12 Oktober - 2 November 2002 The Ascham school Sydney

It was a great honour to be invited for a second visit to this fabulous Dalton school.
After the first visit in Oktober 2001, together with some originators of the Dalton development in Brno/CZ and China, headmistress Rowena Danziger invited me to come back for a three weeks stay.
It was a great further acquaintance, giving me the opportunity for a closer observation of the processes in the school.
Out of all the impressions I want to take two elements. Two examples for the good standards of Ascham and the level of her Dalton education.

Skills.
The school pays much attention to study skills.
In the “Staff Handbook Study Skills” one can read in the introduction:

• Never assume students have the study skills they need : check !
• Integration of generic study skills into assignments take time and care.
• Tell students what you expect them to achieve, and why they are doing it. It is easier reach a target if you know what and where it is.
• Break the skill down into component parts and teach them in sequence.
• Show examples of what the skill is, and how it works.
• Students gain mastery through practice.
• Students need lots of positive reinforcement when learning a new skill.

In term 2, during 8 weeks, the second form period is used to teach the basics of the following study skills :
• listening effectively
• reading flexibly
• note taking
• summary writing
• paragraph writing
• revision techniques
• test taking skills

In month 7, all forms learn exam preparation skills :
• planning revision
• learning summaries
• memorisation techniques
As emphasized in the introduction, the incorporation of study skills into subject lessons need a careful planning. The intention is not to disrupt the lessons, but to incorporate the teaching of a specific skill into a series of lessons without diminishing the content. All students in this school have a special Study Skill Book from which they can work in conjunction with their subject content.

Several departments are asked to teach special skills in different forms.
• English paragraph writing form III
discussion form IV
• Science summarising form I
• Classical studies listening form I
• Languages flexible reading form I
• History note taking and visuals form II
• Geography paragraph writing form II
• Maths summarising form I
Departments should plan to include the teaching of these skills in a period where the course content lends itself most readily to being linked with the skill. The teaching must involve a good deal of practice with the skill in the classroom, incorporation in the students’ assignment and where relevant in tests.

Mapping
I could observe one aspect of note taking while I visited a study*) lesson by Ben Taaffe. Two girls wanted to have the advice and help of the teacher in starting their assignment about Romeo and Juliet. Ben was only challenging the girls by
very well fomulated, open questions. He gave the students only insentives and so he was creating a nice balance between the environment of Shakespeare and the basic feelings of human beings. In the meantime the two girls were mapping all the important elements of the discussion. They created a “picture” of the key issues and after 30 minutes they left the classroom with a clear view on their assignment, inspired by a very good teacher and secure of their own competence.

Mapping is usually based on six common patterns :
• description - narration
• cause - effect
• comparison - contrast
• definition
• several examples
• sequence - time

*) study lessons at Ascham can be compared with the Lab situation in New York
The Ascham school gave me all the space to discover the high level of education.
One of the last days of our stay, I was allowed to participate in a Dalton seminar. The heads of form and some study teachers have such meetings several times a year. A very interesting and useful final.

For the second time I came to the conclusion that Ascham is very important for the development of Dalton International at the present time and in the future,
It came into my mind to give the advice to use the solitary Dalton position of Ascham more openly. It could be of a big importance for the educational development in Australia when Ascham should organize a yearly Dalton conference for teachers from other schools and students from the educational departments of universities. It would be also very inspiring for the whole group of Ascham teachers. Dalton International will acclaim such an initiative and offers support.

Finally we want to thank Rowena Danziger for her generous invitation.
We are grateful for all the open reactions of the students we talked with.
The concert of the Big Band of the school was a big surprise.
Thanks for all the support my wife and I got from Rowena Danziger, Ken Coles, Jill Lumsdaine, Carolyn Williams, Penny Boyce, Ludo Onstein, Anne McCallum, Patrick Sheehy, Johann Raeburn, Sue Wright, Judith Butcher, Cynthia Blake and Ken Reid. They all helped us to feel at home, by inviting us and to bring us in contact with so many nice people, and to give us the time to discover beautiful Sydney.

Roel Röhner
November 2002