As usual, I’ve read a diverse range of books, watched a number of movies and seen some wonderful plays over the past few months, taking me to all corners of the world. One of the reasons I love all of these stories is because they introduce me to ideas and take me into places and characters I would never normally … Read More
At the end of my last Arts Update (August 2020), I was part way through reading Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet and about to start David Mitchell’s Utopia Avenue. I would highly recommend both of these novels, but especially Hamnet. Set in seventeenth-century Warwickshire (England), Hamnet is a beautifully written fictionalisation of the ups and downs of William Shakespeare’s family and particularly … Read More
Taylor McGrath is in his third year of teaching and works at Howick Intermediate which is a medium-sized decile 4 school in East Auckland. He is currently working with a diverse group of 30 students from a range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The Love of Writing & Music Taylor loves teaching writing and he loves listening to contemporary music. … Read More
I had the pleasure of working at Raroa Normal Intermediate (in Johnsonville, Wellington) for two days at the end of last term, modelling good practice in classrooms. At the end of my second day, one of the teams (Whai Wahi, led by Ethan Porteous) invited me to an after-school display in the hall that they had put together based on … Read More
I was astounded by the quality of a set of stories written by Year 1-2 students at Merrin School (situated in Christchurch; decile 8; a high proportion of ESOL students) and asked the teacher (Jeanne Coker) how they had been motivated. Jeanne talked enthusiastically about the importance of play-based learning in their school and how she had developed Learning /Ako … Read More
Kia ora koutou, I do hope you’ve all had a great break, getting yourself ready to take on the challenges of the final term. Yes, it’s been a difficult year hasn’t it, especially for those of us who live in Auckland. But, as a professional community, I think we’ve done very well. We’ve taken risks, we’ve found new ways of … Read More
Do your teachers need to undertake a school-wide inquiry around instructional writing? This may be because: Your students are not as engaged in writing as you hope. Or perhaps because achievement levels in writing are not as high as you hope. Or it may even be because you have not looked at writing PLD for a while. We have developed … Read More
In this episode of “Murray Talks”, we present ‘Oral Language Within the Writing Process’ Dr Murray Gadd provides more detailed narration on this topic in the ‘Murray Talks’ video below. It is supplemented by a downloadable “Teacher notes” PDF (link below). Scroll down for the video or click here Questions for teachers to reflect on … Read More
In this episode of “Murray Talks”, we present ‘Planning a Writing Programme’ Dr Murray Gadd provides more detailed narration on this topic in the ‘Murray Talks’ video below. It is supplemented by a downloadable “Teacher notes” PDF (link below). Scroll down for the video or click here Questions for teachers to reflect on as they … Read More
In this episode of “Murray Talks”, we present ‘Teaching and Using Vocabulary Within the Writing Process’ Dr Murray Gadd provides more detailed narration on this topic in the ‘Murray Talks’ video below. It is supplemented by a downloadable “Teacher notes” PDF (link below). Scroll down for the video or click here Questions for teachers to … Read More