Cootamundra High School students will benefit from a new learning system rolled out at a staff development day hosted by the school on Tuesday.
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About 260 teachers from across the district attended to learn about ‘ALARM’, a new system developed by Max Woods of Freshwater.
ALARM, which stands for A Learning And Responding Matrix, was initially developed to assist HSC students answer exam questions.
A matrix was developed to scaffold answers from the define, describe, explain, analyse to critical analysis in exam questions.
Students also learn to critique their own work through colour coding to see where the gaps in their learning lie.
If they find that their work consists only of define and describe level answers, there is no way that they will be able to access the top bands.
Recently the program has been expanded to encompass a learning program, where teachers go through the stages and explicitly teach each level.
Students are then guided to the more complex thinking which again leads to higher quality responses.
The program is being widely used on the coast and three teachers from Ulladulla were present in Cootamundra to assist in teaching the teachers about ALARM.
The program will be implemented in schools in Cootamundra, Murrumburrah, Junee, Teora, Tumut, Coolamon, Ariah Park and Gundagai.
Cootamundra teacher Janelle Walker said the program will benefit all HSC students.
“Having that consistency will be a huge benefit,” Ms Walker said.