Adolescent Success International Conference - Brisbane
Last week, I was fortunate to attend the Adolescent Success International Conference in Brisbane.  Meet me in the Middle, the conference looks across the education industry at best practice with a series of Keynote speakers and concurrent sessions which were held at St John’s Anglican College, Forest Lake on Friday and Saturday last week. 

The conference specifically focuses on students in the 11-15yrs bracket and provided a wonderful opportunity to connect with educators from various sectors across Australia and New Zealand. I attended many sessions with great new ideas and ways of thinking, however, what was most pleasing was the affirmation we received for much of the work we are doing right now.

From the curriculum standpoint, we have been shifting our focus from content towards skill development. This intentional swing was supported from every keynote speaker at the conference. Student success will be directly connected to the skills they have developed through their key learning areas, not the specific content that they can remember. Skills such as analysing primary and secondary resources to identify bias, or how to delve into the plethora of information at their fingertips to find quality information regarding a topic, or even how deduce a logical conclusion from the facts at hand.

When talking to students about their learning, I like to use the analogy of the three superheroes above: Spiderman, Superman, and Batman. It may seem silly at first, but the message is true. Basically, Superman didn’t do anything to get his powers. He was just born with them. He is an alien now living on Earth and he has an unfair advantage above other people. This is how many students view other learners in their classroom. They see others as just naturally gifted, not having to work hard to receive their success, but as Vince Lombardi said the only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary. Then there is Spiderman. Consider it lucky or unlucky, but through the accident of getting bitten by the radio-active spider, he received a series of amazing abilities and does a lot of good with them. No hard work to get these powers though – just in the right place at the right time. Last, but certainly not least, is the man in black. Batman wasn’t born with amazing abilities, nor did a happy accident magically provide them for him. Instead, through a bit off hard work an amazing utility belt and gadgets, Batman can take on the world and doesn’t shy away from a challenge.

This is how our learners should think. The academic skills developed in their lessons are like the gadgets on Batman’s belt. Not knowing when you will need them is not what is important. What is important is having them on the belt for that time you do need them and then knowing how to use them well. As Batman would he helpless without his utility belt and gadgets, so too our learners can find themselves stranded without an academic skillset that can ready them for whatever the next challenge is.

Multitasking – it doesn’t work.
While we may be capable of a small degree of multitasking, there are some serious limitations as to how well we can perform while attempting multiple tasks simultaneously. Here are some reasons why humans struggle to effectively multitask:

• Cognition limitations
  Our brains can only do so much. We have a finite amount of cognitive resources, including attention, working memory, and processing power. When we try to multitask, we are essentially dividing these resources among multiple tasks, which leads to a decrease in the quality of performance for each task. This is known as the cognitive load.
• Attention Limitations
  Our attention is limited, and we can only focus on a few things at a time. When you try to multitask, you may find it rather challenging to give your full attention to each task, which leads to errors. This is why it is illegal to drive while using your phone.
• Switching costs
  When you switch between tasks, there is a cognitive cost associated when shifting your attention from one context to another. This can slow down the overall productivity of your brain and increases the likelihood of errors.
• Decreased memory retention
  When you multitask, your ability to encode and retain information in memory is compromised. This can lead to forgetfulness and difficulty in recalling important details later.

While we can perform some simply tasks concurrently, such as walking and talking, or listening to music while mowing the lawn, our ability to effectively multitask diminishes as tasks become more complex or require high levels of cognitive processing. To improve productivity and performance, it is best to focus on one task at a time and give it your full attention. The next time your child tells you they can multitask, feel free to show them this article and how science proves they cannot.

Year 5 and Year 6 Volleyball Tournament
It was great to see the Year 5 and Year 6 students competing on the oval across the last two days to see which team would be crowned the Volleyball champions for this year. Thank you to all of the teachers and Mrs Lincoln for setting up the tournament and facilitating it, along with some Senior Years students. The kids had a blast and it was great to hear the music blaring out of the MPC during the grand final. Well done to the winners and everyone who participated throughout the tournament.

Leadership Passport – Above and Beyond Task
Today, we had 6 Middle Years students attend the Beck Street Kindy to facilitate their sports day. It was great to see our students interacting with the little kids, some of whom may end up wearing our uniform in the coming years. Thomas (7) was a Beck Street graduate back in his day and commented about how much the playground had changed since his time there. The students who attended today all did so voluntarily as part of their leadership development under the Leadership Passport model. They are working through Level 1 of the model and used this as one of their Above and Beyond tasks. They will be evaluated by the Beck Street staff on their leadership skills, such as:

• Attitude
• Quality of service
• Problem solving
• Communication skills
• Ability to act on advice
• Success of the tasks

Well done to Tilly, Josh and Thomas from Year 7 and Abigail, Lucy, and Lucas from Year 8. The initial feedback form the Beck Street staff was wonderful and I am sure your evaluations will reflect this. On Friday, we have another group of students attending. Best of luck to Lincoln (6), Laney (7), Dom (8), Molly (8), William (8) for the next instalment on Friday.

Mr Craig Cullen

Assistant Principal – Middle Years