Hello again. Last week I attended the regional staff meeting. Items included a report from the Aboriginal Turn Around Team about how they work with some of the most disconnected families in the community. They are having successes with families including school aged children that the children's schools and other regional services have not been able to connect with despite their best efforts over very long periods. Some of the success is no doubt a result of the relatively small number of families the team works with and the resolve and hard work of the three team members. As I listened to them recount some cases and the plight of family members I wondered if some refugee familes might benefit from a similar approach. Perhaps the new configuration of DECD will enable a small team of social workers and CLOs to be formed to emulate the work of the Aboriginal team.
I also visited Findon High to work with the assistant principal to write IELC plans for two students who started there this term. The information that is provided by ASSOE about students deemed to be potentially "at risk" when they move into the mainstream includes their strengths and interests. At Findon HS this was helpful because it allowed us to write plans that linked students to existing school or VET courses.
On Thursday I meet with Simmone Retallick from Underdale High to plan a whole school training session about the Australian Curriculum. It appears that secondary schools are at different points along their introduction to and planning for the teaching and reporting of Phase 1 subjects next year. In UHS's case the situation is less sure because they are currently deciding if they will teach AC or IBMYP. Regardless of which they use, the school sees some value in making their staff aware of some general approaches like backwards design, identifying literacy demands in assessement tasks and explicitly teaching these as part of a teaching sequence.
The rest of my week was spent developing some resources for the upcoming secondary ESL network meeting and ESL Scaling and moderation at Underdale High and Allenby Gardens Primary. I also developed a draft primary genre map that others working with Sandy Deam, RCC, can use as part of the genre resources they are creating for the region. Never a dull moment!

Hi remember me! It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted an update of my activities. I am still enthusiastic about the blog but I am been extremely busy. In the week starting Monday 7th May I worked with the other secondary ESL consultants to plan the next network meeting for secondary ESL teachers. The focus is Australian Curriculum. It will be at EDC Hindmarsh from 4-6 pm on Wednesday 30th May. Email me ross.hamilton@sa.gov.au if you want more details or to register. Other highlights of the week were delivering TESMC Module 6 at Brompton Primary, running regional ESL Scales moderation and attending the ESL consultant meeting. Along with the other members of the ESL Program I gave my input into the corporate review of the program. In brief, three salaries will have to go to offset the continuation of free travel to some new arrivals students. A decision is likely in the next couple of weeks. If I was a betting person, I would not put any money on there still being eight ESL consultants even as early as the start of next term.  The "1 in 7" cuts to salaries that all government departments are supposed to make is still to come so the ESL Program may be very small. I think that the consultants while perhaps a bit unsure about their own personal circumstances are most concerned about how the program will still deliver the same service to regions, sites and teachers with a significant cut in salaries. Stay tuned.
Last week began with a meeting of WASMYLLN where I outlined the joint project between the region and the Literacy Secretariat. Four WASMYLLN members each representing a different secondary school were indentified to be the writers of a unit of work for Year 8 using Australian Curriculum: English. As well as a unit plan they will also produce a task sheet, assessment rubric, student checklist, annotated student text and a teaching and learning sequence. They have a busy term ahead.
The rest of last week I was in Whyalla. I worked with most of the staff at Whyalla Town Primary School so they could begin to assign ESL Scales to all their students. I also provided ESL Scales training to five teachers at Edward John Eyre High and between 25 to 30 teachers from seven other local primary and high schools. I also had the chance to work individually with eight EJEHS teachers to develop their ability to explicity teach some of the literacy demands in senior secondary subjects like PE, Design & Technology, Art and IT.

Since the start of term I have delivered TESMC Modules 4&5 at Brompton Primary as well as meeting with the leadership at Kilkenny Primary to start planning the delivery of TESMC at that site during Term 3. This will allow teachers ample time in last term to implement and share their learning from the course.
This week I was part of an SSI Review Team that visited a school to provide them with some commendations and recommendations primarily about the teaching and learning of literacy. While this three day visits feel long and very intense, they do allow for opportunities to converse with and observe staff, parents and students. Part of the role of a review team member is to maintain confidentiality, but I think I can say that it was a pleasure to be a guest in a school that tries so very hard to deal with the complexities of their changing cohort. Typically some of the recommendations result in me be invited back to work more closely with the school as they begin to address those recommendations about ESL students and parents.
Yesterday I attended the region's senior years curriculum committee meeting to give an update about achievements and developments in ESL that relate to Year 10-12 students. It also gave me an opportunity to promote some of the presentations at the Regional Literacy Fair that took place today.
It was attended by about 160 primary and secondary leaders from almost every school in the region. Each school had a static display that featured at least one aspect of their literacy work. During the hour given to view these I probably saw a thrid of them. While they adressed a wide range of literacy topics and approaches typically they were evidence or research based and part of a school school approach. Many also featured the terminology, resources or processes developed by the Literacy Secretariat including the ESL Program. Those who organised the day and presented can be very proud of their part in a wonderful event.
My modest contribution was to give deliver two sessions. The first was an introduction to the ESL Literacy Levels and their alignment with the literacy continuum in the Australian Curriculum. In the other session I gathered feedback from school leaders that will help shape the development of a regional genre map and accompanying teaching resources.