Teacher’s Thoughts – Proton Tutoring Services

Proto-σέλιδο 2018

Posted by kristianraspaon December 28, 2018in Proton Post, Teacher's Thoughts

2018 was a productive and constructive year that brought new successes for Proton. We continued, for yet another year, our collaboration with the Australian Tutoring Association (ATA) which acknowledges and guarantees the highest of standards of tutoring services. This is a highlight for the year as Proton remains the first and only tutoring centre recognised by the ATA for its high quality greek tutoring services.

Proton’s Masterclasses and Seminars were a huge success in 2018. We are always pleased to read the students’ feedback and see how well our classes are received. We commit to continue working towards bringing useful Masterclasses that unlock the true potential of our students.

Proton put a lot of emphasis this year on the professional development of its tutors, in order to ensure the most contemporary, creative and reliable teaching methods. In collaboration with the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA) and the University of Melbourne, we worked to create materials and programs for the continuous assessment of students, with our ultimate purpose being the differentiation of our teaching practice in order to accommodate the specific learning needs of our students.

Furthermore, Proton also explored the educational and pedagogical potential that technology provides both inside and outside of the classroom. As a result, our tutors undertook Apple and Google seminars on the educational uses of their products and platforms. These mechanisms have provided new potential and possibilities for the teaching and learning processes.

For the full PDF version of Proto-σέλιδο 2018 please click here!

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Thank You for Attending Proton’s ΕΚΘΕΣΗ Masterclass

Posted by kristianraspaon May 24, 2018in Essay Workshop, Seminars, Teacher's Thoughts

Proton would like to thank all the #ProtoiMathites for making Sunday’s ΕΚΘΕΣΗ Masterclass such a great success!

It was an intensive seminar, which provided students with tips and tricks on how to better structure their essays; how to develop stronger content when writing; and how to improve their sentences and paragraphs.

We covered all the Key Text Types that are assessable in VCE and we discussed their main features and characteristics.

All students are strongly advised to use their take home materials in order to practice and improve their writing skills.

Along with notes, worked examples, tips and tricks for essay writing, students were given more than 80 essay topics to practice with at home in their own time.

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Thanks to everyone for taking the time to let us know how happy you were with Sunday’s class. Your feedback and encouragement is what motivates us to keep going and to bring you events and workshops that will assist you in your studies. We are very proud and pleased with the feedback we received and we commit to bringing you similar seminars in the future.

Here are some snapshots of the day!

Do you have any more photos from the day?

Please be sure to tag us on Facebook and Instagram.

We look forward to seeing you all next time!

#TaLeme

Proton would like to thank all the #ProtoiMathites for making Sunday’s ΕΚΘΕΣΗ Masterclass such a great success! Here are some snapshots of the day! Do you have any more photos from the day? Please be sure to tag us on Facebook and Instagram. We look forward to seeing you all next time! #TaLeme

“In unity there is strength…”

Posted by kristianraspaon May 10, 2018in Proton Post, Teacher's ThoughtsLeave a comment

On Sunday 6 May 2018, Proton Teachers had the pleasure and opportunity to attend the1st Conference by the Modern Greek Teachers’ Association of Victoria (MGTAV), which focused on the professional learning of Secondary Teachers and Instructors.

Whilst our #teachersthoughts about Sunday’s presentations will follow in future posts, we wanted to dedicate this post to the great work that MGTAV has undertaken over the past few years and to encourage all Modern Greek teachers and instructors to get behind the association and support their valuable work.

Every conference, seminar and event organised by MGTAV can benefit the professional development of teachers and expand their pedagogical “toolkit”.

As Proton Teachers, we certainly feel after Sunday’s conference, that the insights and approaches presented and discussed can inform and enrich our teaching practices and methods. We therefore would like to encourage you and invite you to also attend MGTAV’s future professional learning sessions and we urge you to embrace such opportunities to further your professional development.

Whilst talking with fellow colleagues about MGTAV and its activities, we recognised the great lengths the association has gone to in order to provide a range of services to its members. From our conversations, we noticed that MGTAV’s work has inspired many ideas for the future and a lot of ways that it can contribute to Modern Greek education in Victoria. As Maria Dikaiou, MGTAV President, beautifully stated, “this is our association”. All ideas and plans are welcome and everyone is encouraged to approach the association and participate. The first step is to become a MGTAV member.

You can follow this link here in order to find out more information about your MGTAV membership. http://www.mgtav.asn.au/membership.html

Being an MGTAV member provides teachers with the opportunity to meet other language teachers so that they can share ideas and collaborate. MGTAV runs a number of Professional Development sessions throughout the year, providing numerous opportunities to every member to improve their pedagogical praxis. MGTAV members receive discounts when registering for these events. Furthermore, being a member is a great way to stay informed about everything that is happening in Victoria, regarding Greek education and culture, including employment opportunities, exhibitions, programs and events.

Finally, we must remember, that the most important reason to join and support MGTAV is that its members have the opportunity to contribute to Greek learning in Victoria. By supporting MGTAV, you are supporting the teaching of Modern Greek and helping Greek language teachers unite; and in the wise words of Aesop, “In unity there is strength…”

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Goal Setting to Make Learning “Visible”

Posted by kristianraspaon May 1, 2018May 1, 2018in Proton Post, Teacher's ThoughtsLeave a comment

This week, Proton teachers had the opportunity to participate in a professional development seminar on “visible learning”; the theory by John Hattie (2012) that students are more likely to be invested in their learning, if they perceive learning to be feasible, accessible and attainable.

It was a seminar that emphasised how simple teacher practices and routines can have a great impact on the students’ learning perception and process.

A simple strategy that we encourage all of our fellow teachers to implement is to set a clear, simple and achievable learning goal for the lesson or the session. The learning goal needs to be simple, so that it can easily be understood by students. A lesson, depending on its duration, should not have more than one or two learning goals.

If you need help setting your learning goals, the following questions can help you:

What is to be learnt during this session?
Why is it important to learn This?
How is the learning of This linked to bigger ideas/concepts studied?
What are the success criteria? – the criteria that show that the goal has been achieved/ that This has been learnt?
What will students say/make/write/do that proves they have learnt This?
How are the learning activities/tasks/work relevant to the success criteria of the learning goal?

Every subject can have multiple learning goals that are focusing on a number of areas. For instance, some learning goals focus on knowledge, whereas some goals focus on skills and/or understanding.

For more assistance on how to set your learning goals, please visit: assessmentforlearning.edu.au

Once the learning goals have been set, it must be clearly communicated to the students.

This can be done by simply writing it on the board, so that the goal of the lesson is literally “visible” to the students. Although teachers are always pressed for time, it is definitely worth the one or two minute investment at the start of the lesson to explain to the class why this goal is important.

It is our responsibility as educators to provide a satisfactory response to the students’ question “Why are we doing This? Why are we learning This”?

We need ensure that they understand the learning goals and their importance.

If you are ever in doubt, there is no harm in checking the students’ understanding of the learning goals. Some questions you can pose in class to check that are:

What are you learning?
Why are you learning This?
What activities/work are you doing to help you learn This?
How will you know when you have learned This?

References

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximising impact on learning. London: Routledge.
Be sure to share your thoughts with us using #TeachersThoughts and tagging #Proton @ProtonTutoring