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NLNW 2010 Brunch, Sunday 29 August: co-sponsored by DET Queensland What better way to spend a Sunday morning than sharing a love of literacy over a scrumptious breakfast? While the guests dined on pastries and coffee, Professor Kerry Mallan presented “The Book is (Not) Dead....It’s Waiting Online” which showcased a fabulous new digital literacy tool. AUSTLIT: “The Australian Literature Resource” is an online literacy site dedicated to sharing digital books and much more. The website provides author information and book lists, library holdings, related websites and many books in digital format, all in one site for quick and easy teaching material. But the website is not merely for teachers; it caters for all who have an interest in reading and proves that the book really is still alive, just simply in a new and effortlessly attainable format. After a short break and friendly chat over a lovely hot brunch, Joy Lawn presented “Books worth their spine” in which she demonstrated the best new and recent literature for children and young adults. Having personally read each of the forty or so books presented, Joy was able to describe the books plots and characters and provide recommendations on how best to implement them into the classroom. Overall, the brunch was highly informative, entertaining and well worth getting out of bed on a Sunday morning. This event was made possible by a DET Queensland grant for National Literacy & Numeracy Week. Alanah-Rei
ALEA/AATE National Conference 4 -7
July 2010
Language
and Literacy: Classroom applications of functional grammar
Improving
Writing of Student Narratives –A series of 4 writing workshops for
students.
Narrative writing workshops are not every student’s idea of a prosperous Sunday afternoon! But for 17 students from Years 4 to 7, the set of four 90-minute sessions proved an experience worth pursuing in the search for greater confidence in this text-type. With a minimum of two weeks between the workshop sessions, students had the opportunity to mull over the lessons learned before implementing in homework tasks. Progress proved excellent as students focused upon a variety of elements including structure, vocabulary, planning, action, tension, conventions and descriptive language. Making a conscious decision to focus another ALEA activity upon the learning of students rather than educators, the Brisbane Meanjin Local Council embarked upon this venture to give enthusiastic students extra assistance to master key elements required in this genre. Lily (9 years) It was a hot summer day, yet the wind blew like the breath of a giant. Richard, a thirty-seven year old man had been dared by his childish mates to climb a cliff that was so high you couldn’t see the bottom when you were only halfway. Richard’s heart was already to pop out of his chest. He had a feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong. The cliffs were like the teeth of a dragon – sharp, bloody and slippery. Many people had died on the cliff but it didn’t stop Richard from struggling to get to the top even though he knew he wouldn’t get there alive. Kristin (9 years) I was there, me, Kate, climbing the steepest, tallest cliff in the world. It was so tall that it nearly touched the sky and guess who was behind me? That’s right... Hades, the most evil person in the whole universe. We were having a race to see who could get to the top first! Lucas (12 years) The poacher crouched, tongue protruding, eyes squinting – he had the perfect aim. Rifle loaded. He pulled the trigger and the bullet flew through the chamber. A ghostly puff of smoke filled the air and seemed to dissolve into the ice cold blanket of Arctic air. He saw no blood spilt over the thin blanket of snow, but a somewhat anorexic bear descending the prized kill. Molly (11 years) My hands were full with Harrods shopping. Bags, clothes, clothes, shoes and more clothes. I was having the time of my life at this place. People moving and trying on clothes while sirens went on in the background, whirring. As you can tell extremely well, I love shopping!! But this time was spectacular with every single brand on the Earth. Aidan (12 years) He was hanging off the mountain, holding on by only the thin rope. I was still holding on but panicking, wondering how to save my best friend, Ben. “Help!” he yelled. “Help me, Dom! He’s coming!” He was coming closer to us, Ben still hanging there helplessly. “Get that extra rope from your backpack and throw one end to me, quickly,” Ben told me.I threw the rope to him and started pulling Ben in. “Faster. He’s getting closer!” James (10 years) The tiny, black box moved a little. My thoughts went back to my experience with the old, scrawny snake charmer in India. Without a second of hesitation, my old, creaky limbs went taut when I approached the tiny black box. It was tiny and black, nothing too amazing really. What could be causing the distressing, screeching noises emanating from the box? All of a sudden, the box smashed into a million pieces around the damp, dark room. Suddenly, I was sucked into some kind of a black vortex. While I was being sucked into the vortex, I saw a long skinny hand. It yanked me back out of the vortex. I couldn’t see the person or thing that had saved me because I had fainted. I woke to see the old, scrawny snake charmer with weird, horse-like legs. I thought I was dreaming but sadly I wasn’t. The old, scawny snake charmer told me that I was in a different dimension. I thought to myself, “What! This can’t be happening to me. Not now! It’s my birthday!” I knew I shouldn’t have taken that old, tiny black box from my mum. Jasmine (12 years) My heart was racing as I was climbing the tallest peak on the mountain. My nerves were getting the best of me; I wanted to stop. Jump... it wouldn’t hurt too much as there was a clean river with green grass below. No, I wouldn’t. I had to keep going. I had to do this. “Why did I get myself into this?”
Assessment for learning – let’s get
practical The response of teachers to this process was extremely positive. The four teachers who attended from Rangeville SS in Toowoomba are keen to apply the PD at a whole school level and have asked Pat to deliver a similar session to all their teachers on the SFD in July. Despite Pat’s broken leg and somewhat reduced mobility, the day was very successful. It is proposed to repeat this workshop later in the year for those who missed out on the one that was scheduled for February 27 at Our Lady of the Way Catholic School, 38 Armstrong Street, Petrie.
Australian Curriculum Forum –
Wednesday 28 April, 2010
Meanjin Welcome Breakfast - January 2010
Rebecca
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The
National Conference of AATE & ALEA was held at the Burswood Entertainment
Complex in Perth, Western Australia. Although Perth is the most isolated
capital city in the world, many delegates willingly travelled vast
distances to engage with the ambiguities, the complexities and the issues
that are integral to the role of an English and literacy teacher. Perth
has a mild Mediterranean climate, with July generally being the rainy
season mingled with cool sunny days. During the conference we experienced
the latter, with some clear crisp mornings down to zero degrees. This
seemed to make the words delivered throughout the conference even more
rewarding.
2010 is the first year that teachers have been required by the Queensland
College of Teachers to fulfil a commitment to attend a minimum of 30 hours
of professional development related to various aspects of education. It
was in response to this commitment that I seized the opportunity to be
involved in a working forum to respond to the draft of the Australian
Curriculum for English. Unlike so many of the in-service activities that I
have attended in past years, this proved to be both a surprisingly small
group of dedicated pedagogues (about 20) and an opportunity to be part of
a process that may improve our curriculum before it is delivered to us as
fait accompli rather than a workshop/lecture showing ways to tackle an
existing curriculum. 
As the workshop started I felt rather overwhelmed by the English
‘heavyweights’ surrounding me but soon realised that we were all there to
work for the good of the students to whom this curriculum would soon be
delivered and that even the most inexperienced of us would have a voice
simply by speaking up about concerns that became evident when reading the
draft document. We broke up into workable groups of between 2 and 7
like-minded teachers, university students, university lecturers,
specialists and administrators. My group’s focus was Kindergarten to Year
3 and we discussed a range of factors including the draft document’s
physical layout, headings, sequencing and content within the 3 strands and
in relation to the elaborations. The depth of knowledge and enthusiasm of
others was inspiring and we came up with a number of important and
specific suggestions that will become part of ALEA’s response to the draft
curriculum. Several other teams worked across the different levels of the
document. 
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience from the welcoming address and
afternoon tea through to the friendly, inclusive atmosphere and workshop
activity. At the end of the session, I felt that I had made the most of
this opportunity and in some small way I might have made a difference at a
national level – not a bad effort for a 2 hour workshop! 
The
Meanjin Committee and other interested Meanjin members celebrated the
beginning of another great year ahead at ‘Spoons Cafe’, East Brisbane, on
Sunday 10 January. Breakfast and brainstorming were on the menu! We
reflected on the year that had passed as well as ushered in a new one with
a great deal of enthusiasm. This provided an opportunity to discuss a
whole new program of professional development and to make plans for our
30th Annual Writers' Camp for gifted young writers. We also discussed our
Books 'n Babies program which is run in conjunction with International
Literacy Day in September.
This
was the first Welcome Breakfast that I had attended since joining the team
in May 2009 (at the AGM) so I was really excited about the upcoming events
that will allow us to all be involved with the literacy journey of others.
I had such a wonderful time with all of the team and I must admit that I
felt a little overwhelmed with the degree of knowledge and experience that
everyone brought to the group. For my part, I feel I bring my enthusiasm
and eagerness to help as I am only at the beginning of my
Teaching/Learning journey. I'm looking forward to a great year ahead and
hope to meet many more Meanjin members soon.