Welcome to the second edition of our Staff as Students series. As we wrote last time, a n important part of our teaching practice is to model to our ...
Welcome to the second edition of our Staff as Students series. As we wrote last time, an important part of our teaching practice is to model to our students the attributes of a lifelong learner, to build our professional capacity as educators for our own practice and to enrich learning outcomes for our students.
When planning professional learning, we often reflect on the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL Standards), which encompass three domains – professional knowledge, professional practice, and professional engagement – to target a particular area for improvement. When seeking full registration, a teacher needs to demonstrate their proficiency across all standards in all domains. Similarly, teachers can seek Highly Accomplished or Lead certification in these standards.
While Professional Learning specifically falls into Standard 6: Engage in professional learning, we can also seek professional growth across the other standards. In this newsletter, we will hear from 3 of our staff members who have sought to build their capacity in a range of standards.
Dale Augostin, Health and Physical education teacher, recently attended a training course to enrich his teaching of the Grade 8 HPE ‘Rock and Water’ module, which helped foster Standard 4: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments.
Louise Middleton, Art Technician and Curator of Poimena, recently attended the Zart Summer School to support Standard 2: Know the content and how to teach it.
Amanda Luttrell, Head of Grade 7, engaged with Berry Street to build Standard 1: Know students and how they learn.

On the 20th, 21st, and 22nd of March, I attended a Rock and Water 3-day workshop to further develop my ability to improve student self-efficacy. The Rock and Water course is a physically engaging program that we are running through the Grade 8 curriculum. Evidence has shown participating in this program can enhance student decision-making, self-confidence, and self-awareness. The Rock and Water concept we are focusing on is the tough, immovable rock attitude versus the mobile, communicative water attitude. This concept can be developed and applied at various levels: the physical, mental, and social level. I am excited to bring what I have learned back to Launceston Grammar.
Dale Augostin
Health and Physical Education Teacher

In January I attended the Zart Summer School. This was an opportunity to devote two focused days in the studio – working live in person with two acclaimed contemporary painters.
Keith Burt was our tutor on day 1. Keith has been featured in the Archibald Portrait Prize a number of times and was the winner of the Brisbane Portrait Prize 2020. We worked directly from life, practising observational drawing, proportion and form. Keith demonstrated his own self-portrait first. It was amazing to see how quickly and precisely he worked. There was a little bit of magic in his process.
On day 2, Dagmar Cyrulla (Archibald and Moran finalist) guided us through her process of recreating Old Masters in black and white. The project was challenging, and I found myself experiencing what many students may feel when they are confronted with a project that seems out of their depth. Working through the process I became more confident, and the end result was very rewarding.
The Summer School was a wonderful opportunity to network with art teachers and assistants from all over Australia and to experience a few days in the student seat.
Louise Middleton
Art Technician

The Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) is a highly researched education model which supports educators to gain new perspectives, strategies and skills to build safer, healthier and more engaging classrooms for all students. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to attend a 2-day professional development program focusing on the mind-body connection in children and how to effectively prepare students for learning. I will return in Term 2 for a further 2-day seminar addressing these concepts further. The resources and skills in this course link well with the Resilience Project work we have begun in Grade 7 and will continue to build on throughout the year.
Mandy Luttrell
Head of Grade 7