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Date and time

Wednesday 24 May 2023, 4.00 pm to 5.30 pm

Delivery mode

Online – a Zoom link will be provided 24 hours prior to the event

Audience 

Secondary Teacher, English Teacher

Description

TEEL and other formulaic scaffolds exist to support students, but scaffolds are meant to be torn down. Unfortunately, due to high-stakes exams and time pressure, many students end up writing in TEEL-like structures throughout their schooling. These structures can limit students and hold them back from writing sophisticated essays.

Our students deserve to write in ways that allow them autonomy, creativity, and individual voice. In this session, we will explore the origins of structures like TEEL, the systemic issues that have caused formulaic writing to become the norm in English, and ways we can start to break our students out of TEEL.

Key takeaways               

• strategies to teach analytical writing without relying on formulaic structures
• ways to teach when you don't use TEEL
• strategies to support students who struggle
• deeper understanding of the ways to value the whole writing process and teach students to write with confidence.

Presenter information

Leon Furze

Leon Furze is a PhD student, experienced educator, consultant and educational writer. He is author of ‘Practical Reading Strategies’ and 'Practical Writing Strategies', and a VCE assessor. Leon provides professional learning and strategic planning for curriculum, literacy, and digital technologies.

Leon has taught English, Literature and Digital Technologies in Australia and the UK for over fifteen years, and was formerly Director of Learning and Teaching at Monivae College Hamilton. In 2016 he completed his Master of Education at the University of Melbourne, focusing on how Professional Learning can mitigate the risk of burnout in teachers.

His PhD is focused on Artificial Intelligence in education, and particularly the impact large language models like GPT will have on writing.

Link(s) to relevant VRQA Standards 

• Curriculum and Student Learning – Student learning outcomes