Noteworthy
Term 4, 2023
A word from our committee...
We are well into the last term of school and we have a few busy weeks ahead of us. It was great to be part of the 45th National Literacy Conference in Invercargill during the September holidays. Lighting the Literacy Pathway was a huge success. Many of our Waikato members made the the journey down South to experience the reputable Southern hospitality amongst the 400 other (more or less) passionate educators.
Four of our Waikato members were lucky enough to receive Marie Clay Trust Awards to help them cover conference costs.
The New Zealand Literacy Association (NZLA) continues to grow its profile and support local literacy councils by providing webinars (Te Reo in Matariki Picture Books in June and, most recently, Teachers Reading for Pleasure in October) for those educators whom have an appetite for professional development but are perhaps a little time poor. The NZLA will also be running its first Literacy Symposium late next year in Hamilton.
Libraries Alive went ahead with an enthusiastic group of students as did the inaugural Waikato Book Battle.
We hope you had a restful break and are ready to tackle the last term!.
Regards
WLA Team
BOOK BATTLE 2023
Libraries Alive- Student Writing
Books for Babes- Waterford Birthing Centre
These books were well received by the Waterford Staff and have been passed on to the September newborns and their families.
Marie Clay Experienced Teacher Award: Therese Cargo
I was a fortunate recipient of a Marie Clay Literacy Trust Experienced Teacher Award and a Waikato Literacy Association Workshop Presenters Award. These two awards enabled me to attend the Southland Literacy Association Conference in September 2023. The organisers of this conference did a stunning job. The keynote speakers were very relevant to the issues and needs of our tamariki in the classroom today; trauma, learning differences, critical literacy, and institutional racism. Understanding the psychological, emotional, and physical impact that covid has had on our whānau and their tamariki has been enlightening. Kathryn Berkett described children who had been traumatised using the analogy of the red and green brain. Red brain is the survival brain which may kick into action when there is a fear response to the environment. Kathryn described how to best manage these times to get the learner back into the
green brain or learning brain. Andrea Greer presented a keynote titled ‘Shifting from Surviving to Thriving’; physical, spiritual, and emotional states of wellbeing. How these states impact on the nervous system and the vagus nerve. To understand that our students are not ‘just being naughty’ and how might they manage themselves to be in a learning state is something that may have to be taught and learned. This concept was insightful for me as an educator to
understand states of being from a medical perspective. Then Anne Milne’s keynote on institutional racism ‘Swimming with Sharks’ gave me pause for thought; racial profiling, racial bullying, hate speech, racial slurs, enrolment discrimination and racial jokes, and what this might
look like in the mainstream education system. How we might take action; short, medium and for the long term. Mainstream education: if we could change our gaze what might our pedagogies look like outside of the dominant one. The social justice model of cultural pluralism would be able to co-exist, functioning separately and equally without requiring assimilation into the dominant society. Mmm…much food for thought. The workshop by Susan Sandretto, ‘Planting seeds: Embedding critical literacy into your classroom programme’ was practical. Susan shared a handout; what? so what? now what? with strategies and questions that can guidethe reader through texts they are engaging with. Understanding the role of the author; what they have included, excluded, and are representing, the role of the reader; experiences they bring to the reading can help educators determine how texts may influence thoughts and actions of the learner. How might we as educators interrogate texts to keep both ourselves and our students safe in today’s learning environments. Finally, to have the opportunity to present a workshop that supports an inclusive learning environment where students can write across the curriculum; ‘Structuring the Classroom Writing Programme to Write Across the Curriculum.’ I believe as an educator writing across the curriculum requires teachers to know their students, the curriculum and content. Creating a supported teaching and learning environment to support learners to make decisions about content, vocabulary, structure, and language features of text they are engaging with support critical literacy learning. The writing expectations of the curriculum are the knowledge, skills, and attitudes students need to use as they write for specific purposes in relation to learning tasks. The demands also relate to the texts that students create as they respond to ideas, record, and clarify their thinking and communicating their own and others’ ideas. After this experience I trust that our education system is in good hands. The passionate researchers, educators and teachers who only want the very best for their learners continue to strive for concepts and strategies I believe that will support and enhance this optimal learning environment.