It was a real privilege to attend the 2024 Teaching Matters Conference in Hobart last week (Sunday – Tuesday) where the Science of Learning was further explored and explained. How gratifying it was to see our own Education Lead, Patrick Ellis and Director, Ross Fox speaking at the welcome gathering and to know that our schools are at the forefront of an educational revolution.

Teaching using explicit, direct instruction lessons, and our Daily Review practices, are elements of teaching using high impact practices that align with the research done in the Science of Learning. Over the two and a half days I was lucky enough to hear from, and actually meet, the keynote speaker, Dr Jan Hasbrouck, a leading researcher, author and educational consultant in the field of reading and literacy as well as reconnect with Dr Lorraine Hammond, eminent author, professor and researcher – a definite fangirl moment for me! ?

Dr Hasbrouck’s keynote address spoke mostly to the importance of reading fluency for comprehension. In class we practise regularly with fluency pairs and similar activities that allow children to rehearse and practise what good reading fluency sounds and feels like. This supports students to really understand what they are reading. Good pace is your usual speaking voice. When listening to your children read at home it is vital that you model good reading pace and then regularly listen to your children read aloud – even older readers.

The guest speaker line-up was phenomenal and included Brendan Lee and Dr Nathanial Swaine –two podcast and research favourites of mine. Both were passionate about the importance of breaking learning tasks down into sequentially taught fragments and using frequent check-ins to confirm student understanding – teaching practices now embedded at St Thomas Aquinas.