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‘The study of English introduces a student to other voices and other lives … and in doing so, helps them find their own voice.’ Whether you are planning to study a new text, looking for a fresh approach to teach an old favourite or simply seeking strategies to provide more variety in your teaching, this is an invaluable guide for all English teachers. The Literature Toolbox features over fifty activities for exploring text. Easy to implement and rigorously roadtested in real classrooms, these practical strategies foster engagement, deepen inquiry and model fluent and sophisticated essay writing.  

When you're dealing off-task student behaviour, you want teacher-tested strategies that work in real classrooms. You'll find a wealth of these tools in Classroom Dynamics by Glen Pearsall. Drawing from his experience helping schools address challenging student behaviours, Pearsall explores how to create positive learning environments, heighten engagement and maintain productive relationships with young people.  This book is ideal for K–12 teachers looking for concrete strategies that they can immediately implement in their classrooms. Incorporating recent research on effective classroom practice, Pearsall discusses how to quickly address low-level off-task behaviour before it becomes problematic – and how to de-escalate potential conflicts and address difficult behaviours when it does. Classroom Dynamics also helps teachers understand the reasons behind these disruptive behaviours, offering practical ways to quickly get to the heart of issues that might be affecting student learning. This revised edition includes a new chapter focusing on demand-avoidant behaviours where Pearsall guides educators in the subtleties of dealing sensitively with situations in which even low-level instruction might lead to an explosive response from the student.

Gospel-Inspired Teaching and Learning introduces a transformative framework that uses a structured view of teaching and learning in Christian schools. This ‘gospel-inspired’ framework helps teachers to create meaningful and nurturing lessons that provide students with the tools and capabilities to flourish and experience life in all its fullness in alignment with God’s vision. The framework emphasises important facets of the educational process, such as fostering meaningful relationships, supporting and inspiring learning, making education accessible and engaging, unveiling the beauty of God’s creation, modelling Christian virtues, encouraging excellence and nurturing individual God-given gifts. Upon joining a missional Christian school, teachers embark on a profound journey of discovery, serving within a community and worshiping together. This journey involves personal and professional growth, aligning one’s gifts with God’s plans. It is hoped that the ‘gospel-inspired’ approach will be embraced and valued by educators and school leaders in Christian schools – and ultimately enrich the learning experience for students and their families.

I commend this book for both beginning teachers and those well into their teaching journey. – Dr Bill Rogers In a time where Australian classrooms are grappling with a rising tide of student misbehaviour exacerbated by a looming teacher shortage, this book emerges as a beacon of change. Christopher Hudson challenges the archaic disciplinarian approach, urging educators to evolve with the times and view behaviour as a skill to be taught, modelled and practised. Leading Positive Classrooms makes a compelling case for adopting an educative approach to behaviour management with a focus on relationships. It offers practical insights and tools for change including exemplar conversational scripts, real-world strategies and reflection activities. This powerful resource offers a roadmap to shift the focus from managing behaviour to leading behaviour, ultimately creating a positive and transformative learning environment.

Grounded is a beacon of wisdom for parents navigating the complex landscape of modern childhood. Drawing on their extensive research and personal experiences as parents and educators, the authors have crafted a comprehensive guide that transcends age boundaries, offering practical insights from infancy to adolescence. Grounded provides a user-friendly introduction to neurological development and highlights that a parent’s wellbeing is integral to supporting their children effectively. Rooted in neuroscience, psychology and education, it serves as a roadmap in parents’ journey to foster optimal cognitive, emotional and physiological growth for their children. Informed by a blend of academic rigour and real-world parenting, this ground-breaking book challenges prevailing norms and calls for discernment in assessing home environments, schools, and the broader societal context. It is a call to action for parents who aspire to raise children who are not just academically successful, but resilient, happy and healthy – and well prepared to navigate an increasingly complex world.

Workplays provides school to work transition play scripts and activities for secondary school students. This approach provides students with a realistic understanding of a variety of professions, trades and careers, fosters collaboration between subjects and develops essential skills for the workplace world. This second edition of Hazel Edwards’ well-loved and used teacher resource, highlights the practicality of integrating plays and simulated workplace experiences in schools in addition, or in lieu of work placements. Multiple play scripts, activities and discussion points provide for all level of reading skills. The book advocates for the value of incorporating simulated workplace experiences, offering a practical and inclusive skills approach to preparing students for future work.

In The School Leadership Juggle, Andrew Oberthur offers a lifeline to educators and school leaders grappling with the intricate balancing act of modern primary school education. Drawing upon his extensive background in education, Andrew provides a comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted world of primary school leadership, emphasising the practical tools and strategies necessary for success. This book not only equips educators with evidence-based techniques for curriculum design, classroom management, and more but also places a strong emphasis on self-care and collaboration, recognizing the emotional toll of the profession. The School Leadership Juggle is a beacon of guidance and inspiration for anyone navigating the challenging and rewarding journey of primary school education.

Amid the discourse surrounding the controversial role of generative AI in education, Practical AI Strategies goes beyond the hype to explore the opportunities and challenges of the technology in K-tertiary education. The book looks past individual applications to explore the broader landscape of generative AI, offering educators invaluable insights into its workings and ethical considerations. Divided into six parts, Practical AI Strategies guides readers through the construction and ethics of generative AI technologies, navigates policy landscapes and provides practical strategies for using these technologies in education. Detailed sections on text and image generation provide a solid foundation for using generative AI, and prepare educators for multimodal technologies on the near horizon including video, audio and 3D generation. Leon Furze prompts educators to engage critically with generative AI and consider the near future of this rapidly developing technology. He encourages readers to navigate this terrain with an open mind and a discerning eye, and stresses the need for educators to have the fundamental skills to work with generative AI.

The role of teachers isn’t limited to just teaching. Teachers are here to educate, to lead others out to a new beginning, a future that students and teachers can wholeheartedly embrace. In Curating Inquiries, Grant Lewis shares his knowledge of curriculum design and inquiry learning garnered from over 20 years of experience. This book will explore how schools and teachers can develop a conceptual framework that scaffolds the learning journey while developing inquiries worth learning about.From looking at how to map curriculum across a year or longer using the framework, it is designed to be practical and provide strategies and protocols to be applied in a primary school setting. It also explores what inquiry-based learning is, how to make sense of it all and still remain accountable to curriculum and student voice. This book is recommended for teachers who wish to develop knowledge around planning for an inquiry and providing the time and space for students to grow in their confidence and skills in inquiry. Through understanding how inquiry-based learning works, it will enable teachers to achieve success in setting up the memorable, powerful and engaging learning experiences for their students.

Every child has a right to a life where they’re respected for who they are and have friends who value them. This insightful and practical guide delves deep into the complex issue of school bullying. Completely revised and updated, this edition of Field’s best-selling resource explains what bullying is, the injuries and trauma it inflicts, the underlying reasons behind it and the need for more effective interventions. Field presents valuable tools and tactics that busy teachers, parents and counsellors can use to empower students to effectively manage bullying. These skills and strategies can be applied in various contexts, whether by mental health professionals, educators, parents, or even peers who want to support bullied students. Despite the seemingly daunting nature of school bullying, Bully Blocking offers hope and a path forward. Field's evidence-based approach and practical solutions make this book an essential resource for anyone looking to help students navigate the challenging terrain of bullying, equipping them with the social survival skills they need to thrive in today's complex social landscapes.

Writing for Young People offers insight and advice to aspiring writers and educators on how to set up a writing business and the process of crafting projects centred around young readers. Delving into important aspects such as workspace organisation, time and money management, and overcoming procrastination, Writing for Young People equips writers and educators with the tools to shape the literary landscape for young people. This book draws from Hazel's industry experience and offers essential tips and activities for various genres, including non-fiction, young adult, children's picture books and educational materials. It covers a range of topics, from crafting book proposals, conducting research and preparing manuscripts.

We know education is not a level playing field. Those living with early adversity are starting school significantly less likely to complete their education than their peers who have things easier. When educators and schools understand childhood trauma, they are well placed to embed wellbeing practices into every interaction, and when those interactions are trauma-informed and responsive, students’ lives are positively impacted in a deep and enduring way. Safe to Learn offers readers an understanding of behaviour through the lens of trauma and adversity, and provides practical strategies for primary schools and educators to become trauma-informed and responsive in a way that best supports all students, regardless of their life experiences. This book offers guidance for schools to introduce, or expand, a whole-school model of integrated wellbeing practice and support for individual teachers to learn how they can make a significant difference to their students. It also provides the tools to identify which interventions may benefit a student or class as well as ideas for tracking and showing wellbeing growth.

The pressures of our job as teachers are enormous. Often time-poor, overworked and underappreciated, we must also manage complex relationships with students, parents, and colleagues. These are human problems – and human problems require human solutions. Gratitude Practices for Teachers is a guide for educators and leaders navigating the daily challenges of teaching. Far from recycling simplistic gratitude platitudes, Dr Kerry Howells and Dr Jo Lucas offer a series of deep gratitude practices educators can use straightaway to create meaningful change. With chapters addressing problems such as exhaustion, toxic staff relationships, perfectionism and angry students, this book is a go-to guide to support educators through everyday difficulties.  Whatever your challenges are right now, discover how you can grow your resilience, nurture robust and respectful relationships, and replenish your joy and passion for education by practising deep gratitude. 

Teaching is a profession that includes moments of joy, fulfillment and deep engagement, but challenges and demands within the educational world can often lead to burnout. In The Sustainable Teacher, Melissa shares practical strategies to help teachers find a better balance. Using 10 key principles including intentional planning, effective time management and collaboration, this invaluable book offers advice, empathy and real-life stories to assist educators in their teaching careers. The Sustainable Teacher is recommended for readers who want to transform their approach to teaching through growth and self-empowerment. Teachers at all career stages will find inspiration to navigate their teaching journey with more energy, enthusiasm and resilience.

Connecting with Your Teens is a simple, practical, down-to-earth guide for all parents and teachers who want to bond with their teenagers while also helping them to develop important life skills. This fun and effective book contains chapters that can be followed chronologically throughout the year, or by selecting a ‘life skill’ that may need to be learnt. Each chapter explores different understandings of these life skills, offers fun and engaging activities to develop these skills as a family and includes personal narratives relating to each life skill. Learning these skills will not only help your teen navigate the sometimes-tricky stages of adolescent life but ultimately thrive through the rest of their lives to come. A very useful resource for all families. - Gail McHardy, CEO, Parents Victoria Inc. Smart. Concise. Practical. This will make a difference. - Dr Justin Coulson, Parenting Expert and Author Essential reading for any teen parent. - Fergus Watts, Chairman, Reach Foundation

In Talking Sex, Vanessa Hamilton fearlessly explores the complex topic of human sexuality. Drawing from extensive experience and contemporary research, this groundbreaking book challenges readers to reconsider outdated beliefs about sex and sexuality education. It’s packed with conversation starters, tips and strategies to empower adults to provide the accurate, comprehensive, age-appropriate information children need for a fulfilling and safe journey through life. Talking Sex covers a variety of topics including sexual safety, diversity, reproduction, pleasure, consent and sexual health — because, after all, most conversations about human sexuality have hardly anything to do with what we commonly think of as ‘sex’.   Your children are getting a sexuality education every day from the world around them. But is it the one you want them to receive? Who do you want to tell your child about each topic related to sex, human sexuality, consent and respect? Hopefully the answer is you. Children don’t need ‘sex ed’, they need sexuality education, information and conversations. Become the askable and tellable adult that children need you to be.

Scripts allow hesitant students to be able to assume the protection of a character and play a role or explore issues which may concern them in real life. Issues contains a collection of scripts, discussion prompts and activities for use in the classroom, as a way of opening up students to understand and process topical and sensitive issues in their world, from a range of perspectives. The art of performing harnesses the students’ engagement in the subject and offers a chance to immerse themselves within the protection of a character or role. This book gives middle school and secondary school students a chance to discuss contemporary topics or problems during the classroom rehearsal and performance of these scripts. There are enough parts for the whole class to participate, and conversation prompts and activities are provided to extend and deepen classroom discussion. Extensively workshopped and already used in classrooms nationally, this large collection of student performance scripts allows students and teachers to improve their ability to understand, navigate and discuss sensitive issues in the classroom.

High Impact Reading Instruction and Intervention in the Primary Years is a call to action for passionate teachers, education assistants, principals, and deputy principals who believe in the transformative power of literacy. With a focus on evidence-based practices and the science of reading, Julie Scali equips educators with accessible and practical knowledge to elevate their teaching to the next level. In the first part of the book, Julie lays the foundation for high-impact literacy instruction and intervention, emphasising the importance of data-informed practice, high expectations, explicit instruction, daily review, and response to intervention. With an unwavering dedication to student success, she guides educators through the fundamentals that will empower them to create classrooms where every student can thrive. The second part of the book dives into the science of reading, unravelling the complexities of how children best learn to read. Julie connects research to practical examples, providing educators with insights on implementing structured literacy in the classroom. Unlock the potential of young minds and nurture a love for reading that will last a lifetime.     Access resources and templates from the book here.

Leading with the Social Brain in Mind puts relationships front and centre of the important work that educators do. The number and different types of relationships that educators maintain on daily basis can be undervalued and underestimated. Specifically, it challenges system and school leaders to investigate how social brain theory affects the unintended results of collaborative interactions in their own complex organisational environments. Designing environments for collaboration in schools is a complex task and requires a lot of skill, especially in those where many institutional practices and structures are so widely accepted that they are rarely questioned. This book discusses the importance of collaboration in schools, explores silo mentality and asks educators to reflect on how their decisions are impacted by implementation barriers. It is an invaluable read for educators who want to understand associations among cognition, complexity and collaboration in leading change initiatives in schools.    

Rachel Stewart is a parent engagement specialist and mother of three. In Creating Connections: Inspire your child to thrive in their learning, Rachel explores the vital role of parents (and carers) in their children’s education, in particular during the transition to learning at school. With touching anecdotes from her own life, Rachel describes how the adults who care for children can learn alongside them - with children, families and teachers forming a powerful learning team. With a focus on compassion - for self and for others - Rachel encourages parents to reflect on their life and grow their awareness of how their experiences might influence their parenting style. She encourages a close relationship between parents and teachers for the benefit of the child and invites parents to build a relationship with their children that encourages a love for learning and growth as unique individuals. Importantly, Rachel explains how to stay connected while letting go. Creating Connections provides the support and affirmation craved by any parent who has wondered if they are doing a good job.  

Do you want to engage students, prevent disruption, and maybe even teach a decent lesson? The Teaching Game offers a very practical approach that can be applied immediately. You’ll discover how to manage a classroom, deliver curriculum, provide effective feedback, use data, plan for the next unit, write an assessment piece, teach students on the spectrum, and care for your own wellbeing. This book is for those who are: About to embark on their teaching career Thinking of joining the teaching ranks Wanting to further develop their teaching skills Mentoring early-career teachers    

As educators we all recognise the power of using data to inform our work. A key piece that is often missing is how we engage students in their data story. When we use data with students they become data-informed learners. They have a better understanding of their ability as a learner and can articulate their goals and challenges more clearly. We can support our students through targeted conversations, working in partnership to help them improve. There are three main purposes for using data with students: goal setting, learning dispositions or behaviour, and the quality of student learning or understanding. There are five main modes by which we do this: data walls, success criteria, student-generated assessment, deliberate conversations and data on walls in classrooms. In this book, Dr Selena Fisk unpacks these purposes and modes, giving practical ideas for implementation in schools and classrooms. She offers guidance in having constructive data-informed conversations with students, while building a culture of psychological safety where data use is productive and transformational.   Praise for this book: This book offers readers an important glimpse into what it takes to ensure that students can answer my 5 questions: What are you learning and why? How are you doing? How do you know how you are doing? How do you improve? Where do you go for help? When they can, we know that they are all 'Data-informed Learners'! This makes this book a rich piece of school improvement literature. Dr Lyn Sharratt - International Consultant and Author  

Talkin’ Chalk will inspire confidence, knowledge and understanding in every new teacher who reads it. Author Rebecca West, a Top 10 Finalist of the 2021 Global Teacher Prize and creator of YouTube channel Talkin’ Chalk, shares her invaluable top tips and experiences from two decades of teaching. This book offers real advice about how to set up your classroom, plan and monitor your workload, build relationships, reflect on practice and much more. The useful tips and editable templates make it a practical and indispensable resource. Talkin’ Chalk is a prerequisite to teaching your first class, and will remove any fear or angst from beginning teachers. Click here to download the templates in Word. Click here to download the templates in PDF.  

Ask the Animals aims to encourage the natural curiosity of young children. Unfortunately curiosity in a child’s early years weakens with time, and during school they become accustomed to mainly seeking correct answers to questions asked by their teachers. Curiosity involves asking questions about something which you know little about. These questions usually start with WHY or HOW and help children to gain knowledge of their own accord. In this book 16 animals are introduced with an illustration and a fun rhyming poem, and are followed by a range of WHY and HOW questions to strengthen curious thinking. Ask the Animals shows young children the importance of asking questions and develops their critical and creative thinking.   Download the animal templates here