Simon Cossey Professional Blog

  For the first time in my teaching career, I was part of a conference that included Primary, Intermediate and Secondary teachers from the local area. Waiting outside for the powhiri to begin, I was excited to see a lot of colleagues I knew from 12 years teaching in this area. I also had the chance to meet new people.  The powhiri was really special - listening to the speeches and singing waiata, I felt the sense of unity - he waka eke noa - we're all in this together.   To add to my excitement - Russell Bishop was the key note speaker. The focus of his work is really close to my heart - developing teaching approaches that are highly relational, while also having very high quality teaching interactions with students.  Here are some key points that I took from Russell Bishop's address...  - When students are achieving at a lower level than expected, teachers often seek to explain it by saying there is a problem with the child/family/society.  - A more constructive approach is to

  In Term 1, I attended a Mini Meet at Drury School to find out more about their journey with BSLA.  BSLA (Better Start Literacy Approach) is based on a structured literacy approach along with oral language, whanau engagement and comprehension.  Disclaimer: I'm not a fan of structured literacy - mostly because I believe in reading for meaning and enjoyment, not reading for decoding.  However, I find it really helpful to have a consistent plan that I can follow - and BSLA seems like a thoughtful, systematic approach that covers core learning skills.  One of the most helpful ' takeaways ' for me, was the use of high quality picture books, with multiple readings. Also, substituting some of the English words for Māori kupu... what a great way of including te reo within a familiar context.  I was impressed to hear about the equitable outcomes it was achieving across the spectrum of learners.  Recently, I heard Russel Bishop discussing the use of Balanced Literacy and Structured