About Me















As an education consultant and author, I have worked extensively in the United States and Australia, promoting best practice in primary and secondary schools and at a systems level.


Based in New York (2001-2006) I worked across primary, middle and high schools supporting teachers, school districts, regions and school leadership teams, effecting improved learning outcomes for students in literacy.

This consultancy work took me into more than one hundred schools, predominantly in the urban schools of the New York City School System. Working with the New York Board of Education, I provided training for literacy coaches for NYC schools, writing curriculum resources, producing instructional videos and providing professional development institutes for teachers across the city. 

During this time I also worked in Baltimore, Saratoga, Pittsburgh and for two years worked extensively in school districts north of New York City including Eastchester, Westchester, Pawling and Beacon.

As an educator within the Victorian school system, I amassed extensive experience as a classroom teacher, staff developer, regional consultant and school administrator (Assistant Principal and Principal). 

Currently, based in Mornington, Victoria, Australia) I am providing consultancy support across schools and networks. My current work is Australia wide and continues to be focused on delivering effective literacy programs.

I have presented in the areas of school leadership, learning styles, differentiated instruction and the effective teaching of literacy P-12, particularly, reading comprehension, poetry and the craft of writing.

I was a contributing author to Teaching Comprehension, (Aussie Interactive) a professional development course on CD-ROMs for  K-9 teachers.
During my time in the U.S., I was a contributing author for New York City Secondary Schools Handbooks for Adolescent Learners Series.(2004) My writing focused on developing ‘Quality Conversations’ in classrooms.

I have published three poetry anthologies. The most recent ' What The Poemster Found'(2019)  ‘I Bet There's No Broccoli On The Moon' (Poetry for children) was released in November 2016. My initial poetry book, 'Searching For Hen's Teeth,' was released in November 2014.

My most recent publications are collaborative poetry projects, ''10.10 Poetry Anthology-Celebrating 10 in 10 Different Ways'' edited by Bridget Magee. 58 world poets contributed to this work. It was released in October, 2021. The other poetry project is 'Imperfect II' edited by Tabatha Yeats and contains poems about perspective for middle schoolers. 

My previous book, ‘Igniting Writing- When A Teacher Writes’ was published by Hawker Brownlow Education, 2011. 

In July, 2022, I had the great honour of presenting the Annual Donald Graves Address at the ALEA/AATE National Conference in Darwin. 





  

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Writing Opposite Poems

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 O pp o s ite  P oem s In his book, ' How To Write Poetry,'  Paul Janeczko presents the idea of opposite poems. Paul suggests they could also be referred to as antonym poems. This is wordplay and it's fun to try. Here are some examples Paul provides to help us see very clearly how these short little poems work. I think the opposite of chair Is sitting down with nothing there What is the opposite of kind? A goat that butts you from behind Paul Janeczko You will  notice the poems are written in rhyming couplets. They can be extended so long as you remember to write in couplets. Paul shows us how this is done. What is the opposite of new? Stale gum that's hard to chew A hot-dog roll as hard as rock Or a soiled and smelly forgotten sock You might notice that some of Paul's opposite Poems begin with a question. The remainder of the poem answer the question posed. Opposite poems are a challenge, but it is a challenge worth trying. Not eve...
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Writing About Reading - Reading Reflection Journals:

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UPDATED February 2022 Writing in response to literature can be a great way for students to organize their thoughts, explore what they think, and generate ideas. One of the strengths of writing in journals is that it allows students to capture all of those great ideas that generally float off into the air during the discussion.  Journal writing can also become drudgery if students are asked to write too often, given little choice or inspiration in what to write, or if they simply don't have anything to say. While some students eagerly share their impressions about selections they have read in class discussions, others are less comfortable and keep their thoughts to themselves. In an effort to encourage all students to think more about what they read and confidently share their observations and opinions, some teachers are turning to the reading reflection journal and are gaining insights they never anticipated.  The Value of Reflection Journals   Journals assist teachers...
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Learning How to 'Zoom In' When Writing

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It is important for young writers to understand that not all parts of a story are equal. There are parts through which a writer moves quickly, and important parts where the writer slows down and lingers a while. This is where the writer might intensify the action or reveal the character’s reactions in greater detail. Young writers need to know that this is a deliberate strategy on the part of the author. The author consciously zooms in. The writer uses a magnifying glass to view a part of the story more closely; to focus on a moment and to slow down time. When an important part of the story is enlarged upon, it   is a signal to the reader, that this part of the story is important. The strategy of ‘zooming in’ goes by many names: ‘exploding a moment’ ‘magnifying a moment’, ‘hotspot’ ‘snapshot’, ‘adding detail’ or ‘slowing the action.’  What ever the name, the idea is the same. The author writes in a way that expands a significant part of the story with the intentio...
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Slice Of Life Story-The Trials Of A Left Handed Writer

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Amazingly I learnt to write using my left hand. An achievement against the prevailing beliefs of the day. My very first teacher saw it as her mission in life to ‘fix’ the poor, wretched little boy suffering from what she clearly diagnosed as left handed disease. She must have thought, 'This child must be re formatted! If he remains left handed he will be forever condemned to writing in a scrawl that no one will be able to read. Ugly hand, ugly hand.' ...They tried to say it couldn't be done, it mustn't be done. They took the pencil out of my left hand and placed it in my right hand. It felt unnatural. It felt weird. It was not right. More to the point it was not left. I was not about to conform. At least they didn't try tying my hand behind my back. Watch me I said. I may be an oddball, left handed scribbler but I am a determined oddball. I mean how boring would the world be if everyone wrote with their right hand? So I dug my toes in –and my hands to...
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Exploring Themes in Poetry With Emerging Writers

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There is so much more to poetry than haiku and acrostics. Yet, so many young poets never get to experience the rich breadth of poetry beyond these highly structured forms. Why? Primarily, it’s about their teachers comfort levels with poetry. We often teach to what we know, meaning that being adventurous and taking young poets into new realms is not part of the poetic landscape for many. This sells young poets and poetry itself short. Last week I had the pleasure to again work with a group of young poets from Derrimut Primary School grade 5/6 in Melbourne’s west. We have been exploring patterns and repetition in poetry. We have explored personification as a literary device to develop the writing of poetry. We delved into the idea of writing through a mask to provide inanimate and animate entities with a voice. They told stories in words from their own perspective. On this occasion we again went to the edges and began to explore poetry through themes. We discussed a range ...
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