Category: Literacy
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Word of the Month—January: Nutbush
Nutbush noun: a line dance performed to the song ‘Nutbush City Limits’. At what is promoted as the world’s most remote music festival—the Birdsville Big Red Bash—a peculiar record was broken in July of this year: ‘The Birdsville event broke its own world record for most number of people (2330) doing the Nutbush dance.’ (Brisbane…
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Creating enthusiastic young writers
OUP ANZ would like thank Kayti Deham and the students at Tennant Creek Primary School for giving us the opportunity to share their story. For teachers working in challenging classroom environments engaging students might be difficult but not impossible. Tennant Creek Primary School introduced the Read Write Inc. program just over a year ago, and…
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Congratulations to the Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year Winners
The school bell has sounded, and it’s time to reveal the winning entries for the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year 2019! We received hundreds of incredible entries this year, and we would like to extend our gratitude and admiration to all students and teachers involved. While ‘Bravery’ was the winning word this year, it…
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Announcing the Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year 2019
‘Bravery’: Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year 2019. The Oxford Australian Children’s Word of the Year is a result of an Australia-wide writing competition. Students from Grade Prep to Grade 6 were invited to submit a piece of free writing of up to 500 words based on a chosen word. Students were encouraged to…
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Word of the Month – October: dog shot
noun: a sudden blow; a king-hit. verb: to hit (a person) suddenly and without warning; to king hit (a person). In an apology sent via text message, a rugby league player defended the actions of his group when they became involved in a fight outside a night club: ‘“… we never dog shotted any of…
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Celebrating the 600th title in the Very Short Introduction series: Reading
“We want to believe we are more than our brains. Are we? One of the reasons we continue to enjoy reading contemporary novels is that this is one of many compelling questions that they explore, because certain kinds of reading are above all a stimulus for our own minds. There is a tension or at…
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Behind the scenes in the creation of a new Aussie literacy icon
Oxford Australia’s new icon for its Reading for Comprehension series has flown out into the world, with the aim of teaching and inspiring children to read. But as cute as the sugar glider looks, its creation was not as straightforward as its designer might have hoped. Senior Concept Designer Miranda Costa said she was kept…
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Evidence-based practice in literacy instruction changes lives
This article was written by Jocelyn Seamer and first published in The Professional Educator. If you drive five hours north of Alice Springs you will find yourself in the town of Tennant Creek. A brief walk around our local primary school will reveal children from a range of backgrounds and levels of achievement. Some sit…