Dodgeball Challenge 2018

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On Wednesday the much anticipated student V teacher’s dodgeball game took place to raise money for the 6^th Year yearbook.  Students were invited to come to the gym at lunchtime to witness the event and they weren’t disappointed!

The students started well and seem to have benefited from some practice in PE class. They easily picked off some of the teachers, who were relegated to the end-zones until they were released by catching the ball. Bit by bit the teachers improved and while there were some controversial moments, the referee did well to keep the game on track.

The teachers were especially driven to win, not wanting to give up their winning streak against the students. The students didn’t give up but seemed to tire at the end and this allowed the teachers to win the last game.

A special thanks to all the teachers and students who took part and made the occasion special. Better luck next time, students!!!

Debating at Dominican College, Griffith Avenue

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Dominican College is delighted that its three teams (led by Ms. Sandra Donohoe, assisted by Ms. Patricia Healy) reached the quarter-finals of the UCD Junior Schools Debating Competition. Throughout the competition, they have tackled issues ranging from the death penalty, to the rights of a minor, to feminism. The students have been committed since last September and everyone at Dominican College is extremely proud of all students involved in creating such a successful debating team.
On March 23rd, Dearbhla Lawlor, a 2nd year student from Dominican College, Griffith Avenue, took her place in the UCD Law & History Junior Debating Final after successfully fending off competition from students in over 100 schools in Leinster. While it wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, we are all immensely proud of Dearbhla’s outstanding achievement. (An extract written by Patricia Healy for Maynooth University's Education Newsletter)

First Year Book Review Writing Competition

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Congratulations to Ciara Scott, Class 1.2 and Hope Philips, Class 1.5, winners of the First Year book review writing competition. Both students produced fantastically written reviews that showcased their writing skills and broad vocabulary. Excellent work girls, well done! Ms. Donohoe

Instructional Leadership in Dominican College

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It’s been four years since I was a student at Dominican College, Griffith Avenue. This year I returned as a PME (Professional Masters of Education) student. While it has been wonderful to come back to the familiar, it was clear to me from the first day back that a positive change had taken place. The staff has made efforts to continually improve the teaching and learning – a change that is affecting the entire school community. The first aspect of the school that immediately struck me were the increased emphasis on using Bloom’s Taxonomy when planning and teaching. Teachers are encouraged to set tasks and ask questions that involve the higher order stages of Bloom’s such as evaluating and creating. Each classroom has a small whiteboard, clearly visible to the students where teachers can write the learning intentions of the lesson on the board. Posters displaying the six levels of Bloom’s hang in every classroom as well as in the staffroom. There are posters on every teacher’s desk to remind them to incorporate Bloom’s taxonomy into their questions. Simple physical changes in the classroom have encouraged new teachers such as myself and more experienced teachers to bring these techniques into their classes.

From my own experience as a student, group work was viewed as something frivolous and inconsequential. It was the chance to have a chat with your friends and look busy when the teacher was near. Teachers perhaps were reluctant to carry it out in case the noise levels disrupted others. From my first day of observing classes in Dominican College, I quickly realised that this was no longer the case! Group work is now highly structured and often involves students analysing, evaluating and creating material thus tying in with Instructional Leadership techniques as well as the new Junior Cycle key skills. Teachers are framing questions in such a way that all students are accountable yet are more likely to participate in class because of the safe learning environment created.

From observing a number of classes in the school and chatting to various teachers about IL, these practices quickly became integrated into my own lessons. Think, pair, share methods have been particularly useful in my own teaching practice as an English teacher as well as increasing the wait time when asking questions.

While Dominican College is still the same friendly and welcoming school that it always was, there is an even better learning atmosphere apparent since I graduated four years ago. It is great to see such progress in a short space of time and the work I’ve seen here will certainly act as a standard which I will measure myself against during my teaching career. (Megan Oliver)