Literacy

STORYATHON

100 Words Precisely

Storyathon challenges students to write a story that is exactly one hundred words. If you would like to take up the challenge please email your story to Mrs. Pizzonia.

mpizzonia@srprestonwest.catholic.edu.au

Here are some examples for inspiration:

Building Successful & Animated Readers and Writers

A successful literacy education creates confident communicators, imaginative thinkers and informed learners. Teachers at St. Raphael's commit to discern, differentiate, collaborate and balance our teaching and learning to nurture the growth and improvement for our students in their literacy education. 

As Catholic educators, we see learning as a journey of endless possibilities enlightened and enlivened by our Catholic faith. We believe that the full flourishing of every learner depends upon the individual’s ability to attain foundational knowledge and skills, as well as develop new literacies, capabilities, dispositions and cultural awareness. We value the explicit teaching of literacy to develop learners’ skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, creating, analysing and critiquing. We recognise that the learner’s oral language ability provides a critical foundation as well as an ongoing scaffold for the development of these literacy skills. We also recognise these skills are further strengthened when learners use and modify language for different purposes in a range of educational and social contexts. While much of the explicit teaching of literacy can be embedded in the reciprocity of learning to read and write, being literate involves having a wide range of competencies to make and deduct meaning in a variety of contexts. Catholic educators provide this versatility in building literacy skillsto ensure every learner’s reading and writing success.

-Melbourne Archdioces Catholic Schools

Key Messages 2021

Discern - Differentiate - Collaborate - Balance

Through collaborative year level planning, facilitated planning with school leaders and professional learning the teachers at St. Raphael's discern the most approriate teaching strategies for each learner. We consider and use mutliple, valid and reliable data sources.

Students practise skills tasks, group learning and independent learning tasks are differentiated in reading and writing and spelling to ensure the growth and progress of all learners.

We collaborate with experts within our staff and outside our school to design and implement programs for students.

It is importnat to balance our student's skills and knowledge with a love of reading and writing, and develop each student's belief in their own ability to be an effective communicator.