Title pages are a common topic entry-point task set by teachers. They have multiple purposes. Title pages help students to organise their work by clearly indicating the beginning of a unit of work. They promote thinking and orientation towards a new unit of work as students consider images and words that align with new content. Title pages also provide opportunities for students to demonstrate pride in their work.

Pride is a feeling of satisfaction or pleasure in our work and achievements. While it is easy to appreciate the importance of pride in achievement (scores or grades), a sense of pride, in work as a whole, is an indicator that students are invested in the learning process and are motivated. Work by Carol Dweck, British Educational Psychologist, links motivation to students’ goal-seeking and persistence in the face of obstacles. These are important attributes that foster skill acquisition and quality in performance.

We often highlight the outstanding work that students present as components of projects and assessment tasks. In this article, I acknowledge the ordinary, everyday, beautiful book work of Year 9 Science and highlight examples where students demonstrate a sense of pride in their work. The students are studying a unit of work called Next Gen - with an overarching question that considers what life will be like for the next generation.

Dweck, C. S. (1986). Motivational processes affecting learning. American psychologist, 41(10), 1040.

Debra Bourne - Leader of eLearning and Library Services & Year 9 Science Teacher