Reflecting on academic performance
How is it that music can, without words, evoke our laughter, our fears, our highest aspirations?
Jane Swan
Tutti in Wonderland Music Dinner
Last Friday evening (Friday 20 November) was the occasion of the Tutti in Wonderland Music Dinner, where we were able to celebrate a wonderful year of Somerville House Music. I am sure that all attendees felt fortunate to have this opportunity in a year where COVID-19 restrictions have deprived us of being together for the traditional celebrations.
Thank you to the Music Support Group and everyone who participated to help make it such a successful evening, with special thanks to the students whose entertaining performances were appreciated by parents and staff. I acknowledge the work of our Music students, along with teachers, conductors and accompanists, for their contributions to the evening.
Academic reflection
As many of our students finalise assessment for the semester and prepare for the academic year ahead, I wanted to reflect on an article written by Mr Kevin Eikenberry. Eikenberry is an American organisational expert, who has written much about reflection. He discusses how many of us use a mirror daily to check on how we appear on the outside but struggle at times to reflect on our minds and behaviours.
Educators talk about encouraging students to reach their goals and importantly, to unleash their potential. It really is important for our learning community to embrace the idea of being continuous learners. As part of being an effective continuous learner, students need to learn how to harness the power of reflection.
According to Mr Eikenberry, many of our deep beliefs and ideas about learning come from our school experiences. With full academic programs and busy assessment schedules, time for reflection can often be forgotten in the day-to-day business of schooling. Due to the nature of contemporary education, students rarely have the opportunity to look back to review their experiences in order to help improve performance or learn more in the future. In many cases we test what was learned, with the grade being the outcome, and then move on to the next topic. As a result, this is how many people make their way through their lives. They undertake a project, get a result, and move onto the next task or event, without looking back to see what they learned.
Reflection is most valuable when thinking and answering some questions such as:
- What happened (both the process and the end results)?
- How did I feel about it?
- Why did it happen that way (what contributed to the results)?
- How does this remind me of other situations?
- What will I now do differently in the future?
The most important question I would like our students to ask themselves before they commence the new school year is: “Knowing what I now know, what will I do differently?”
QWeekend article
I would like to let you know of an upcoming feature article in The Courier-Mail’s QWeekend magazine, which is likely to be published this Saturday 28 November.
Last month, the PMSA and a number of our school community were contacted by magazine journalist Leisa Scott regarding a feature article they are putting together on the PMSA following the heavily publicised events at Somerville House in 2017. The premise of the article is to chronicle the progress that the PMSA has made since 2017.
PMSA Chair Morgan Parker was interviewed to share insights on how far the PMSA Group has progressed. Current parent and Old Girls’ Association President, Ms Liz Washington also shared her views.
Look out for the article on Saturday.
Mrs Kim Kiepe
Principal