ERRR #076. Nathaniel Swain on Writing to Learn

Nathaniel is a fantastic contributor to Australian education and has a wide range of experience in a variety of settings. He has worked at Parkville College, a ​​ specialist t School that provides education to students who are, or have been, detained in custody, a secure care setting, or transitioning from these settings. He was a primary teacher and learning specialist at Brandon Park Primary. And he is now a lecturer at LaTrobe University. He is also the founder of Think Forward Educators, a community of teachers, school leaders, specialists, parents, and researchers who work to ensure that every child can succeed through a focus on social equity and  the science of learning.

Nathaniel has also created a number of free and open source teaching resources, mainly focussed around literacy, and it is this that we’re speaking about today. 

This is a wide ranging discussion that moves from what makes good writing, to The Writing Revolution, to the Write to Learn resources that Nathaniel has created with the Brandon Park Primary team. We also have a bit of fun playing around with literacy and hopefully model within this podcast the kind of fun that can be had by students too, in this space. It was a real pleasure to have Nathaniel on and I can’t wait to see the impact that Nathaniel continues to have in the coming years and decades in his new role as a teacher educator, in addition to through his wide variety of other exciting projects in the education space.

To get a summary of this episode, sign up at www.patreon.com/errr  

The ERRR podcast can also be listened to on Spotify, apple podcasts, and all other podcasting apps. 

Links/resources mentioned in the show

• Natalie Wexler on the ERRR Podcast
• Judith Hochman on the ERRR Podcast
• Brumbies paper: Mateship with Brumbies: Horses, Defiance and Indigeneity in the Australian Alps
• The Elements of Eloquence by Mark Forsyth
• Think Forward Educators
• Write2Learn materials
• PhOrMeS
• SOLAR Lab at LaTrobe University
• There are additional syntax and grammar materials available through the incredible Syntax Project, facilitated by Stephanie Le Lievre from Serpentine Primary School (WA).
• The Writing Revolution offers comprehensive training for Australian Schools
• To follow on Twitter
  • Pamela Snow
  • Tanya Serry
  • Tessa Weadman
  • Nathaniel Swain 
  • Reid Smith
  • Natalie Wexler
  • Emily Hanford
• Books
  • 7 myths about Education: Daisy Christodoulou
  • Explicit Direct Instruction, by Hollingsworth & Ybarra
  • The Writing Revolution book
• Ollie's Books, Cognitive Load Theory in Action and Tools for Teachers
• To get a summary of this episode, sign up at www.patreon.com/errr 

This episode of the ERRR Podcast is brought to you by John Catt Educational. Use this link, along with the code provided within the podcast to get 30% off all books from John Catt Educational! https://www.johncattbookshop.com/books/errr

This episode of the ERRR podcast is brought to you by Catalyst. Catalyst transforms students' lives through learning by developing excellent teachers and Leaders through evidence-based professional learning programs. Find out more at https://catalyst.cg.catholic.edu.au/

Listen to all past episodes of the ERRR podcast here.