Friday 5 & Saturday 6 September 2008
The University of Sydney, Australia
What websites are you using in Woolloomooloo?
What are kids reading in Rotorua?
Lismore teachers teach literacy using environmental themes.
What works best in the Australian and New Zealand context?
This conference aims to stimulate professional conversations about future developments in literacy pedagogy and practice for a domestic audience encompassing Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand. It will provide an opportunity for teachers, students, academics and policy makers to share concerns as well as potential solutions to the current challenges facing literacy educators.
The conference is placing a strong emphasis on the connections between evidence-based research and practical outcomes. It will investigate learning through practice by encouraging partnerships between:
- academics and schools
- mentors and the teachers they work with
- established practitioners and new career teachers.
The scope of papers, workshops and presentations will cover issues pertinent to the age range pre-K–8: infants to the middle years.
| Program |
|
| 8:15 |
Registration |
(tea & Coffee available) |
| 9:00 |
|
Opening Session |
| 9:30 |
Session 1 |
Keynote |
| 10:30 |
Morning Tea |
| 11:00 |
Session 2 |
Evidence-based research Case study part a.
Academics who have formed mentoring partnerships with schools will discuss the theory that informs their recent research.
|
| 11:45 |
Session 3 |
Practical demonstrations Case study part b.
Teachers from the partnership schools (see case study part a.) will work with their academic partner to explicitly model practical strategies that are the outcomes of research undertaken in their schools. Time will be given for participants to workshop ideas and explore the application of new concepts to their own contexts.
|
| 1:15 |
Lunch |
| 2:15 |
Session 4 |
Exemplary practice
A selection of schools from around Australia will showcase their award-winning teaching practices. These presenters will include award winners from National Literacy and Numeracy Week 2007 and other teachers recognised for their exemplary work in schools. |
| 3:15 |
Afternoon Tea |
| 3:30 |
Session 5 |
Concurrent papers
Leaders in the field of literacy pedagogy and practice will present discussion papers chosen through a review process.
|
| 4:15 |
Closing Session |
| 4:45 |
Close |
For more information please visit the conference website: http://www.proflearn.edsw.usyd.edu.au/teachers/2008/future_directions_literacy.shtml
Australia Post will again be running its popular Letter Link program. Letter Link, which was first established for the 1992 Olympic Games, encourages schoolchildren across the country to write to Australian athletes. It provides a wonderful opportunity for students to practise their writing skills while helping to boost the spirits of our athletes! For more information visit the
Australia Post's Letter Link website.
A Letter Link education resource pack will be sent to schools in June with all the information for students to participate. There are also some fantastic prizes to be won.
- Australian Olympic Team
The official website of the 2008 Australian Olympic Team. The site features news, media centre, athlete diaries and biographies, Beijing interactive explorer as well as live results and medal tally during the Games.
- BK Zone The home of the Boxing Kangaroo (BK), this website for primary school children facilitates learning about the Olympic Games, the Aussie Team and BK. Children can blog, collect posters, download screensavers, try the never-ending quiz and send in images for publication to the site!
June 1 – June 30
There is still time to register and participate in 2008 MS Readathon. Visit our website – www.msreadathon.org.au or call on 1300 677 323 for more information. Sponsorship money is due for return by 30 August 2008 along with a return / completion form.
MS Australia is encouraging children to have fun reading to change the lives of Australians living with multiple sclerosis (MS) by taking part in the annual MS Readathon.
Each working day five people are diagnosed with MS, a disease that affects the body’s central nervous system producing symptoms such as blurred vision, loss of balance, pins and needles and speech difficulties. With no known cause or cure for MS, this annual event has become one of the largest fundraisers for MS Australia.
Each year the MS Readathon inspires children to help people living with MS by collecting sponsorship from family and friends for the books they read in the month of June. All participants who complete receive a Certificate and reading rewards.
Children are encouraged to race to register either via the MS Readathon website or a registration form from their local school or library. For more information, visit the MS Readathon website or call the State/Territory office on 1300 677 323
Books Alive is an Australian Government initiative that aims to encourage all Australians to experience the joys of reading. Every year, Books Alive runs a nationwide campaign to ignite the country’s passion for books and make it easier to choose a really great ‘read’.
Whatever you’re into you’re assured of finding a truly great book with The 2008 Books Alive Great Read Guide. The independent panel of book industry experts from around Australia has selected 50 remarkable books across a huge range of genres and styles: biography, crime, fantasy, history, science, children’s books and much more. They’re 50 books so good everyone will want to read them!
The Books Alive campaign runs for 4 weeks in August 2008.
For more information visit the Books Alive website.
April 1, 2008 – August 17, 2008
The CBCA Junior Judges’ Project (JJP), was developed as a project that offers an online national framework for children’s literature activities within schools, commencing with the Children’s Book of the Year Short List Announcement in Melbourne on Tuesday 1st April. Once the Short List is announced, students guided by their teachers, are encouraged to read the shortlisted books and, based on similiar judging criteria, select their Winner and two Honour Books in one or more categories casting their votes online either through their teachers or individually. There is no cost for your school to participate. All details available via the Junior Judges’ Project website.
For the past four years, members of the Australian Book Industry have actively worked towards addressing the crisis in literacy in remote Indigenous communities. Now, the Indigenous Literacy Day is an annual event that last year raised in excess of $250,000.
Working in partnership with The Fred Hollows Foundation and with the support of the Australian Publishers Association and the Australian Booksellers Association, Indigenous Literacy Day aims to raise funds to buy books and literacy resources for remote Indigenous communities in Northern Territory, north-west New South Wales and in QLD and WA.
In 2008, Indigenous Literacy Day falls on September 3rd and is a wonderful opportunity for schools to participate as part of their National Literacy Week activities. This year students can participate in the Readers' Quest or other fundraising activities listed on the website.
Visit Indigenous Literacy Project Website for further information and fundraising ideas.