NZATE NEWS: ISSUE THREE 2019
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NZATE NEWS: ISSUE THREE 2019
Kia ora koutou
Welcome to the third and final edition of NZATE News for 2019. It has been a good year.
Membership has grown hugely, resources have been received favourably and Professional
Development has been provided successfully.
The Good News
NZATE’s PLD workshops reached a good number of our community, in a diverse range of
locations. There was a strong undertaking to try to provide PD in areas that do not always
get access, and the delivery of this eventuated in professional growth occurring in many
different regions.
The numbers look a little like this:
16 workshops
14 different centres
Over 300 attendees
And ... very, very favourable feedback from those who attended.
That said, there is a ‘critical mass’ necessary, in terms of numbers of attendees. The thrust
of this is that if you do wish to have PD provided in more out of the way places, work with
your networks to make sure the number of enrolments reflect this desire.
Planning is already underway for the continuation of the provision of PD, including
refinements around the timing and a new direction for the content for 2020.
Also in the plan for 2020 will be the continued provision of practice examination materials,
in a wider range of formats that will enable more seamless integration for schools that offer
practice examinations on digital platforms.
My favourite bit of feedback about these exams came from one of my Level One students,
after sitting the NZQA exam. He said the exam went well but he found that the essay questions
were very similar to our practice exams, and he thought this was a bit suspicious. It’s really
not, I assure you.
Important Updates
Here is the latest from Nigel Mitchell, the Senior Advisor leading the work on writing the new
English standards
“You will be aware that four subjects, of which English is one, began the process of the
Review of Achievement Standards in September of this year. A group of eight subject experts
has drafted a Learning Matrix, which identifies the Big Ideas and Significant Learning in the
English curriculum, as well as a draft Assessment Matrix which clusters that learning into four
Achievement Standard titles.
Both of these, with a rationale document explaining how they work, will be available for
sector feedback from December 2019 to February 2020. This feedback will be invaluable
and will inform the development of Level One Achievement Standards, three Assessment
Activities for each, a Teaching Learning and Assessment Guide and Conditions of Assessment
during the first part of 2020. These will also go out for sector feedback once they have been
drafted.”
The Subject Expert Group members are: Jane Dewar (Hutt International Boys School), Yvette
Krohn-Isherwood (President of NZATE), Kalia Lautusi (Aotea College), Mark Edgcombe (Tawa
College), Lorena Strother (Fraser High School), Megan Taylor (University of Canterbury),
Phobie Howarth (Te Aho o te Kura Pounamu), Natalia Faitala (Wesley College).
NZATE on Social Media
The untimely demise of Engchat - death by 1000 cuts.
Pip Tinning fought a good fight, she really did. But numbers of participants fell and fell,
to the point where the time and preparation could no longer be justified. Hence the death
of Engchat on twitter.
Worry not though, our Facebook continues to go from strength to strength and there
are certainly other avenues for professional discussion in our community, through the
Secondary English mailing list, or the NZ English Teachers’ Facebook.
There has been a fantastic conversation on the former this last week, discussing the
relative merits of ‘window’ and ‘mirror’ texts. You can join this community through the link
here: http://englishonline.tki.org.nz/English-Online/Community
English in Aotearoa
Have you spent time looking through the recent conference edition
of English in Aotearoa edited by Laura Borrowdale and Jacq Gilbert?
The NZATE publication is continuing to evolve in the best of ways
and so there is some great content in this, the latest iteration.
Do try to get your hands on a copy, if you’re yet to read it, or access
the electronic copy through the website here - https://nzate.org.
nz/english-in-aotearoa/issue
Your NZATE
Featured Council Member: Jacq Gilbert - Responsible for liason with South
Island regional associations and Assistant Editor of English in Aotearoa
Day Job: Head of English, St Andrew’s
NZATE in two words: Support Network
Three books/films I’d take if I was stuck on a desert island:
• Tim Winton The Turning
• Collection of essays by Zadie Smith
• Boxed set of The West Wing
Favourite quote: ‘He knew where there were no lions,
hyenas rule.’ (Owen Marshall)
President:
Yvette Krohn-Isherwood, president@nzate.org.nz
Vice President:
Renee Hutchinson, vice-president@nzate.org.nz
Secretary:
Abbie Wright, secretary@nzate.org.nz
Treasurer:
Jenny Mcpherson, treasurer@nzate.org.nz
Portfolios
English in Aotearoa: Laura Borrowdale and Jacq Gilbert,
editor@nzate.org.nz
Website: Susy Carryer, admin@nzate.org.nz
Newsletter: David Schaumann, david.schaumann@nzate.org.nz
Social Media: Pip Tinning, socialmedia@nzate
Marketing and Research: Pip Tinning and Sian Evans,
pip.tinning@nzate.org.nz sian.evans@nzate.org.nz
Resources Development: Sian Evans, sian.evans@nzate.org.nz
PLD: Yvette Krohn-Isherwood, yvette.krohn@nzate.org.nz
Exams and Assessment: Yvette Krohn-Isherwood
and Renee Hutchinson, yvette.krohn@nzate.org.nz
renee.hutchinson@nzate.org.nz
Membership: Susy Carryer, admin@nzate.org.nzYou can also read
