I have been prompted to draw attention to oral language in the classroom by an article in Edutopia Weekly. It’s free of charge and well worth a look. This week’s article 4 Strategies for Sparking Critical Thinking in Young Children is about ‘fostering investigative conversation’ in K-2. The importance of talk in the classroom has…
Michael Rosen is a poet who makes words and ideas accessible – often with deep truths, and with themes and ideas that are familiar. And, frequently, very funny.
There is much rich material out there for teachers of all aspects of English and English (and other languages) literacy. It can be difficult to locate just what you want for a specific focus. Here’s some of the good news. PETAA – The Primary English Teaching Association Australia has just released their first fortnightly ‘round-up’…
And some of the 2023 resources available now. With ‘that’ test coming up for Years 3, 5, 7 & 9 in mid-March, there could be a bit of a panic about trying to get our students ‘test ready’. This is misguided and not helpful for student learning. I would like to refer you to Joanne…
This is not a scam! But it is a shameless cross-promotion! I’ve been a member of MANSW (The Mathematical Association of NSW) for most of my teaching career. Even before I was really into mathematics as an area of passion, I joined MANSW. It was an opportunity to learn more about mathematics education and mathematics…
Well technology has taken it’s next leap with the launch of ChatGPT Open access AI (Artificial Intelligence). It’s currently a research release to gain feedback on AI’s ability to ‘benefit all humanity’. I’m not here to make any political or controversial statements about AI, but I was super intrigued about what it could potentially offer.…
How can I be sure of … How do I … When should I … How much reading to my students is too much? Why is … so tricky for my students? Should I really pressure my students to … What does ‘good’ look like? How do I know I am doing it right? What…
Happy 2023! Primary Learning wishes everyone a richly creative pedagogical year. For now, it is rest and re-creation, taking stock of those things that are of greatest importance in our private and professional lives, and rebuilding the energies we will need for the beginning of term. There is a fine collection of readings to dip…
It’s almost the end of November. This is often the ‘cut-off’ point in our thinking too heavily about our classroom work. It is also the cut-off point for some amazing offers for us as we prepare to put EVERYTHING to do with school away for a couple of weeks. Making the most of collecting what’s…
I’ve been wondering recently about how to help students make connections between concepts and to their prior knowledge in the classroom. We know that mathematical ideas are connected and often build on each other, so how to ensure students ‘see’ these links? I think we have been moving in a good ‘direction of understanding’ in…
