You are here: Faculty Home / Middle Years 5-8 / Reading and Writing for Middle Years
[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Teaching the Reading and Writing Requirements of Syllabuses in the Middle Years

Friday 20 March 2009 8.30am–4pm

National and international research consistently shows that students’ learning plateaus in the middle years of schooling. Whilst there are a number of reasons for this, one factor that teachers can readily address is the increased literacy demands of upper primary and junior secondary syllabuses.

Students in these years need explicit teaching, guidance and support to enable them to read and write for an ever-increasing variety of purposes in order to meet the syllabus requirements in all subject areas.

This course has been designed to enhance teachers' knowledge, skills and understandings of the literacy requirements of the middle years classroom by focusing on:

  • the reading process: addressing factors that make texts easy or difficult for readers, and classroom strategies for teaching reading, and
  • the writing process: addressing supporting students to prepare for writing, and classroom strategies for teaching writing.


The course will enable teachers to:

  • articulate the reading and writing skills and understandings required by students to access content and achieve syllabus outcomes in their subject areas,
  • recognise and take responsibility for teaching the reading and writing required for learning in their subject areas, and
  • use a range of strategies to support and develop students' reading and writing skills.


This course will include presentations, discussions and practical sessions based on the reading and writing requirements of participants' teaching subjects.


Presenter
Bill Spence, Centre for Learning Innovation, NSW DET

Bill Spence has a wealth of experience across a variety of education contexts. This includes teaching in several Sydney primary schools, and at TAFEs and universities, and regional and state office positions with the NSW Department of Education and Training.

Bill has worked as a regional K–12 English consultant and a district literacy consultant, and has managed the State Literacy Strategy and implementation of the NSW Quality Teaching framework. He has been president of the Primary English Teaching Association and is an Honorary Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney.

Most recently, Bill has written 'Designing challenging reading strategies for students in the middle years' in Beyond the Reading Wars (Ed. Robyn Ewing), and has co-authored Language Works: Grammar in context, books 1–6, for Cambridge University Press.


Fees & Registration (GST inclusive)
Individuals $200 | Groups $185 per person (2 or more registrations from the same school)
Download a registration form (PDF)


Venue
Education Building (A35), Manning Rd, The University of Sydney, Camperdown
View an online map (Map Ref 13G) | Download a map of the University of Sydney (PDF)


Enquiries

Back to top