Future Focused English

Five years into my teaching career, I have had experience in a range of school systems and philosophies in New Zealand schools; Traditional, Modern Learning and I am currently working at a school that is the perfect mix of the two for me. While the contexts and subjects content might change, what stays constant is literacy being the key for my learners to access what we are learning. This has lead me to undertake extensive professional development and develop a passion for boys' literacy and cross-curriculum connections.

I aim to use a range of High Impact Teaching Strategies as I work collaboratively with a range of faculties outside of English. I love working like this as I really struggled to pick a subject as I am an absolute nerd and love science, math, history, media and languages. I often draw on these contexts to enrich the literacy and literature tasks I use in my classrooms. I particularly love science fiction, speculative and dystopian fiction as do many of my students.

Yet to be added

I have gone through the New Zealand school system, sitting NCEA and have taught exclusively in this context. I have two Bachelor degrees, both from the University of Waikato. These include a Bachelor of Arts: double major - English and Foreign Languages (Specialised in German) and a Bachelor of Teaching.

As a practicing teacher in New Zealand, I encounter students with low levels of literacy and engagement in learning - daily. With the duty of preparing learners for a future I can't begin to imagine, accelerating literacy and improving engagement must be the focus of a responsive and dynamic teacher. In my resources, I aim to use high impact teaching strategies to foster critical thinking and the view that literacy is a transferable and invaluable skill.