4 Steps For Navigating Towards Literacy Success
My husband and I enjoy rogaining (long distance orienteering that requires a minimum of two people per group). It’s not just the fact that it usually involves running around the …
3 Common Misconceptions About The 6+1 Traits of writing
It’s no surprise that I get a lot of questions about the 6+1 traits of writing. I do, after all, bang on about them ALL. THE. TIME. Why? Because even …
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Should You Teach Genre or the 6 + 1 Traits?
I get asked this question quite a lot. And it excites me. Why? Because it’s generally asked after a teacher has had their eyes opened to the 6+1 traits of …
1 Confession and 2 learnings about guided reading
I have a confession to make. When I first started teaching, I was a guided reading fraud. I had NO IDEA what I was doing. Being shown the location of …
Why Guided Reading shouldn’t be mandated in schools
Imagine there was a hospital that only trained its surgeons to put plaster casts on its patients. They’d heard about the benefits of plaster casts and how great they were …
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4 books to spark start-of-year notebook writing
Notebook writing is the perfect start-of-year activity for your literacy classroom- it builds community and teaches students timely strategies for generating ideas for writing. Now that’s a win-win right there. …
A crucial first step in improving writing instruction
I love a good inspirational quote. My childhood gymnastics coach, Mr Palmer, introduced them to me. You couldn’t even go to the bathroom in his gym without facing uplifting words …
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1 Thing All Teachers (and Leaders) MUST Do This Week
Last week I was fortunate enough to listen to mindset coach Kylie Broadfoot (from KMB Coaching) speak on a very relevant topic for this time of year: self-care. At first …
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3 common change leadership mistakes in schools
My husband and I have always loved the outdoors. The bush is our defibrillator; it recharges us and brings us back into our natural rhythm. It clears the mind and …
6 reasons every teacher should read aloud every day
When my year 3 teacher, Mrs Margaret Browne, told us she had to pull on a pair of gloves before she could start reading our new class novel, I don’t …
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