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A common challenge for students and teachers is how to develop a great idea for a piece of writing. Too often students struggle with the process of finding inspiration for their writing. They have a vague idea for the story they hope to tell, but all too quickly it transforms into a list of events with little or no detail. The goal here is to provide our students with a process to use during the planning process. The hope is that by identifying the type of thinking required during the early phases of ideation and to focus their attention on details, that the stories our students subsequently compose will be more enjoyable to read. Hopefully, this process helps.

In the post-truth era, does the capacity to utilise knowledge prepare one adequately to do battle against falsehood? When those selling untruths know the falsehood of their stories, does the bright light of truth shine through? Perhaps not.

Behind the rhetoric and politics, education is about the outcomes it achieves for its learners. More than being about the nuances of technology, learning space design, curriculum structures and pedagogical practices schools should have effective answers to questions that focus on what they hope to achieve for their learners. How we answer this question should then dictate the measures we utilise to achieve these goals and it is to these ends that we must apply our efforts.

An increasingly significant aspect of literacy is an awareness of the visual elements that fall beyond the traditional components of written text. Termed 'Visual literacy' this is the ability to read and create communications that use visual elements. It combines the skills of traditional literacy with knowledge of design, art, graphic arts, media and human perception. It takes literacy further beyond a decoding of text to a decoding of the complete package around the communication.

"Digital citizenship is not just about teaching students what not to do, but also what they should be doing, to create a positive online impression. It can not be taught in a one-off lesson but needs to be embedded into lessons and "lived" or owned by everyone going about their daily lives "

George Couros discusses how he sets about curating and sharing the work of others. " I have been blessed with a huge network on social media and I want to use that to not only share my voice, but hopefully the voice of others as wel"

Technology tools are being brought into classroom to enhance learning experiences and engage students. All teachers need expand on the set of rules to their classroom to help students understand appropriate behaviors and use of these technologies. The rules suggested in this post give students the freedom to use these new tools without abusing the privilege.

"In this post Kathy Schrock provides the reader with some ideas on how to infuse civic and global skills into the curriculum."

Reading Australia has been developed by the Copyright Agency and aims to make significant Australian literary works more readily available for teaching in schools and universities. These works are supplemented with online teacher resources and essays by popular authors about the enduring relevance of the works. There is a list of titles (download as a PDF). These titles have been selected by the Australian Society of Authors' (ASA) Council. They were asked to select works they thought students and others should encounter, to give a view of Australia's rich cultural identity: works that would tell Australia's history and also how we are currently developing as a nation. The ASA Council are adamant that this list should be merely the beginning, and it should be built upon with other works that have already been published, as well as the great new works that continue to be published in Australia. There is a wide range of teacher resources available (PDF) for Primary and Secondary school teachers and all of these teacher resources include classroom activities, assessments and links to the Australian Curriculum. In addition, many of the Secondary resources include an introductory essay on the text written by high profile writers. The Primary level resources have been commissioned by the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia and the Australian Literacy Educators' Association, and the resources for Secondary level have been jointly commissioned by the Australian Association for the Teaching of English and the English Teachers Association NSW."

Reading Australia has been developed by the Copyright Agency and aims to make significant Australian literary works more readily available for teaching in schools and universities. These works are supplemented with online teacher resources and essays by popular authors about the enduring relevance of the works. There is a list of titles (download as a PDF). These titles have been selected by the Australian Society of Authors' (ASA) Council. They were asked to select works they thought students and others should encounter, to give a view of Australia's rich cultural identity: works that would tell Australia's history and also how we are currently developing as a nation. The ASA Council are adamant that this list should be merely the beginning, and it should be built upon with other works that have already been published, as well as the great new works that continue to be published in Australia. There is a wide range of teacher resources available (PDF) for Primary and Secondary school teachers and all of these teacher resources include classroom activities, assessments and links to the Australian Curriculum. In addition, many of the Secondary resources include an introductory essay on the text written by high profile writers. The Primary level resources have been commissioned by the Primary English Teaching Association of Australia and the Australian Literacy Educators' Association, and the resources for Secondary level have been jointly commissioned by the Australian Association for the Teaching of English and the English Teachers Association NSW."

How to teach text structures for better reading comprehension and improved retention. Teachers of history, science, and other subjects are now expected to weave literacy instruction into their teaching of content. But how should they do that? What are the most effective ways to help students learn to read challenging content-area texts? This article breaks down the research behind explicit teaching of text structures and includes a video that shows how to do it (Great for content-area literacy)

"Even today's students need support with some areas of digital practice, particularly in an academic context, so it's important to make sure that these needs are met. We define digital literacies as the capabilities which fit someone for living, learning and working in a digital society. To help with thinking about this, we have outlined seven elements of digital literacy for consideration, which can be seen in the accompanying diagram"

Could be useful tool for classes to share specific links with each other. Another way to manage online bookmarks. "A social bookmarking site for schools. Allow students to explore, learn, gather & share resources with everyone in the class. No student sign up required! Easily share resources with anyone in the class!"

A great list of links that suggest how you can use Lego to teach literacy.

A useful comic poster from CC Poland offers a good resource to begin discussions about Creative Commons. 6 types of licenses are discussed with with their separate conditions attached to each of them. "

"These CC 4.0 licenses are the result of of two years of work to overcome some of the weaknesses that marked the 2011 version CC licenses. Some of the features and improvements included in 4.0 licences which make them easily shared and re-used include improved readability and organization and common-sense attribution."

Some useful guides to creating useful lesson plans for teaching study 9research) skills. Linked to US Common core standards but easily fit with Aus ones.

Part of Lyn Hay's session on the importance of teaching digital literacy to our students and links to where this process is supported by the Australian curriculum