Arguing is a Good Thing

This week I have sourced an article from the Marshall Memo about the learning that occurs from really debating and arguing about an issue with your children. The article made me think back to one Friday afternoon in Year 10, walking back to my boarding house arguing with a friend about a political issue raised in our history class. It was about politics and Australia in the sixties. The argument continued for ages with neither of us budging but trying to persuade the other as to the error of their thinking.

Later in the final history exam, this same question came up and even though I had not prepared or studied this area, I was unprepared for other areas and so gave it a go. I ended up doing this essay question for the single reason that I had engaged, debated, defended, critiqued and had my argument critiqued when arguing with my friend that Friday afternoon. 

It is a good example of the message set out in the article below. Debating issues makes us think in critical and authentic ways. We need to provoke, engage and ensure that our boys are debating, thinking and critiquing ideas and issues in the world around them. There is nothing wrong with a good argument as long as it is constructive!

Marshall Memo Excerpt:        

In this New York Times article, Adam Grant (University of Pennsylvania) says that if children aren’t exposed to disagreement and arguments, it will end up limiting their creativity as adults. “The skill to get hot without getting mad – to have a good argument that doesn’t become personal – is critical to life,” says Grant. “But it’s one that few parents teach to their children. We want to give kids a stable  home, so we stop siblings from quarreling and we have our own arguments behind closed doors… Witnessing arguments – and participating in them – helps us grow a thicker skin. We develop the will to fight uphill battles and the skill to win those battles, and the resilience to lose a battle today without losing our resolve tomorrow.”

It turns out that many highly creative people grew up in families in which robust debates took place all the time – friction about values, politics, interests, how to raise children. Wilbur and Orville Wright came from such a family, and as they worked on building their airplane, they squabbled incessantly (one of their longest debates was about the shape of the propeller). “I don’t think they really got mad,” observed their mechanic, “but they sure got awfully hot.” Other examples of adult conflict producing results: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony disagreed about how to win women’s suffrage; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak butted heads about how to design the first Apple computer; the Beatles fought over instruments, lyrics, and melodies.

“Disagreement is the antidote to groupthink,” says Grant. “We’re at our most imaginative when we’re out of synch.” He contends that it’s a mistake to conduct brainstorming with a no-judgments rule; instead, people should be encouraged to generate as many ideas as possible and argue about them during the process. One study showed that brainstorming groups generate 16 percent more ideas when members are encouraged to criticize one another. The same has been shown to be true in American hospital teams, Chinese technology companies, and microbiology labs.

What are the implications for parents and teachers? “Children need to learn the value of thoughtful disagreement,” says Grant. They should see adults arguing in a mutually respectful, emotionally safe manner. Kids might be taught that to remain silent when they disagree with someone is actually disrespectful of the other person’s ability to have a civil argument – and dismissive of one’s own viewpoint and voice. “It’s a sign of respect to care enough about someone’s opinion that you’re willing to challenge it,” Grant says. He suggests the following ground rules for arguments:

• Frame them as debates, not conflicts.
• Argue as if you’re right, but listen as if you’re wrong.
• Make the most respectful interpretation of the other person’s perspective.
• Acknowledge where you agree with your critics and what you’ve learned from them.

“Good arguments are wobbly,” Grant concludes: “A team or family might rock back and forth but it never tips over. If kids don’t learn to wobble, they never learn to walk; they end up standing still.”

“Kids, Would You Please Start Fighting?” by Adam Grant in The New York Times, November 5, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/opinion/sunday/kids-would-you-please-start-fighting.html

Ben Barrington-Higgs

Faith Matters

What makes a good teacher?

This was the question that I posed to the boys during the first Chapel for this term as a means of introducing our topic for the term. As I held the microphone around to some of the boys sitting in the Hall many commented that a good teacher was someone that cared about them, someone that supported their learning or someone that challenged them to do new things or expand their learning.

Our topic in Chapel this term is ‘Jesus the Teacher’ looking at specific teaching that Jesus gave. We’ve been working our way through the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. This is an extended passage in the Bible where Jesus delivers a range of teaching to his disciples, and then to us reading them, about ways to live with each other and ways to be in a relationship with God.

As we’ve gone through the weeks we have looked at some of the interesting teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. For example, we explored what does it mean when Jesus says “You are the salt of the earth”. So, I brought my shopping bag with me and asked the boys why do we have to be the salt of the earth? Why can’t we be the tomato sauce of the earth or the coffee of the earth!

I explained to them that in Jesus’ day salt was one of the most important staples as it helped to preserve meats etc. So, when Jesus is telling us that we are the salt of the earth it means that we are the most important thing. Our challenge is to not take that for granted but to show that same value to those people around us; to show how important people are in our lives.

Another challenging teaching that we looked at in Chapel was Jesus’ instruction to “Go the extra mile” for someone. I asked the boys what they thought it meant and many were a bit puzzled. With my hiking pack as prop, I explained to them that in Jesus’ day there was a law that stated that a Roman soldier could ask a Jewish person to carry they heavy pack for them for one mile.

So, I asked a few boys how they’d feel if I asked them to carry my hiking pack, which was almost the same height as some of the younger boys, all the way to Koola Park. Some said they’d be able to do it, but they’d be pretty tired. I then asked them whether they thought they’d then voluntarily offer to walk to Killara station with the pack. To which they responded no!

But that’s the challenge of what Jesus it is teaching here, to not just do the bare minimum of what is asked of us but to go further. My suggestion to the boys was to ‘go the extra mile’ when you parents ask them to do one chore to offer to do five more.

When we think about what a good teacher looks like we can see that modelled in Jesus too. His messages are challenging and can be very difficult to live out. But we see in him a teacher that cares about every one of us.

So perhaps ask your sons how they’re showing those that they love that they’re the ‘salt of the earth’ or even ask them to ‘go the extra mile’ at home.

Pastor La’Brooy

Pastoral Care

ThinkUKnow Internet Safety Presentation – www.thinkuknow.org.au

Last week, we had two industry representatives from Microsoft visit our school to present a ThinkUKnow Internet Safety Presentation to parents who were in attendance.

The presentation centred on the reality that technology now plays an important role in how young people maintain their friendships and communicate with those closest to them.

A key point was that technology is no different to anything else a young person encounters throughout their life, particularly in the early years, as they will learn all about how to use the internet safely and may make mistakes along the way. When these mistakes are made we, as significant adults in their lives, need to be able to support them through this, arm them with the right information and empower them to make the right choices.

The internet is an amazing thing. It is almost the one stop shop for everything. It is a supermarket, it is a university, it is a doctor, it is an entertainment hub and ultimately it is an essential part of our lives today.

Ultrasound pics, baby pics, first day of school pics… Parents today have encouraged the use of technology and placed their child right in the middle of it. Therefore, it is important that parents consider how they are actually modeling the use of technology, particularly mobile devices, and whether their practices are the ones that they want to see their children embracing.

Through research and discussions, ThinkUKnow have developed advice on what children SEE, SAY and DO online. It is an easy way to remember what children may encounter online, and the potential challenges they may face.

ThinkUKnow have a very informative website www.thinkuknow.org.au that contains a variety of valuable resources and have also put together a booklet to provide parents with further information on the important issue of internet safety. Hard copies of this booklet are available at the school office and a soft copy can be found here https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/resources/guides/sos-guide-cyber-safety

Pascal Czerwenka

PYP – Get Them Talking

As our Year 6 students head into their Exhibition inquiries, teachers, mentors and parents are rife with asking and responding to all sorts of questions around their focus issues to become more knowledgeable about it and to be able to inform the community about its importance. Asking great questions and the skill of formulating them is not the exclusive domain of the Year 6 Exhibition students.

Teachers and students across our school strive to formulate the best possible questions to achieve the best possible responses. We strive to move our students beyond the “GoogleAble” question that provides a single correct answer – simple and straightforward. Like PhD students, we encourage all of our students to investigate the issue that is the focus of their units of inquiry and create an answer that synthesises all of their knowledge and understanding – a plausible and accurate response given their learning.

At home we can engage our children in interesting conversations by asking open-ended questions which gets them to do all the hard work by doing all the talking.

How many times have we fallen into that trap of asking “How was school today? What did you do?”.  We want to know, however, these kinds of questions give minimal information. How familiar are the 1 or 2 word responses that really don’t tell us much at all? The children don’t get to do the hard work – parents do because they have to ask all those questions in rapid fire one after the other to get information. And as our children get older the information gets less and less.

Children should be encouraged to ask more questions not fewer. When you ask your child questions, you are modelling what a good question looks like and sounds like. With as much modelling as possible from the home and school environments, children become proficient in asking and responding to questions which increase in difficulty and openness.

But wait a minute – we want the kids to do all the hard work?

What we want to do, as parents, is to have to only ask one or two questions that will have the children talking so much that all we have to do is sit back and listen.

So how can we ask these sorts of questions? Right from the start of schooling at Newington College Lindfield we talk about fat and thin questions with the younger grades and open/challenging and simple/closed questions with the older students. We want our students to create those questions that are unGoogleAble – unable to find the answer easily (if at all) on the Internet or in other resource no matter how hard you look.

Let’s move beyond the basic “How was your day?” and consider these kinds of questions:

• What have your friends been up to?
• What will you look forward to doing tomorrow at school?
• If your favourite stuffed animals could talk, what would it say?
• What made you smile or laugh extra today?
• What do you think you will dream about tonight?
• If you wrote a book, what would it be about?
• (When reading a book together) What character do you enjoy the most?
• What makes your friends so awesome?

There is always the risk of the one-word or short phrase response to some of these kinds of questions. The trick is to follow it up with “Why” or “How” to encourage elaboration and engagement in the conversation.

When asking and responding to questions, the aim is to show your child that you are genuinely interested in what he has to say and not just robotically asking, and, for adults, it’s a great way to exercise our own creativity and imagination.

We are modelling the importance of curiosity.

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.” Albert Einstein

Sue Gough – PYP Co-ordinator

Find Your Treasure

The theme for this year’s Book Week was “Find Your Treasure”. When it comes to books, what is your treasure? Is it adventure, mystery, classic literature?  Do you want to be transported to a different time or place through carefully crafted words or increase your knowledge and understanding through factual texts?  Author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s (The Great Gatsby) beautifully describes what he believes is the treasure of literature when he said “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”

When I first saw this quote a light bulb switched on.  This quote made it clear that we don’t read just to be entertained, the most important reason we and children need stories is so that we can all understand our world and our part in it. Stories from good quality literature are important for children and adults alike.

Stories play a vital role in the growth and development of children, their confidence, coping with feelings, language and learning.

Confidence – Confidence and self-esteem is knowing where you fit into the world. Stories can help with this process by showing children what people’s lives are like where they live and in other parts of the world.

Development of Imagination – stories introduce new ideas about fantastical worlds, other planets, different points in time and invented characters. It’ll encourage the children to realise that they can, and should, imagine anything they want.

Coping with Feelings – When children read stories that contain feelings it can help them understand and accept their own feelings. It helps them understand that there are other children who feel the same way and they are not alone.

Language and Learning – Stories are a great way to introduce new words and ideas into a child’s language. Stories are also useful for teaching more complex ideas. Fiction based on real-life can also help children with their own life experience – it shows them how diverse the world is and that some people’s lives are vastly different to theirs.

On the surface of our Book Week activities it may have looked like a bunch of pirates jiggling around and walking the plank into the pool, but what we were really celebrating is the incredible contribution that literature makes to developing our own personal, safe worlds.

Carol Peterson – Year 2 Teacher

Year 3 – Informative Text

The boys in Year 3 have been learning about the skill of writing an informative text on the natural world with a focus on reptiles. You may ask why expose students to this writing genre early on in the primary years?

According to numerous studies, this writing experience offers great benefits to young readers in particular.

As the boys advance in grade, they will more frequently face the use of textbooks, and gain a better understanding of informational texts and put them in a better position to handle reading and writing demands in their senior years.

As we all know, there is a growing dependence today on the use of web-based material and the boys need to gain confidence in using that source of information selectively. In some cases, it has been shown that some students much prefer reading non-fiction texts to literature-based material.

Nonetheless, it is also true that when a text topic interests students their reading skills are likely to improve.

Obviously, reading and also listening to information can develop students’ general knowledge of the world, and the more background knowledge students have, the better their comprehension skills will be, as well as developing a wider vocabulary.

Here are some writing examples of the boys’ work about Lizards.

Athan has used powerful verbs in his writing.

He wrote “Thorny Devils inflate like a balloon to squeeze into small gaps in rocks.”

Max has used striking words like “threatened” in his work. He wrote “Shingleback Skinks when threatened, poke out a long tongue to scare enemies.”

Jamie has used some striking phrases too. He wrote “The thorny devil is covered in spiky, prickly thorns”.

Lachie Mosely has used awesome adjectives such as “powerfully squirts”. He wrote “But when a coyote comes, it powerfully squirts poisonous blood from its eyes and tricks predators.”

Aidan has used some striking words in his writing. He wrote “Horned devils are the most shocking lizard I’ve ever heard of as they shoot blood from their eyes! Imagine being a dingo looking for food and then getting blind!

Another feature we have learnt about has been Similes. An example is “When Chuckwalla lizards get frightened, they hide in tiny cracks and inflate themselves like a soccer ball.” Michael wrote this in his text.

Mrs Bradshaw, who has taken the Writer’s Workshop in small groups each week, and myself, are incredibly proud of the boys’ efforts with their writing.  Well done Year 3!

Mrs Russell

Respectful Relationships Collaboration

Respectful Relationships Collaboration with the International Grammar School and St Catherine’s Girls School

Our boys learn to develop respectful relationships in many ways, including through our social skills program, Second Step, and our focus on being a White Ribbon School (addressing the issue of domestic violence, with a particular focus in Years 5 and 6). To empower boys to become men of substance and resilience who make an active and positive contribution to society we need to teach our boys the importance of building, appreciating and maintaining respectful relationships. So to this end, this collaboration has been very beneficial as it is building authentic connections between our schools with a shared vision of developing our students’ social and emotional skills.

After our successful inaugural Year 5 collaboration with The International Grammar School last year, this year the relationship has grown to also include St Catherine’s Girls School.  The boys have been collaborating with these two schools to further develop their understanding and application of the concept of a respectful relationship. So far, this collaboration has seen our boys interact both online (through Skype and Google Docs) and in-person as they explore the concept of respect and how this relates to contemporary social justice issues. Later in the year the groups will collaborate on performing a rap that they have created to promote respectful relationships, together with a collaborative artwork that may be 2D, 3D or digital depending on the collective decision of the group.

The boys have found interacting with other students and schools a rewarding experience and have enjoyed the opportunity to build new friendships with the students at the International Grammar School and St Catherine’s Girls School.

Pascal Czerwenka and Sam Watson – Year 5 Class Teachers

Music and Drama

Founders Concert

It is always exciting being part of Founders Concert.  Being able to hear what the senior boys are achieving and also seeing where the boys who began their music journey here at Lindfield are heading. The Lindfield Choir joined forces with Wyvern and sang a song called Towards Infinity by Australian composer Paul Jarman.  The boys sang it beautifully and there are passages from this song that are still floating around in my head.  This Founders Concert was the final one for David Mulford.

This year was special in allowing the boys the experience of performing in one of Sydney’s leading concert all venues.  The City Recital Hall hosts many amazing concerts as well as the monthly sing-along Flashmob choirs. (https://www.cityrecitalhallcom/events/flash-mob-choir). These are great fun if you can get to them.  They change times and only last for about 30-45 minutes.

Performing Arts at Lindfield

This term, there are no major performances, so the boys are building on their skills in music.  The instrumental learning in Years 2 and 4 is focusing on the skills of playing their instruments – reinforcing the correct posture, the note reading etc.  In Year 3, the focus is ensemble playing – having different parts, hearing the harmonies that can be created with the different parts.  In Year 5 the boys are playing in ensembles also.  One group is playing in smaller mixed groups, focusing on note reading and posture and the other group is a larger ensemble, again focusing on harmony building and listening to each section or group of instruments.

There has also been a focus on drama this term.  The boys in Years 3 to 6 are doing 30 minutes of theatre sport activities each week. The skills learned in these activities are all taught through games – circle tag, shoe islands, gibberish translating, memory skills and sock – this is great for team building.  Please ask your sons about these activities.

Vanessa South – Music Teacher

Game Changers and Change Makers

Newington is part of the Northside Gifted and Talented group. The aim of this group is to provide opportunities for students to engage with other pupils, participating in various workshops held by schools within the Northside group. Our students have attended workshops exploring paleontology, code breaking, philosophy for children and Latin. This year we hosted a Science workshop for 25 students, the theme of the day was in line with Science week, ‘Game Changers and Change Makers.’ Students explored scientists, engineers, technologists, mathematicians, designers and innovators of the past and present who have made, and are making, great improvements to the way we live.

Mr Czerwenka and I began the morning with code breaking challenges and tasks set in our school bushland, students were required to use their research skills, scientific understanding and general knowledge. They worked collaboratively to break codes and complete challenges that enabled them to collect various resources. The resources that they collected were used to undertake a design thinking challenge.

The students were engaged with their groups for the entire day, they worked collaboratively with others and certainly showed their creative thinking and problem solving skills. Our Newington boys were wonderful hosts, they loved showing our visiting schools our beautiful bushland and school facilities.

‘We had to crack the codes to find out the combinations for padlocks which were on boxes. Inside the boxes were different resources. At the end of the day we used those resources to make a marble run themed around a snake, brush turkey or kookaburra. I found it was a really fun and engaging experience.’ Charlie Cooper Year 4

‘It was really fun getting to know the students from other schools, my favourite part of the day was building the marble run.’ Aaron Blayney Year 4

‘In the morning we had to crack some codes, they were pretty hard and we made an arm band that said our names in codes. We had to crack more codes down in the bush, my favourite part of the day was the marble run because we got to use the resources that we got in the bush like leaves, bamboo, rocks and lots more!’ Michael Sheehy Year 3

‘I really enjoyed the day because we had to code break and after we cracked codes we made a marble run. Michael and I were in the snake group with two boys from Arden, we made a track that looked like a snake. I liked cooperating with children from other schools.’ Aidan Lilley, Year 3.

Aleca Bradshaw – Learning Enhancement Team Leader

Rugby Sevens

Two weeks ago the IPSHA sevens competition wrapped-up. During the 10 week season, some 60+ teams attended in Under 9 to Under 12 age groups. The games were fantastically fast, exciting and enjoyable for all involved. Everyone, no matter what their ability, had a chance to participate and be a part of the game. It was lovely to see the progression of all players and the quality of competition improved significantly.

As the season finished Newington partnered with NSW Rugby to begin a new initiative. This saw the sevens opening up to more Sydney schools over two Saturdays. The idea was to offer boys and girls the chance to try rugby or get experienced players to mix together. Both Saturdays were really well attended with children coming from a variety of Catholic, Public and Private schools.

Mr Manion, the Director of Newington College rugby,  helped with the coaching alongside a representative from Rugby NSW. The boys had great fun, and those new to the game were really excited by what they experienced. We asked some of the boys their thoughts.

Owen (Year 4) from Wyvern: “I just love having fun. It’s not about scoring a try or making the greatest tackle in the world, it’s putting in 100% effort, every single time…”

Lachlan (Year 2) from St Agatha’s Catholic Primary School: “That was awesome. I really liked tackling, and I ran the whole length of the pitch and scored.”

Will (Year 6) from Lindfield: “It was great fun. We got to play full field which was rad. It was cool to have Mr Manion coach us as well.”

Mr Phil Trethewey

Sam Schultz – Snow Sports

The first time I went snowboarding was a year and a half ago in Whistler. I loved it so much. I thought it was a way to be free and put so much style into a sport.

This year I competed at the Interschools Snowsports Competition in the Regional and then the NSW State Championship events, representing Newington College. I came 22nd in the State for snowboard cross and 17th for giant slalom. I missed on going to Nationals by .2 of a second. I’m proud of how I went because I just gave it a go without race lessons or any time snowboarding since Christmas.

Flynn Gannon from Year 9 at Stanmore helped me a lot. He did the course inspections with me and gave me very good tips. Watching him race has inspired me to go again next year.

My plan is to have race lessons in Whistler over Christmas and practice as much as I can. I am also very happy to now have a race board that I bought from Flynn.

Sam Schultz, Year 5W