News

Back to news articles

Book your school a Spelling Masterclass

16/10/15

We’ve teamed up with literacy specialist Nicole Forrest to create the Spelling Masterclass – a comprehensive full-day workshop that provides teachers with the skills to effectively teach spelling.

Nicole Forrest (BEd, GradDipPsychSt) is a practising learning support teacher whose work in early literacy intervention focuses on phonological awareness and phonics.

We interviewed Nicole to discuss the phonemic approach and the new Spelling Masterclass.

Why do you think professional development training for phonemic awareness and phonics is so important?

To understand how written language works, students need systematic, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics. This can be a difficult task for teachers, particularly if their university course didn’t cover these concepts. Professional training ensures teachers have the knowledge and skills required to support students who are learning to spell.

Why do you think the Australian Curriculum is strengthening its focus on phonemic awareness and phonics?

This reflects the wealth of research findings that indicate explicit instruction in phonics and phonemic awareness is essential when teaching reading and spelling. The two concepts are closely connected and are both extremely important! Students require phonemic awareness in order to understand phonics, which describes the relationships between letters and sounds.

So what makes for a successful school spelling program?

I believe the keys to success are to:

  • follow a systematic synthetic phonics program
  • use a consistent whole school approach
  • deliver well-paced, explicit teaching
  • use comprehensive phonics assessments
  • support teachers with high quality training and resources.
What will schools get out of the Spelling Masterclass?

The Masterclass covers the fundamentals of phonemic awareness and phonics, and provides participants with teaching ideas, resources and lesson plans. From a whole school perspective, training all staff ensures cohesion and consistency in phonics teaching across all year levels. My aim is for every participant to walk away with the skills and confidence required to effectively teach phonemic awareness and phonics.

Ready to book the Spelling Masterclass?

Download the Spelling Masterclass Flyer for full details and booking information. Hurry! Spots are limited and filling up fast.