Drop Everything and Read
St Edmund’s College is very committed to providing opportunities for students to read and develop their literacy skills. This year we are continuing with our Drop Everything and Read or DEAR initiative for students in Years 7 to 10.
For those of you who are not familiar with DEAR, the boys engage in silent reading for 20 minutes in Period 5 each day of the week unless there is an assessment scheduled for that time. The boys must have an actual book or magazine to read for these 20 minutes. They can read anything they like as long as they are reading.
Some of the benefits of DEAR include an increased vocabulary. If students are exposed to new words when they are reading they are likely to remember them and to incorporate them into their everyday speech. Reading books is also vital for English as second language learners, as non-native speakers gain exposure to words used in context, it helps their speaking and writing fluency.
Students who participate in DEAR have also shown an improvement in their writing. Exposure to published, well-written work affects student’s writing, as observing the cadence, fluidity, and writing styles of other authors will invariably influence their writing.
Students are encouraged to visit the library on a regular basis and talk with the library staff about topics they are interested in. We have a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books as well as graphic novels, biographies and magazines for the students to dive into.
Study Skills Tip for the beginning of the year
St Edmund’s College subscribes to the Study Skills Handbook. Working through the units on www.studyskillshandbook.com.au throughout this year will help you build skills and learn techniques to become more effective learners. We encourage all students and parents to log into the site and browse the units to become familiar with the topics covered. Also click on THINGS TO PRINT after you log in, scroll to the bottom of the page and you will find lots of useful grids and planners to help you.
Top five tips about making the most of your time at school this year and working efficiently at home.
- INDEPENDENT LEARNING: There are two types of work in secondary school. The compulsory work that your teacher tells you to do, and independent learning that you are expected to do when you have no homework. You can print a handout that will give you examples of the types of things you are supposed to be doing for school when you have no homework.
- WORK SMART: If you want to still have a life, but get your home learning done (for most students this will be 1-2 hours per night) then you need to work smart. Keep your personal life and schoolwork separate. Don’t do work in front of the TV, switch off your phone and take a little break from social media. Work in half hour blocks and focus only on your schoolwork during that half hour block. If you are super busy with lots of activities then a great idea is to draw up a timetable for the week and allocate time for schoolwork over the week. You might like to visit these units on the site: Time Management Skills, Dealing with Distractions, Overcoming Procrastination.
- BE ORGANISED AND PLAN: Being organised makes your life easier! So have an organised space to work in, record homework in your diary, keep track of completed work and reschedule work not done. When you are told about a test or an assignment, plan the work out to be done over the available time. Make the most of your time in class, being organised and focused in the classroom means you will find it easier to complete your work and work on big things like assessments at home. Check out these units on the site: Home Study Environment, Organisation and Filing, Managing Workload, Using Classtime.
- ASK FOR HELP EARLY: If you don’t understand something, ask for help. The sooner the better. If there isn’t time in class see your teacher before or after class or during the break times. No-one expects you to do things on your own. One of the most important contributors to being successful academically is to ask for help often and early. See if your school offers extra support or has a homework help service. And don’t forget family and friends, they might know more than you think! There is a unit on the site all about Asking for Help.
- LEARN HOW TO STUDY PROPERLY: If you still think that to study for a test you just read your book over and over, time to learn how smart people study! The main things to remember about study for a test are: Make study notes or summaries first (write down in point form what you need to learn), learn these notes not just by reading but by testing yourself on them and do as many different questions as you can as practise. You can learn more from these units: Summarising, Active Studying, Preparing for Exam Blocks, Test-Taking Techniques, Your Brain and Memory.
You may also like to check out all of the skills units and technology units.
You can access the Study Skills Handbook through the Library page on Canvas.
Lisa Millar
Head of Diverse Learning