Early Childhood Organisation of SA Conference Reports
The Early Childhood Organisation of SA Conference was held at St Peter’s Girls School on Saturday 16 June.
Four teachers were sponsored by the Teachers Registration Board to participate in the conference and they subsequently provided the Board with reports detailing their conference experience.
You can read excerpts from the reports below or click on the name to read the full report.
“There were many people attending the conference and it was great to see many kindergarten teachers, directors and ECW’s there. The kindergarten age group of educators was well represented. I was able to talk with educators about issues that are relevant to the age group of children that I teach. One colleague that I spoke with is also in my kindergarten partnership. We spoke together about ways that we can use the information gained in the conference to share with our partnership meetings.”
“The timing of the conference means that I will be able to include strategies learnt in my teaching and planning for Term 3 and beyond. My plan is to trial ‘stacks’ of texts, the teaching strategies Matt Glover has defined through the conference as well as the way in which he suggests assessing student progress. The conference was a fantastic boost for my own professional learning in Literacy as well as for the students I teach to get more out of the reading and writing programs I teach.”
“The theme for the day was “reading like a writer” and “writing like a reader”; making connections between writing and reading by exploring the habits and dispositions that successful readers and writers display. The goals for the day were ambitious. By the end, it was stated that conference attendees would have a solid understanding about how to promote and inquiry mindset when teaching students to read and write, how to deliver literacy instruction through multiple entry points, how to support every child’s intellectual growth and development, and how to foster deep learning and intellectual stretch. By the end of the day, we had explored all of this and more.”
“As a teacher, I would make sure that parents and other staff members understand if we hand children spelling, they will miss out on so many learning opportunities. It is essential to teachers and parents to know their children as learners who love to write. In addition, encourage children to create and use their own imagination whist writing and enjoy and celebrate every milestone.”