REFLECTIONS AND NOTES
Summer 2006

Download Teachers Notes (PDF)

• Embracing difference

Teacher notes page 2-3

• Lapping at success
• The joy of reading
• Mercy mission

Australian Catholics Young Journalist Award 2006 is now on

This award is a great way for teachers to get their students interested in writing and win prizes for their school.

Now in its tenth year, the award is about encouraging young writers to look more deeply at the world around them and have their voices heard.

It's also a chance for students to have their work published in a national magazine.

See our Young Journalist Award page for full details.

Embracing difference

Miriam with some of her classmates at St Margaret Mary's Primary School. Photo: Peter Casamento.

One of the most difficult tasks for a parent is finding a suitable school to educate their children, a difficulty compounded many times for those seeking a school for a handicapped child.

In her article Embracing difference, Rachel Hewitt looks at the experience of Mary and Bill McCarthy as they set out to find a secondary school for their daughter Miriam who has Down's syndrome and verbal dyspraxia. They realise how important their choice will be to Miriam's future as they remember with joy and gratitude her primary school years at St Margaret Mary's, in the Melbourne suburb of Spotswood. Students might like to read Rachel Hewitt's article, focusing on the advantages of integrating children with a disability into a regular school.

Some questions for class discussion

1. Does anyone in the class know a student suffering from a disability?
2. Why might some schools feel reluctant to enrol a child with a disability?
3. What objections were raised by certain parents to the prospect of having a disabled child in class with their children?
4. Do you agree or disagree with these people in their qualms about offering integrated education to the disabled?
5. Can you think of any advantages to sending these children to special, segregated schools?
6. Catholic schools are supposed to be inclusive and welcoming to all comers: are there any exceptions to this principle?
7. The children at St Margaret Mary's gained a great deal from their contact with Miriam. Make list of some of these benefits.

Jean Vanier, who worked for many years with the mentally retarded, said that we were all disabled in some way, and that we missed the richness of life if we choose to discriminate against certain disabilities.

Students, in small groups, might like to set up a role-play in which an angry mother argues with a school principal who has enrolled a disabled child in her child's classroom. What arguments are put forward by the mother against having the child at the school? What is the principal's response?

After each group has performed for the class, some general discussion might follow.

As a final exercise, a quiet time might be spent during which the students reflect on how they overcome difficulties they experience in fitting in with other people, especially at school.

Teacher notes page 2-3

Lapping at success

For many of us, the start of the school year is about making firm resolutions to put everything we have into striving for excellence, whether in sport or at studies. Well, if not excellence, then certainly a determination to do as well as we can.

Patrick Murphy, who represented Australia at the World Swimming Championships in Montreal, is certainly an inspiration to all. His grit and determination, getting up very early every morning to train, his willingness to endure tedious hours of swimming laps, and his sacrifice of other attractive options like going out with friends, parties and even studying at university, provide an uncompromising example to us all.

Students might begin by reading the article Lapping at success.

An introductory class discussion might include the sharing of names of athletes and sportspersons they admire and their reasons for seeing them as inspirations and role models.

In small groups, they could discuss the following topics:

1. Patrick writes: 'Swimming is a solitary pursuit'; 'those 40 seconds of swimming requires many hours of work'; '(why) am I putting myself through this pain?' Why does he do it?
2. How important is the setting of clear goals to achieving success in sport or study?
3. 'It's all in your mind. You have to look deep within at what you can do.' How does a person's state of mind affect physical performance?
4. Does competition detract from the joy found in sport? How significant are winning and losing to the sports enthusiast?
5. Which do you prefer and why: individual sports or team sports?
6. According to the article, Patrick Murphy's dedication to swimming has meant the sacrifice of friendship. Was it worthwhile?

In small groups the class might like to produce posters of a sport or a sporting idol, outlining the effort and dedication that are required to produce success in that field. These posters could be hung in the classroom.

The joy of reading

Hard work and sustained effort are inevitably an important ingredient in school life, but there are also areas of joy and delight and it is vital that students learn to enjoy some of the things that learning has to offer.

Success and high marks are really not enough. Some things that school gives us should last a lifetime. Morag Fraser's article, Passing the torch, gives insight into one of these—reading. She rightly points out that the idea of being made to read books really defeats the purpose of learning to read. In the wide world of literature there is a book for everyone.

Students might like to read Morag Fraser's article on the joys of reading.

The discussion might begin with a sharing of titles of favourite books with some comments on what made them enjoyable. This could be followed by a listing of books found to be unreadable.

Are there any books that appear on both lists? If so, these could be used as the basis of a debate on the topic: There are some books everyone should enjoy.

Mercy mission

Sam Walker's article, Mercy Mission, gives an account of a medical mission that literally opens up new horizons. It introduces us to the work, I almost wrote adventures, of the Mercy Ships 'an international Christian charity that provides medical care, relief aid and training to developing nations.' These ships, staffed mainly by volunteers, visit some of the world's poorest countries, remaining in port for several months at a time, providing necessary medical, surgical and dental care to those who present themselves for treatment.

Students might like to read the article by Sam Walker.

Using a good atlas, a map could be drawn for the classroom wall, showing all the places mentioned in the article.

Obtain a copy of the United Nations Development Index (hdr.undp.org/docs/statistics/indices/hdi_2004.pdf) and make a chart of the information it contains to be placed beside the map.

In groups of three, prepare a talk for the class on one of the following topics:

1. Travel is about experiencing different cultures.
2. People who want to make a difference.
3. The Mercy Ships organisation.
4. Volunteering: it's hard work, but the gains are enormous.
5. Relief aid and training for developing nations.

A general discussion about the work of the Mercy Ships should follow.

Arrangements could be made to seek further information on the organisation (www.mercyships.org.au) and to arrange for one of the volunteers to come and give a talk at a school assembly.

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