Teachers are Awesome

There is no doubt about it - there are a heck of a lot of seriously dedicated, awesome teachers out there.

Yesterday morning in Sydney was gorgeous. The type of Saturday when a walk in the park or along the beach seems like the perfect thing to do. Or perhaps a picnic or barbecue with friends.

But despite this glorious spring weather beckoning, 65+ teachers headed to Our Lady of Good Counsel School, Forestville to attend an ALEA North Sydney professional development event on Children's Literature. The ALEA North Sydney group hold these events on various topics relating to literacy teaching four times each year, and without fail they are always well attended.

I gave a talk on enticing reluctant readers and the Lightning Strikes series published by Walker Books and Dr Alyson Simpson explored reading and responding to children's literature, giving many practical classroom ideas for the attendees to try out.

There was such a buzz in the room - such wonderful enthusiasm for children's lit, for teaching, for improving literacy, and for finding the right book. I felt privileged to be involved.

Special thanks to the hard-working ALEA North Sydney committee, especially Wendy Bean, Kathy Ferrari and Helen Pearson.