Checking in with Frazer Williamson

Hi there this is Fraz checking in.

I’ve been busy on a couple of books recently. One is called How Buzzard Got His Feathers for MacMillan and the other Kumara Reka for Learning Media about a boastful kumara who ends up in the pot.
I’m working on some paintings that will be in a group exhibition in New York next April. This is most exciting and is happening through the Flagstaff Gallery. Loisi and I hope to travel to Spain later this year and stay there till we go to New York for the opening. We stay in a town called La Herradura in Spain and write and paint in between drinking coffee and mangling the Spanish language.

I am doing some illustration with Geraldine at Essential Resources again which I always really enjoy because they always seem to love my work and we are a happy working family. 

I do illustrations for a magazine called New Zealand Doctor which I have worked on for 20 odd years. I get to do cartoons and illustrations for all manner of medical conditions so I have an encyclopaedic knowledge of diseases now. These ones have to be illustrated with varying degrees of sensitivity.

Lastly I’ve been working on a book with my brothers which we hope to publish soon. It’s a simple counting book, but with some cool pictures.



Thanks for checking in Fraz, it’s great to hear about your exciting projects.

Off to Spain and exhibiting in New York, very flash indeed, congratulations Fraz we wish you every success. Make sure you check out all the NY art galleries and keep a look out for Boston Terriers cos I want you to draw them, lots of them. The books you are working on sound great, do we call you Dr Fraz now? Love the ‘coldy parrot’ illustration and very keen to hear more about the counting book.

We love working with you and the way your lively artwork makes people smile.

Thanks for working your magic once again with your latest illustration. David Johnstone has used his amazing talent and put the Literacy Magic cover together this week. Here’s a sneak preview, it’s due out in August. 

Geraldine
 

Quote of the Week

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It's been a busy week. I've been working on a new series of maths books for Year 7 and 8 students due for release next term. They'll be packed with activities to develop students' skills in measurement, geometry and statistics. Each book includes practical tasks, real-life problems to solve and ideas for extension and exploration.

If you're in need of some inspiration for next term's planning, check out Rocket Your Way to Inquiry by Andrea Gore for handy inquiry planning templates and practical ideas to guide you and your students through each step of the process. Find out what your students are passionate about and encourage them to begin a passion project. Merrick Brewer explains how in Progress with Projects: a superb resource that focuses on teaching deep thinking, problem-solving and self management skills.

This week on the web:

Is handwriting old school? A school in Montgomery County, US suggests not. (Via Interface magazine)

Dust off your Latin dictionary. Latin is making a comeback in UK schools.

Knitting ninjas: @fievels brings new meaning to knit one, purl one as she uses knitting to teach key competencies. Read about their knitting adventures.

A delightful 3D alphabet book for teachers, parents and design junkies.

Game on: An engaging online game that teaches students about sustainability.

Do you have a gifted learner in your midst? Then click here for a review of Differentiation Made Practical by Rosemary Cathcart reviewed by Lynda Garrett, University of Auckland in Apex: The New Zealand Journal of Gifted Education.

Essential Resources’ author Rosemary Cathcart is a passionate and tireless advocate for gifted learners. Drawing on her wide experience and extraordinary expertise, her classroom resources, Differentiation Made Practical and Gifted Programming Made Practical are designed to help classroom teachers who find themselves faced with the added challenge of teaching gifted learners. They provide the necessary tools to deliver stimulating lessons that satisfy both gifted learners and their classmates.

Rosemary has spent nearly three decades writing, teaching and advocating for better provision for gifted learners. She developed the REACH model in the 1980s, founded New Zealand’s first gifted education centre in 1995, oversaw development of the One Day School, and now heads REACH Education, specialising in professional development in this field. In 2004 she was awarded the QSM for her contribution to gifted education.

Rosemary’s books are available from our website where they can be previewed using our online viewer.

Quote of the Week

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In my first few weeks as commissioning editor, I've been busy meeting with local teachers, RTLBs and principals to chat about ideas for resources. I'm always keen to hear from teachers who have ideas for resources so do get in touch if you need a resource to help you teach or if you're an aspiring writer with an idea for a resource, I'd love to hear from you.

The production team has been hard at work this term and we've recently released three great resources. Angie Simmons Fun and Free E-learning on the Web is packed with handy links including nifty tools for digital storytelling, teachers of students working at stage 7 will find No Nonsense Number Games a useful resource for group work and hot off the press Reading Explorers is a fantastic series packed with texts and differentiated activities to integrate into your reading programmes.

This week on the web:

• Supersized classrooms - Can students learn in large classes? A British school trials a classroom of 71 students and 2 teachers with interesting results.
• Gateshead Grannies use Skype to read, talk and play games with students in India.
• Are we killing oral communication? Speech language teachers fear that the art of communication is being threatened by the practice of pre-prepared written speeches.
• Derek Wenmoth reflects on successful professional development.
• The Tinkering School Gever Tulley believes that a little danger is good for kids.

A seriously good idea for parent evenings

It’s a chilly night in Invercargill. I’m secretly wishing I was sitting by a roaring fire with a good book but instead I’m loitering outside a school hall. I’m here to spend my evening doing maths.

I’m greeted by a friendly group of staff and parents and ushered over to join a table of parents ready to play the first game. There are several tables in the hall. On each table, a parent has been trained to play a maths game and they take us through the game, giving us ideas for  discussion and sharing tips such as the best time to play the games.

It’s a hit. There’s a relaxed atmosphere, everyone’s participating and the hour flies by. When I leave, I'm handed a bag of readymade games to play at home and I spend the rest of the evening trying to beat my husband at Grand Prix algebra.

Principal Kerry Hawkins and the staff of Waverley Park School along with numeracy adviser Averil Lee devised the workshops to hook parents into numeracy. Their inspired plan required teachers to take a back seat and, instead, a small, committed group of parents ran the sessions. Four sessions were spread over four weeks, each one covering a different aspect of numeracy. The workshops followed a similar structure:

• Each session ran for 60 minutes
• Parents were responsible for teaching the games
• Attendees rotated around games
• All the games involve minimal equipment but maximum fun.
• Parents preregistered to enter a prize draw on the night with prizes donated by local businesses.

Thanks to Kerry Hawkins and the wonderful parents and staff at Waverley Park School for the first seriously good idea.

Have you got a seriously good teaching idea you’d like to share? Post your ideas. We’d love to hear from you.

Multi-sensory learning with Frances Adlam

When I take workshops for teachers I state that best practice teaching revolves around the following processes:

• Multi - sensory learning.
• Multiple Intelligences.
• A sequential programme.
• Teacher knowledge.

Let’s think about Multi-sensory learning for a moment. The obvious question is: what is it?
 
Educational jargon would have multi-sensory learning as being, at the very least, a programme that is offered in a VAK way: Visual, auditory and kinaesthetic. Children need to see what they are learning: diagrams, models, displays. It needs to be visually enticing: colour, shapes and  images. Children need to hear what they are learning about: instructions, explanations, questions and answers.

Sorry, I just have to have a wee diversion here on auditory learning. At some level this will mean teachers talking and children listening. I implore teachers to talk LESS. As a child, if I have to listen to the instructions, that in itself is enough of a task (especially if auditory learning is not my most effective learning  process). If the instructions are lost in between five minutes of rants about something that happened earlier in the day, the odd “be quiet” to a sprinkling of children and then a random reminder about something else that is happening tomorrow, it is no wonder many children in the class still have no idea what to do when, you as the teacher, feel you have given the instructions. The instructions, in such an offering, are not differentiated from all the other talking “stuff”. Time is wasted as many children are wandering around or staring out the window; many without a clue that any instructions were given.
 
How to talk so children listen:

• Grab their attention.

How?

Not by talking!

Hold up a YELLOW piece of A4 (laminated – you will need it a lot!) that has LISTEN in bold black letters written on it.

Write on the whiteboard: LISTENING and DEAD SILENCE NEEDED in 1 minute.

Put the 1 minute timer on.

(Have fun with the class – see if the next day you can all get ready in 50 seconds, 40 seconds....)

• Tell children: I am going to give the instructions. I am going to give them twice. After that you need to get on with what I have asked you to do. If you do not understand the instructions come and see me straight away.

• Only give the instructions. Do not use this time to inform, tell off or do a million other things.

• Put the main points of the instructions on the whiteboard with bright coloured whiteboard pens.

If you talk less, as a teacher (adult, friend...) children will listen.
 
OK Back to Multi-sensory learning.
 
So we know what the jargon means.
 
We know we have five senses: seeing (visual), hearing (auditory), touching (partly kinaesthetic – as kinaesthetic* also means using the whole body) and we have taste and smell. Taste and smell, on a regular basis are pretty tricky to introduce into the classroom – but hey, when they can enter the learning process they are a hit aren’t they?

(*I am going to give special attention to kinaesthetic learning later. It is the most powerful of ways for children to learn. It is the least used of the learning processes and the least understood. Hmmm!!!)
 
But, if you really want to know what multi-sensory learning is, this is my favourite way of putting it:
 
It is taking learning off the page.
 
It is making learning come alive by doing, being and getting stuck in with the whole of your being. It is singing our spellings, acting out our storyboards and walking out our numbers. It involves getting up from the desk and getting away from the 2 dimensional piece of paper with its squiggles on (or computer for that matter) and making learning a 3 dimensional active process that will enable children to learn faster and to remember things for longer.  

Try it – your class will thank-you! And remember, a thankful class is an easy class.

Thanks for that Frances. A really inspiring blog, look forward to more updates.

To view Multisensory Learning by Frances Adlam, visit our website.

Quote of the Week

Feel free to right click and save this weekly quote as your desktop (above) or iphone wallpaper (below). Or you could print and hang it as a personal reminder!

 
Hi there, I’m Phillippa and amongst my various hats here at Essential Resources, I help developers shepherd new systems and development projects from the mind’s eye, through the world of geek speak, and then into reality.
 
I’ve just been talking with a software developer. They’ve bought an art deco house in Addington that they’re renovating into some new offices, having moved from the Arts Centre in Christchurch just a week before the earthquake (good timing!). Friday-night drinks take the form of roasted marshmallows on the outside charcoal barbeque, with a lovely single malt accompaniment – a great Combo. And who thought developers weren’t imaginative?

Here at Essential Resources we LOVE both imagination and development. We’ve just launched our own Combo online (sadly, not marshmallows). This means that a printed book and an ebook can be purchased together for just $10 more than the individual price. We’ve also introduced easy, one-step, no-fuss ordering. Why don’t you jump online and check it out? The ebook is automatically downloadable, and the print book is dispatched tout de suite. It’s been a great way for teachers to share their resources with school colleagues through the school server, and for teachers to print just the pages they need without having to stand in front of the photocopier. Buying the Combo means the printed book is always on hand for easy referral.

So… if you’re interested in ebooks (pdf) for your school, then why not check out our latest Combo development. And if you’re looking for something new for Friday night drinks on these frosty winter evenings, then why not try toasted marshmallows and whisky. Sounds to me like a lovely way to end the week, and spend quality time with friends and colleagues.
 

Happy teaching
Phillippa

In April, we attended the Vision to Reality conference in Brisbane. It was a fantastic opportunity to meet Queensland educators to find out how they are using our resources in their classrooms and hear their feedback on resources we could offer to help them to teach effectively.  We returned with lots of ideas for resources to help Australian teachers implement the new curriculum - our development team are hard at work on some new projects. We will keep you posted!

The theme of the conference focused on the implementation of the Australian curriculum, quality teaching and leadership. Keynote speakers Linda Darling Hammond (former campaign adviser to Barack Obama and leading education scholar) and Mick Waters (former director of curriculum for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in the UK) delivered thought-provoking speeches on designing curriculums and powerful learning.

Whilst in sunny Brisbane, we also met with our Queensland-based authors Pauleen Novosel and Jason Novosel who are busy writing literacy Can U Cards (due out next term) to accompany their series of numeracy Can U Cards, which have been really popular with teachers from primary to high school level.

Read more about Linda Darling Hammond here.

In this video, Linda Darling Hammond shares her thoughts on what the US can learn from high achieving countries and their approaches to teaching, learning and assessment.

In July we'll be at the I love Teaching conference in Invercargill, the Learning Network NZ conference in Auckland and Technology Education New Zealand conference in Dunedin. Come and say hello if you're attending these.