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University Awards for Highest Achieving Preservice Teachers Meanjin is proud to continue its long standing tradition of sponsoring the Preservice Teaching Graduates Literacy Awards. Each year, the student who has outperformed all other students in the core literacy units in designated undergraduate teaching degrees at Griffith University, Australian Catholic University, Christian Heritage College and the Queensland University of Technology, receive a special ALEA Award acknowledging their status. They also receive a 12 month ALEA membership so they can continue to be up to date with research on teaching and learning and a $50 book voucher for the ALEA bookshop. We thank Kay Bishop, the Meanjin Vice-President, for coordinating this worthwhile scheme. This year, QUT Bachelor of Education (Primary) Graduate, Natalie McCosker, won an ALEA award for a GPA of 7 (out of a possible 7) in the required English Language and Literacy units. She was also awarded a QUT University Medal for her outstanding achievement in the course. Another QUT Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood) Graduate, Geraldine Chaplin, won an ALEA award with a GPA of 6.3 (out of a possible 7) in the required English Language and Literacy units. Australian Catholic University literacy award winner, Margaret Carabetta received her award from Meanjin Vice-President Kay Bishop at the January 2010 meeting. Meanjin congratulates these graduands and others who have received their awards through their university awards events on their demonstrated commitment to literacy teaching and learning and wishes them well for their forthcoming careers.
Pictured: Thank you to the conference
committee!
2009 ASFLA Pre-conference institute Monday 28 & Tuesday 29 September The 2009 ASFLA Pre-conference institute was held on Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 September at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. This collaborative event between ALEA, ETAQ (English Teachers Association of Queensland) and QUT was attended by 56 participants. Three small group interactive workshops were presented by acclaimed local teachers and presenters. Each focused on the application of grammar to early years, primary and secondary learning areas. Participant evaluations indicated that it was two days well spent!
Workshop 1: Getting a grip on
(functional) grammar Garry Collins: (Workshop 1 Presenter)
Michele Endicott: (Workshop 1
Presenter) Workshop 2: Grammar for classroom use Kay Bishop: (Workshop 2 Presenter)
Lindsay Williams: (Workshop 2
Presenter)
Annette Curnow: (Workshop 3 Presenter) Lenore Ferguson: (Workshop 3
Presenter) Ray McGuire: (Workshop 3 Presenter) DET NLNW “GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT” DIGITAL LITERACIES HALF DAY PD – SATURDAY 5th SEPTEMBER
To this end, hands-on workshops were
conducted at Forest Lake SHS on Saturday 5th September, 2009. Dr Anita
Jetnikoff, a senior lecturer in media studies at QUT, lead a group of
participants through the process of making their own Photo Story,
including adding music and narration. Dr Vinesh Chandra, a senior
lecturer in technology education at QUT, conducted a workshop on robotics.
Participants learnt how to program a robot, then in groups of two,
participated in their own robotics challenge. Back by popular demand,
Kev Bishop, a HOD with Education Queensland, introduced participants
to the wonderful world of computer animation.
The remit we gave our presenters was to increase skill levels and confidence and enjoyment with technology. By the sounds of the merry chatter over another scrumptious Meanjin morning tea, we were as successful as we had hoped to be.
Saturday Half Day PD - 21 February: "In Testing Times"
This proved to be a winning formula, as one participant noted: Thank you to the presenters and organisers. The Saturday workshops are fantastic because we can come without disrupting school plans. As we’ve been able to use school venues, we can keep prices low enough for teachers to pay for themselves if they are not able to secure financial support from their schools. In terms of the topic, it seems teachers and educators from all levels of schooling are feeling the pressure. The day was attended by a range of teachers and school administrators. Even three pre-service teachers came along! Our keynote presenter, Professor Val
Klenowski (QUT), set the scene by outlining the international approach
to ramping-up and scaling-down large scale literacy assessment. The world
movements give us much food for thought as we enter into new terrain in
Australia.
(Val's PowerPoint)
As always, we thank attendees for their feedback. This feedback is invaluable to us as we plan future PD opportunities. We also like to know your ideas for improving the activities for you, our valued members. Below are a few comments and the committee’s responses. 1. Ipswich is not convenient. 2. Chairs not comfortable. 3. Bring back Marianne and Pat for
future PD events. 4. Suggestion - 10 min break during 2
hour sitting workshop.
Saturday Half Day PD - 21 March: “Literacy Outcomes & Digitalisation: Competing Tensions?” On Saturday 21 March Meanjin (ALEA) hosted a professional development program entitled “Literacy Outcomes & Digitalisation: Competing Tensions?” at Holland Park State School.
Further provocation came from analysis of
comparative data e.g. PISA (OECD) which
Yrs P – 3: Valerie Rodgers and Lynelle Whittaker shared their work in a presentation entitled Keeping Kids Keen – Nurturing multiliteracies in the Early Years, Using ICTs, investigation and play to support the development of literacy skills.
Many thanks to our presenters for leading this professional learning. Half Day PD - 16 May 2009 Holy Family School, Indooroopilly "Becoming Literacy Teachers: Saturday Workshops for early years, middle years and secondary school teachers” On Saturday, 16 May, Meanjin hosted its second Professional Development session for 2009 at the Holy Family School, Indooroopilly. This half day offering, entitled “Becoming Literacy Teachers: Saturday workshops for early years, middle years and secondary school teachers” provided practising and pre-service teachers with an extensive range of options from which to choose.
Many thanks to our presenters and members of the Meanjin Committee for your contributions to another successful program promoting great practice.
Meanjin Local Council of ALEA AGM May 2009 The 2009 Meanjin Local Council of ALEA AGM was held on Wednesday 27 May at a restaurant at Southbank. We welcomed some new faces and many firm friends for a drink and a chat before the more formal (but efficient) proceedings of the AGM. The membership voted to return David Macknish (Principal of Ipswich Grammar School) as President, Anne Siemon (ESL Teacher) and Kay Bishop (Education Queensland) as Vice-Presidents, Kev Bishop (Education Queensland) as Treasurer and Pat Edgar (Pat Edgar Consultancy) as Secretary. General committee appointments for 2009-2010 were made to Marianne Schubert (Education Queensland), Pat Hipwell (Logon Literacy), Helen Cooper (Holy Family School), Dr Beryl Exley (Queensland University of Technology), Jessica Bradley and Rebecca Trimble-Roles (preservice teachers). We applaud these dedicated individuals, and the small army of extended friends who so kindly assist in planning and hosting a myriad of events each year for the benefit our teacher and preservice teacher members and young students. Outgoing committee members included Jann Scott, Keiran Abel and Shelley Ede. We thank most sincerely these outgoing members for their years of dedication and support and the impact they have made on literacy teaching and learning in the profession. These ladies are not so much bidding Meanjin farewell; they are merely having a break from committee duties. They have been the quiet achievers and deserve our ongoing thanks and appreciation.
ALEA/AATE National Conference July 2009, Wrest Point Casino, Hobart
A whole host of Meanjin members travelled to the chilly but picturesque capital of Tasmania for the second week of the school holidays to partake in the language, literacy and literature feast that was “Bridging Divides: Ensuring access, equity and quality in literacy and English education”. A record 1200 educators from around Australia and 13 overseas nations came together for three and a half days to listen, share, offer, learn and seek inspiration, affirmation and clarification. The keynote list was extensive:
Professor P. David Pearson (University of Berkeley), Pirjo Sinko
(Finnish National Board of Education), Professor Scott Paris (University
of Michigan & National Insititue of Education in Singapore), Peter
O’Connor (Applied Theatre Consultants), Professor Jeffrey Wilhelm (Boise
State University), Richard Flanagan (Author, film writer & director),
Associate Professor Carole Miller (University of Victoria, Canada),
Emeritus Professor Juliana Saxton (University of Victoria, Canada),
Professor Andy Goodwyn (University of Reading), Professor Peter Freebody
(University of Sydney), Dr Gabrielle Matters (ACER), Barry McGaw (Chair
of National Curriculum Board), Dr Leonie Rowan (Griffith University),
Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney (Flinders University), Associate
Professor Phil Cormack (University of South Australia), David Hornsby
(Education Consultant), Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (Deakin University), J
C Burke (Author), Andy Griffiths (Author), Natalie Jane Prior (Author)
and Kirsty Murray (Author).
What an enviable line up of major contributors to literacy teaching and learning – all in the one venue for three and a half days! The conference provided a prudent reminder about what attracted many of us to teaching in the first place: our passion for facilitating emotional, social and intellectual growth in others. In addition, there were over 125 concurrent sessions, some delivered by talented and generous Meanjin members. Meanjin extends its thanks and congratulations to the following twenty-three members who delivered presentations and workshops to appreciative audiences:
We have to also confess, it wasn’t all hard yakka. We indulged ourselves with a cocktail party at the Governor Underwood’s salubrious residence, a short ALEA National AGM, a magnificent conference dinner followed by some smooth moves on the dance floor, and a short ferry ride followed by a couple of hours at the world famous Salamanca Markets. In all, it was a perfect mix of professional development and holiday pleasure in the Apple Isle. Registrations are now open for the ALEA/AATE 2010 National Conference, aWAy with Words: Exploring the ambiguities in literacy and English education, to be held at the Burswood Convention Centre, Perth, from 4-7th July, 2010. Everyone is welcome. The call for papers closes on 22 February and earlybird registration closes on 30th April, 2010. Confirmed keynote speakers include: Professor Greg Craven, Professor Deborah McCutchen, Professor Jackie Marsh, Professor Collette Tayler, Dr Wayne Sawyer, Professor Bev Derewianka, John Marsden, Don Henderson & Morris Gleitzman. More details are available on here. Don’t delay – remember the 2009 conference sold out ahead of schedule and many disappointed people simply could not be registered. |
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2009
ASFLA Research Conference
that is true or not, it is certainly the case that there are a good many
teachers in Queensland who
appreciate the power of insights derived from SFL in connection with their
work in classrooms. For this reason Meanjin was pleased to have the
opportunity to help host the conference in Brisbane once again and to
spread the word amongst teachers, teacher educators and associated
professionals.
The
2009 ASFLA Conference committee was formed out of membership from ALEA and
ETAQ (English Teachers Association of Queensland) at the request of the
ASFLA (Australian System Functional Linguistics Association) National
Executive. The conference theme was Practising Theory: Expanding
understandings of Language, Literature and Literacy. The theme was
designed to be at once both focused and general. The inclusion of
'Language, Literature and Literacy' was a deliberate reference to the
three elements proposed for the National English Curriculum still in
development. The first day of the conference, Wednesday 30th September,
2009, had a particular focus on applications of SFL in school teaching
(early years to senior secondary). 
With
funding made available from the Queensland Government’s DET (Department of
Education and Training) and the Queensland University of Technology, over
100 participants engaged in three challenging days of discussion, lead by
keynotes from Professor Geoff Williams (University of British Columbia),
Professor Jim Martin (University of Sydney), Professor Beverly Derewianka
(University of Wollongong), Professor Len Unsworth (University of New
England), Dr David Rose (University of Sydney), Associate Professor Mary
Macken-Horarik (University of New England), Dr Clare Painter (University
of New South Wales) and Dr Sue Hood (University of Technology Sydney).
This was complimented by 35 concurrent sessions presented by educational
practioners, linguists and researchers throughout Australia and overseas.
We
thank all participants for their confidence and support. Thanks are also
due to our small but hard-working organizing committee and our
administrative support team. In addition, the organizers are particularly
appreciative of the generous sponsorship provided by the Centre for
Learning Innovation and the Faculty of Education at QUT which have jointly
funded our international speaker. The committee also extends thanks to the
Queensland Government's Department of Education and Training which
provided scholarships for Queensland teachers. Finally, thanks to Lindsay
Williams of Wordsmart Consulting for sponsoring the nibbles at the welcome
drinks at the Normanby Hotel on Wednesday afternoon. 
This
workshop, run by Lindsay Williams and Kay Bishop, was booked out in
advance of the institute dates. The purpose was to consolidate and extend
understanding of a range of concepts related to systemic functional grammar
and to explore ways that the grammar can be used to help students read and
write more effectively (including the national testing regime).
This
workshop, presented by Dr Lenore Ferguson, Annette Curnow and Ray McGuire,
addressed a system of word choices and text patterns that enable attitudes
and points of view to be inscribed and evoked. Participants explored how
evaluative language can intensify or moderate representations of human
emotions, judgements of behaviour, and valuations of concepts and objects.
This
year the Department of Education and Training (DET) provided some funds to
Meanjin to host a teacher professional development during National
Literacy & Numeracy Week (NLNW). In keeping with the national theme of
“Getting the Basics Right”, the professional development was focused on
teacher upskilling with digital technologies. 
We
sincerely thank our host school, Forest Lake SHS, and their dedicated
technician Nick, for loading all the computer labs with the requisite
programs in advance of the weekend workshop. We also thank our site host,
the amazingly calm Kay Bishop, for coordinating the professional
development day so Meanjin members could attend another practical teacher
professional development event that had real application to their classes.
The first PD for 2009, “In Testing
Times”, returned to Meanjin’s geographical heartland, Ipswich. We thank
Ipswich Grammar School for hosting us yet again, and 100 of our members
who forfeited a Saturday of R & R to engage in this most topical PD event.
In response to rising costs for TRS and hiring private conference venues,
we made the decision to reduce our week day PD offerings and instead
concentrate on a Saturday program for the first part of the year.
Marianne Schubert (Regional
Literacy Manager, EQ) provided explicit instruction on the teaching of
reading and writing in the early years and its relationship to
standardised testing. Marianne could talk about this all day! One
participant evaluation pleaded: Please bring back Marianne for more
in-depth talks on specific areas eg. grammar, vocab etc. Thank you, it was
not a waste of my weekend. In response to participants’ feedback, we
wish to advise we are in the throes of planning another literacy PD with
Marianne in May. Watch your emails and school faxes for more information.
Pat Hipwell (Logon Literacy)
provided strategies for making the literacy demands of content areas
explicit. One participant who disclosed that she had 45 years experience
in the classroom wrote: Pat is an inspiration and so practical. Your
self esteem is heightened and your ability & knowledge challenged and your
professionalism extended. It’s fabulous to know that even the most
experienced teachers derive benefit from continuing professional
development. In response to your effusive comments, we are also
negotiating to get Pat back for the May workshops.
The final workshop was presented by
Matthew Rigby (ex-ISQ and now at QUT). Matthew drew on his years of
experience as a secondary school teacher and QCS marker to offer advice on
preparing students to ‘read’ assessment stem and cues. One participant
evaluated Matthew’s workshop in the following way: Matt’s workshop was
well presented, well structured and very informative.
The
keynote address, Digitalisation of Finnish Schools: The Anomaly
of New Technologies in Highly Effective Print Literacy School Systems,
was presented by Professor Allan Luke from the Queensland University of
Technology. As always, Allan presented an engaging and provocative
keynote. This time, Allan challenged us to consider the disparity between
how modern communication technologies are taken up by our students in
their everyday life and the ways in which they are utilised in education.
shows that, compared to Finland, Australia has a much greater variance
between the scores of highest and lowest achieving students. First hand
experience with schools in Finland has convinced Allan that small classes
and highly qualified teachers are significant factors contributing to
Finland’s success. In Finland, low definition syllabi and high
professionalism make teaching a highly desirable career choice. It will be
interesting to see how our national curriculum writers take up this
challenge.
The
workshops that followed were presented by classroom practitioners who have
taken up the opportunities afforded by modern technology. These included:
Yrs
4 – 7: Gail Young and Neil Adams presented an engaging session Media
Mayhem in the Middle School: Enhancing Literacy Essentials across the KLAs
in the Middle Years. 
Yrs
8 -12: Lee Rossow, teacher of English and
Social
Sciences at Benowa State High School, led a practical session Broadcast
This: Digital storytelling and Reflective Practice via Blogs in Secondary
Schooling. It was quite amazing to learn of some of the possibilities
offered by the new MOE system currently being installed in all Queensland
state schools.
The
program included many well-known experts from our local education
community; Pat Edgar (Shared reading and interactive writing), Joy Lawn
(Literature for the early years. Birth – 8 years), Pat Hipwell (The
literacy/assessment nexus in secondary school curriculum areas), Val
Warwick (Drama holds the key – pre-prep to Year 3), Deb Tyson (Teaching
comprehension strategies Years 4-9), and Linda Tate (Writers writing
right).
The
program allowed participants to attend two workshops, each of two hours
duration. So that as many as possible could attend the sessions of their
choice, Pat E., Val and Deb repeated their workshops. This was much
appreciated by those who attended. A highlight of the morning was the
presentation of the ALEA Award to QUT graduate, Mary Cleary.
Feedback
from the morning was overwhelmingly positive. We thank Jan and Helen for
organising the site; the spacious and attractive library and the nearby
classrooms were perfect for escaping the chill of a fresh winter morning.
Again, those attending had the opportunity to view and purchase resources
and publications provided by publishers who also kindly donated prizes.
