Show Transcription

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Kelly - Intro

Hello hello welcome back to the CAFS podcast. This is episode number 47 and today I'm sharing the three common mistakes CAFS teachers are still making in our course. And this is part of the webinar that I shared with CAFS teachers. We had 60 CAFS teachers live, which was awesome. About 90 people have signed up for the webinar. So you're going to hear us live from the webinar. But also, the focus was really around how to improve student writing to increase HSC results without actually wasting precious class time because I know some people are really nervous, explicitly teaching the kids how to write how to unpack questions, how to structure their answers in a way that is going to maximise their marks. So today's podcast episode is all around what you can do straight away, like in year 11, from day to really increase the kids performance but also help them structure their writing and really maximise what they do in our course. So as you would know, doors are open to Strive and Strive is my signature course to help teachers have a skill space based approach to the way they teach the kids how to write. So it is open now and we've had over I think 125 CAFS teachers across New South Wales join us in Strive. And look, if you are thinking that it might be a course for you and it's time to actually ramp up what you do with your kids, head over to thelearnnet.com/strive to check it out. And if you have any questions as always, please don't hesitate to reach out and socials or send us an email. Enjoy this episode team.

Hey welcome, you're listening to the CAFS podcast. I'm your host and CAFS coach Kelly Bell. My mission is to support Community and Family Studies teachers like you. Whether you've been thrown in the deep end or you've been doing this for a while, I'm going to save your time, energy and wellbeing by using best practice to improve knowledge, increase empowerment and alleviate stress to help you and your students make meaningful connections across the course. Early on, it was just made a syllabus in a textbook. I had no idea what I was doing trust me. Today I'll share strategic and purposeful application to CAFS from my 16 years experience in the classroom and talk is it's a go to expert across New South Wales. These strategies have been developed for you to increase student motivation, enjoyment, engagement and HSC results. Now I spend my time supporting 1000s of CAFS teachers and students inside The Learning Network through my membership, coaching and mentoring online courses, resources and masterclasses. My dream to help cast teachers full time has become a reality. Together, we'll go and transform your CAFS crew to the next level but without impacting your sleep and wellbeing in the process. If you're ready to teach CAFS with a more strategic approach, so your students love our subjects while achieving the results they want, you're in the right place. To develop their writing and fast track success and improve HSC results, I've developed a free webinar for you to access at the learnnet.com/writing. Ready to get started? The CAFS Podcast is your shortcut to simplified strategy to set you and your CAFS students up for success. So tune in, get inspired and let's connect, learn and grow together.

Kelly - Episode body

So a huge welcome to everyone. Thank you so much for coming from all parts of New South Wales with lots of different people with various experience over their career. So if you're starting out CAFS for the very first time this year, you've literally been thrown in the deep end week three, and I hope you're you're going okay and that you're managing everything. All right. And if you've been around for a while, like me 15, 18,20 years. I'm hat's off to you to still be here. And to also love the course like we do. So keep it coming through the chat. And let's kickstart our webinars. So tonight is all about how you can right now improve student writing to increase HSC results without actually sacrificing precious time in your classroom. Look, we have seven terms with our kids and it flies way too quickly. So tonight I'm gonna share with you what you can do straight away like literally tomorrow to really up the game with your kids but also to embed writing throughout everything you do with teaching. So you're in the right place if you're ready to improve student writing, you're ready to enhance student performance in your school and, if CAFS has been in the school for a little while or if you kind of you haven't really taught CAFS before, but there's a history of it, sometimes you do well, sometimes not so much, today I'm going to share with you guys what you can do literally tomorrow to increase your student results. And of course, you know, not just in year 11 but also in the HSC as well.

So my promises to you for tonight for our 45 minutes of learning and q&a. As soon as a result of today, you're going to be able to build confidence in your students writing, you're going to improve student performance with your CAFS crew and what I'm going to share with you tonight is going to help you have a direct impact on the results your kids get in the option. Now I'm not sure about you, but the option is still where across the state our kids are really lucky and I think we can do some really simple things are really up the game with that as well. So if you watch to the end, I have a special bonus for you guys to actually use some of these strategies that I'm sharing with you tonight. Literally tomorrow you can print it off, you can laminate some of the cards I have for you and you can start to test them out with your CAFS screw tomorrow.

So if you stay to the end, and if you stick around to the end, I'll ask you to put your email address in here, obviously on one to be able to give that to you guys give that access to you. Once you are here at the end, but 30 Page of CAFS goes goodness, and letting you guys implement on some things straightaway.

So let's have a bit of a theme some of these challenges that our kids experience a bit of a combo of what the kids are maybe not doing and maybe what we're not doing to implement some of these strategies in our class. So I've got three main ones. The first one is we're getting the kids to write too many notes. Way too many notes steal that regurgitation, that direct instruction like I'm doing right now and using the textbook to actually get the kids just to copy notes from the board. The other challenge that we have at the moment is also focusing on just a definition for a glossary of key word. Now some of our newbies who Hey, Kylie just saw your name pop up. Nice to see you. Welcome back to CAFS. You know some of some of our newbies. The glossary of key word might be some key words might be some of that you remember from maybe at school if your teachers hopefully taught them well, but if they didn't, we're going to show you what I'm gonna show you tonight what you can do to really up the game with a glossary. And the other issue that we're not doing is still using the rubric enough.

Now, many of you guys know my story, I left the classroom back in 2020, July, and even now as a result of everything I've done in masterclasses in my resources, I can still see it that we're not using a rubric enough. Hey Craig! So pop in the chat and let me know if you're ready to increase student writing and to improve this HSC see results year after year, pop in a big yes for me or choose an emoji that represents that. And we're going to unpack some of these common mistakes that our kids are still actually making in CAFS. All right, Kendall is keen, she said yes. Excellent Kendall, Chris is keen. Yes. Let's go awesome. Love that Chris. Eliza is keen. Excellent. Thanks, guys. Love it. All right.

So imagine this, and it's this time of the year isn't it? We kind of analyse our HSC results. And you're told by your principal, by your your boss, that they want you to restart to reduce the number of band 1s and 2s and start to increase those band four, fives and sixes, that elusive six is always there, but often we have that big tail at the end. And we kind of have our boss saying, look, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do as a result of these, these HSC results? How would you approach this? What would you say to your boss? What steps would you actually take to make this actually improve?

Okay, so we have two options here, Option A, some of us might go I need to focus on content, I need to be like Christie and Christopher, and I need to up my game with the content, I need to start to maybe do it a bit bit of a different way. So Chris, and Christopher, Chris and Chris, they redo the teaching and learning resources by creating some really good engaging activities, or some resources, but the kids often forget them. They develop a whole series of syllabus flashcards and yet that's that's the winner, that's what they need to focus on. But the kids often leave them in their school bags or you know, somewhere around the school. And they might start to think about okay, well, maybe we need to up our game in some revisions and weekly exams, getting the kids to actually practice their writing. Again, some of these kids are only doing a bit of a half effort. They're only really keen ones getting involved. Or they might go okay, alright, we've got the idea. Let's offer lunchtime and school holiday sessions to get the kids there to help them improve their HSC results, but only the High Flyers actually attend.

Or could you actually take option B, the coach Kate and the mentor Jane. So Kate and Jane focus less on teaching the content, and more specifically on the specific skills that our kids need to improve their performance but also increased HSC results. They teach the kids explicitly using language, the Glossary of Key Words, and they show them finally how to write a really good clear PEEL paragraph. They also demonstrate and model what these responses look like on the board and maybe in a Google doc getting the kids to unpack it step by step of the way. They also share copious numbers of exam prep questions, ones that haven't actually been sat before they get them past papers, they're given exemplars and they actually I help the kids annotate these responses, actually pull them apart and provide really specific feedback.

So we have two really different sets of teachers. Here, we have option A, we have the content, Chris and Christopher, who really worked their butts off, they're trying really hard to work on a few things to improve their kids, but only to be disappointed by the lack of improvement with the kids, the results aren't there and the motivation is often lacking with the kids. Or you could be like Jane and Kate. They're followed a step by step approach to improving student results year after year, they explicitly teach a glossary of key words. They use appeal to structure their responses, and they actually use exemplars with explicit feedback to the kids, so they know where they can actually go at what they need to do to improve on.

So my story if you haven't met me before, thank you so much for joining, my name is Kelly Bell and my story basically kind of takes us back to 2004 When I first started teaching PE, down at Sydney in an all girls Catholic school called Nagle College, and I feel very blessed to work at that school. It's a bit of a bubble in black town, which there for 14 years, until we moved up here to sunny Central Coast in Killcare. And we're surrounded by the bush, the bay, the beach, we've got the kind of the best of both worlds up here. And I've taught CAFS for a really long time. I've taught it for 16 years. And then I left the classroom as a result of quite a few things that were happening to me, the school I was working at. And I was like, Nah, I need to get out. I didn't do it because of the kids. I did it because of the people who I've worked with. So that's another story for another day.

Now I get to support beautiful CAFS teachers across New South Wales to support their students right more confidently while also improving their student performance. And at the end of the day, it's about those HSC results. Yes, we want the kids to have really good literacy skills, skills for the future. But we still have that HSC looming and of course it has to be filtered with it within everything we do. In other words, I now help those content Christian Christopher's to become more like coached Kate and mentor Jane. So these days, I've supported 1000s of CAFS teachers across New South Wales, in our state, in my courses, my membership in my masterclasses. Some of you guys have been able to grab a couple of my resources over the last couple of years. Also the online networks that we've been able to develop, shout out to those of you guys who were part of the CAFS Network back in 2013, when the syllabus was amended, and I decided to start that Facebook, it was more of a page than a group, but that kind of was the catalyst I suppose. And I'd developed those go to space at first to be able to connect rather than kind of working against each other, we get to work collaboratively. So some of you guys have been part of my masterclasses. I know Craig, Allison, quite a few of you guys. But I've also been able to be part of the author team of two textbooks. And of course, I get to now do all of this amazing goodness with with you guys.

Things weren't always like this. I wasn't able to speak freely about CAFS, I really struggled. For me, the problem was I was spending forever getting my kids to write notes. I was a newbie, it was just me, the syllabus and a textbook. I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I was always creating really fun and engaging activities. But I would often do those late at night, much to the detriment of you know my time and energy. And I found myself spending way too much time and creating these really fun, exciting tasks. And I often would like try to find really good documentaries and watch things like Castaway for three hours and waste a lot of time I'm really engaging activities. I also took the glossary of key words, and paragraphing, I kind of knew what the glossary of key words were, but I didn't really hit the nail on the head. I knew what a paragraph was, but it wasn't really specific. I wasn't really explicit with my kids. And again, I spend way too much time finding fluffy drawn out activities that take me hours and hours to create, but then also would fumble my way through trying to teach it to the kids. And again, I'd found found myself doing lots of stuff at home, researching, and I'd have all those kinds of things happening in the background, and spending way too much time discussing with my kids rather than getting getting them to do stuff with the content.

So hands up, let me know if you can relate to any of that. If you are a bit of a talker, let us know. Do a bit of a hands up emoji in the chat or a thumbs up. If you find or used to find in your early days. Did you do too much discussion? Did you do too much direct instruction? Or you possibly maybe not, I suppose giving the kids enough guidance around what their responses look like and what it might what it might be? Yeah, well, I know exactly Ally, lots of us like to talk and CAFS is that great subject that does allow that. And I think I could literally probably spend an hour talking about something in cars and a go off on a tangent. And then you're like, Okay, well, we actually didn't get to the point. So I know that. That's definitely how my lessons used to roll and too many. Yep. Kendall, I hear you. Too much time on stories and activities. Lots of things like that. So thanks for letting us know guys always got off on tangents. Yeah, I'm talking to Allison. So back then, I used to start to wonder, how the hell can I improve my students writing? How can I help them increase increase their HSC results without actually wasting precious class time and content, that actually got rid of the fluff and strip the content right back to really teach application in our course. And it didn't get them to just regurgitate the cluster of keywords, it got them to apply. I also wanted something that would consistently move my kids from writing writing jumbled sentences to some sort of logical paragraph. And I wanted some sort of method that was going to help them actually improve on their extended responses, especially for part C, like Part C is so hard, it's a game changer in CAFS. If you don't know that part C, there's no way to get a band for the benefit four or five, but especially a band five or six. It's really, really struggling. Yeah, really, really great question, Lee. I think that's something we can talk about at the end, you often the syllabus kind of gives you just a bit of a guidance, and you don't know how much it's been or what to actually focus on. And I really agree with that. And for me, when I first started, I would spend like way too long on certain things. Now I kind of know what what to leave out and what to keep in. I also wanted to think about a way that I could get my kids to think deeper, because I kind of knew that they had to have those higher order thinking questions, but I wasn't really showing that with my kids.

I realised after a little while, I needed to actually teach the skills to my kids. And if you heard my life just before I spoke about that, that there's so much that the syllabus doesn't actually teach us. And if you're new if you've just come out of uni, I know for a fact that our our Dip Eds that aren't called that anymore, our masters, and all of our degrees still don't focus enough on CAFS, but we're talking a week, 10 days max on community Family Studies. And that's not even the actual skills, the strategies I was using back then were too focused on learning that content, and not focused enough on improving my kids results consistently, year after year.

Since then, for 16 years, my kids were above the state average. And again, like I said, we're a black town, we had a lot of non English speaking background kids, migrants, they really struggled. It wasn't like a selective school. But year after year, they were actually above the state average, we had a high number of band four fives and sixes, our tail was very small. And look, you know, of course, we had the ones and twos and threes, but they were at a bare minimum. And now I get to show you guys what it takes to actually improve our kids writing to actually improve our HSC results and really get rid of that tail and increase the top. And if you haven't followed my story, I feel very blessed to be able to share a lot of these things with you that many of us if we're not part of HSC marking that we don't really get to see. So as a result of lots of these learning, learnings and challenges, I had kind of unlocked a bit of a secret to success in CAFS. And even better, I kind of realised slowly that I could actually teach other people it was a process that my kids could replicate year after year.

So let's dive into what I actually discovered. So if you've got a notepad grab it out, and we're going to have a quick look at some of these main issues. So with our syllabus, there's been a big shift with the interconnection between our course. So when our syllabus was amended, there was a clear delineation between our content there was learn about learn to direct HSC question and there's a perfect example here. So in 2010, when my when our eldest was born, the question for 21 was outlined advantages and disadvantages gathering information for research from both print, people and individuals, direct to learn to from the syllabus is a straight from the syllabus, okay, sources of data, okay, discuss the advantages disadvantages straight there. Fast Track to 2020 and I put him ahead chosen many examples here. We have a really good connection between the course it's not necessarily sitting next to each other, but it's in that part of the syllabus to outline the criteria researchers should use when selecting secondary sources to use in a literature review. Again, you have the kids have to talk about types of data, secondary data, and then literature reviews. So bringing those concepts together is something that is definitely part of our CAFS course.

I also realised that we need to teach the Glossary of Key Words really explicitly. So 2019. We have an example here compare authoritarian and negligent styles of parenting, in terms of the impact each style has on the relationship between parents and their dependents. Look, there's about four different things in there that the kids have to do. One of the main things is to actually compare it. Now if you haven't been around for a while with CAFS, compare means show similarities and differences. That's pretty straightforward. It's one of those easier ones. But for the kids who really nail it, they actually have to do that they have to do that similarities and or differences, they have to show that otherwise, they're only able to get like a three out of six, the kids are missing out on half marks because they're not actually doing what the glossary of key word tells them to do. And with those Glossary of key words, the kids need a whole big bank of language to show and to prove to the marker every time they use a glossary of key words that they're actually doing that word. That's the whole purpose of it. So to what extent really means to show that judgement that kids need to show that judgement with supported examples. So this really shows that if you're not actually doing that word, if you're not actually judging it, again, you're only going to get half marks, you've got the content, but you haven't got the skill, you haven't actually now that Glossary of key word.

I will share with you something that has really shifted over the last couple of years at HSC marking, I don't want to confuse you too much. And we'll go through this more with the CAFS collective members. But there's been a slight little change with the way the marking guidelines have been written, but it doesn't change how we actually teach the closer keywords and the elusive rubric. Now the rubric sets if you've never seen a HSC exam before we have our paper, then right at the end, just before the option questions, we have this rubric, the rubric is like a guide in terms of how the kids are going to be assessed for that part C, Part C only. I know there are some presenters out there, if you've been to professional learning before, who have said to you that you have to include well being in Part A and Part B and also in other parts of the exam. Guys, it's just for part C. Okay, just for part C, unless it's stated in the question.

So I'm gonna share with you guys the exact steps. On this get you guys set up, you're still on mute for me, just a bit of feedback, the exact step by step framework for improving writing to increase HSC results. It is through these three prongs having the strategies in place with your class to actually show the skills, teaching the kids explicit skills about what this looks like. What does it mean to write a sentence? Now I know that sounds pretty basic, but some of our kids don't even know how to write a sentence, getting them to actually unpack those questions. How do you click System to teach writing to your kids? No, no. Our current cohorts because of COVID have missed out on crucial literacy skills that they probably would have kind of hopefully, got in United 10 in year eight, but it's very much missing with our kids. And look, it has been for a while but I think it's really important now. We focus so much on the content, like learning the content, learn the syllabus off by heart, but I think really the success is is actually working on the skills, the strategies and the systems to help the kids improve.

So as I've mentioned, I started teaching PE CAFS back in 2004. I feel very blessed to be able to be recognised my service across New South Wales. And I don't take my I don't know my kind of contribution very lightly. So I was awarded a PTC teachers Council award in 2014. I then was on the writing team for the Nelson CAFS textbook and also the Cambridge texts with Kate Rainer. And then I presented across New South Wales for a really long time. So I put my hand up in 2007, I don't know if it was thinking I was only like, a third year into it or something. But I said, Okay, I'm keen on CAFS, I'll teach year 12 and stuff in the HSC enrichment days. And I know some of you guys are part of those back in 2007, probably about 2010 ish. And so I've done that for a really long time. And obviously, when I left the classroom, I still continue that in my master classes. Something I haven't been able to share publicly until this year, is that I did HSC marking all the way back in 2007. So I was a HSC marker for 16 years of my career. So I feel really blessed like I feel so blessed to be part of that that experience. Since for I think 10 of those years Am I kind of know probably a bit off with the numbers. Anyway, I think I was a senior market for about 10 years. And then I was appointed as the superbike New South Wales Supervisor of marketing for CAFS. If you don't know CAFS HSC market kind of means I was in charge of the whole process, a whole operation with HSC marking. So that hasn't been something I've been able to share publicly with you guys. Because of my contract with NASA, we have a five year contract as the song. And now I get to share that I get to kind of say I was Assam and I, whatever I've done, my resources, my master classes, my lives. My podcast is all as a result of my learnings, when I started when I started marketing. And of course, when I did my five years of song, all these things have been part of my learning experience. And now I get to support you guys inside The Learning Network.

So the framework that I'm sharing with you guys is the best way to improve student writing to avoid the three big mistakes CAFS teachers are making when teaching writing. So let me know in the comments in the chat if you have been a culprit of this before, so let me know. Like I sometimes give my kids too many notes are getting into take too many notes. Like let me know I've been there and done that. I remember, you know, first kind of whipping that purple textbook out. Does anyone remember the purple textbook at that big purple textbook back in the day? Yeah, let's see some nods there. And I would whip that out and be okay. All right, turn to page 15. Today, we're going to summarise this, this and this. And then go straight to the questions. That was my lesson. Like that was my lesson. Yeah, I love that textbook Kyle's that one. And really the solution is about teaching kids the skills and getting them to actually learn those skills and teaching them explicitly. The other mistake that I see happening a lot is that we teach the kids the definitions of the glossary of key words, but not actually the language behind it, and what we need to do with that. And of course, as I mentioned before, not using the rubric enough. So embedding well being all through that throughout Potsie and if that's something that's really new to you, I'm going to share with you guys tonight, a small snapshot of what you can do with your kids for that, for the option.

So are you guys ready to unpack some clear strategies? We're going to unpack these three main areas of what we can do to improve is the first one is too many notes.

So first of all, to me, I think it's precious time, we're wasting precious time with the kids. And it's also lower order. It's not getting our kids to think about those higher order questions, those high audit, you know, verbs, but also that content that actually gets him to apply it. And as I've said, it doesn't actually teach the application. So if we're just teaching content, the kids can actually have an opportunity to showcase what they know what they know, and can do. So when I first started teaching, CAFS, I was very lucky. I got to CAFS one clap CAFS class, but I hadn't back to back 11 and 12. Mmm, it's really dingy classroom, it was like one of those ones, we can always flip leads those old school like flip leads with the kids would store junk in there and gum, we had lino on the floor, it was really echoey. And I'd walk into this classroom, it'd be so freezing cold. And I would have my kids kind of all seated in little rows. And I was at the front of the store, they're pretty much in the same spot for you know, for nearly two years on end. And I remember just teaching the kids really directly, we will get this this the textbook out, I'd write lots of notes on the board. And you know, kind of you know, be writing up the notes and kids will be so quiet, you know, writing away there was so engaged, but I think what was happening was it was going in one ear and out the other. Now I'm not sure about you. But have you ever been teaching and thinking about you know, is this actually heating them up? Is what I'm teaching my kids heating them up? Are they actually understanding what I'm what I'm teaching them? And I'm pretty sure that that kind of moment that you might see the kid just stare at you blankly and go. Alright, what have I done here? Obviously, there's a bit of a disjoint between what I've said and what they're kind of learning. That happened for me, I reckon for the best part of three or four years, I would teach way too much content, the kids would kind of regurgitate it, they wouldn't retain it, there was a major issue.

The solution, of course, inside my strategic Strive course to give you guys the strategies and assistance and the skills to actually implement that straightaway. The solution is through using scaffolds and using connections across the course. Really good teaching and learning activities that get the kids to actually make connections across the course, but also build the concepts within each other. So Jamie is one of our past attendee, past student of Strive, and Jane has had quite a lot of CAFS experience. I met her quite a few years ago up in Tamworth. And Jane took strive and was really blown away with all of the digestible units using the show live that the kids found lots of hands on activities that we're able to implement straightaway, and she has been able to change her whole approach to her class. As a result of being part of strive. She finally sees a connection across each concept. Whereas before, she kind of got the idea that CAFS is very much connected but she wasn't able to see that with all the scaffolds and templates that are provided inside strive, she has been able to see that clear connection.

So I would love for you to share in the chat, how would it feel to finally teach that connection across the syllabus, rather than having this unit here, this unit here or this concept here is concept, this concept, that concept, and to finally actually teach it with that connection? I know some of you guys are PE based, you've taught PE before. And this is a great thing that you know, senior PE is very black and white. But with CAFS, I really think this is why our results are like how they are why a number of students are still not here. You know, it's been fives and sixes. And why average is probably quite low in comparison to the number of band sixes awarded, because our kids aren't able to see that connection across the syllabus.

Okay, let's dive into a common mistake number two, the definitions of the glossary of key word. So this only just gets the kids to recall it. They can spit it out and say, yep, here's what it is. but often, it's really confusing, the kids kind of learning all these words, but they're not really sure how to actually apply them in a response, and how to actually get them to nail that word every single time. I love that, Kendall, thanks so much for sharing. So Kendall has said it feels like this is getting better for me slowly. And it does. I reckon it took me I don't know, probably six or seven years to really get it down pat and to really have confidence with the end part of the key to that was actually applying the language, showing the kids the language that they could use in their responses to go. Okay, this is an analysed question. He's directly like here's a scaffold and I provide scaffolds and sides Dr. of what that looks like. Here's a clear distinction between what I'm actually doing. So for me 2006, a casual mind back to my early stages in 2006. So my my third year in teaching CAFS, and I remember I was in this like dog box of a classroom this time. It was like maybe 12, there were 16 Girls and we were all thrown into this like little dog box I think was an old English store room, I'm not sure about you if you've taught it in English storeroom before but it was horrendous. It was like we had I remember the ceiling. I know that I don't know what it's called. but correct me and tell me what it is but the crumbling of the ceiling. You know that like that concrete that kind of just falls in, in schools. I don't know what it is. It's it was the ceiling. And I remember being super high in the Lucan building and we could hear the law number going off it would you know, the carpet was wet. It was filthy. But I really thought okay, Kell I'm gonna get these words right this year. It was my second HSC Crew and I had a big CAFS in fluro pink and I thought Yep. Are they going to know this? At the flurry pink letters spelling out CAFS? So the really creative. And I would get my kids to recall the words. But they didn't actually know what they meant they could you know off the fly, like Lauren, give me an example of you know, a definition for explain. She could she could say the definition. But the kids didn't actually know what those words meant. Because I didn't know either. I didn't know what those words meant. And I wasn't teaching them explicitly what those words look like in a response. I remember Steph getting a band six that year. And we might have had a couple of fives in there. But I thought by just having those words in the back, I was actually teaching them. So I'm not sure about you. But sometimes we think we're teaching the kids. And obviously, it's the best way that that we can that we know. But sometimes it does hit the mark with that.

So what should we be doing? We should be having clear scaffolds, clear strategies to help the kids improve with it. So inside my signature programme Strive, I give you guys a very clear step by step instruction as to what it looks like. And I've still think even as a result of doing what I've been doing with the CAFS Collective and also MasterClasses, the kids are still not using these words enough. The kids are still when they're meant to be assessing something. They're still explaining that lower order thinking is still there. The kids are still struggling with this And you know why I get, I got to see the HSC results, I got to see what the kids weren't doing. And I know there's quite a few HSC markers on here tonight, it's still a massive issue across the state. And I really think we need to be doing more modelling more scaffolding, more clear implementation of these words with the system.

Okay, so we also have one of our teachers from Strive, and she hadn't taught much around the glossary, and she kind of she took a couple of the modules and said, Okay, it's going off. We had lots of things happening with the glossary, the kids really got to know it, they felt more confident with the answers, and they really transformed their teaching. They had really clear guidance as to what it looked like for explain what it look like for analyse and evaluate and modelling that and clear descriptions about what that actually took.

Okay, so I'd love to hear from you guys. Pop in the chat and let me know where you are in your journey with the glossary of key words. Now I know some of you guys hear me say this all the time, so CAFS collective members. I know you guys have heard me say this before. Elise, Craig, Viv I can see on here. And Nat's one of our newbies. So Nat's probably heard me say it at some point. I know many of you guys have heard me say it. But if you haven't heard me talk about the glossary of key words. I will stay on my soapbox again tonight and share with you guys. It's still something missing across our state. So probably comments, let me know for your school. Where are you kind of out with it? Are you doing like a whole school approach with a glossary? Are you breaking it down? Are you having you know, the kids kind of have words on the wall like I did? Are you teaching explicitly? Let us know you know where you are with that? Because I think, you know, like I said, for me, I thought I was teaching it. I thought I was actually teaching the glossary of keywords explicitly. But there was no way it was explicit enough.

All right, just catching up on some comments. So yeah, excellent. I'm Kylie. Thanks for being really honest. And Kylie has had a lot of experience with CAFS, and she's coming back to CAFS. And I think we kind of take it for granted. We kind of expect the kids to know. But I'm guaranteeing you that they do not know these words. And the minute we start implementing them from you seven, we're going to have a really bigger success rate with them in year 11 and 12. I think it's called using glue. Craig is one of our superstars who has been using a lot of these he's been experimenting with his class. Craig has, I think Craig took Strive last year. So he said that adding the language of the key words empower students, model it and they'll follow 100% and I'll share with you guys Craig's permission at some of those those pictures as to what it looks like to actually break it down to show the kids like pick it apart, break it down they actually need that breaking down. They need that working I suppose like I'm not I'm not a math person at all. Not my favourite subject. I was terrible with maths numbers and stats great data. Excellent. But with maths but I don't know for some reason but it's kind of like that it's the working out before the kids actually, you know to prove they're actually using those words excellently So Lisa, Lisa said she's got the words on the wall. Excellent with references occasionally, but not not explicit. Now. I love that. Thanks for being honest, Elise. And I was just saying, like I said, my big CAFS in fluro like alone. You can't miss it. But I still wasn't teaching it. explicit enough. Nat right? Yeah. At the beginning Excellent. There are posters, but not not taught explicitly. Excellent. Thanks for letting us know Caitlin saying, Lisa. Excellent. Explicitly teaching it great. So good to hear scaffolding. Yep, sounds good. Yeah. So just is fairly new to CAFS. So I'm pregnant HSC teaching explicitly Yeah, so some schools have alarm so alarm just like to me my head just like a like a hierarchy like you know, start with low order to higher order so alarms more like a verb. I will say like a progression. But instead I will show you like what does that actually look like? What does analyse actually look like step by step and how did the kids actually write it? Alright, Thanks Leah. So ladies got on the wall and smart board a lot of smart boards once it started explaining the answer, and she gets them to swap and highlight fantastic really good I think, Eliza, a really great point. So Eliza said she's trying to use in every lesson however I need to base around the lesson and be more explicit get them to use linking words you have to show that actually understand it. I love that so they actually have to understand it poses excellent to a lot orders to six last year. Excellent. Love that. That's really cool. And Karis few teachers are using it. I'm still trying to gain confidence thanks pass poses to be focused on writing. Thanks, Alison. Yep, same day Thanks, Alex posters. Thanks Viv. Viv is also one of our CAFS collective members. So she's heard me. And so as Chris talked about a lot, and Matt Yes. Are you speaking about alarm as well? Alright guys, thank you for popping in and sharing.

So let's have a look at as to the last common steak. And as I mentioned to you guys before, this is a massive one and still last year. Our HSC results show the data doesn't lie like you can't, you can't follow the data, you can't change it. If you're brave enough, I would love to get you to pop in the comments pop in the chat. And let us know if you know what what your kind of rough average for part C was. If you're new to CAFS, if you're just teaching your living at this stage, the option is like you get three options in CAFS, you get to choose like individual work families, families disorder interactions, or social impact technology, there's a part of the HSC that is like an essay, essentially. And it's like four to six pages. It's 15 marks, it's really extensive. And at the moment, these have been kind of a common averages over the last couple of years. So we're talking five out of 15, eight out of 15, seven out of 15. I'm not sure about you, but I don't know if that's good enough. I'm only getting half marks for our kids. Vive thanks for sharing. So if you've said eight, there's a lot of room like, of course, we're gonna have the high fliers, they're gonna know that if we give them the scaffolds, if we clear them, give them the strategies and the systems to actually do that. But really, we're not focusing enough linking it to well being. And we're not being explicit enough with that link to well being and I'll share with you so with you guys tonight, what that looks like. What this does is it leaves lots of marks on the table. You know, if out averages are sitting at this, it means that we're not actually maximising our kids responses.

So for me, as I mentioned, I, you know, I've talked us through a really long time, I think it was probably back in 2010. That, I don't know, I think like the light bulbs kind of went off. So I did HSC marking at rouse Hill. If you've been to rouse Hill function centre, it's like a massive, it's pot I think polished concrete, maybe, anyway, we kind of would get thrown into places like that. So I'm about to that year, I just had cast our eldest to 2010, she was four weeks old, I was breastfeeding, I was pumping, I had my little gonna chain call bear with me. And I would rock up to marketing. And I'd put that little cooler bag in the fridge ready to actually do some expressing in the toilet of all places. So I think things are a bit different now. But I was doing some expressing in the breaks. And anyway, it was just madness. But I had my first group of, of market. So I was appointed a senior market that year, you know, thrown in the deep end, and I kind of knew I kind of thought I knew what would take for the option. And I was given part C that year. So I was marking individuals and work with a colleague. And obviously, you know, two senior markers working together, getting your head around and statewide standard, making sure you have like benchmarks kind of this is what you know, a band. So this is what like a 10 out of 15 Looks like looks like this is what a 13 looks like. And we kind of had that sitting around us. And my colleague was sharing me and showing me what a 14 look like what a 13 look like what a 12 look like, how is that different from a 12 to a 9 and a 6. And it wasn't until that point that I really realised the importance of, of embedding well being in my responses for my kids. What I wasn't doing was actually I didn't know, I didn't know what it looked like. So I know there are still lots of schools across New South Wales that don't know that you have to talk about well being in every single part of the Part C and that's why averages are like how they are.

All right, I'm sure there's a few light bulbs going off yeah, I was meant to get to 2022 but it hasn't changed. So you can see here really clearly clearly to the effect of the well being of adults and families clearly to the effect on the individual another effect of the individual of well being her well being see our well being see well beings here, if the kids aren't being explicit, with more being the kind really gonna get those that that seven to nine mark, they need to be really explicit to hit those higher marks know that 10 to 15. This is why our averages across the state in this mark range because the kids aren't actually doing that part. They're not actually embedding well being. Of course, it has to be extensive. They have to hit the glossary of key word. They have to have that content they have to have the valid judgement or the relationship, another relationship, they have to have the content, they have to have the structure, a big part of it. And I see this year after I've saw it year after year, the kids are still not including well being.

So the solution inside my Strive course is showing you how to teach that this is like the why I show you inside Strive as to what that looks like, how you scaffold it out for the kids, how you actually set it apart, what you do from year 11 to actually help move the kids into your tool. So it's not so much of a shock when they get the scaffold and the strategies to help them get there in the end. And look for me I think it wasn't until I taught in Sydney campus here on the coast that I've realised how important was to teach that stuff explicitly because you kind of take it for granted. I know I did. And Sydney I took it for granted all the time. I didn't realise how important it was. So this is from Jane again. So Jane is obviously she was very she loves Strive because I think like I said Jane has been teaching CAFS for 12 years. She's done lots of professional learning with me when I was doing stuff for atva. But she really loved the skills and the strategies and the templates that she could use in the classroom straightaway.

Okay, pop in the chat for me and let me know what has been the biggest lightbulb moment for you so far so far, in relation to the three biggest mistakes that we're still making CAFS across the state, pop in the chat and let me know because I'd love to hear what you guys. What resonated with you what you've kind of gone. Okay, I didn't know that kill or Thanks for the reminder, let us know in the chat. Like surely after 45 minutes, it might have been something. And if you know obviously, if you're kind of thinking okay well, this is all well and good, but how to actually start to implement it. So pop in the chat and let us know what has been your biggest lightbulb moment from what you can do right now tomorrow to increase a kid's marks. Right. Thanks, Alison. So Alison said, focus more on the skills instead of mass content. Yep. I agree. Love that. Kyle's has said teaching the keywords explicitly love that lies or not. So I'm not focusing so much on Syllabus notes, rather, skills and strategies. Yep, I love that word, keep those coming through for me, guys. And I think you probably think you're at Kell like this is all well and good good on the classroom anymore how to actually get time to do all this. How to actually get time to implement all of this?

You've learned the skills or strategies and systems are the best way to to avoid those three big mistakes that we're still making in CAFS when we teach writing. So as you guys would have heard it speak about in the last couple of days, through Strive, I show you how to do this. So if you're just wanting to teach the content still staying there, you can stay stuck and sit there. Or if you start to actually implement this a clear strategy, clear skills with the keys a clear system, you're going to be able to get the kids to improve their writing. So let me guess I know that you guys probably still have some questions, but I've just scratched the surface of this. Again, how do you find the time to do all this? How do you get the content across? And how do you teach the key words explicitly? How do you get that clear structure cutting through their? Their answers, like for the party? It's a lot. It's like seven, eight marks that the kids are still missing out on? How do you actually show them how to use these explicitly and have really unique examples in their answers. And then again, how you actually find the time to do this.

So as I've said to you, guys, this week, and next week, I've launched strive and shine is my signature course to improve student writing to also increase HSC results. And doors are open now if you're like Kell, I need some strategy on is unclear approaches. I mean, come and join us because it's going to give you lots of practical strategies. So as you can kind of see on the screen, you get lots of resources. And I know that many of you guys have taken Strive so thank you for jumping on tonight. And I'd love for you to pop in the chat if you have taken Strive before. I know Alex and Craig have Viva I'm not sure about you but let us know what has been your favourite part of it. And I know it is jam packed. But all the scaffolds and strategies and resources that are provided in Strive can literally be printed off and implemented the next day in class.

So Strive helps CAFS teachers to develop a skills based approach to teaching that enables students to confidently answer every HSC question even if they usually find the easy way out. And I remember Emma and I've taught here on the coast Emma was her name she kind of came through one door doing revision she kind of fun the door open like and where have you been? She's like Oh Miss I was doing some stuff on my like my uni application she wanted to apply to be to go to Macquarie Uni and she threw open the door. And she's like, What are we doing today? It's not we're actually doing some some really explicit stuff with a glossary of key word because like, What do you mean? Like, and wherever you'd be like, Where have you been? Like, have you been listening to anything I've said for the last, you know, you know, last month or was not month was a month, but last, you know, three terms or so pick up this class. In year 12. And she's like Miss, I didn't even know that, like, discuss was different to explain or analyse was different to evaluate, like, Em where have you been living like, this is so important. And I think from that day, we made it really clear that you had to have a clear system, you had to have a clear approach. So Em was kind of struggling, she was maybe getting, you know, bands, you know, band three kind of marks, maybe maybe high band threes, you're not getting a band five, because she had the content, but she didn't have the structure to actually put this into place.

So it's the only course that teaches you this the step by step of how to actually teach it, and what to teach your kids in writing, to fast track their improvement. So what does stripe includes, it includes all the goodies or the templates, if you have followed me for a little while, you know that there's lots of generous templates and resources and things that you can implement straightaway. So it's eight modules, very short, quick modules, bite sized pieces. There are 20 videos, but they're like not things that you like, Oh, come on, just, you know, get to the point that I'm really practical going through the resources I share with you guys. And that's all kind of pretty much done for you, you can print them off and use them in the class straightaway, you'll also get access to two bonus courses and our course community.

Module One is all about team culture, and establishing some of those early routines to help the kids really come on board, and to have that really good relationship with them. Module Two is all about the pathway to success and sharing with you what I believe that looks like and giving you strategies to actually get the kids to move forward in their learning. In Module Three, we unpack the importance of using the syllabus but actually really putting it into practice getting the kids to go okay, there's a learn about learn to how do I unpack that? What does that actually mean? How much time should actually spend on that particular area. So having that connection across the course is really crucial with our with our kids. Module Four is probably my favourite, as I said a bit of a love the glossary of key words that's said where they say strategies, step by step, as you can see here, you also have access to like mountains of exam prep questions. So new exam questions that I've created for the course, but also then scaffolded. And exemplar answers both for year 11, and 12. And I'll show you guys what that looks like. So you can implement it straightaway, literacy skills, its appeal and unpacking, writing. Again, lots of exemplars in there for you guys to use, and show the kids like, this is what you would do to get full marks for both year 11 and 12. But then unpack the application of that content. So again, it's all well and good to know it. But how does that look in an exam? How can you use examples to really enhance your answer? My Module Seven is all about embedding mobians that for that part C of the response, or you have a number of different scaffolds in there, as well as exemplar responses and coded responses, if you've come across glue before, they're all coded in there as well. And then we have valuable feedback as module eight, where I show you guys what glue actually looks like on paper. And I also introduce you guys to my when feedback strategy.

So look, it's really jam packed is not an onerous course, um, as such, it is something that will give you the most practical strategies and templates and resources to help your kids. So less on the content, and more on that practical application. So it is open for doors now. And you'll literally get every tool, every template, every PDF, things that I only wish that I had in the classroom. Now that I have time, obviously, it's been something that I can actually embed straight away and say, here we go on a silver platter, you have these strategies, you have these scaffolds ready for you guys to go. So obviously, you'll be able to have that strong relationship happening with your kids. Now the glossary of key word having a clear paragraph structure. And if you're a HSC mark, or you know, you've read the kids work, it's really clear and they're going to maximise their marks because the HSC markers don't have to kind of sift around for it. And it also shows you what the kids can do to improve each other explicit feedback, as well as you.

And so within Strive you have access to three bonuses. The first one is something that I think that many of you would love, because many of us struggle to write exam questions or guidelines, and it's all there on a silver platter again to show you and to really walk you through what that looks like. But as to is 10 revisions strategies that work often at post child blues or things like you're looking for, like I just had another activity, something that's a bit different. And then bonus is of course community.

So, Strive is $397. So if you are keen to join us and we've had about 120 CAFS teachers in New South Wales take strive. And if you are like Kell, I mean, it's a no brainer, it's going to help my kids straightaway, you can jump in now. And if you want an invoice sent to your school, please let us know, send me an email. And we'll be able to sort that out for tomorrow. And I have this very special fast action bonus. So if you join between now and tomorrow evening, tomorrow at midnight, I have a new resource out, which I kind of did in the classroom, but I've done it in a bit of a better way now. So I've got for you guys and see these, these are little Glossary of key words, cards, obviously, you don't get the ring BOUND bound part, but you have access to these. So you can use it in the classroom. So if you're doing like compare the kids can then have a definition, and then see that kind of like aligning word that goes with them. So that's available to you guys, for free if you join between now and midnight tomorrow. And valued at $47 normally. And so that's my little bonus goodie for you guys, if you join before midnight tomorrow, this drive, as I said it is $397. And you can jump on now and grab it to grab your little Glossary of key words cards. And look, it will give you so much confidence in helping your kids right, um, to help them improve it performance. But also, you know, getting that, that option increase. That's, that's my mission this year to get that option changed from that, you know, 5, 7, 8 needs to be changed.

So it's all in my website. Now. There's no physical booklets that you kind of have to be sent. It's all they have access to for 12 months, and you can kind of dive in and out for bits and pieces. So if you'd like Kell, look, I've got a pure paragraph structure nailed. But Glossary of key word is what I need to work on, you can jump into that module as well. So you're gonna stay stuck and to keep doing what you're doing and to keep teaching that content, spend hours trying to work out what you're teaching the kids or you have a clear approach through strive having clear, concise paragraphs with your kids. They can now those Glossary of key words, but also say that clear improvement with the kids.

So as I mentioned, Strive is open now and I would love for you guys to kind of go Alright, this is something that I'm going to work on this year. I love the content, but it's really unneeded work on the kids writing. So there's some common questions around strive. So it's going to take you as long as you as you want. It will sit there and you can download everything like I think Claudine did. And then she has been using that in her classroom. So she'll whip out her Strive resources and go Okay, today we're gonna learn this, we're going to focus on analyse, what does that look like? What scaffolds do I need to teach analyse, so you'll have me obviously, as your coach and mentor help you along the way. But also, you can dive in and out as well. I don't think it's good or bad. For me, it's always a good thing, you don't have to upload evidence for NESA PD, it's elective, I will be making it PD, like a registered course. But at the moment is just an elective course. So you don't have to send in feedback or anything like that, you can just jump in whenever you want. And you'll have access to this for 12 months. But of course everything is digital, so you can jump in and out as you go along. So as I said, eight modules you have me as your coach and mentor and all the templates and resources for you guys. The three bonuses are there for you guys to access. So literally when you join between now and midnight, and you have access to these little goodies to use in your classroom.

Does anyone have any questions for me about anything I've shared tonight? Anything that you are thinking about or if you have questions about the programme itself? Obviously, I'll be glad to answer those. Just let us know just write question in the chat. And then you can unmute yourself and ask away obviously that is important to get your questions clarified by me. So let me know if you have any questions. Pop them in the chat. Um, let's quickly catch up. So vive has Are you did Dan take that Excellent. Thank you VIV was going back to sharp excellently I think you Carolyn, also another Striver you guys and Craig has just done a big, big comment about that. So guys, please ask any questions. If you're literally like in week three, teaching caffeine like Kell I just need some ideas, please let us know because I think you know, getting some clear strategies you'd have me for the next time.

Kelly - Outro

This podcast was brought to you by The CAFS Collective, which is only CAFS membership providing ongoing support to CAFS teachers across New South Wales. Check it out at thelearnnet.com along with so many free resources to support your CAFS journey. If you love today's episode, please share it with your colleagues. Take a screenshot and tag me on Instagram @kellybell.coach! Don't forget to stay connected by subscribing to Apple podcasts or Spotify and if you devoured today's episode, I'll be so honoured if you could please leave me a review. Come and say hi, send me a DM on Instagram so we can work together in one of my courses, resources masterclasses, coaching & mentoring or membership. I'm Kelly Bell. See you again next week. Let's continue to connect, learn and grow together to make a huge impact on the students we teach.