The Conference was very well received as shown in the participant evaluation.  Responses to the presentations were extremely positive.  On a four point scale of “poor, fair, good or excellent”, almost all responses were ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. Speaker ratings were uniformly high with 80% and more of the participants saying ‘good' or 'excellent' to most presentations.
 
A sample of the open-ended comments show the appreciation of participants.
  • Thank you for a fantastic day of professional learning. Great learning which I can take back and implement.                       
  • Noella McKenzie; so practical , realistic – something I will put into practice straight away.
  • Fantastic opportunity for meaningful thought provoking, deep learning, much needed PD! Awesome.
  • Learning relevant to my setting – and reaffirming our current school goals whilst providing strategies for tweaking and progressing forward.
  • This would be great to run over two days to get more opportunities to attend more workshops.
 
We thank the wonderful Organising Committee, Jann Farmer-Hailey, Karen Finlayson, Sue Sinko, David Hastie, Chris Grima-Farrell  and all who contributed to such a successful conference;  speakers, organisers and participants.  Well done.
 
 
Associate Professor Alan Watson,  Emeritus Professor Alan Rice  
Conference Convenors

Keynote Speakers

• Ian Wilkinson, Professor, Teaching and Learning, OHIO State University
Quality Talk about Text: Research-Based Practices for Promoting High-Level Comprehension
• Jann Farmer-Hailey, Consultant, Literacy Leadership
Professional Learning Conversations To Grow Student Literacy
• Janet Gaffney, Professor, Educational Psychology – Literacy. Director, Marie Clay Research
Centre, Auckland University
A Systems Approach To Literacy Intervention: An Insider’s Research Story

Electives Included!

  • Instructional leaders make a difference: How to get change, Jan Farmer-Hailey, NSW
  • Dialogic teaching for argument literacy: Talk, text, and tools, Prof Ian Wilkinson, Ohio SU
  • Designer sentences: A hands-on approach for teaching sentence structure, Helen Pearson, UNSW
  • Responding to children: Useful help, Prof Janet Gaffney, Auckland University
  • Writing in the literacy program, Assoc Prof Noella McKenzie, Charles Sturt University
  • Comprehension: LAUNCH-Take off into Reading, Sharon Williams Learning Support, Danebank
  • Assessing phonics: How to fit teaching to the child, Assoc Prof Robyn Cox, ACU
  • Indigenous Education: Connecting communities, Di Murray, Instructional Leader Taree PS
  • Early reading assessment: Building on what we know and do, Rachel Chaston SCS
  • Writing Matters: Effective practices for EALD students, Helen West SCS
  • Stories from Schools with creative and effective programs, TBA