The past few days have been full of learning for all of our staff, particularly our Junior Team. This group (teachers and Learning Support Officers) have undertaken two intense days of professional development in the Little Learners Love Literacy (LLLL) program. We will be implementing this program next year. LLLLis a systematic synthetic phonics program designed for the early years of primary school.

 A great deal has changed in our understanding of how people learn since I did my undergraduate degree. Most of these changes are a result of the studies into how the brain functions and changes during the learning process. Concepts such as: cognitive load theory, attention, engagement, long term and short term memory and retrieval are all a part of this research that contributes to teachers' understanding of how children learn. From here our teachers learn strategies and systems that best support children's learning based on the research. In short, teachers are charged with the responsibility of adapting children's brains.

This concept is well described by Peps Mcrae as the Teacher Expertise Paradox

First up, brain surgeons: we appreciate and respect you. You are enormously skilled and save lives every day—this is not a dis. It's just that ... you are tasked with:

• Restructuring parts of the brain that you can see …
• On only one patient at a time…
• With sophisticated tools and a multi-person support team constantly by your side.

By contrast, teachers are tasked with:

• Restructuring something invisible (student knowledge)…
• On tens of people at a time, each with a different starting point, and some who don't even want to be there…
• With ONLY WORDS AND IMAGES AS THEIR TOOLS ?

And all this happens in an environment of time pressure, high stakes and minimal realtime human support. In short, teaching is orders of magnitude harder than brain surgery.

The best teachers make what they do look effortless and natural. But it's not. Not even close. Teaching is one of the most fiendishly complex tasks ever devised. This is the 'teacher expertise paradox'.

Job Vacancy- Parish Secretary

Our Parish Secretary for the past 13 years, Leanne McElgunn, has advised of her intending retirement on Friday 24th November.

This position will need to be filled and the Parish seeks interest from either experienced and/or qualified individuals.  Interested individuals may call into the Parish office at St. Joseph’s Warrnambool to collect a role description or call 5562 2231 for further information.

This is a role of about 32 hours per week (9:00am – 4:00pm) with award wages but this could be negotiable.

There is also a part-time administrative position as well. The work load has increased for our administrative staff due to our larger Parish. The latter position would be a 0.4 or 0.5 position. Regards, Fr John Fitzgerald.