Month: July 2017
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Comprehension is an essential part of the literacy equation
By Annie Facchinetti Imagine that you were lost in Turkey and the only directions you had were written in Turkish. You could probably read them out loud with reasonable accuracy, even though your phonological awareness of the language may not be perfect, but unless you can speak Turkish, your understanding would be limited. Reading the…
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Catering for mixed abilities in the English classroom
The term ‘mixed ability class’ is one that teachers often react to with an inward groan, but it’s a reality in most Australian classrooms. When I consider my Year 8 English class, there is a gap of around three years between the highest and lowest performing students, and I’m sure that this isn’t too unusual…
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Help us find the Australian Children’s Word of the Year!
Do your students talk Trump or Turnbull, fidget spinners or footy cards? Oxford University Press want to learn more about the way children communicate, and to help us do this we are launching the Children’s Word of the Year free writing competition. Primary school-aged children are invited to nominate their ‘Word of the Year’ and…
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Forget about Maths experts, Australian schools need well-supported teachers
By Brian Murray Hardly a year seems to pass by without some survey or other exposing a slip in numeracy standards in Australian schools. In late 2016, Education Minister, Simon Birmingham, said he was “embarrassed for Australia” because of the way Year 4 students had fallen behind other countries in Maths. Bodies such as the…
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Grab the students’ hearts and then sneak the information into their brains – An engaging approach to learning about ageing.
As editors of Healthy Ageing and Aged Care, Maree Bernoth and Denise Winkler aimed to provide students with an engaging resource to encourage students to read and learn about ageing. The authors appreciate the most valuable sources of information about ageing come from those who have lived life and experienced what it means to age….
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Literature and the everyday
By Rosemary Ross Johnston (Please note: Some parts of this appeared in an earlier blog for the Australian Association for Educational Research Contemporary research is increasingly showing the benefits of reading. Such benefits – exposure to unremitting flows of ideas and multiple stories – extend way beyond the conventional; they include benefits to health, wellbeing…
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Oxford Word of the Month: July – Shoey
noun: the act of drinking an alcoholic beverage out of a shoe, especially to celebrate a win. THE STORY BEHIND THE WORD OF THE MONTH The shoey is an Australian phenomenon that shot to international fame in 2016, thanks to Australian racing driver Daniel Ricciardo. He came second in the German Grand Prix in August and…