Tag: writing
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Aligning 7-10 with the new VCE English and EAL Study Design
Before beginning this article, I need to point out that I absolutely do not recommend turning the 7-10 curriculum into a “mini VCE”, or a funnel that only points students towards the senior certificate. There are many varied pathways students can take through secondary school, and the VCE is only one of them. When I…
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VCE English and EAL: Assessing the new Crafting and Creating Texts outcomes
In all of the Professional Learnings I’ve been running recently related to the new Study Design, the assessment question has cropped up more than any other. We don’t have a sample examination yet; and we won’t get one until well into next year. But the VCAA have provided us with Unit 3 and 4 Performance…
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Using Comparative Judgement to Assess Writing
If you’ve ever formally assessed senior English (at least here in Victoria), then you’ve used comparative judgement to assess writing. Comparative judgement, as the name suggests, is an assessment method based on comparing responses to determine their overall placement on an assessment scale. It’s an effective method supported by research, much of which is outlined…
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Why write?
This is an early extract from our book Practical Writing Strategies, which will be published in 2023 by Amba Press. The elephant in the room Most of the time, we get students to write so we can assess them on their knowledge. Simple. It’s a sad truth that the main purpose of most writing in…
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Teachers as Writers: Term 4 Professional Learning
Last term I wrote a three part series of posts reflecting on the importance of teachers as writers. In part one I talked about writing for an audience – whether that’s students, teachers, or the general public. Part two focused on the various kinds of writing teachers might engage in, from classroom modelling through to…
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AI and Creativity: A Conversation with Tom Barrett
Last week I had a great conversation with Tom Barrett about the future of creative AI tools in education, including AI writers and AI image generation tools. We’re both optimistic about the potential for these technologies in the classroom, as long as they are adopted from an ethical, playful, and creative stance. Check out the…
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Interview with Mike Sharples: Story Machines
Feature image by DALL E & Leon Furze I had the pleasure of speaking with Mike Sharples, coauthor of Story Machines, which is available now from Routledge. You can also check out Mike’s AI story writer at https://story-machines.net/ if you want to try your hand at writing (or co writing) an AI story yourself. Transcript…
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Teachers as Writers: Part Three
In the previous two posts in this series I explored the reasons teachers might wish to write, and some of the ways in which teachers could increase their writing output. In this third and final post on the subject, I’ll explore the process of moving from teacher to author, and how to get published. Calling…
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Repost: Review of Coaching Teacher Writers
While I’m writing about teachers as writers, I thought it would be a good opportunity to repost this review from last year. This book contains some great advice for those of you wanting to delve into writing professionally in education. Coaching Teacher-Writers, by Troy Hicks, Anne Elrod Whitney, James Fredricksen and Leah Zuidem a provides a…
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Teachers as Writers: Part Two
In the first post in this series I explored a few of the reasons teacher might want to write, including the personal and professional benefits of writing. In this post, I’ll go into more detail about four kinds of writing teachers might want to engage in, ranging from modelling in the classroom through to publishing…