Presenting Spelling Choice Hell. Lyn Stone is a very special guest at Gippsland Branch of Think Forward Educators.

Get the lowdown on the Australian History and Geography Units planned for this project. Read2Learn (r2L) is Brandon Park Primary’s new platform for teaching reading comprehension within a knowledge-rich curriculum. This is an evolution from their work in recent years to teach reading comprehension explicitly and in a way that gets students focussed on in-depth text. Hear about the ambitious project to share our curriculum resources with you, and collaborate with other schools to produce high-quality units that develop knowledge and reading/writing expertise in students.

Marshall Roberts talks about his family’s journey into home tutoring and literacy advocacy. Marshall will discuss his family’s background story, what fired him up, what he’s learnt along the way, some parallels between education and farming cultures (yes, really!) and what he’d do differently in hindsight. He will also share some reflections and information for other parents who may be just at the point of thinking “something’s not right”.

Open to all Principals and Assistant/Deputy Principals. Manisha Gazula is a passionate educator with a fundamental focus on improving student outcomes. She is Principal of Marsen Road Public School.

In 2019, Marsden Road Public School received the Executive Directors Award for significant contributions towards advancing the strategic goals of the NSW Department of Education.

Join the ACT Branch of Think Forward Educators and to be part of a community that shares ideas, builds knowledge and learns together.

This session will share the innovative practice of two speech pathologists and the literacy leadership teams they work with at Craigmore High School and Parafield Gardens High School.
Grounded in the science of reading, a wave 2 evidence-informed reading intervention program for year 7 and 8 students who have word reading (decoding) ages between 6 to 10 years will be outlined. Participants will gain an understanding of the assessment process, the intervention, and positive outcomes achieved across the two schools.
This presentation is relevant to primary and high school teachers and leaders who have an interest in improving student reading ability, or who are curious about what Speech Pathology can offer in a high school setting or adolescent reading intervention space.

In a world first, we will be hearing from real teachers discussing their real-world challenges in implementing the science of learning. Dr Nathaniel Swain and Brendan Lee will then guide teachers and school leaders through some possible solutions, taking an evidence-informed approach. To respect people's privacy, this session will not be recorded.

Gippsland Branch of Think Forward Educators are hosting an evening session on Monitoring Early Reading Progress. Join us for discussion and sharing of best practice.

Get the lowdown on the Australian History and Geography Units planned for this project. Read2Learn (r2L) is Brandon Park Primary’s new platform for teaching reading comprehension within a knowledge-rich curriculum. This is an evolution from their work in recent years to teach reading comprehension explicitly and in a way that gets students focussed on in-depth text. Hear about the ambitious project to share our curriculum resources with you, and collaborate with other schools to produce high-quality units that develop knowledge and reading/writing expertise in students.

Take a dive into the DIBELS reading assessment. DIBELS is a freely available reading assessment from the University of Oregon, for students from Foundation to Year 8. This session covers how, when and why to use DIBELS as part of literacy assessment in primary schools and into early high school. See examples of how DIBELS is used at Carlton Primary School to inform planning for classroom and intervention teaching.

At Brandon Park Primary School, we are building upon our low variance spelling and word reading curriculum, to make direct connections between spelling, reading, and writing instruction within English lessons and in every learning area. In this session we will describe how we are ensuring that in every subject, children are supported to read, write and discuss high-level academic concepts and ideas, and put their hard-won literacy skills to good use. This practical and research-informed presentation will detail how we have sought to make explicit and direct connections between what students are learning in English, and the vast knowledge bases in the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities. By using a knowledge-rich, coherent and cohesive curriculum map, and the thought-enriching techniques from the Writing Revolution, we are supporting our students to become informed, insightful, critical and independent readers, writers, and learners. Come hear how you could do the same!

As a small, regional primary school with a vulnerable student population, the leadership of Montello Primary School knew that changes were needed to support their students to become proficient readers. Over the course of a year, the school has trained staff and implemented a structured literacy approach in their early years classrooms. This hasn't come without challenges, but Dion McCall (Principal) and Ruby Moore (Quality Teaching Coach) are ready to share preliminary data, experiences and wisdom with other schools thinking of embarking on a similar journey. In this session, Jocelyn Seamer will facilitate a conversation with Dion and Ruby about their methodology, motivations and future plans for structured literacy in their school.

Open to all Principals and Assistant/Deputy Principals. Riverwood Public school is a small school located in a low socio-economic community in south-western Sydney. A focus on evidence-based wellbeing and learning practices has underpinned the school’s improvement work. We are committed to Explicit Direct Instruction as a key pedagogical approach and our literacy practices are aligned with the research from the science of reading. The school’s wellbeing framework articulates a twin focus on staff and student wellbeing.

Standing for Phonology, Orthography, Morphology, Etymology and Semantics, PhOrMeS aims to equip teachers and schools with a ready-to-teach, comprehensive, whole-class curriculum which covers the skills outlined above. In this webinar, you will hear from the lead author, Shane Pearson. You will learn about the components of the PhOrMeS Word Reading & Spelling Curriculum and how they progress from Foundation to Year 6, learn how PhOrMeS uses the SoR and SoL to teach decoding and spelling, and see examples of slides and instructional sequences and much much more.

Jasmine Shannon, and Kylie Conrad are morphology-obsessed. Seeing morphology as such an unsung hero. they constantly research Greek and Latin and how these languages influence the way we spell today. Morphology has huge potential to build comprehension, vocabulary and to drive spelling instruction. However, how this is used is still being thought out in many schools. Morphology is the organisational feature of the entire English spelling system which shares a leading role with phonology and is heavily influenced by etymology. Join us for this exciting presentation, and get ready to become morphology-mad too!

Have ever you had the realisation that the way your school has been going about things is not evidence-informed? Have you also struggled with initiating the changes that are needed for school improvement? This talk is targeted at classroom teachers and middle leaders who are experiencing barriers in the implementation process. In this presentation, Brendan will discuss some of the strategies that teachers can use when approaching school leaders and what you need to understand before moving forward.

Open to all Principals and Assistant/Deputy Principals. The journey to become a school of excellence for Beeliar Primary School started with an in-depth analysis of student data, where all staff engaged in a disciplined dialogue about school and student performance. Whole school programs including Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI), InitiaLit, Critical Reading and Spelling Mastery were introduced to ensure consistency of practice and a systematic development of reading across the school. The results have been outstanding and Beeliar PS achieved green boxes for all literacy areas in our 2021 Year 3 NAPLAN results.

Exclusive to NSW members, with special guest Prof Pamela Snow!! Come along to this informal meeting to continue the conversations within our networks. In light of the changes to NSW English Syllabus, we invite you to have a read of the following two articles from Pamela Snow ahead of the meeting.

Join the ACT Branch of Think Forward Educators and to be part of a community that shares ideas, builds knowledge and learns together. We meet Week 4 every term, hosted by a selected school in the ACT.

Rebecca Birch hosts a crash course for early career English teachers on how to create cultures of writing and reading in the classroom. Drawing on evidence-based practice, Rebecca will share key strategies to support teachers in making writing routine, including the direct teaching of writing structures that enhance learning, and the modelling and scaffolding of responses. She will also present on how to support students in reading comprehension, while providing an appropriate level of challenge. Finally, she will present on the structures and resources that can support early career teachers in doing their job, for example effective use of aides, strategic programming and efficient whole class and individualised feedback.

Our first GELL of 2022 meeting was presented by the wonderful Dr Toni Seiler on 'Dyslexia - its nature prevention and intervention'.

Open to all Principals and Assistant Principals. Come to discuss, share, and learn about the tremendous success at Churchill Primary with Principal, Jacquie Burrows.

Read2Learn (r2L) is Brandon Park Primary’s new platform for teaching reading comprehension within a knowledge-rich curriculum. This is an evolution from their work in recent years to teach reading comprehension explicitly and in a way that gets students focussed on in-depth text.

Come along to this free information session to hear about the ambitious project to share our curriculum resources with you, and collaborate with other schools to produce high-quality units that develop knowledge and reading/writing expertise in students.

The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) has been funded by Australia’s nine education ministers to support education to become more evidence-based, in order to improve learning outcomes for children and young people. Even when evidence is compelling, proven effective practices are not necessarily the approaches most commonly used in schools. This presentation will look at why AERO considers implementation to be the biggest challenge to evidence-based practice, and what AERO will do about it.

Open to all Principals and Assistant Principals. Get ahead for your 2022 planning and hear from an expert in the field. Come to discuss, share, and ask our panel (Steven Capp and Sarah Asome) about the Science of Reading and Learning.

What role does oral language play in supporting student literacy & learning across the curriculum?
Does it matter beyond the first year of school?
What impact does oral language skills have on learning to read and reading comprehension?

Kathryn Thorburn is a dual qualified Speech Pathologist and Teacher with a Masters in Special Education. She has 25 years experienced as a Speech Pathologist and runs a small private practice, Language and Learning. Kathryn will provide an in-depth look at oral language in the Classroom across the school years. She understands first hand the demands placed on classroom teachers and strives to make the complex practical to support schools to support learners in the most effective, time and resource efficient manner possible.

The next branch meeting of Gippsland Educators Language and Literacy will be held on Wednesday 10 November. At this meeting we will hear from two teachers who have been successfully implementing the science of reading and science of learning in their classrooms. They will share their experiences and provide tips for setting up the new year for success. Sarah Johnstone from Guthridge Primary School (Sale) is currently a Literacy Specialist and has previously held leadership and principal positions. Rachael Geerts from St Pauls Anglican Grammar School (Traralgon) has recently been appointed Director of Learning and Teaching and previously was the Learning Specialist at Loch Primary School.

In this session, Jocelyn will share her experiences from her work in some of Australia's remotest schools and outline the necessary components for evidence informed literacy practices in the early primary years.  Focusing on practical and realistic actions, Jocelyn will invite you to consider the steps we might take to move closer to the evidence and create success and growth for every child, everywhere.  

In this address, Lyn Stone shows, through practical demonstration, the benefits of systematically teaching the orthographic patterns of written English. Drawing on principles of Cognitive Load Theory, linguistic analysis and vast experience in varied educational settings, Lyn offers suggestions for implementing high quality spelling lessons into everyday classroom instruction. Leave this session with a deeper insight into the writing system and instructional procedures that you can share with colleagues.

A school improvement journey. In this practical and reflective talk, Jack Neil will explore an example of how to initiate school change towards the Science of Learning, and how to lead in a new space. Jack will emphasise that key to leading change is embracing teachers as your greatest asset.