Literacy Newsletter_Term4_Issue4

Literacy


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2018 Term 4 | Issue 1 2018 Term 4 | Issue 1 Page 1

Term 4 is upon us!


Welcome back – hope the holiday break was relaxing and you are prepared for yet another busy term. The school sports
carnivals are over and now it is time to get ready for writing reports and the end of year celebrations.
The Literacy team has continued to provide Professional Learning sessions here at AISWA as well as working in schools
with individual teachers, small groups and the whole staff.

Over the last few years our focus has been on providing reading PL. With many schools showing interest in the Talk for
Writing resources, we are pleased to offer a writing support day and a network meeting in Term 4.

If you are thinking about organising PL for your school for Term 4 or for 2019 remember we are here to help. Feel free to
contact any of us:
Kerry Handley [email protected]

Jill Buckrell [email protected]
Pat Kershaw [email protected]

Chris Witt [email protected]


Best wishes for a successful Term 4.























2018 Term 4 | Issue 1 Page 2

AISWA PL Courses for Term 4



Please see below information about our Term 4 courses.

Programming and Assessment with the WA Curriculum, English
The workshop will take participants through a backward design planning process that begins with goal setting utilising the achievement
standards and content descriptions. The focus is on embedding explicit assessment practices throughout the unit of work so that
informed decisions about progress and achievement can be made with authentic assessment data.
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Wednesday 17 October 2018. For more information and to register please click Here

Narrative Writing: What can we learn from musicians and artists?
Where do ideas come from? How can students be supported to improvise within the structure of a narrative in order to create stories
that truly engage an audience? This workshop will explore the classroom environment that allows creativity to flourish as students are
motivated to compose original narratives.
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Friday 26 October 2018. For more information and to register please click Here
Talking your way into writing
This full day workshop will draw upon information contained in current commercially-available publications, such as Talk for Writing's
imitation, innovation and invention strategy. Teachers will be taken through a process that will allow them to embed successful
strategies for talk in their planning.
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Monday 29 October 2018. For more information and to register please click Here
Narrative Writing: What can we learn from musicians and artists? (PL IN ALBANY)

Where do ideas come from? How can students be supported to improvise within the structure of a narrative in order to create

stories that truly engage an audience? This workshop will explore the classroom environment that allows creativity to flourish as
students are motivated to compose original narratives.
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Monday 19 November 2018. For more information and to register please click Here

Scaffolding Adolescent Literacy
This course is a full day of Professional Development organised into 3 workshop topics of reading comprehension, building vocabulary,
speaking and listening. Participants receive the new and updated Scaffolding Adolescent Literacy workbook filled with practical
classroom activities covering these 3 key literacy areas that support reading in the secondary classroom.
*Note: there is a VET version of this course and an alternative workbook is provided*
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Monday 19 November 2018. For more information and to register please click Here
Advanced Comprehension (Prerequisite: Comprehension Strategy Instruction)
This course builds on the basic constructing meaning strategies covered in Comprehension Strategy Instruction (course prerequisite).
Advanced Comprehension provides students with strategies to deepen their thinking, analyse and evaluate text as they read.
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Wednesday 21 November 2018. For more information and to register please click Here
Talk for Writing Network Meeting
The Talk for Writing resources, developed by Pie Corbett, are being used by many AISWA schools. Join us and be prepared to share what
is working well, questions you have and how AISWA Literacy Consultants can support your Talk for Writing journey.
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Monday 26 November 2018. For more information and to register please click Here


Stay up to date via our Facebook link

https://www.facebook.com/aiswaliteracy







2018 Term 4 | Issue 1 Page 3

Brightpath







Trialing Brightpath in WA Secondary Schools Information Session

Brightpath is hosting an Information Session for Trialling Brightpath in Secondary schools.
The aim is to extend the Brightpath rulers into Years 7 and 8.

If you are interested in attending please register through
https://www.stickytickets.com.au/76607
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Date: Tuesday 16 Oct
Time: 9.30 -11.00
Venue: Unit 1, 103 Colin Street West Perth

For any queries, please contact email: [email protected] or phone: 9322 7429




Brightpath Assessment Software 2019 (For Primary Schools not currently registered)

Primary school leaders are advised that registration for the Brightpath project in Semester 1 2019 will be accepted by email
to Maureen Lorimer [email protected] Tel : (08) 9273 6397 [Tuesday, Wednesday & Friday] by Friday 26
October 2018. This is for schools who are currently NOT registered in 2018. Please provide the following information:

 Name of school, address and phone number
 School code
 Name of Principal and email address
 Name of Brightpath contact and email address.

The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (the Authority) will meet the cost of access to the Brightpath Basic Package for
schools wishing to participate in the project. This includes unlimited access to the assessment process for all scales, and access
to the following central reports:

 Results
 Performance profile
 Teaching points.
Workshop materials are also provided to support school leaders in up-skilling their staff.
Participation in the Brightpath project requires the following commitments:
 registration of all students and teachers in the project by uploading data to the Authority
 provision by the school of appropriate support and training for all the school's teachers using the workshop materials,
assess all
students at least twice during the year.

The Brightpath assessment and reporting software allows teachers to make reliable assessments of student achievements in a
range of areas, based on student performances of classroom assessment tasks. These include: Early childhood oral narrative,
Early childhood recount, Information report writing, Narrative writing, Persuasive writing, and Science investigation.
The software records the results of assessments and reports a range of formative and summative information to teachers and
principals. This provides an informed basis for developing teaching programs that target the needs of individual students. It
facilitates efficient and systematic collection of school-wide data to support rigorous evaluation of both teaching and learning.
For any queries, please contact:- [email protected] phone: 9322 7429






2018 Term 4 | Issue 1 Page 4

Term 4















Kate Mullin Award

Nominations close on Monday 22 October.
Are you (or do you know) an Australian educator who has helped to improve English language and literacy outcomes for
Aboriginal students, while maintaining links to Aboriginal culture and identity?
The Kate Mullin Educator Award is in memory of Kate Mullin, an educator who worked passionately and tirelessly to improve
outcomes for Aboriginal EAL/D learners who learn in and through Standard Australian English (SAE). This award aims to
recognise and celebrate excellence in the SAE language and literacy education of Aboriginal students. The winner receives
$5000 to go towards extending their knowledge and experience in teaching English to Aboriginal students.
Nominees should demonstrate the following:
1. Improved student outcomes in English language and literacy. (This could be improvements as substantiated by peers,
community member(s) or as evidenced through outcomes achieved using the EAL/D Progress Map or similarly appropriate
monitoring
systems.)
2. Educator awareness, recognition and valuing of home language/dialect and culture.
3. Educator engagement with Aboriginal families and community to improve student outcomes.
4. Development of rapport with Aboriginal students
For more information and for Nomination form please click : Here


Celebrate Reading National Conference










Looking for a richly rewarding, inspiring
and fun literacy experience?


Don’t forget the Celebrate Reading
National Conference is fast

approaching.


















2018 Term 4 | Issue 1 Page 5

Monster Party has arrived!





Monster Party Publication


























Monsters have a party at Dora Lake and go galumphing all over the place.

When celebrated children’s author Alison Lester and Jane Godwin visited Punmu to work with the children at Rawa
Community School, an abundance of creative talent emerged.
This book started with a playful conversation with the Middle Primary class about monsters. With the skilful writing of Jane
Godwin, the artistic direction of Alison Lester and the creative ideas from the children a delightful story arose.

The residency at Rawa Community School was funded by AISWA and supported by the Australian Children's Laureate
Foundation (ACLF). This project typifies AISWA and ACLF’s commitment to providing children in remote Independent Schools
with access to authors and illustrators and the contribution that makes to improved literacy outcomes.
Monster Party was then published by Australia’s leading Indigenous publisher, Magabala Books.
Order your copy from https://www.magabala.com/childrens-picture-books/monster-party.html







































2018 Term 4 | Issue 1 Page 6

Exciting times to be a teacher!






This year, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development) reported that “there is a growing consensus
that formal education should cultivate the creativity and critical thinking skills of students to help them succeed in modern,
globalised economies based on knowledge and innovation” (OECD, 2018). In 2015, PISA (Program for International Student
Assessment) chose to assess collaborative problem-solving alongside English, maths and science.

In Australia, the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has designed a scope and sequence for Critical and Creative
Thinking and the Gonski report (2018) states that an important goal of Australian education should be to “equip every child to
be a creative, connected and engaged learner in a rapidly changing world”. So, how are we going with these goals when
Grattan Institute research (2017) demonstrates that one in four Australian students are disengaged.

Is it possible to have a creative classroom with engaged students and still meet the demands of the curriculum? The WA
Curriculum thinks so; it has a learning continuum for Creative and Critical Thinking. But what does a creative classroom look
like? Anecdotal evidence demonstrates that many teachers think about creativity as a talent. Whilst it’s not possible to teach
talent, it is possible to teach skills that allow creativity to bloom. Dominic Wyse (keynote speaker at the ALEA/AATE conference
in Perth this year) says that “you throw the rock and you get the splash”; in other words, you “set the environment for
creativity to flourish; then encourage the writing and see what happens” (Wyse, 2017).

If you would like some practical examples of embedding creativity in your classroom, with an emphasis on Narrative writing,
please come along to the workshop, Narrative Writing: What can we learn from musicians and artists? (in Perth on 26 October
and Albany on 19 November). As part of the Perth workshop, Vanessa Bradly, a local artist who has trained with Paul Collard
from the Art of Learning (UK), will give an example of embedding creativity within a unit of learning based around a novel.
Exciting times to be a teacher!






































Lucas, Spencer, & Claxton. (2013). Creative
Habits of Mind. Adapted by Mathilda Joubert










2018 Term 4 | Issue 1 Page 7

Suite 3/41 Walters Drive
Osborne Park WA 6017
+61 (08) 9441 1600
[email protected]
www.ais.wa.edu.au






2018 Term 4 | Issue 1 Page 8