In November 2025, I presented a workshop on ‘Literacy and AI’ at the NSW English Teacher’s Association Conference. Like most teachers, I had been grappling with the issue of AI in the classroom- What was its place? Will AI use harm or benefit our students? Ancient Greek mythology gives us the lessons from the opening […]
Learning environments for the English learning area: perspectives of secondary students who struggle with writing Jennifer Shand, Grace Oakley, Emily Purvis, 2024, Australian Journal of Language and Literacy As part of my ongoing professional learning and development, I read academic journals and articles related to literacy and wanted to share the findings from this research
HOW TO HELP STRUGGLING WRITERS-ARTICLE SUMMARY Read More »
I was asked a question by a teaching friend the other day, and it definitely floored me. She asked me had I ever actually explained the ‘WHY?” behind why I do what I do to people who follow me as The Literacy Mentor? And it got me thinking about some of the other ‘Why?” questions
The ‘WHY’ underpinning my literacy teaching … Read More »
Are you looking for some great literacy resources to add to your personal or school libraries?
I recently read a post on a support group for literacy teachers and it got me thinking about some of the essential recommendations I would make for teachers looking to improve their literacy pedagogy.
5 great literacy books to add to your libraries Read More »
Available Now: Scaffolding Discursive Texts- Student Workbook After copious amounts of editing and proof reading, my new student workbook is available for purchase. Scaffolding Discursive Texts- Student Workbook is a hands-on workbook designed for Year 12 students studying HSC Standard or Advanced- Craft of Writing. It scaffolds the key features used by writers of discursive
New Student Resource Read More »
PEEL, TEEL, OREO, STEEL, PETAL…What’s the difference? With the rise of genre theory and the inclusion of second language teaching techniques into mainstream classes , teachers have been giving their students scaffolds to help them to structure their writing. As a result, classrooms have become full of acronymns like PEEL, TEEL, STEEL and PETAL. But
PEEL,TEEL, OREO, STEEL, PETAL…Whats the difference? Read More »
Communicative strategies are strategies that are encourage students to actively use the targeted language/vocabulary in the classroom. This language is vitally important for all students are they encounter new subject specific language (Tier 3 language) and language across multiple subject areas (Tier 2 language) outside of their normal repertoire. In addition, communicative strategies are vital
COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES Read More »
How many times have you read a student’s work and wanted to pull your hair out in frustration at the number of grammatical errors that they make? One of the biggest mistakes is in the area of capital letters, but it is probably not surprising given the change to language use with posters, business signage,
What works in a school setting? This is always a difficult question to answer as every school has its own unique context, however there are common themes in the research which I have summarised below: Importance of student choice Role of the environment Importance of role-models What can be done in a high school setting
What the research tells us about reading for pleasure- PART TWO Read More »
I am a reader. I will read at any time of the day or night. I have an endless pile of unread books on my nightstand, full of possibilities, that are just waiting for me to have the time to read them. The reality is that many of our students are not readers. Given the
What the research tells us about reading for pleasure- PART ONE Read More »
