Yule Brook, WA - Random notes
Paul Billings, principal at Yule Brook, WA has allowed us to re-print his ‘Random Notes’ originally published for the staff.
Paul writes:
Here are some thoughts that are probably a bit more random than usual – they may seem disconnected; no doubt, however, there’s a reason why they’ve stuck with me.
- First there’s the story of Barakis a Year 9 Aboriginal boy, who, late last term was scheduled to present his first Exhibition. He was due to present during period 1 on a cold, wet and windy day. The appointed time came and went without Barakis arriving. At that point, it was assumed that this was all too hard and that he was shirking his responsibility, and there was a tinge of disappointment on MeiLing’s part (Advisor).
However, half way through period 2 a drenched and cold Barakis arrived at school with his mother to present his Exhibition. They had had trouble with transport so had decided to walk to school – about 13 kms through this shocking weather. He then proceeded to deliver his Exhibition.
What does this say about commitment; about accountability; about a sense of pride; about the connection that Big Picture Yulebrook College style has made with parents?
It certainly says something more profound than graphs about performance in standardised tests.
The message for me is that, whilst there is always more work to be done, we are on the right track, and that this journey is taking us places we’ve never been before.
The task we have with our students is enormous, and it is very tempting to give in to despair from time to time. We need to continue to measure our success carefully. We are working at changing a culture at this school, and whilst I want it to change overnight, it’s not going to happen. However, it is changing and this is just one instance of the power of our work. The collective power of all the individual stories we have to tell needs to be shared.
- I was talking to Cody (Y9) in class last term. He was supposed to be editing a video on line, but predictably he was on Youtube checking out skaters and skate ramp designs.
He told me that he was trying to build a ramp at home, and I innocently mentioned that it would be good to have something like that at school. Cody was suddenly very animated and full of the possibilities. How could we do this? Who would do it?
Thinking that maybe it was too obvious, and that he would have thought of and rejected this idea previously I asked if he thought that it might be a good Advisory project and opportunity for an Internship.
Did he what!?
We discovered that we both knew the same person who might be able to support him as mentor.
“… so,” he started struggling for words, “my thesis could be, ‘Can a 14 year old boy build … ?”
Despite the enthusiasm which was apparent to this point, it seemed like a wet blanket was slowly being drawn down on this idea. Cody was struggling with trying to make his passion conform to a standardised school-based approach.
Clearly, we need to help Cody exploit the learning opportunities inherent in a project like this, but we need to take great care that in doing so we don’t pasteurise his passion and enthusiasm. If we’re dinkum about “one student at a time”, then we will have to learn to walk the very fine line which balances pursuing student passion and helping students explicitly achieve learning outcomes.
Depending on the circumstances, we will need to foreground different elements of this approach to learning and not get too hung up on an orthodox approach to doing things. There are academics writing about change who advocate the “Ready! Fire! Aim!” approach. We need to remember the spirit of this when we’re working with the Codys of the world, and not get too hung up on aiming as the first step.
Knowing Cody, as I know a number of you do (and there is a number of Codys out there!), whilst we’re trying to get him to aim, his mind and interest will be wandering towards greener pastures.
I shared this with Marie (Advisor) and I know that she was already conscious of this; I’m sharing it with the rest of you because, for me, it is a cautionary tale.
Paul