Libby Baker Literacy

Taking a critical stance on the way that NAPLAN is reported really helps us to rise above the teacher shaming and finger pointing. This article shines a light on the negative media/government fixation on NAPLAN.

This quote from the article is a perfect comeback to any debate about NAPLAN decline:

"These results reflect normal population variability and are what you would expect if you administered the same test to different groups of children from year to year, as NAPLAN does."

Are the latest NAPLAN results really an ‘epic fail’? My study clearly shows no long-term decline in NAPLAN results from 2008 to 2022. In 2023, they changed the way the test was organised.

Another wonderful FREE event for book week!

We are so excited to announce a wonderful FREE event that we would love all Primary Schools to be part of!

Australian Children’s Laureate Sally Rippin & Vision Australia partner for a special Book Week celebration.

Sally will be joined by some of Vision Australia’s younger clients, discussing all the different ways children can read and write. Listen to our budding young authors, as they discover Sally’s tips and tricks, on how to write a book full of fantastical worlds, and hysterical characters who venture on awe inspiring adventures.

After revealing all her secrets, Sally will be treating everyone to a special storytelling session. Sally will read the newly created book, brought to life in the creative writing workshop attended by Vision Australia clients that morning: a beautiful book produced in large print, braille and audio for all our readers.Then students will have the chance to pick Sally’s brain in a Q&A session.Finally, Sally will give students a sneak peek at her new School of Monsters book.

Date: Tuesday 20 August
Time: 2.00–2.45pm AEST
Location: Online Webinar via Zoom

To register, schools just need to complete the online booking form: https://visionaustralia.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HWBgNTLaSCKTXyMHzEjJdQ #/registration

Register TODAY for this amazing opportunity!
Sally Rippin Vision Australia Primary English Teaching Association Australia (PETAA) Australian Library and Information Association Australian School Library Association Copyright Agency Creative Australia Hardie Grant Children’s Publishing

Looking forward to this one! Amelia McInerney is such a talented local author!

Our Author Event is back for 2024 with Canberra author Amelia McInerney!

Register here - https://www.alea.edu.au/_events.registration/step1/eventid/25769

This event has TQI accreditation for 2 hours

Very excited for this! What a treat for book week 🎉

Teachers and parents! I’ll be presenting an online Book Week session in conjunction with the NGV this year. Tuesday 20 August 2024 9.30-10.30am. Bookings are essential, I just don’t know how to send you to their website.

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/program/book-week-with-freya-blackwood/

Some events that teachers really excel in! I would have to add "colour coding"💚❤️💙🤣. What would you add?

(See the comments on the original post)

We'll go first....👇
length of time since last bathroom break.🚽

Canberra friends! If you are feeling the pull towards working more closely with a professional organisation come and dip your toe in on our ALEA state development day!

You’re invited! Did you know that anyone can come along to any of our ALEA ACT meetings including our upcoming State Development Day?

We are a welcoming bunch who are keen to connect 😊

If you’d like to come along to see what we do, please RSVP, with dietary needs, as soon as you can (but by 2 August at the latest).

Feel free to bring a friend along (include them in your RSVP). They are more than welcome to attend and see the work of our Local Council Committee.

Still not sure? Have a read of the ALEA Literacy Declaration to know what ALEA values and enacts.https://www.alea.edu.au/public/116/files/Promotional%20Materials/New%202023%20ALEA%20Declaration%20PRESS-%20APPROVED%20PRINT%20-%20Copy.pdf

Love this! 💕

This is how some of the best lessons come about. 💡

I mentioned inter-modal coupling in my earlier post this week. Here is an article on it if you want to know more.

A bit of commentary on current debates around teaching. This is the quote that had me nodding along:

"But these debates can have a cost as they once more suggest teachers don’t know how to teach effectively or need more help to do so."

Is there a ‘right way’ to teach? Recent debates suggest yes, but students and schools are much more complex

Grace and Mr Milligan is one of those picture books that stops you in your tracks.
My little family lost a beloved pet this year, so this book hit very close to home. This book doesn't just deal with the grief of pet loss, it does it so gently with beautiful noun groups. A perfect book to add to the collection and to discuss how clever authors like Caz Goodwin use tiny noun groups like "a lonely day" to deliver a bulk of information. If you still need convincing, look at the illustrations by Pip Kruger Illustration! They lend themselves to a whole other lesson on multimodal coupling!

Pretty much. 💃

Exactly!!

Credit to Someecards

This PL ticks all the boxes ☑️
Julie is an absolute wealth of practical knowledge about word inquiry. The cost is so low (and free for members) and It's online so you don't even need to be in the NT to join!

Remember those 4 free PD's for members we mentioned? 🤔
Well, hop on board for PD's 1 & 2 with the amazing Julie Shepherd and follow the link below to register! 😎✨

BONUS! Share this post to go into the running to win tickets for you and a colleague/teacher friend to our in-person 'Paint and Sip' event with none other than author and illustrator SANDRA KENDELL! 😮 (Event will be held at the Beachfront on the 5th of September and is a paid event... unless you're the lucky winner! 😉)
Lucky winner will be drawn on the 25th of July.

Link for Julie Shepherd PD
https://www.alea.edu.au/eventdetails/24865/developing-an-understanding-about-teaching-spelling-orthography-through-inquiry-with-julie-shepherd

ALEA - Australian Literacy Educators' Association

Why it needs to be a discussion...

Another great writing prompt from The Book Cow - Kingston...if you haven't been following the journeys of the shop toys you are missing out! So cute!

💌🎈A postcard from Peter Rabbit, Little Moo and Green Sheep!

🤔☀️💦Where are they? Clearly they wanted to escape the cold and went to a very COOL beach!😎

Love this idea!

💛💙💚B A C K T O S C H O O L 💛💙💚

Describe all the things you didn’t do on the holidays 👌🏼

Encourage your students to use their imagination and think about things they absolutely did not do, like “I didn’t build a rocket and fly to space…” or “I certainly didn’t fly on a magic carpet with my pet snake to Argentina!...”

Not only will this activity give you insight into your students’ interests and desires, but it will also be a fun and engaging way to start the term. Happy teaching! And good luck as you kickstart Term 3 🙃

Linked https://bit.ly/41uV0qx

2025 #Connect AATE/ALEA National Conference launch with English teachers and literacy educators at the 2025 AATE/ALEA national conference in Hobart in July 2025

Thanks for capturing these ones of my workshop yesterday. So wonderful to be pictured with the incredible Louise from The Literacy Place!

A brilliant article on a topic I also love to talk about! 👏 fantastic work!

For those of us that grew up with German fairy tales...brutal!

Fairytales - both beautiful and BRUTAL 😜.
Meme source unknown. Image source Struwwelpeter.

A fantastic read about how we, as teachers, grapple with the language choices of multimodal texts when there is no consistant metalanguage offered by the Aus. Curriculum V9. 🙃

🚩Thank you, Springer Education!
Another newly published online first AJLL article is available at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44020-024-00064-8

If you are an ALEA member you might spot my latest article in the June edition of Practical Literacy. It is all about using picture books to teach Grammar. You can read the abstract here: https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.T2024060800008190969188594

It's a topic I'm very passionate about. I'm presenting on it in a few weeks at the Adelaide ALEA National Conference 🎉

Grammar Gold Mining with Picturebooks Using picturebooks to teach grammar is not a new idea. Several studies have documented the power of picturebooks to develop students' grammar concepts in both images and text (Booker, 2012; Callow,...

Cannot contain my (or my 8-year-old's) excitement that Runt is coming to the movies.

A paw-bump for you if you’ve seen the official RUNT film trailer!

If you’re yet to have the pleasure, have a squizz at my last post, or follow this link: t.ly/P4LTv

RUNT is in cinemas SEPTEMBER 19!

What an icon. I wonder how many children have taken their first steps into reading with her work? 📚

Pamela Allen on Mr McGee and turning 90: ‘I’ve always known what I’m doing is good’ From Who Sank the Boat? to Alexander’s Outing, Allen’s picture books are beloved. But after losing her husband she’s written a new book to ‘re-establish my sense of worth’

Oh gosh...could you imagine no. 2?

It's Teacher Would You Rather! ✏️☕

There are some great discounts on PETAA publications for schools and individuals at the moment.

Revolutionise whole-school learning with EOFY School Boxes! Each one contains 25-50 copies of high-quality, evidence-informed texts for all staff. Members save the most on PETAA sales, but every non-member box purchase includes a complimentary 12-month PETAA school membership, so don't miss out! https://vist.ly/37x8v

Happy winter solstice!

A standing sun.

Poetry for a Friday.

Here’s a poem in commemoration of D-Day, which took place eighty years ago today.

It’s called ‘Queueing for an Ice Cream’.

No!..What do you think? Is that a sentence? I speak it daily. I hear it often. I write it occasionally. You see, I live with small people who like to throw food/clothing/punches, so I feel that this sentence is very integral in my life.

But is it a sentence?

Well, to work that out, let's use Libby's checklist of wonders, which includes logic and the Australian Curriculum.
Logic states that a sentence should "make sense." Does it make sense?- Yes! Tick!
Aus Curriculum English: Recognise that sentences are key units for expressing ideas.
Woah! Slow down! Maybe I'll look back a year level in the curriculum... Wait. no, I can't. Because that is the FOUNDATION LEVEL OUTCOME!

Blimey, we are in trouble! Or maybe I should say, I am in trouble. If 5-year-olds (and some 4-year-olds) need to understand that sentences are key units for expressing ideas, then surely 34-year-old me should have this sentence thing sorted. Right? (Is that a sentence?)
Well, here is the thing. English is lovely and squishy, and I mean that in a nice way. We can mould it and manipulate it based on our purpose and based on the context in which we are using it.

➡️Keep reading on my blog. https://libbybakerliteracy.com/2020/09/17/no-is-that-even-a-sentence/

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