Lots of preparation for 2011 has already been done but a lot more to do - find the preparation phase often the most enjoyable.
One of the things I have really found productive in the past twelve months is the use of class wikispaces and educational websites like:
It has a less cluttered look than wikispaces and offers more functionality besides being fairly easy to navigate. I have only sampled some of the options that are on offer in this free educational option and am awaiting a get together with a friend who is the weebly guru and will no doubt pass on some pearls of wisdom about how to get the most out of what it has to offer.
The costs involved in upgrading to the professional package are minimal and so will consider the extras offered.
An increasing number of teachers are using them as well as Edublogs and wikispaces to improve student access to resources from home and to better cater for students who miss class due to TAFE courses or illness. Online repositories of class material help students get better organised and become more self-reliant learners.
TTA Workshops
Feel well organised in having sorted out the workshops that I will offer this year. The dates should be posted fairly early into the term but the list includes topics from the Extension 1, Advanced and Standard English courses. I have added a new workshop for this year, Module C - 'Billy Elliot' which I will be teaching my Standard class this year.
New Genre Book
Have enjoyed the break from writing since finishing 'Exploring Genre-War' which should be published very soon. Beginning to get a little impatient about beginning the next one which will look at Satire. As with classwork, I love the preparation stage of writing, working out which texts I will focus on and the structure and direction I will take. While the series has a similar approach, each one is unique. I will begin working out the contents once the school year has started off and classes are settled into their units of work.
Back to playing with my weebly and wiki and getting as much done before we return. Feel for those Queensland teachers gearing up for school next Wednesday who may have been involved in flooding. Difficult to imagine how such an experience would impact on the pre-school preparation that is required for any smooth start to the year.
Perhaps we should set up a Ning repository for those flood affected teachers who may have lost all their teaching resources. Get back to me if you think we could organise something along these lines.
Hoping you have a good start to the new school year. Barbara
