“As we all know there are no laptops in the exam room.” Sian Evans
Other areas will also experience changes. In Year 9 there will be a move to focus on different skills for enhancing reading and writing, and at Year 10 an emphasis on representation, viewing and presenting. Years 11–13 will be centred on critical thinking and interaction with world literature, examining how literature explores what it means to be human, and how it can lead us to enquire more deeply into philosophy, psychology and society. Early in Term 3, English department staff took time to talk through the overarching vision, strategy and course outlines of the revised programme. “We’re conscious about not over assessing as we recognise that not everything has to be assessed to be successful as a learning experience. We have such a wealth of talent and experience and knowledge in our community at College, and we have so much to offer beyond the narrow lens of assessments. NCEA is a tool we use to represent a small part of the learning that has happened in our classrooms, but it should not be allowed to drive the learning itself.” Sian has other plans afoot too, holding more regular poet and author visits; building a richer and more positive reading culture; examining the nature of technology and focusing on getting boys off screens; and rethinking boys’ reliance on laptops in lessons, placing importance on each boy developing a legible, efficient and quick hand writing technique.
Knox Grammar School and Sydney Grammar School, both independent boys’ schools, before returning to College in Term 2 2018.
“As we all know, there are no laptops in the exam room.”
The author of an English textbook widely used in schools through New Zealand and Australia and of many other academic papers, Sian first taught at College as Assistant Head of English in 2008, becoming Head of English in 2010. During this time she also worked as a NZQA examiner and was involved in the revision and redrafting of NCEA Achievement Standards in English. In 2012 she moved to Sydney, where she worked at
College Issue 35 2018
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