Writing – who is it for?

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…

Back view of a little boy standing on ladder and writing with chalk on the backboard in school class

The importance of writing

These items have come across the laptop in the last couple of weeks – a report on a survey on writing in the classroom, the ACTF My Place writing competition, an opportunity for a workshop with author Deb Abela, and a reminder about the PETAA Literacy Conference Writing in Australian classrooms First, the results of…

Degas painting - Beach at Ebbe

Writing People

Dear Mum and Dad I have been going through a box of my mother’s. She was a hoarder, and the box contained mementos from her life. And ours. When we were young we made our own birthday, Christmas, and Fathers’ and Mothers’ Day cards. The ones I found had mostly been created on simple lined…

composite of hand holding questionmark graphic with blue background

The Question Mark

A recent conversation with a teacher-in-training colleague has prompted this blog. My friend was given the task of preparing and delivering a 45-minute lesson on the question mark. This is pretty typical of the type of lesson we work with in normal circumstances. Now I can’t think of anything more tedious. As a topic for…

cheerful-kids-chatting-during-lesson

Writing for a wider audience

The revision of the NSW English K-10 syllabus for Stage 1, so far, maintains ‘audience’ as a key consideration of in the writing process for students: Students need opportunities to explore how language use in texts differs according to the subject matter, purpose and audience. NESA Teaching strategies Stage 1 Audience is defined and explained…

Wooden man hold a red wooden block with word KEEP IT SIMPLE

Getting the message across

Authors of successful texts ensure the purpose is clear, and appropriate for the intended audience. … a recent analysis of COVID-19 information on government websites found only two of the 52 documents examined could be read with relative ease. Most of the others were full of long sentences and unnecessarily difficult words where simple language…