By Gabriella Vukman
For the past two weeks, the Year 7s of Upper Yarra Secondary College have trudged their way through erratic weather patterns in order to read to the Preps of Yarra Junction Primary.
Having written their own readers aimed at a preparatory children’s audience as part of their curriculum, Upper Yarra’s Year 7 cohort sat down on Tuesday 22 August with their Prep buddies for an hour of cooperative education.
“We taught them the process of how to create a story and then they were able to finalise it for the start of this term,” Head of Year 7 literacy at the secondary college, Olivia Arnold said.
“I think it’s really great, especially [for] the preppies to see what…high school students are like and actually mingle a little bit with them.”
While Ms Arnold notes that the Year 7s were a little “apprehensive” about sharing their work, she confirmed that it is important for students to have something in mind to work towards in order to encourage participation in literacy.
“They’ve been really proud of their achievements which is really lovely to see,” she said.
Hailey from Year 7 said reading to the Preps was “a good idea,” confirming that her book about numbers was written to help the younger students “learn more about numbers and how to pronounce them.”
The idea to collaborate with a primary school audience came about through a discussion on the learning qualities inherent in picture books and came to fruition in the second term.
“Luckily we have connections from…[people] previously teaching…[at Junction Primary] so that made it really easy for us to…connect and join up,” Ms Arnold said.
“It’s really nice for them to get that feedback from someone other than their teacher,” she added.
Blake from Year 7 noted that the sharing experience was a good idea and said it was “encouraging the…[Preps] to read.”
“My book’s about different zoo animals..[and]…I’m proud of it,” Blake said.
This exercise in cooperative learning was also conducted in the efforts to smooth the transition from primary to secondary education.
“I think sometimes high schools and primary schools are a bit disconnected…it’s so great. It’s so great to have them come and talk to each other and just show that…responsibility as well,” Ms Arnold said.
Upon being asked how the move from primary to secondary could be improved, Blake said “They could make it so you get a [few] more brain breaks than you do in Year 8 or 9.”
“It can be made easier if you have lots of friends going with you to Year 7,” he added.
Ms Arnold further accentuated the importance of bridging the gap between primary school and high school and said it helps to prepare students for “coming to high school, which is really important because it can be a bit scary.”
