Pedagogy
Thangool SS uses a range and balance of effective pedagogical approaches and strategies. Through the implementation of age-appropriate pedagogies, teachers are able to deliver the curriculum using developmentally and engaging teaching practices.
When selecting an approach, teachers consider:
• children's interests and capabilities
• their own interests, skills, capabilities and philosophies
• the Australian Curriculum
• evidence of children's learning
• school and community contexts.
Our whole school approach to pedagogy includes:
Digital pedagogy - looks critically at digital tools as potential means for learning and teaching. It considers digital content and space as valuable sites for information and knowledge, in addition to traditional mediums such as books or the classroom. These multimodal forms of learning allow the user to have more freedom in terms of creating meaning making activities.
Direct teaching/instruction - is a step-by-step, lesson-by-lesson approach to teaching which is scripted and follows a pre-determined skill acquisition sequence.
Event-based - draws on knowledge and experiences that are socially and culturally significant from home and the community when planning and enacting events.
Explicit instruction - is a structured and systematic approach to teaching academic skills. It is “characterized by a series of supports or scaffolds, whereby students are guided through the learning process, using a process of gradual release and checking for understanding against a set of success criteria.
Inquiry-based - involves students planning and carrying out investigations, proposing explanations and solutions, and communicating their understanding of concepts in a variety of ways.
Play-based - provides opportunities for children to actively and imaginatively engage with people, objects and the environment. Play promotes the holistic development (physical, social, emotional, cognitive and creative) of a child.
Project approach - is an in-depth exploration of a topic that may be child or teacher-initiated and involves an individual, a group of children, or the whole class. A project may be short-term or long-term and there is an emphasis on the creation of a specific outcome.
High Impact Teaching Strategies
Thangool State School embeds into the approaches a repertoire of researched-based high impact strategies. These include: Setting goals; structured lessons; worked examples; collaborative learning; multiple exposures; questioning; feedback; meta-cognitive strategies and differentiated teaching.
CAPABLE LEARNER FRAMEWORK
At Thangool, our focus is to support and nurture the whole child, their wellbeing and learning. To achieve this, we offer a balanced program that focuses on using a blended approach of inquiry, project, event, direct, explicit and play based learning and investigation. Our focus is that your child will become a capable life-long learner through the dispositions of:
• Diligence
• Embracing challenge
• Effective communication
• Persistence
• Resilience
• Reflection
• Playfulness
At Thangool, we endeavour to provide a quality general education which meets the needs, interests and abilities of students by emphasising the development of appropriate and relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes, while preparing the student for further education and for a valued role in society. Students will:
• Develop literacy and numeracy understandings
• Imagine, design and create through the Arts, Science and Technology
• Develop their physical skills and health
• Develop their understanding of their community and environment
• Interact with others to develop social learning, emotional regulation and wellbeing
• Investigate interests through curriculum and extra curriculum activities
• Make choices
Current Initiatives
Thangool SS has been recognised by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and is currently at the forefront in the Central Queensland Region of implementing the:
- Australian Curriculum
- Effective Pedagogies
- AITSL Visible Learning Project
- 4 Dimensions of Supportive Environments.