Kia ora tatou Here we are in the fourth term of the year already. Hope your October break went well. Literacy Association Conference I spent the first week of my so-called October break in Invercargill, at the NZ Literacy Association’s Conference, aptly titled Lighting the Literacy Pathway. It was excellent. With 420+ attendees from across the country and seven keynote … Read More
Kia ora tatou We’re well and truly into Term Three now and I hope that things are going well for you. As I write this, I hear that our Government is scrapping the last of our Covid restrictions and this is great news to me. Educationally, we have had over three years of interrupted teaching and learning and I can’t … Read More
Kia ora tatou You will all be back at school now after what I hope was a great Easter break. I, however, am in Sweden deeply ensconced in my work for Stockholm University. I have been here since March 20 and will be home at the end of May. I’m teaching courses about struggling writers, delivering public lectures on the same, … Read More
Kia ora tatou Happy New Year to all of you. I must say that I was happy to see the end of 2022. Although Covid only interrupted my plans in Term One (badly!!), it hung over us for all of the year. I caught it in March (though only mildly) but spent the rest of the year wondering when I … Read More
Kia ora tatou As challenging as it was, I hope that you had a reasonable Term 2 and that Term 3 (which we are well into now) will be a good one for you. Contents Term 2 Recap Exciting New Resource Launched ! New Video Lessons, Classroom Story & Arts Blog Looking Ahead Term 2 Recap Term 2 was good for … Read More
Kia ora In my previous newsletter from February earlier this year, I talked about being ‘in uncertain times’ but also being ‘determined to make 2022 as normal as I can.’ Well, Term One was anything but normal for me, with probably more days postponed or deferred during the term than I actually worked. I’ve never had a term like this. … Read More
Kia ora tatou I want to say welcome to the 2022 school year but I suspect that most of you are ‘well into it’ now. Although we are in uncertain times – in terms of Covid – I am determined to make 2022 as normal as I can. I have already undertaken six beginning-of-year courses for teachers as well as several … Read More
Kia ora koutou colleagues, This will be my final newsletter of 2021 and I hope it finds you all well. Probably a bit stressed – particularly if you’re an Auckland teacher – but even if you’re not, you’ve undoubtedly got end-of-year ‘requirements’ looming up fast. All’s good with me, and I’m about to undertake my first face-to-face visit to a … Read More
Most of us would agree on the importance of listening to student voice when developing and implementing a classroom programme. In the context of an instructional writing programme, this means finding out: How do my students feel about writing? How do they feel about themselves as writers? How do they feel about the writing instruction they receive at school? Finding … Read More
Kia ora koutou katoa Updated Oct 26th 2021. I do hope that you are doing OK out there in lock-down. We have had several enquiries on how to share videos with students. As a result of the lockdown, we have decided to make some of the videos easier to share with your tamariki. About Working With Video Lessons As a … Read More