Flexibility. Childhood and dream concept. Conceptual image with child and shadow on the yellow studio wall. Little boy want to become ballet dancer, artist in theatre or businessman, office man.

Viewing & Reading

I have had time to explore two major resources to explore or consult when you need them. No, I’m not going to comment on either the dire situation for staff in our schools, COVID or the weather. Viewing 2022 Literature Symposium: The excellent online 2022 Literature Symposium advocating for the power and pleasure of literature…

front-view-woman-reading-something-her-students

Reading to students

Classrooms are gradually developing a new ‘normal’, where time is still short and too many so-called ‘assessments’ – read tests’ – are requiring completion. In between, we carry on. One of the most rewarding, interesting, challenging and useful strategies for teaching history/geography/maths/etc, and the potential for addressing the vast majority of the outcomes in the…

Woman holding pad with kids looking on

Exciting times – Resources for 2022

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) has released its English K-2 syllabus, replacing K-2 content in English K-10 Syllabus. The content is being delivered in some schools in 2022, and will be implemented in all NSW schools from 2023. There is so much support for this exciting time of implementation of a new syllabus. The…

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…

Second hand book sale on the street

Taking a break

Bookshops are the best place to take a break. All you need is a couple of hours with nothing else that needs to be done. Usually best on your own. Sometimes you have to just do it. Even only 15 minutes or so, in that calm, internalised pleasure palace, can be enough. Children introduced early…

Boy taking a reading break in between library book shelves

The world continues to turn …

And, thank goodness,  books continue to be published, read, and loved. Reading has been described as the perfect lockdown-in-COVID-19-activity. In these difficult times, it is worth reminding ourselves, and our students, that:  “Reading is an act of civilization; it’s one of the greatest acts of civilization because it takes the free raw material of the…

Top View I Can't Message Card Being Cut With Scissors

All Australian

The range of English literature, English literacy research, and reading resources that is available to teachers in Australian schools is rich and extensive. Any work we want to prepare for our students, whether in a time of online learning, or for working on in the classroom, is improved when it is based on reliable sources.…