Earlier in 2022 I was in Robert Raynes’ Year 7-8 class in Howick Intermediate (a decile 9 school in Howick, Auckland) when I noticed some very attractive and interesting student texts hanging from the ceiling. I asked Robert (a provisionally registered teacher) what they were about and he introduced me to a picture book called My Shadow is Pink by … Read More
In September last year, I described and illustrated 3 creative and highly motivating writing lessons that Nicola Blight from Newton Central School had undertaken with her New Entrant and Year 1 students. I was in Nicola’s class again last term and I saw something else that bowled me over. Like many teachers across Aotearoa, Nicola was using the occasion of … Read More
Stratford School is a reasonably large, decile 5, full primary school in provincial Taranaki where I have been leading a PLD project in writing since the beginning of this year. As part of this project, I have been demonstrating the launch of writing topics as well as shared writing across several diverse classrooms. In one of the Year 5-6 classrooms, … Read More
In Term 4 2021, teachers from the two Year 5-6 teams at Golden Sands School (a decile 9 school in Papamoa, Tauranga) shared some writing that super-impressed me. It particularly bowled me over because much of it was written by students who could generally be described as ‘reluctant writers’. Some had specific learning disabilities; others were just disengaged with school … Read More