Loreto 5 Presentation by Kelly TabartEnglish Faculty

Loreto Normanhurst 2011

What does this mean for our students?

My vision for the English faculty is to further integrate ICT into our teaching and learning practices whilst improving our students’ basic literacy skills.

Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, once stated that “literacy unlocks the door to learning throughout life and opens the way for democratic participation and active citizenship.”

We need to ensure our students leave Loreto with the full complement of literacy skills required to facilitate their active participation in all aspects of 21st century society.

Loreto 5 Proposal

My two aims for 2011 were:

To focus more explicitly on the teaching of basic literacy skills across all parts of the curriculum using ICT;

To continue developing our Wide Reading program within the English Faculty (consolidating work completed during Loreto 5, 2010).

AIM 1:

To focus more explicitly on the teaching of basic literacy skills across all parts of the curriculum using ICT.

There are two ways to achieve this aim:

1. The implementation and management of Spellodrome (an online spelling tuition program) into the English faculty in 2011.

2. The construction of a Literacy Hub that can be accessed from the English Faculty website on the Student Portal.

The purpose of this SharePoint site is to centralise all electronic literacy-based activities and resources to allow easier access for both students and faculty members.

Spellodrome

Benefits of Spellodrome

This program has been introduced to all Loreto students in Years 7-9 and helps students build their spelling, vocabulary and grammar skills.

The overwhelming benefit of Spellodrome is that it is a web-based resource which is continually updated, therefore teachers have access to individual students’ progress and ‘real-time’ data.

Students also receive individual usernames and passwords so that access is not limited to school hours only.

Spellodrome

Spellodrome is also beneficial for helping students to develop their literacy skills in preparation for annual Naplan testing.

Literacy Hub

The Literacy Hub can be accessed via the English Faculty page on the Portal.

It contains resources and links to various websites that develop literacy skills.

Literacy Hub

It is my aim that teachers from all faculties will be able to use these resources.

The Hub contains resources for students to open and work through on their laptops OR for teachers to use in the classroom.

Literacy Hub

Screenshot of Creative Writing Resources page

Literacy Hub

Screenshot of Viewing and Representing Home Page

AIM 2:

To continue developing our Wide Reading program within the English

Faculty (consolidating work completed during Loreto 5, 2010)

Wide Reading site Located on English

Faculty site on the Student Portal.

All students in Years 7-10 complete a two-week Wide Reading unit as part of their English studies.

Wide Reading Project

Additional ICT skills

In addition to my own project, I have had an opportunity to develop broader ICT skills through my involvement in Loreto 5, including:

o Interactive Whiteboard Resources;o Microsoft Education Labs;o PhotoShop;o Adobe PDF Reader and Captivate;o Audacity;o LAMS.

Thank you to the Leadership Team for providing me with the opportunity to develop my ICT skills.

Thank you to Ken, Cath and Donna for your ongoing guidance throughout the process.

Thank you to Graeme and Martin for your unwavering support and enthusiasm. Additional thanks to Lui, Karen, Danielle and Daniel for your ideas and the general ICT-related discussions we had throughout the year.