ADDED - 28/08/14 - Fostering literacy requires that one is adept at systematically reinforcing the core, constrained skills of literacy (to the point of mastery) so that fluency is attained and higher order thinking can be facilitated, whilst providing rich opportunities for students to gain and express meaning in multiple knowledge domains and modes through scaffolded speaking, listening, reading and writing. Read More ...

ADDED - 27/08/14 - In addition to attending to comprehension skills, compositional skills and print-based skills (e.g. phonemic awareness, spelling skills, fluency, etc), balanced instruction must take into account the learning of the language itself; the situations in which we speak, listen, read and write; and what we are actually trying to learn and achieve (e.g. cooking, gardening, football, etc) in the process.  Read More ...

ADDED - 27/08/14 - The best teachers at all levels should be equally equipped to develop and monitor core skills whilst providing rich opportunities for students to read, write, speak and learn in authentic, meaningful contexts. For our present purpose, we will describes the two approaches as follows: skills-based and usage-based.  This instruction should prepare our students with the skills they need.  Read More ...

UPDATED - 30/08/14 - I am a teacher. I stand in front of awaiting eyes, ears, mouths and minds. I don't always stand in front. Sometimes I sit side by side or sit gathered in circles. I have plans for my students. I have expectations. I would like to consolidate skills through practice. And I want to consolidate these practices by providing opportunities for my students to learn and to practice and to grow. Read More ...

ADDED - 17/07/14 - Talk of best practices, teaching programs, cycles, and progressions can lull the casual observer into believing that programs on their own bring about result. A program's success is only as powerful as the vision and determination of the teacher delivering it and the learner engaging in it. We should not forget that learning is work, that skills and knowledge can and will be forgotten.  Read More ...

UPDATED - 31/08/14 - Learning is often completed collaboratively with others, and features a sense of mutual accomplishment as the learners embark on a journey of discovery, consolidation and confidence. A “constructivist” approach is implied in the principles above as novices can come to approach, learn, master, question and refine skills under the scaffolded guidance of one who is more skilled. Read More ...

ADDED - 16/08/14 - “If Wittgenstein and Saussure agree in using ‘grammar’ descriptively, they disagree about ... other matters. One is that Wittgenstein’s grammar has to do with uses of language (discourse conditions and discourse continuation) rather than forms and their combinations (morphology and syntax)." This essay seeks to present an integration of the two analytical perspectives into a single (metaphorical) model. Read More ...

ADDED - 17/07/14 - "If you understand anything in language, you must understand what the dialogue is, and you must see how understanding grows as the dialogue grows ... For language is discourse, is speaking. It is telling people things and trying to follow them. And that is what you try to understand ... You understand when it adds to your understanding of the discussion. Or of what the discussion is about."  Read More ...

ADDED - 21/08/14 - Why do we do what we do? How are our days, our months, our lives structured? What determines our practices? If we think back, how much of our daily patterns were determined by the practices we acquired as a child? And what about the practices we acquired later on? These and many more questions draw our attention to the concept of practices, which is a concept that I feel is at the core of human existence.  Read More ...

ADDED - 05/05/14 - Communication depends upon messages expressed and messages received. Not all messages expressed will be received as intended. Messages expressed and received are encoded in a system of meaning which includes grammatical relationships, intrapersonal intention, interpersonal knowledge, and cultural conventions. Read More ...

ADDED - 30/10/14 - The following represents original notes prepared in 2005 after a review of Wittgenstein’s two main texts: the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and the Philosophical Investigations. These two texts are often described as the "earlier" and the "later" Wittgenstein ... or the Two Wittgensteins. Whilst the Tractatus express a more structural/formal account of the nature of language, the Philosophical Investigations is characterised by a more social/cultural description of language in use. Read More ...

ADDED 11/04/15 - Why Wittgenstein? At the risk of oversimplifying the issue, I find that Wittgenstein’s work provides us with reminders - so to speak - in a few areas: about perception (and seeing aspects), about language (its structure and use), about our words (and our concepts), about learning (the novice and the master), about knowledge (as critical and imaginative practice), about doubt (and certainty) and about culture (and the learning that is embedded within it). Read More ...