NSWDoE Literacy & Numeracy

NSWDoE Literacy & Numeracy•education.nsw.gov.au

Literacy and Numeracy forms the basis of all of our learning as they are required for learning other skills and participating in everyday life. To improve student outcomes in literacy and numeracy we look at evidence-based practices and focus on the quality teaching of literacy and numeracy in all NSW schools.

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Episodes

In conversation about handwriting

In this episode we talk about handwriting. Why is it such an important skill to learn? How do we teach it? Listen in to hear our key messaging about handwriting. For further support and resources visit the NSWDoE Literacy and Numeracy website https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/literacy-and-numeracy Effective writing professional learning - https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/literacy-and-numeracy/professional-learning/effective-writing-evidenc...

Sep 25, 2023•23 min

Explaining the Professional Learning pathways

Rosie Farnham, Linda De Marcellis and Shannan Salvestro from the Literacy and Numeracy team talk through the Professional Learning pathways documents that have been developed to support schools’ priorities in literacy and numeracy according to the needs of teachers and students. Each pathway displays an overview of the professional learning and resources available in a suite of learning and provides a recommended order for engagement. Scenarios provide examples of how you can tailor a pathway to...

Jun 26, 2023•20 min

Let's chat about the assessment of reading

This podcast discusses assessment of student reading. For our NSW DoE teachers, we chat about what is available and how these assessments support us in identifying the reading behaviours and strategies of our students. We can use that information to make decisions about the next focus areas to target our teaching to meet student need. For more information on these assessments and how to access them you can visit the assessment section on the Literacy and Numeracy website: https://education.nsw.g...

Nov 01, 2021•19 min

Discussing Decodables with the Literacy Team

Following the recent roll out of decodable texts to primary schools to support school's reading programs, the literacy team got together to discuss the effective use of these books for reading instruction. We talk about what they are, what their purpose is, how to select a text for instruction or independent practice and about the inclusion of other texts in reading instruction. Listen in to our discussion on effective reading instruction incorporating decodable readers. For further information ...

Oct 06, 2021•24 min

Let's chat about the neuroscience of reading with Kate Blackwell

Kate Blackwell, a classroom teacher at Blackheath Public School in the Blue Mountains shares what she has learnt about the neuroscience of reading and what the implications of that knowledge has meant to her classroom practice when teaching children to read. Kate references these sources: Reader come home: The reading brain in a digital world by Maryanne Wolf https://www.maryannewolf.com/reader-come-home-1 Language at the speed of sight by Mark Seidenberg https://seidenbergreading.net/ Reading i...

Sep 16, 2021•16 min

Dr Danielle Colenbrander chats about vocabulary for reading instruction

Dr Danielle Colenbrander chats with us about the role of vocabulary in reading instruction. Dr Danielle Colenbrander is a researcher and member of the Macquarie University Centre for Reading. Danielle trained as a speech language pathologist at Macquarie University before completing her PhD exploring the role of oral vocabulary in reading comprehension difficulties. She has worked with diverse populations of children in a variety of settings in Australia and the UK. She is interested in relation...

Mar 06, 2020•27 min

In conversation with Dr Tessa Daffern: teaching spelling

In this conversation Dr Tessa Daffern explains why an instructional approach for spelling should include phonological, orthographical and morphological word forms. Effective spelling instruction should be explicit and occur frequently from the early years of school. Dr Tessa Daffern has contributed to education in many capacities for over 20 years: as a classroom teacher in schools, teaching and learning specialist, literacy coordinator, academic, and education consultant. Tessa is currently a S...

May 19, 2019•21 min

Teachers talking about using decodable texts in the classroom

Year 1 teachers from Cronulla Public School talk about how they use decodable texts in their classrooms during guided reading sessions and for independent practice of the strategies that students are being taught.

May 14, 2019•16 min

A speech pathologist's view on oral language, phonological awareness and phonics. PART 1

Oral language is the system we use for spoken words to communicate ideas, knowledge and emotions. It has a strong relationship to reading and writing and is recognised as a component of early reading instruction. Here we begin the first of a two part discussion podcast with Jane Beale, a speech pathologist, to hear her views on oral language. Further resources: Deslea Konza, Phonological awareness https://speldnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/1.2-phonological-awareness.pdf Deslea Konza, Ora...

Apr 03, 2019•30 min

A speech pathologists view on oral language, phonological awareness and phonics PART 2

This second part of the podcast continues on from our discussion on oral language in part 1, and we take the chat onto phonological awareness, the sounds of our language, and to phonics which is about the relationship between sounds and the letters that represent them. Speech pathologist Jane Beale discusses her view on how these components work together for effective early reading and writing instruction. Further resources: Deslea Konza, Phonological awareness https://speldnsw.org.au/wp-content...

Apr 03, 2019•28 min

Eddie Woo talks about student engagement

Eddie Woo discusses the importance of student engagement, and defines what this means, explaining the research and giving some practical advice. For further reading and learning: Framework for engagement with mathematics by Dr Catherine Attard https://engagingmathsdotorg.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/framework-for-engagement-with-mathematics.pdf Engagement with mathematics by Dr Catherine Attard https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ978128.pdf Visible Learning, by Hattie,Fisher & Frey https://s...

Mar 11, 2019•27 min

In conversation with Anne Castles: systematic and explicit phonics instruction

A conversation with Professor Anne Castles about the systematic and explicit instruction of phonics. We discuss how phonics can support early reading acquisition, as a foundation skill that helps us to move to the ultimate goal of making meaning. Further resources: Ending the Reading Wars, Reading Acquisition from novice to expert, A.Castles, K. Rastle and K. Nation, 2018 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1529100618772271 Ending the Reading Wars: a talk by Kathy Rastle -https://youtu....

Nov 13, 2018•24 min

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