When Reading Australia was in Canberra for the recent AATE/ALEA National Conference, we presented two sessions: this year’s Reading Australia Fellowship announcement, and a panel on reading and teaching diverse Australian writing. Don’t worry if you weren’t able to attend in person – the conference organisers have generously provided the recordings so we can share them with even more teachers and teacher librarians!
Below you will find the abstracts, presenter details and slides for each presentation. Simply click on the thumbnails to watch the respective videos on YouTube.
Thank you to AATE and ALEA for allowing us to use these recordings beyond the conference.
| Title | Reading Australia Fellowship Announcement 2023 |
| Abstract | In 2023 Reading Australia, a Copyright Agency initiative to support the teaching and reading of Australian literature in schools, celebrates 10 years of quality resources for teachers, by teachers. In addition to our collection of more than 270 freely available teaching resources, we also offer an annual $15,000 Fellowship for Teachers of English and Literacy. So far this has supported four Fellows – Jantiena Batt (2022), Edwina West (2021), Karen Yager (2020) and Alex Wharton (2019) – to undertake projects that have not only enhanced their skills and abilities, but also yielded profound personal and professional benefits. Join the Reading Australia team for the announcement of the newly appointed Fellow for 2023, and be one of the first to hear about their exciting upcoming research project. |
| Presenters | Nicola Evans, Head of the Cultural Fund and Reading Australia (Copyright Agency) Bridget Forster, 2023 Reading Australia Fellow |
| Slides | Download (PDF, 797KB) |
| Title | Diversifying the Bookshelf: Reading and teaching diverse Australian writing |
| Abstract | There is a huge appetite among students and their parents to close the knowledge gap about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. This is why Reading Australia, a Copyright Agency initiative to support the teaching and reading of Australian literature in schools, offers more than 70 freely available and curriculum mapped teaching resources for books by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers (in addition to 200+ units of work for other Australian books). Despite this, the 2022 Children’s Voice Survey by Know Your Country revealed that only 26% of the children surveyed had read a First Nations-authored book at school. There is a wealth of knowledge to be gained from bringing First Nations perspectives into the classroom, but many non-Indigenous teachers (who make up the majority of teachers in Australia) still feel ill-equipped to do so. In this session, Cara Shipp (Wiradjuri/Welsh woman) and Tracy Woodroffe (Warumungu Luritja woman) will share their experiences delivering Indigenous curriculum content as First Nations educators. They will explore the benefits of a First Nations-led classroom; the impacts of engaging with First Nations stories on both teachers and students (especially those who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander); and what teachers need from their resources to feel more supported in the classroom. Cara and Tracy have experience working with students of all ages; the insights gained from this session will enable teachers to approach First Nations texts with greater courage and confidence, and to facilitate their students to do the same. |
| Presenters | Nicola Evans, Head of the Cultural Fund and Reading Australia (Copyright Agency) Jenny Ryan, Reading Australia Editor and Digital Publisher (Copyright Agency) Cara Shipp, Wiradjuri/Welsh educator and resource writer Jantiena Batt, 2022 Reading Australia Fellow |
| Slides | Download (PDF, 680KB) |