Sharing my passion at the Network Meeting

I would like to thank all those who attended the Network meeting Wednesday afternoon at the Wodonga South Primary school.

In the last year I have been teaching literacy at a special development school which, as you can imagine, has it's challenges.  It lead to me researching into any way of teaching that would be effective and, at the same time, make my life as a teacher less frustrating and eventful.  Then, when a friend approached me about their child who was having trouble with reading, I found myself successfully using the exact same strategies.  She was engaged and interested, and instead of refusing to do her reading she was asking for extra books and activities to take home with her!

So this month I shared my passion for hands-on literacy strategies and thinking 'outside the box' when making resources and brought a range of mine in with me. Wooden pegs, cards, velcro, blocks and even fly-swats had us sometimes confused, often intrigued and frequently in laughter. Discussions around the base products of resources and 'the simpler it is, the better' when it comes to supporting struggling or reluctant readers were animated and interesting.

I enjoyed the discussions, comments and play-like attitude all participants showed and have taken a lot of ideas away with me. I hope everyone else got as much out of it as I did!   

The completion of the Validating Professional Development Proforma brought up more discussions, laughter and understanding.  So thank you again.

In the next few days I will put up some links to some readings on the research into the benefits of play and hands-on activities assisting learners.  At least enough to create a jumping-off point for further exploration into this wonderfully fun and effective way of teaching..

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that there will be no meeting in January 2012, with meetings starting up again in February.and I am looking forward to the exciting workshops we have on the cards for 2012.

To everyone and their families; have a wonderfully happy, safe, and restful Christmas break!