Centre for Literacy and Disability Studies

Word Walls: Using the Word Wall

Feb 1, 201712 Comments

Last month I wrote about getting your word wall ready for use. Now they are ready – we need to use them. There is no point having a word wall that you don’t use! Word Walls are an important resource for conventional readers and writers. Our job, as educators, is to teach them how helpful

Word Walls: Getting the resources ready

Jan 13, 201717 Comments

In the next couple of weeks in Australia and New Zealand, our schools will finish their summer holidays, and students and teachers will return to the classrooms. This means that lots of teachers are currently getting their resources together for the new school year ahead – including me. For students who are conventional readers and

Comprehensive Literacy Instruction: Meeting the Instructional Needs of ALL Students in our Classrooms

Nov 21, 20152 Comments

Many of the schools that I work with have been consistently implementing good, comprehensive literacy instruction for some time – and as a result there are a greater number of conventional readers and writers in our schools. This has led to an increased need for differentiation in our classrooms, and for more teachers to provide

Shared Reading: Focus on Interaction

Jun 7, 20158 Comments

Shared reading is a collaborative learning activity that emulates and builds on the bedtime book experiences that many children and parents have together. The focus during shared reading is on the interaction. Shared reading is appropriate for any emergent reader, no matter their age and can be done individually or in small groups. Focus on

Predictable Chart Writing: Group Writing for All

Jun 6, 201315 Comments

Recently I have been talking a lot to teachers about doing group writing in their classroom. As teachers implement a balanced literacy program in their classrooms, it is important that writing happens daily – and that writing happens for real reasons. Writing is one of the most complex tasks that we ask students to do.

Literacy and AAC Presentations from AGOSCI 2013

May 4, 20136 Comments

Yesterday I was very lucky to present three papers around the topic of literacy instruction for students with complex communication needs (CCN) at the 2013 AGOSCI Conference. The first presentation was with the awesome Dr Sally Clendon. Sally and I both do similar consulting roles – although Sally is based in Auckland, New Zealand. We

Using Tar Heel Reader in app mode on your iPad

Mar 17, 20138 Comments

This is my second post in a short while about Tar Heel Reader – but I just wanted to take a look at some of the great new (and old) features while Tar Heel Reader’s new look is still fresh! The second of these features is full screen or app mode – which is a

Self-selected Reading for Early Readers of All Ages

Mar 7, 2013

Today’s post is brought to you by the two guiding rules of self-selected reading. It isn’t self-selected if you don’t choose it yourself. You can’t get better at it if it’s too hard. One of the literacy activities that we want students to engage in is self-selected reading. Self-selected reading has many purposes: it gives

Putting Tar Heel Reader books into iBooks – with Speech!

Mar 4, 201324 Comments

I am a HUGE fan of Tar Heel Reader – and have blogged about it before. However, Tar Heel Reader has had a big upgrade and has some great changes that I am going to write about over a few blog posts. Today, I’m going to focus specifically on the ability to put your Tar

Lots of alternatives – “pencils” for everyone

Dec 19, 201213 Comments

When I first started teaching literacy I focused on teaching reading. At the time, I was working with adults with physical disabilities and writing seemed so hard. None of my class would be able to use a pen or even a keyboard and mouse, which was all I had access to (or so I thought).