BITS & BYTES
websites last viewed 20 Feburary 2004
Professional partnerships
Professional renewal
Classroom support
Assessment: research and planning
PROFESSIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
Australian Association for the Teaching of English
www.AATE.org.au/
AATE is a national umbrella organisation for English teaching associations in Australia. It is committed to promoting and supporting exemplary practice in all aspects of the teaching and learning of English. Links are provided to each State association for English and to the Australian Literacy Educators Association (ALEA).
The website includes the award winning online reading resource MyRead: Strategies for teaching reading in the middle years.
MyRead supports teachers of underperforming students in the middle years (Years 4–9). This comprehensive site, www.myread.org has sections on explicit teaching, monitoring and assessment, professional development and classroom organisation. The classroom organisation offers practical advice on working in small groups, cooperative learning and the role of parents and carers in the classroom at www.myread.org/organisation.htm
National Association for the Teaching of English
www.nate.org.uk/
NATE is the UK subject teacher association for all aspects of English from pre-school to university. NATE supports effective teaching and learning, keeps teachers informed about current developments and provides them with a voice at a national level.
The National Council of Teachers of English
www.ncte.org/
NCTE in the United States offers abstracts, summaries and links to timely studies that will interest English professionals across the English speaking world. Educators with a specific interest in English issues will enjoy visiting this site and furthering their own professional understandings.
The International Reading Association
www.reading.org/
The IRA provides links to almost everything that a classroom teacher of English may need to support them in the classroom. Practical resources, online professional development, critical literacy, adolescent literacy, beginning readers and assessment can all be explored further through this site.
topPROFESSIONAL RENEWAL
Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy
www.stella.org.au
STELLA (Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy) is a set of interactive materials that provides a detailed picture of accomplished English teaching in Australia. STELLA attempts to capture the depth and range of accomplished English/Literacy teaching. Most States have developed broad, generic standards outlining levels of competence which the beginning or accomplished teacher should be able to meet. These generic teaching standards do not take account of the subject-specific nature of the knowledge and skills required to be an accomplished teacher. The STELLA project complements this work.
Paradigm
Online Writing Assistant
www.powa.org/
Paradigm is an interactive, menu-driven, online writer's guide and handbook. It is useful for all writers, from inexperienced to advanced. To get the most from the website, take time to explore its components. Choose a topic such as editing, informal essays, argumentative essay, exploratory essay, read the discussion, do an activity, move to another topic. There is something for everyone here.
How can children be taught to comprehend text better?
http://www.temple.edu/lss/pdf/lssreview/lssrev_reading.pdf (pp 6–7)
Part of the Temple University Laboratory for Student Success website, this article by Michael Pressley and Katherine Hilden of the University of Notre Dame in the USA provides a succinct explanation of the skills used by good readers and teaching strategies which can be used to help students develop these skills.
Reading online
www.readingonline.org
Reading Online, the ejournal of the International Reading Association, contains a wide range of articles on aspects of reading, including those to do with new literacies.
Planning for formative assessment
www.tki.org.nz/r/assessment/atol_online/tutorials_e.php
A New Zealand site that provides online professional development in the area of formative assessment. Two tutorials, entitled 'Exploring formative assessment' and 'Planning for formative assessment', can be accessed from this page.
Using a graphic organiser
www.graphic.org/goindex.html
This site has links to a variety of graphic organisers and a number of articles about the uses of individual kinds of organisers.
topCLASSROOM SUPPORT
Starting points on the net
http://rite.ed.qut.edu.au/oz-teachernet/
This site is a starting point for Australian teachers who want to use the Internet for professional development and curriculum purposes. Bookmark this as a favourite!
The practical support found here includes project opportunities such as book raps, travel buddies, webquests and global youth forums. Community links to many interest groups include gifted education, Indigenous education, vocational education and community forums. Start with a virtual field trip—visit another place without leaving home or school. Students learn both by constructing a field trip of a local area and/or by taking a tour with another class through their local site.
Motivate the high school student who is reluctant to write
www.diaryproject.com/
This is an interesting interactive site for students. It’s an ongoing diary where people can write about a chosen issue and have their comment replied to. There is a real audience and real reading. The Diary Project is a multimedia project designed to open up a worldwide teen dialogue about the issues faced growing up today. Teenagers are encouraged to write freely and often about anything that is on their mind, just as they would in their own journal. The goal is to encourage communication among teens of all cultures and backgrounds.
Add your bit!
www.knowdrama.com/creative/03/8.html
This online magazine supports creative teaching via creative teaching strategies and a discussion of what it means to be an innovative teacher in today’s teaching climate. The Creative Teaching Space invites contributions from teachers worldwide. It provides a ‘space’ for teachers to share practical classroom ideas and recommend resources.
Young Australian Readers' Awards
www.yara-online.org/
This is the first national, online students choice awards in Australia. Read students’ reviews of the latest titles from the best Australian authors. Read the books for yourself and then, in October, vote for your favourite!
topASSESSMENT: RESEARCH AND PLANNING
Innovation in Tasmania
http://ltag.tased.edu.au/assessment/assessmnt.htm
In Tasmania work on assessment is just beginning. This link shares the work done to date. It includes details about how the Assessment Principles were applied in one school, guidance on rubric development with a range of examples, an introduction to digital portfolios, tools for planning with the Outcomes and Standards, and a glossary of assessment terms.
What the experts say
www.assessment-reform-group.org.uk/
This is the website of the Assessment Reform Group, a British organisation that has played a key role in bringing the research evidence about assess-ment for learning to the attention of the education community. The ARG commissioned the Black and Wiliam work, Inside the Black Box and the follow-up Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box (download as a PDF file from this site). The site contains information about formative assessment, including a downloadable leaflet entitled Assessment for Learning: 10 principles. Research-based principles to guide classroom practice.
Association for Achievement and Improvement through Assessment
www.aaia.org.uk
Features many links to documents specific to the English curriculum in the UK. It also includes more general links, for example the PDF on self-assessment and the report of the Gillingham Partnership Formative Assessment Project which focusses on ‘communicating learning intentions, developing success criteria and pupil self-evaluation’.
topEQ Autumn 2004 © Curriculum Corporation