The podcast episode titled "New Writing Units Uncovered – Part 2, Ep 106 with Sharon Callen" delves into the intricacies of teaching writing with joy and effectiveness. Sharon Callen and team discuss the process of planning writing units, emphasising the importance of starting with purpose and mentor texts rather than just focusing on structure. By immersing students in high-quality literature, teachers can inspire them to become enthusiastic and skilled writers. Sharon highlights the significance of frequent publishing throughout the writing process, advocating for turning student work into t ..read more

In this podcast, Diane Snowball discusses how Shared Reading fits into the broader reading experiences of children, and it’s deep pedagogical base. She emphasises the gradual release of responsibility from reading aloud to independent practice in reading. Diane highlights the importance of choosing appropriate books for Shared Reading and how this practice fosters fluency, comprehension, and the development of various reading strategies.  The conversation delves into teaching reading comprehension strategies, such as inferring and metacognition, during Shared Reading. Diane also stresses ..read more

Part 1 of this podcast on Shared Reading features special guest, Diane Snowball, a highly experienced educator in Australia, with classroom teaching expertise and for many years providing professional development for teachers and educational leaders. Diane explores the concept of Shared Reading and its significance in teaching young children how to read. Diane begins by discussing her recent experience working with Grade 1 teachers in Melbourne, specifically focusing on shared reading. She emphasizes the importance of shared reading as a fundamental teaching strategy that helps children develo ..read more

In this second part of the podcast, Sharon and team, and their guest, Grace, delve into various strategies for nurturing writing skills in Foundation year students. One key concept introduced is the use of "sentence stems." These stems provide young children with simple sentence starters, helping them initiate their writing and incorporate high-frequency words. The ultimate aim is to develop reading and writing fluency with 25+ high-frequency words by the end of the Foundation year. The importance of a "word wall" is discussed, enabling students to independently reference high-frequency words ..read more

In this podcast, the host, Sharon, welcomes special guest Grace Cullen, a Foundation/ Reception teacher at Littlehampton Primary School. They discuss the challenges and strategies for teaching early writing to young students. Grace shares her experience transitioning from a structured program to a more student-centred approach to writing. Grace emphasises the importance of tapping into students' interests to ignite their passion for writing. She found that when children have something they genuinely want to write about, the floodgates of creativity open. She also highlights the significance of ..read more

In episode 100 (Part 2) of the "Teacher's Toolkit" podcast, Dr. Jan Turbill discusses the engaging approach of teaching writing through book clubs. She emphasises the importance of teaching writing by allowing students to read like writers and connect with authors. Dr. Turbill recalls her own experiences as a student and how her Latin teacher helped her become a better writer by analysing essays and using them as models. The podcast episode highlights the structured approach used in her book clubs, which involved breaking down the reading and writing process into manageable steps. They started ..read more

In episode 99 of Teacher's Toolkit for Literacy, "Part 1: Engaging Readers and Writers Through Book Club" we welcome special guest Dr. Jan Turbill. Jan is an accomplished educator, who shares her experiences in education, including teaching in various settings and her work on literacy policy strategies. Jan talks about her post-retirement involvement with a school, where she worked to improve literacy skills in students, particularly in Years 4,5 and 6. She describes how the idea of starting a book club came about and the collaborative efforts of teachers and students to engage with literature ..read more

In this podcast education experts Diane Snowball and Keay Cobbin discuss several important aspects of early reading education, including the significance of providing inviting and exciting reading materials in classrooms for young learners. Diane emphasises the importance of offering books that make sense and are interesting for students, as opposed to overly decodable books with limited word patterns. She suggests allowing students to explore words and create sentences with specific word patterns to enhance both encoding and decoding skills. Diane and Keay stress the importance of exposing ch ..read more

In Part 1 of this podcast, expert educators Diane Snowball and Keay Cobbin discuss the science of reading. They emphasise that the science of reading is a term used by various educational communities and can have different interpretations. They provide definitions from reputable sources, highlighting that it encompasses multidisciplinary knowledge from educators, linguistics, cognitive psychology, special education, and neuroscience about how children learn to read. They discuss common misconceptions, such as equating the science of reading with a specific phonics program, and the challenges t ..read more

In Episode 96 of the Teacher's Toolkit podcast, expert literacy consultant Sharon Callen and her team conduct a countdown of the top nine most listened-to episodes, and this time with a focus on the top five.  At number five is a discussion about 'Effective Literacy Teaching in High Schools' (00:00:30) with Misty Adoniou, with a focus on discipline-specific writing skills. The episode highlights the importance of addressing student motivation in writing and the need for professional learning for teachers in this area.  Number four on the list is an episode on the "Six Plus Traits of ..read more