Years 7, 8 and 9 Program Leader | Mr Damien Coman

 
It was wonderful to celebrate the academic achievement of students at Friday night’s Celebration Of Excellence at the Convention Centre. I would also like to congratulate Ryan Wong in Year 8, who was named the best Mathematics student in Queensland for his grade by the Australian Mathematics Trust. 

The mistake that many boys make in the middle years is that the either see themselves as a successful student or they don’t. Those who have made a mistake by viewing themselves as ‘someone who will always be a C’ etc., may then not put in the hard work accordingly. Of course, a student will not improve or achieve high grades if they do not dedicate consistent time across the term to their subjects.
 
The mistake of watching boys accept awards because they believe they are just ‘naturally smart’ is common. Every student who received an award has also put in a serious amount of time to try and understand the topic, practise questions and ask for assistance or clarification when needed. All students need to do these things to be their best.
 
Like any other pursuit, if you want to become good at something, you need to have focus, listen to the instruction provided and then practise regularly. There is no substitute for hard work.
 
At this time of term students need to:

• Complete all homework as this will no doubt help practise for assessment
• Work on assignments so that there is not a last minute rush
• Revise for upcoming exams using the strategies that are consistently mentioned and advocated at Terrace
• Attend any extra tutoring
• Ue Friday Roll Call (have a brief weekly review of their subjects)
• Engage in some passive learning (reading chapters, following examples, looking over PowerPoints)
• Engage in a serious amount of active learning (writing notes and answering lots of various questions in their checklist booklet, so their progress is visible to anyone who wanted to see it, including themselves, drawing flow charts, mind maps, flashcards, timing themselves at times)

ACTIVE LEARNING BEATS PASSIVE LEARNING