Busy, busy, busy. The regional Yr 6 - SACE genre map is complete thanks to the input of about 20 Science, Maths, History and English teachers from half a dozen schools in the region. It will now go up on the regional website. The supporting document outlining purpose, structure and key language features will soon follow.
The Literacy Leaders Network Day has come and gone. There were a lot of postive comments about the keynote speaker Jenny Hammond. I also took the chance to hear her speak to SATESOL members on the following morning about issues arising from her research into secondary transition from Intensive English Centres in Sydney. While the workshop presentations were not filmed the presenters PowerPoints or Prezis should be on the Literacy Secretariat website. If your school is looking for an example that enacts the elements of a whole school approach to literacy improvement than check out the Prezi by Alice Carter and Davide Marino from Whyalla. At three different events since their presentation, teachers from different schools have told me how much they enjoyed the presentation and that they now have a model to discuss with their own principals. Isnt this the goal of the LLN days?? Alice was also asked to speak briefly at the Eyre and Western Region's Leaders Day about the work she is leading at Stuart High. Her leadership in this area undoubtedly assisted her to win an acting assistant principal job at her school!
Last week I was able to build on the work that Davide Marino has donethis semester with his staff at Edward John Eyre High about nominalisation. Lots of heads were nodding and people were engaged in the activities so I showed me that they were starting from a reasosnably strong base.
I have also presented four hours of PD about noun groups, nominalisation and circumstances to primary teachers and secondary new arrivals teachers. The PD was over two Wednesday evenings and this allowed the teachers to trial a teaching activity and report back to the group. Their comments showed how they were able to thoughtfully modify the activities to suit their students.
My colleague, Giuseppe Mammone, has returned to the office after some leave. He was missed in the office and around the region. Yesterday we met with the IELC leaders in the region to consider the survey responses from principals about transition from IELCs to mainstream primary schools. The feedback was generally positive, but we have undertaken to develop a one page summary about each student that is sent to schools before transition and another document that clarifies the roles of IELCs, mainstream schools, parents and EALD consultants in the transition process.
Yesterday was the last Secondary ESL Teacher Network meeting for the year. Twenty-one teachers attended to hear about the main item which was the Language and Literacy Levels. Their feedback shows that overwhelmingly they appreciated the training and the consultants' delivery. More thorough PD will begin from the start of the 2013 school year.
The Levels, including an introduction and glossary are due to be completed in about a week. After that time they will be posted on the Lit Sec website. Work on the supporting moderated evidence and implementation PD is also getting close to completion , but will likely continue for the rest of the school year.
So that brings me to next year. As you can imagine I have had a number of schools or groups wanting to "book" me to deliver PD in 2013. I have been accepting these but explaining that these are tentative because the tenure of consultant positions finishes in January. At this stage we do not know how many there will be, where they will be based or indeed if the positions will exist at all. I hope to write one or two more posts before the end of the school year so hopefully the situation is clarified by then.