1 Christmas Issue! Welcome Tempe Timers Our first edition of the Tempe Times was a promise of more to come and now we have delivered our Christmas Edition with a lot more fun and interesting reading. We have proved that Tempe Times is not your conventional newspaper; it’s the interactive, non-biased magazine that everyone has been waiting for. After readers gave feedback on their enjoyment of the unprecedented level of interactivity in the previous edition, we have packed in even more interactivity. In an age where the printed word is struggling to eclipse the onslaught of digital content – we want our audience to READ about our school community as well as the world-at-large. This time, we’re featuring a greater range of quality articles – whether they’re school-oriented, local or world news. The Tempe Times team will deliver the finest and most interesting articles of new trending topics, including exclusive scoop on local-boy-make-good Jarryd Hayne, the value of education in schools, the future of technology, the latest on Australian politics and also savvy science articles that will be sure to shock you. Photographed by Clio Davidson-Lynch The Tempe Times team, consisting of 30 students, has collaborated to bring you this amazing va- riety of content. We have divided ourselves into different departments to elevate efficiency and Lilian Macpherson allow our personal interest and skills to excel fully. We have a team responsible for the layout/de- sign, a team doing editing and a host of reviewers and writers. The result of such collaboration is Tempe was selected to compete in this year’s Archibull one of the best editions of the Tempe Times. Prize. But what exactly is it? 2015 is the third year of Art4Agriculture’s multilayered We want to wish all of the Tempe School Community a initiative to bring together rural and city secondary schools in learning about Australia’s primary industry- very happy Christmas break! agriculture, all with the chance to win $1000 for the school. The Archibull Prize fosters two way conversations When asked about his passion for agriculture he between rural and urban Austalia. said, “In a world where information sharing is often only the touch of a button away, sharing the stories Regards from the Editorial Team To win, Tempe needed to use art, design, creativity and of the people behind the clothes we wear and the Noor Ijaz, Calvin Ching, Steven Luu, most importantly teamwork to showcase its assigned food we eat is becoming a lost art… I am passion- primary industry; cotton on a life size fiberglass cow. ate about sharing how rewarding my career is with Felicity Giang All competing schools needed to submit a multimedia the wider community…” blog, documenting the entire design process. After the cow and blogs are completed they are sent to the Royal Each Wednesday a selected group of dedicated art Agricultural Society of NSW in Homebush. The cows will students from years 8-10 have given up their after- be displayed at the Royal Easter Show. noons to work on this prize. One student Clayton says “it is great to be able to work with such creative As part of the Archibull Prize, each school is assigned a students on this great project.” young farmer, to guide, educate and inspire students involved. Tempe High school was lucky enough be given Tempe has commenced its blog which is already Dwayne Shubert, a passionate cotton farmer who was live online. The plans for the cow will not be re- the 2014 Young Famer of the Year. vealed until the cow is completed. Dwayne, from Gunnedah gave a presentation to stu- dents involved in the prize, where he shared his story on how be followed his dreams to become an agronomist. 2 3 De-GRADing Education Kerry Chen Grades have been primary form of communicating and reflecting student mastery for many years. By giving each student a grade, people are forcing students to believe that the destination is more import- Give a student an F, he’s learnt nothing. Give him an A and what has he learnt? ant than the journey. Some students may feel more pressured to cut corners, or take courses which they Still nothing. Somewhere along the way, grades became the most effective think may give them a good grade, and sacrifice ethics in order to get that grade. Hence, the true picture way of communicating student learning, but is this true? of a student’s learning gets lost as students lose interest in learning itself and focus on their overall grade as people tend to lose interest in whatever they have to do to get the reward, and so most students view The variability of student grades varies from teacher to teacher, school to assignments as chores. Grades also reduce the quality of most students’ thinking. A series of studies show school, and state to state. Teachers may be grading on a curve so that students that students given numerical grades were significantly less creative than those who received qualitative are set against each other, creating competition. They may also grade too feedback but no grades. The more the task required creative thinking, the worse the performance of stu- stringently through giving zeroes, consequently lowering self-esteem. This dents who knew they were going to be graded. type of grading helps to sort students by ranking them or induces them into doing things they are not interested in. Eliminating grades altogether will help Grades are not valid, reliable or objective. They do not properly reflect what a student understands and students become more proficient and enthusiastic learners. can do in that particular course. Being given a grade will also not help the student improve in that course making it subjective, as the result is uninformative. In most educational contexts, grades only measure Grades also have a significant impact on self-esteem as poor grades lead to a greater decrease of self-es- two types of intelligence: linguistic and logical-mathematical. There are at least five other types of in- teem creating instability which in turn increases depressive symptoms for students. A student’s self-es- telligence but these types are not tested and would not help students to gain a place on the honor roll. teem is a very precious commodity. Basing grades on just two types of intelligence can be problematic as some people think grades measure self-worth and potential; in other words, grades erroneously reflect who students are and what they will Low self-esteem can lessen a student’s desire to learn, their ability to focus, and her willingness to take become. risks. Teachers can nurture students’ self-esteem through a continual process of encouragement and sup- port. This means showing appreciation for the things students do well, and comment on their progress Parents certainly deserve to know how their children are performing at school, but grades should be and accomplishments. Giving students with low self-esteem grades could further lower their self-esteem, replaced by meaningful narrative feedback. Qualitative summaries of progress which help students leading up to a pessimist attitude and depression. understand the learning outcome. Conferences to discuss student progress are also a great alternative education system. 4 4 5 (exception-Maths-sometimes)? To answer this ques- on every major career choice, believe it or not, from tion, I utilised a larger sample space- the internet re- writer to a teacher to a surgeon to a film reviewer to search sites. Surprisingly or maybe not, according to a sport scientist. It is hard to accept but when you put “teacher-vision”, “UCLA- researchers”, “2011 Times it into this respect, then the Shakespeare, repetition research article” and “Stanford university site”, this is of facts and wide aspect of study all makes sense. We the most common response from students- CRAM. are taught all these to be introduced to a particular Yes, cram! To elaborate, 90% of the secondary school field though one or the other is stressed upon more. students in America will cram, increasing in fre- Given the model of our school is more biased to- quency as they move on to higher levels of educa- wards providing us with choices over other things tion. Furthermore, this is what Stanford University and that is why, relevancy to life isn’t always the first site stated, “Cramming in college pretty much goes thing that comes to mind when extensively analys- hand-in-hand like peas and carrots.” Considering this ing Shakespeare. Schools should also accept that response, it might make you wonder just how funda- every student strives to be an individual of their mentally erroneous the base of our education system own making who can push humanity towards a bet- is? You start remembering information since you ter future. So is school playing its part? Yes and no. started school, information- to put it nicely doesn’t aff- To end with, a quote from Mr Dassaklis, our prin- fect your mental need….ever, like a painful chore; it cipal, “Our present schooling system is based on is no wonder that students usually relate schools with 19th and 20th century models which are not ful- “taking out the garbage on a cold winter morning”. ly compatible with 20th century needs. Having said Does the high school system serve as a good naviga- that I believe that there has been significant change Education’s purpose is to empower torto ? Despiteit everything, school definitely serves this in the last decade and that our students are better students to find their own paths to pururpose.