teacher Conferences. 

Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences for students in Years 7 – 10 & Year 12 will be occurring on Tuesday 19 April from 10.00am – 8.00pm and on Tuesday 24 May from 3:30pm – 7:00pm for students in Year 11.

The conferences will be online via Teams. Bookings for the Years 7 – 10 & Year 12 conferences are now open in parent lounge and close next Wednesday 30 March at 3:00pm.

National Day for Action Against Bullying

Friday 18 March marked National Day for Action Against Bullying and was a great success at MSM, the vibrant flash of orange could be seen in hair and on ties across the college. It is a day when we recognise the harm that bullying behaviours can have on individuals and communities alike. We are all called to reflect on how our words and actions may be perceived by others and reignite a commitment to building and maintaining positive relationships. The issue of bullying is one that requires ongoing education and reflection to enable young people to restore relationships and develop strategies that promote inclusion and respect. It is also essential that we challenge the culture of not ‘snitching’ and become confident to call out wrongdoing and tackle the problem head on. At MSM we work in partnership with parents to model appropriate responses to incidents to ensure a safe environment for our students. I encourage families to talk openly about the importance of kindness as well as seeking assistance from teachers if any challenges present.