4. SCHOOL VISIT: Doncaster High

The MY SELF program at Doncaster

Dave K and Barry C
Visit: Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The first thing to get straight is the title ... it’s NOT MY in the sense of me. It’s an acronym: Middle Years program.
The program was developed as an effort to re-engage students at Year 9 level in the school. The school runs on FOUR sessions per day; each session is 75 minutes.

Each Wednesday, the structure of the school day is as follows:
Period
1 DISCOVERY PROGRAM
This program is conducted in home groups, and focuses upon developing the
inter-personal and team work skills of the students.
THE MY SELF PROGRAM
The program consists of a series of electives that run simultaneously. The students stay with the same teacher throughout the day.
Around a dozen programs are offered, and students make their choices
late in Year 8
BELOW are the names of the electives

Periods
2 -4 MY Future My Service My City My Magazine

My Film Advance My Outdoors My Crime


In MY FUTURE, the students take part in simulation. They are assigned identities, and life histories (e.g they may have children, families, or be single; they will already have some skills) In this character, they then apply for jobs – they write applications, prepare CVs, go through interviews (which are filmed), and so on.
In MY FILM, the students work in small groups, each of which has to make a film.
In MY SERVICE, the students have to apply for helping positions – in kinders, schools, etc. They have to find positions, and spend around 8 weeks – one day per week – involved at their place of service.
MY CITY is basically the same as our Urban Adventure activity, except that only one group – of around 25 – goes to the city at a time; but they go each Wednesday for most of the term.
The MY CSI is a Forensic Science unit.
As the title suggests, in MY MAGAZINE the students design, write and produce a Year 9 magazine.

The teachers we spoke to were enthusiastic about the program. ‘We know the kids really well after spending virtually a whole day with them,’ one explained. ‘It takes a lot of energy, and you’re pretty tired by the end of the day, but the kids are engaged.’

As Dave and I returned to Warrandyte, we came up with a few possible ideas for topics:
We thought we could differentiate OUR program by calling the elective OUR ... whatever.
OUR Garden OUR Environment OUR Music OUR Performance
OUR Games OUR Art OUR FOOD

We both agreed that the MY SELF program is an idea that should be thrown into the discussion as a possible innovation at Warrandyte.

Oh – and Rosina was really generous with her time.