Literacy Coach

SJPC is passionate about student engagement.
Here we explore how THE POWER OF INTEREST DRIVES LEARNING!

Interest has the power to, not only lift high achievers but to transform struggling performers. Interest is a psychological state of engagement in the moment AND a predisposition to repeatedly engage. When children are engaged they feel captivated, energised and invigorated. 

Interest turbo-charges our thinking and makes us work harder and persist longer. 

Scientists have proven that passionate interests can allow people to overcome academic difficulties or perceptual difficulties.

Educator, John Dewey, wrote that interest operates by a process of ‘catch’ and ‘hold’ -- first the individual’s interest must be captured, and then it must be maintained. To do this we must expose children to a wide variety of topics and material and ensure it is novel, complex and comprehensible. This means introducing things never before encountered, while ensuring it is challenging but not too hard or too easy to understand. We must provide sufficient background knowledge to stimulate interest but avoid confusion.

More learning leads to more questions, which in turn, leads to more learning. It’s questions, not answers, that stimulate curiosity.

Instead of starting with the answer, we must pose genuinely interesting questions - questions that open an information gap.

We must demonstrate our own interest in particular subjects and encourage children to see the value in what they are learning, acknowledge growing levels of competence and help sustain interest and motivation when things become challenging.

The goal is to cultivate interest that provides lasting stimulation and fulfillment - interest that we pursue with vigour and zest over a lifetime of learning.

Word of the Week

Week 4

Operose (adj) - Involving a lot of effort or work.

The operose task took all day to complete.

Week 5

Disdain (v / n) - To scorn, hold in low esteem.

Insecure about their jobs, the older employees disdained the recently hired ones, who were young and capable.

After learning of his immoral actions, Justine held Lawrence in disdain.

Mrs Maree McKelvie
Literacy Coach