Monday Session A
A1: The Story Sack - Storytelling and story making
Tanya Batt
Strand: Oral Yrs: All
Long ago before time was caught and put in clocks and magic was easier to find there was story. "You mean like a 'book story?" No I mean like a story-story. Like one you might catch on a long line of truth, or like a cold from your great, great grandmother. Don't you remember some one telling you a story? Explore the ancient art of storytelling made new again. Tanya Batt will share her experiences of storytelling, story making and story sharing. Lots of love and laughter and happy ever afters.
Tanya Batt is a self confessed story-o-phile and frock-o-holic who channelled her childhood propensity for talking and her love of dressing up into a real 'imaginary job'. Her story adventures have taken her all over the world, to places both on and off maps. She both tells and writes stories. Her work is characterized by a weaving of the ordinary and the fabulous. She currently dwells on the enchanted Isle of Waiheke where she directs 'The Story Centre' and the 'Once Upon An Island Waiheke Festival of Story'.
A2: Curious about cats FULL now closed
Stephanie Dix and Liz Amoore
Strand: Writing Yrs: 1-4
This workshop is derived from a writing project based in Liz's classroom with her year 3 children. During the workshop Steph and Liz will discuss ways to scaffold and motivate young writers. These educators were especially interested in extending the young writers' use of imagery and encouraged vocabulary extension along with risktaking.
Stephanie has a background in school administration, classroom teaching from years 1-8, and MOE curriculum projects. She is currently a senior lecturer in the Arts and Language Education Department, School of Education and is co-ordinator of the Bachelor of Teaching (primary) at the University of Waikato. Her research interest is in children's writing.
Liz Amoore teaches at Pukete School and enjoys working with staff on their language literacy programmes.
A3: Dying for a change: A shift in the way children's picture books are dealing with death
Cecily Fisher
Strand: Reading Yrs: All
Traditionally fiction picture books, particularly at junior level, have dealt with death in the form of comfort AFTER the event, and are widely used to support the Change, Loss, Grief section of the Health Curriculum. The subject is often introduced gently by focusing on the death of a pet. However, an increasing number of new resources, particularly books translated from European languages, take a much more matter-of-fact view, even at junior level, treating death as a natural and essential part of life. I will discuss some of these books and their potential impact on the way we prepare (or do not prepare) our children for the fact that all living things must die, focusing on emotional and ecological attitudes to death without impacting at all on spiritual beliefs.
Cecily is the National Library's Learning Area Selector for Visual and Early Literacy, with responsibility for fiction picture book selection for the library's three Schools' Services Centres, in Auckland, Palmerston North and Christchurch. She also works as a Reference Librarian in the Christchurch Centre.'
A4: Reading Between the Lines – developing critical thinking skills
Tricia Glensor and Rachel Ingram
Strand: Reading Yrs 4-8
Using recent examples from the School Journal, this workshop will demonstrate practical ways in which teachers can help their students develop their critical thinking skills. Participants will also have the chance to preview forthcoming Journal items, with opportunities to comment on the texts and develop ideas for classroom use. Tricia will explain some of the reasons for selecting these texts for the Journals, and the editing, design, and illustration decisions that were made. Rachel will show how she has used these texts in the classroom to help develop her students’ critical thinking skills, using a range of comprehension strategies, including inferring,
identifying the author’s purpose, and evaluating ideas and information.
Tricia Glensor is a senior editor at Learning Media and has edited the Parts 1 and 2 School Journal since 1995. Rachel Ingram is assistant principal at Karori West Normal School in Wellington, where she shares literacy leader responsibilities. She has worked closely with Learning Media on the development of teacher support
materials for the School Journal.
A5: Teaching Spelling as a Tool of Writing FULL - now closed
Stephen Graham
Strand: Writing Yrs 1-8
In this session we will look at Spelling as a tool of writing and link the teaching of spelling with the teaching of writing. We will identify the groups of words that make different texts work and then examine how we can most effectively teach children to spell through the four spelling knowledges.
Stephen is the School Principal Literacy Consultant to the Dept of Education NSW. He is Reading Recovery trained and holds M.Ed and B.Ed degrees. He presents throughout Australia, NZ, US, Asia and England.
A6: Blogging as an empowering and motivating tool to promote reading and writing in New Zealand classrooms'
Jody Hayes Strand: ICT/literacy Yrs 1-8
I am a classroom teacher who has been blogging with my classes for the past four years. During that time I have taught children from New Entrants to Year Six. I have found blogging with classblogmeister to be a motivating tool for learning, allowing for collaboration and a window into our classroom. If you wish to hear about how blogging could be used in your classroom then come along to this workshop.
Note: Laptops will be useful in this workshop
Jody co-presented with Tom Sheehan at Learning@school ICT conference in February 2007 on the topic of how to blog with classblogmeister where David Warlick, the creator of classblogmeister, was keynote speaker.
A7: Tearing up textbooks
John Marsden
Strand: Writing Yrs: All
Building on the ideas expounded in my keynote, I'll be offering highly interactive workshops which will run through an extensive range of writing and drama activities for teachers to take back to their classrooms. Bring your pen and notebook and be prepared to have a go at everything - you never know when the spotlight might
fall on you, and you are exposed to public glory, public humiliation, or something somewhere between those two extremes!
A8: Achieving Fluency in Reading for all students with Reader's Theatre
Meryl-Lynn Pluck
Strand: Reading Yrs 1-8
Join an interactive workshop to discuss the following questions: What exactly is reading fluency and why is it important? What instructional trategies best promote fluency in reading? What is Reader's Theatre? How can something enjoyed so much by students be so beneficial to their development of oral reading fluency, comprehension and vocabulary? What are the characteristics of a good Reader's Theatre programme and what are advantages of audio support and writing advice when provided by award winning authors?
Meryl-Lynn Pluck (M.Phil, Specialising in Reading Difficulties trained by Marie Clay) is founder of the audio-assisted Rainbow Reading Intervention Programme and Speak Out Reader's Theatre which she developed from her understanding of a variety of successful literacy programmes and her own experience with teaching struggling readers as a Resource Teacher of Literacy.
A9: The Middle Years Reading Slump
Rob Southam
Strand: Reading Yrs 5-8
We hear much about a global Year 5-8 reading slump – sometimes referred to as the fourth grade slump. New Zealand is no exception in this regard. Rob will present explicit strategies that work for students in years 5-8 and across all ages and interest levels. As part of the workshop, Rob will also highlight the latest publishing and reading trends for the year 5-8 age group.
Rob Southam has presented many workshops to teachers and parents on the role of recreational reading in creating a life-long reader. She is one of New Zealand's experts in that field and has particular expertise in the area of Boys and Literacy.
A10: Developmentally appropriate literacy and thinking tools
Dr David Whitehead
Strands: Multiple Yrs: all
This practical workshop will involve participants with a core set of developmentally appropriate literacy and thinking tools linked to text types, subjects and the types of thinking listed under the Thinking Key Competencies in the New Zealand Curriculum document.
David is senior lecturer in the Arts and Language Education Department, University of Waikato and previous contributor to New Zealand Reading Association Conferences