A major work can be challenging for both students and their parents. Parents may feel that they do not have the content knowledge or skill to fully understand the project or support their child. However, parents can play an important role in the development of the major work and are vital to a child’s success. Parents can support their child in the following ways:

Understand what is being asked of them - Each major work has set requirements and a marking criteria. Ask your child to share this information with you. Alternatively, you can access the criteria from the Board of Studies Website. This information is generally available in the Assessment and Reporting documentation. (See links provided below.) Speak to your child about what is required and help them develop a written plan of attack or a to-do checklist.

Provide them with opportunities for creative inspiration - Each major work challenges students to think creatively and critically. However, creative inspiration and ideas are not easy to come by and can be difficult to muster particularly in times of stress. Take your child to the theatre, an art gallery, a concert, museum or even on a simple bush walk. This will trigger new ideas and refresh the brain for creative inspiration.

Help them create a project work area - Ideally it would be great if your child had a designated space in which they could work and leave their project. If the work is consistently laid out students will be more inclined to stop and ponder as they walk by. A designated space can also save time particularly in the design process. You could even encourage your child to create a vision board full of visual ideas and inspiration to hang in this space.

Speak to them about their work - Show an interest and encourage them to share their ideas with you. Ask them questions about their work to stimulate their thought process. If you see a problem with their plan provide them with critical feedback…. but approach it gently!!! Using the phrases “I like” and “I wonder” can be a subtle way to affirm their work and give suggestions. Eg. I like how you have used texture in this design. However, I wonder if the colours you have chosen could be more vibrant. Many major works include a portfolio or logbook. If they are willing, ask them to share it with you. Reading their portfolio or logbook could give you some great starting points for discussion

Encourage them to set time aside during the week to work on their project without interruptions - Help them find a set time where they can work uninterrupted each week for an hour or two on their project. Having a large block of time to really immerse themselves in the process is important if they are to make adequate progress. If possible, ensure this time is uninterrupted by occupying siblings or reducing noise in the house. 

Love them - Most importantly they need you to love them through the process. They will get stressed, they will get tired and they will want to give up. In these moments reassure them that you love them no matter what. Make them a cup of tea, bake them brownies, give them a pep talk, generate laughter in the house, watch a movie together and most importantly forgive them when they take their stress out on you
                                        …because in the end their mark doesn’t matter, they do.

Links
Design and Technology
- https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/design-technology-assessment-reporting.pdf 
Drama
- http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/drama-assessment-reporting.pdf 
Music 1
- https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/music-1-assessment-reporting.pdf 
Music 2
- https://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/music-2-assessment-reporting.pdf
Society and Culture
-http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/society-culture-assessment-reporting-2014.pdf
Visual Art
​- http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/visual-arts-assessment-reporting.pdf

Image by Tim Arterbury, Sourced from Unsplash.

To the mother who says their daughter is ‘too smart’ to study Drama,
 
First of all, congratulations on being the mother a beautiful, talented young lady. I am a mother too and I can feel the pride you have for your little girl. You tell me you want her to succeed in life and reach her full potential. I want the same for her too and that is why she should study Drama.
 
You see your daughter loves Drama. When you let her take it for Year 9 and 10 she fell in love with the subject. It became her outlet. Her opportunity to express herself in ways she had never experienced before. It was a chance for her to get to know her peers and let them see her in a different light. She was given a break from sitting behind a desk for hours, she was given freedom to move, she was taught life and she loved it.
 
Yes, she was taught life. Drama is about the world and it’s people. In Drama my students are explicitly taught how to relate to others. They learn the importance of trust. They learn how to respectfully work together to reach a creative goal. They learn empathy as they step into characters from worlds beyond that of a teenage girl. They learn compassion, sensitivity and acceptance. My students refer to their classmates as their ‘drama family’. They leave the social constraints of the playground behind as they step into the drama space listening and responding to students different to those they usually associate with… and that’s before we even touch the curriculum they are learning.
 
But that is not all.
 
Your daughter is learning about herself in Drama. She is learning how to use her most important communication tools – her voice and her body. Just like you taught her how to say her first words and helped her balance on the soles of her little feet, Drama can help her refine and control each element of her voice and body manipulating it expertly to express her deepest thoughts and feelings. She will have the confidence to step in front of that courtroom and bring home that closing statement. She will move listeners as she reports from the front lines about the atrocities she has laid witness too.  She will convincingly assure the grant review panel that her research deserves funding. She will be able to engage a nation as she shares her newest policy.
 
Yet that is not all.
 
She will learn to feel. She will develop self-esteem, tenacity, grit, courage and heart. She will overcome nerves or at the very least learn how to use them. She will learn resilience. Taking creative risks will become second nature because when we take creative risks we discover new and wonderful and ever so exciting things. She will learn to improvise, to think on her feet and isn’t that handy given that life is improvised?
 
Yes, in drama social-emotional learning comes in bucket fulls. In fact, I can’t name another subject that does it better which means I am preparing her best for the workplace of the future. Don’t believe me? The World Economic Forum has found that children must explicitly learn social and emotional skills if they are to thrive in the 21st Century landscape (WEF, 2016).  According to the WEF there are sixteen skills required for survival in the 21st Century including foundational literacies (which I will address in the moment), critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, curiosity, initiative, persistence, adaptability, leadership and social/cultural awareness. That list is my curriculum.
Critical thinking = improvisation/directing.
Creativity = everything in my class.
Communication = body and voice.
Collaboration = explicitly working together.
And I could go on, but I don’t want to sing the song of ‘I told you so’.
 
But as for literacy….
 
Did you know that students who experience drama increase their reading comprehension? Maybe it is because we live and breathe a text as though it were life and therefore comprehension is a non-negotiable consequence. As we examine the power of words, the power of movement, the power of stillness we stumble upon and express the social, cultural, political, historical and personal issues of life. It is not only reading literacy, it is world literacy.
 
Still this is not all.
 
Did you know that students who study drama maintain better attendance records? Stay generally more engaged in school than their non-arts counterparts? That schools which embrace art-centred programs even in low economic areas report high academic achievement? Did you know that students who study arts subjects have higher standardised test scores then their peers who do not experience the arts? (AATE, 2014)
 
I guess you didn’t because if you did we wouldn’t be having this conversation. There would be no doubt that your child is taking drama. Yet here we are and I know why we are.
 
We are here because you daughter comes home and says, “We had so much fun in drama today”. We are here because she told you of that game we played. I want you to know that she was telling the truth. We did have fun. We did play a game… maybe even more then one. We did dress up and laugh until tears ran down our face. We did pretend we were garden gnomes and witches and crocodile hunters. We may have even danced.
 
But that does not mean we were not learning.
 
Tell me, at what point did learning become so mundane and lifeless? Think about it. When did you learn the most? When you had someone breathing down your neck as you sat in rows of desks or when you were out experiencing life – the highs and the lows? Do you learn better when you are having fun and love the content you are studying or do you learn better when you are forced to memorise something you hate? Do you learn better when you are given the freedom to take risks and fail or when you are told that the mark as the end is the be all and end all? Having fun, feeling, playing means that we are not only learning, but we are doing it the best way possible.
 
You daughter is not ‘too smart’ to study Drama. Like every other child in my class, she is just where she needs to be. In a place where she is valued, lifted up, challenged, encouraged and loved. A place where she experiences freedom to explore and express who she is and what she believes. A place where she can learn and have fun at the very same time.
 
So please, reconsider. Drama will give you daughter every opportunity to reach her full potential. Will you?
 
Warm regards,
A Drama Teacher

Recently I had the opportunity to visit many different schools across the state. Some of these schools were well-known private schools, some were public schools, some were Catholic systemic schools. Some were small, some were large. Some were in the city, some were in the country.

As I travelled, privileged to visit so many places, the question of private vs public was buzzing in my mind. The question, ‘Which is better?’ is asked over again, particularly by the media and by well-meaning parents that gather in parks across the nation. I was asking myself a different question though, ‘Does it matter?’.

I have spent close to 28 years in the Catholic systemic system as both a student, a parent and a teacher. I have also taught in public and private schools at various times for short blocks. I am not anti-public; or anti-private; nor am I pro-Catholic. So why have I spent so much time in the Catholic system? It is what I know best and where I feel the most comfortable. I have friends that teach in public schools that are the most comfortable in their system and likewise friends in the private system who feel the same. So why can’t we be comfortable with each other feeling comfortable? Why do some teachers need to have a go at others for having more or less money? For going to Church once a week or not having clear cut ‘values’? For working with the disadvantage in our society or the advantaged? Surely, we all have the same goal - To educate and create the best leaders we can to move our world forward, regardless of their socio-economic status. 

Likewise as a parent I make my decisions based on where my children are going to feel the most comfortable - where we as a family are going to feel the most ‘at home’ within a community. For some this would be in the private system, for others the public, and for my family our home is in the Catholic system. Why would I send my child somewhere I didn’t understand or connect with? Why would I criticise others for doing the same even if it meant their choice was different to mine? I want my children to be joyful wherever they go to school. That is my only priority - love school and love learning. This may mean a different school for my kid then it does for your kid and that’s ok.

So, back to my question - “Does it matter?” 
The only thing that matters is where you feel comfortable.

Do you want to know why?

Because it only takes one. 
It only takes one teacher to change a students life. 
It only takes one teacher to make a difference. 
It only takes one teacher to build your child’s confidence or ruin it. 
It only takes one leader to change the culture of a school. 
It only takes one child to befriend yours for life or make them feel worthless.
It only takes one and that one could be in any of the schools in the country. 

There are good teachers in private schools, public schools and Catholic systemic schools.
There are bad teachers in these schools too.
There are great leaders in each of these systems, and also weak, spineless ones.
There are beautiful and not-so beautiful kids in each and every school I have stepped into. 
All have different strengths and different challenges, but each school has them both.

So does it matter? No I don’t believe it does. 

Money and buildings don’t make great schools and lack of money or buildings don’t make terrible ones.
Only people do.
And it only takes one. 

Image sourced from Unsplash.