“Paihia School is a place of learning…”

Jenni Wiles, Jean Schedler and Wendy King outside the whare-house at the school.

Phonological Awareness goes to Northland

Paihia Primary School, in Northland’s Bay of Islands, recently hosted a full day phonemic awareness workshop at the school’s whare-house.

Children from the school welcomed delegates with a welcoming performance, accompanied on the guitar by their principal David Rogers.

It was an uplifting start to the day’s learning, where the school’s focus is simply expressed in the vision statement, which begins… “Paihia School is a place of learning…”

Some 40 delegates, including the schools Special Education co-ordinator, Diane Neumann, SLS teachers, reading specialists and SPELD tutors from all over Northland, participated in a hands-on Phonological Awareness workshop, delivered by Dr Jean Schedler, an educational consultant, from Maryland USA.

Phonological/Phonemic Awareness is the first of the five elements that comprise a science-based approach to reading and spelling.

Dr Schedler explained to the delegates, that as soon as the printed word is shown to the novice reader, the teacher has introduced phonics. Phonemic Awareness is all about the sounds we hear in the words we speak.

Organisers of the workshop, Wendy King, SPELD Northland and Jenni Wiles, director of Read Auckland, were delighted with the enthusiasm of the delegates, who spent the day exploring and learning proven concepts of teaching Phonemic Awareness, (sounds in words, but NO PRINT), that they could take back to the classroom.

Dr Schedler’s presentation skills enable her ability to convert, or interpret academic research into classroom practise. One of the delegates commented that this was one of the most useful and practical workshops on Phonological/Phonemic Awareness she had attended.

Dr Schedler was the keynote speaker at the SPELD conference in 2008, and is a trainer and coach for Winsor Learning since 2002. Dr Schedler also maintains a private practice (Schedler Educational Consulting) and is a Fellow in the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Practitioners and Educators.

Dr Schedler trains and mentors teachers through the Orton-Gillingham Academy tutor certification program and has trained teachers in both US and NZ.

To learn more about Dr Schedler’s 2010 Workshops and Trainings in Reading Intervention materials (Sonday System) contact Read Auckland at info@readauckland.co.nz or call 09-529 1381.