Living Life Twice

I recently conducted a series of after school workshops across Melbourne's Western Region Schools ( Melton Moonee Valley Footscray and Wyndham Werribee) dealing with writing persuasively. In May Australian students in Grades3, 5, 7 and 9 will be asked to write in a persuasive manner as part of the National Assessment Program (Literacy and Numeracy) NAPLAN. To further assist teachers in their important work with young writers I am making the notes from those workshops available. I will spread the posting over three days so the information is less daunting. The Art of Persuasion Our role as teachers of writing is to prepare an environment that stimulates and challenges students to want to learn worthwhile things. Historical efforts to ‘prepare’ students for tests have been based on methods that can be characterized as: Transmittal Isolated De-contextualized (Boyer 1983) Promoted passivity (Goodlad 1984) Rote memorization -drill and ...

It is April and that means National Poetry Month in the USA ! I vividly recall during my six years living and working in the US how schools went into poetry mode each April. I found this focus on poetry left me in a quandary. I love poetry, so this national focus on poetry was something that greatly impressed me. It brought this ancient genre to centre stage and I considered that was something our Australian schools could learn from. Poetry in such a supportive environment began to shed its elitist cloak. It became accessible to the broader school population.   However, something began to gnaw away at me as each successive April celebration unfolded. I became concerned that in the minds of many educators poetry was being constrained to a single month in the school calendar. I wanted to encounter poetry across the school year, but it seemed tightly confined to the month of April in the minds of many. I wanted poetry to pop up unexpectedly; at various times of the school day...

I was reminded recently that when teachers complain that they have no power it is simply not true. They control the very weather in their classrooms. Upon entering a classroom it takes little time to assess what the teacher values. The evidence is all around the room. It is revealed in the atmosphere that exists in the room, the interaction between the students themselves, and between the teacher and the students. It is also revealed in the physical environment. The presence of anchor charts reveals the tracks of the learning taking place. The way they are used to support student learning reveals the value teachers place on such resources. When students are free to access resources within the room, it reveals the levels of trust that exist. I have been gathering evidence from a host of classes lately. The data reveals how teachers are responding to the needs of their developing writers. Supporting them and directing their attention to important ideas about aspects of writing. In th...

It is said that it is the journey not the destination that is important and there is ample evidence that is indeed true. This is my fourth March SLICE of Life Story Challenge. Each year it is like returning to visit with old friends. A reunion of like minds creates a sense of shared celebration. Each year I participate in the Slice of Life Story Challenge I gain a stronger appreciation that part of this journey involves exploring self. I have also been able to learn of the common bonds we share when reading the words of fellow writers. These experiences allow me to contemplate and connect, despite the geographical differences. I have gained an enhanced appreciation of the happiness that resides in the present moment. When we learn to do this, we cease borrowing from the bank of future hope.   I make discoveries, -words, phrases, ideas and the optimism that resides in the attitudes of my fellow writers. Involvement in this writing project enables me to give and re...

  It is the wonder of now that inspires this final offering for the marvellous month of March… One of the real l ife lessons acquired from participation in this and previous Slice of Life Story Challenges has been an increased awareness of moments in time. The incredible wonder that resides in being present in that special moment. This morning I spent time at the park with Sass, age 9 and Sunni age 7. I watched them devote extended time to mastering moves on the swing. Their solitary aim was to go as high as possible. They were totally devoted to flying up to the heavens. It was as if nothing else existed beyond that simple goal. I watched intently. Their efforts inspired me to take photos. Captured images of a moment in time, serve as an aid to the writer’s recall.   Earlier, I had watched them eat waffles, strawberries and ice-cream in the cafe. They ate heartily and scraped their plates until no trace of the culinary delights remained. Kids in the zone. My o...

This slice is dedicated to all my hard working colleagues in classrooms. It's the end of Term 1 in Victorian schools today, and a break is richly deserved. They continue to work tirelessly despite the fact that the state government has removed $346 million from the education budget. So, here's to teachers! When children make a demonstrable breakthrough in their learning or understanding after weeks of careful modelling by the teacher, it makes teaching so worthwhile. When they read with confidence or gain power over an aspect of their writing, special moments occur. When a student takes responsibility for an aspect of their learning, the teacher rejoices in this significant event. It is time to celebrate. Feedback to the student is usually immediate and sincere. I am saying these things because teaching is not always like this. At times teaching can be extremely stressful and demanding. There are times throughout this year when demands of the workday erode much of the g...

I have just finished presenting a series of workshops dealing with persuasive writing for all schools in Melbourne ’s Western Region.   National testing in writing in May will expect Australian students in Grades 3,5,7 and 9 to respond to a prompt using persuasive strategies and structures in their responses. It is important not to descend into the dark recesses of ‘test prep’ behaviours. I’m not an advocate for standardised testing. The validity of such assessments remains highly questionable and culturally biased. Such assessments tend to produce teaching that looks a lot like testing itself.     Standardised tests are however like global warming; they present as an inconvenient truth with strong political imperatives. For this reason I want students to feel comfortable about writing when placed in a testing situation. We must explain to students that this type of writing (test writing) is totally artificial and totally different from writing as we know. In o...

Today, I ducked into a supermarket to buy some razor blades. I have to say the price of these tiny seemingly essential items appalled me. Given that I live in a country renowned for its abundant iron ore resources, the price of razor blades appears inexplicable.   Two of the world’s biggest steel manufacturers BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are based here and yet we pay up to $17 AUD for a set of four blades of questionable longevity! How can this be? Well, it partly has to do with our obsession to rid the body of hair. Hair has become a blight on our bodies. We appear to have declare war on body hair. To quote Shakespeare, we refer to hair as if we are saying, ‘Out damned spot!’ The blades are in are favour in the modern era. It’s a far cry from the heady and hairy days of the sixties and seventies and the strains of ‘ Give me a head with hair, long beautiful hair…’ Advertisers now encourage us to adopt a scorched earth policy in relation to hair. It is plucked, scraped, cut, ...

Last year, at almost the exact time, I experienced a wonder of nature I had waited all my life to experience. Monarch Butterflies finally entered my garden. In Australia they are also known as Wanderer Butterflies. At that time I wrote, ‘ I noticed some large butterflies hovering near the buddleias beside the creek.   At first I wasn’t sure if I was seeing things. Could they be Wanderers? Such visits are uncommon. However, they are renowned for being able to travel significant distances and I have waited many years for them to visit. So the hope in my heart began to dance with anticipation. I stood to gain a closer look. I approached them tentatively, not wishing to disturb them; still unsure that what my eyes were fixed upon matched the thoughts in my head. Were these magnificent butterflies flittering around me actually the legendary Monarch butterflies also known as Wanderers?  Diving and swooping continually around the buddleias and along the creek...

Today, I presented at a conference for Graduate Teachers in Melbourne. The conference title was ‘Surviving and Thriving in the Early Years of Teaching.’ Among the many things I shared with participants, was the importance of being joyfully literate, and the critical nature of sharing our reading and writing lives with the students in our care. When it comes to teaching, you must in the stream with your students,. You can’t stand on the bank imploring them to swim faster! Your efforts must intially go into helping keep them afloat. When you share aspects of your reading and writing self, it adds extra depth to your humanity and strengthen the connection to what you are demanding of them. It makes you credible… These remarks led me to thinking about my personal situation as both reader and writer, and I recalled reading recently that one of favourite educators, Richard Allington, speaking at a conference in Colorado had restated his belief that unless you know a ...