Introduction to Writer's Notebook

2 day Mini Course

Facilitated by Amanda Bartram

This mini-course is most suited to educators working with young writers in Years 3-7.

Being a writer is more than knowing how to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard. Understanding how to craft effective writing to convey an intended message involves complex composing decisions alongside knowledge of language conventions. Strong writers think about their audience, the purpose for writing and select the most appropriate crafting techniques for their needs. They learn to think like a writer: collecting ideas for writing, thinking about word choice, sentence fluency, structure and how to bring authentic voice to their writing.

Many teachers (and schools) have recently embraced a strong genre-based pedagogy for writing. This has strengthened the knowledge base of educators and has resulted in far more explicit teaching of text structures and features.

This writing may be well structured, but unfortunately much of it can be uninspiring to read! The writing lacks voice and uniqueness and writers are not skilled in techniques to create a well crafted piece of writing. Too many developing writers believe that “good writing” means ‘writing a lot’ or ‘getting all the spelling right’. Writer's Notebooks have the power to transform writing lessons: young writers begin to care about what they write and teachers have a way to easily connect grammar, crafting and spelling lessons to authentic writing.

We have supported many schools to create a whole school approach to the teaching of writing, through a Writing Workshop approach that begins with the Bookmaking and introduces Writer's Notebooks at around the Year 3 mark. The pedagogy is the same - only the 'container' for the writing changes. So, if your EY writers are already making books, this is the perfect next step to stretch them in Middle and Upper Primary.

Registration is for 2 Days
Saturday 22 May & Saturday 19 June

BYO Lunch

Light Morning Tea provided

Please note: registration is via Humanitix and payment is strictly by credit card only. Manual registration and invoicing is not available. You are automatically sent a tax invoice when registering on Humanitix.

Part of your booking fee will be donated to support Indigenous Education Scholarships.

Email Melissa if you are participating with a team of more than 5 from your site. Give Melissa the names participating and she will send you a discount code.