Why are schools pursuing the Workshop Model for young students? The Workshop model entails students working through the writing process to learn the art of being an author through editing and revising. The difficulty here is one of mass differentiation. Here are the practical things we need to consider in the implementation of shifting to an explicit writing model.

The announcement from Deputy Premier and Education Minister Ben Carroll on Thursday is welcomed by Think Forward Educators members who are pleased to see evidence-aligned instruction so strongly supported by policy leaders in Victoria. This is good news and a great first step in the right direction.

A new partnership between La Trobe University and Think Forward Educators will provide increased opportunities for collaborative research for School of Education researchers and Think Forward Educators’ national network.

There has been a lot of recent commentary about student behaviour in schools and what teachers should do about it. We thought it might be useful to share a series of five “memes” over the coming days that may enhance a teacher’s ability to understand and implement evidence-based behaviour support practices in their classroom. Each meme is based on a significant body of research evidence and may be used to add depth or breadth to practices that you are familiar with already (such as explicit instruction and opportunities to respond).

Comparative Judgement is an innovative new assessment that has recently become available in Australia. Traditional marking, including NAPLAN Writing, involves the use of a rubric. Comparative Judgement relies on many educators comparing one script to another until a continuum of scripts is formed. To understand if Comparative Judgement can be a useful predictor for national writing assessment, No More Marking are able to make some interesting correlations.

A message from Think Forward Educators founder Dr Nathaniel Swain

Introducing Katie Roberts-Hull, the new Think Forward Educators CEO

An overarching problem encountered in many classrooms is having our students write the way they speak. Why do they do this?

Language acquisition is a biologically primary skill, meaning humans will naturally learn how to speak. However, the written word is a skill that must be taught.

Following on from last year’s successful series of blog articles on 5 ways to implement the science of reading, this year experts will be providing ready-to-use tips on the science of maths.
Inspired by Tom Sherrington’s Five Ways Collection, the posts have been edited and curated by Brendan Lee and Dr Nathaniel Swain.
The first blog post of the series comes from maths guru, Alex Blanksby.

Following on from last year’s successful series of blog articles on 5 ways to implement the science of reading, this year experts will be providing ready-to-use tips on the science of maths.
Inspired by Tom Sherrington’s Five Ways Collection, the posts have been edited and curated by Brendan Lee and Dr Nathaniel Swain.
The second blog post of the series comes from maths guru, Karen Tzanetopoulos.

Following on from last year’s successful series of blog articles on 5 ways to implement the science of reading, this year experts will be providing ready-to-use tips on the science of maths.
Inspired by Tom Sherrington’s Five Ways Collection, the posts have been edited and curated by Brendan Lee and Dr Nathaniel Swain.
The first blog post of the series comes from maths guru, Alex Blanksby.

What is the best way of reporting assessment information to students & parents? This is a question I hear all the time, and it isn’t easy to answer. What we all want is an assessment system that is (a) accurate, (b) easy to understand, (c) not too time-consuming for staff, and (d) motivating for students. But these principles are all in conflict with each other.

This article from Brendan Lee looks at what we can do to support school leaders in implementing the science of learning.

So what is Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)? According to data from the SCALES Project, led by Professor Courtney Norbury, it affects 1 in 14 children, which equates to approximately 2 children in every classroom. Each person’s language profile will look different but common features include difficulties with:
Learning and using new words, Word finding, Understanding and using complex sentences, Understanding the nuances of conversation, Working memory, Reading. Chances are that someone in your everyday life has this hidden condition. Please take the time to learn a little more. It could make all the difference.

Think Forward Educators is posting a series of blog articles written by educational experts providing ready-to-use tips on how to implement the Science of Reading into the classroom. Inspired by Tom Sherrington’s Five Ways Collection, the posts have been edited and curated by Brendan Lee and Dr Nathaniel Swain. This blog post on Oral Language comes from teacher and speech-language pathologist, Kathryn Thorburn.

Over the coming weeks, Think Forward Educators will be posting a series of blog articles written by educational experts providing ready-to-use tips on how to implement the Science of Reading into the classroom. Inspired by Tom Sherrington’s Five Ways Collection, the posts have been edited and curated by Brendan Lee and Dr Nathaniel Swain. The fourth blog post of the series from teacher and learning specialist, James Dobson gives us a comprehensive look at fluency.

Over the coming weeks, Think Forward Educators will be posting a series of blog articles written by educational experts providing ready-to-use tips on how to implement the Science of Reading into the classroom. Inspired by Tom Sherrington’s Five Ways Collection, the posts have been edited and curated by Brendan Lee and Dr Nathaniel Swain. This third post of the series comes from teacher and consultant, Debbie Draper, on the teaching of comprehension.

Over the coming weeks, Think Forward Educators will be posting a series of blog articles written by educational experts providing ready-to-use tips on how to implement the Science of Reading into the classroom. Inspired by Tom Sherrington’s Five Ways Collection, the posts have been edited and curated by Brendan Lee and Dr Nathaniel Swain. The second blog post of the series comes from teacher and consultant, Lindsey Bartes, on Phonics teaching.

Do you accept that correct sentence structure is the building block of quality writing? Then you possibly have entered into a journey with grammar that feels like a road map of rules, terms, symbols and arrangements that are blasting cognitive load. While we know to teach grammar in context, we have to also understand that parts of grammar are sequential. We advocate for taking the time in your writing scope and sequence to focus on small aspects of grammar, cement it in working memory, practice it, retrieve it and then drop in opportunities for reference or application among all the other moments when students are writing. Read more and come along to writing network discussion!