“Brave New World”
2013 AATE/ALEA National Conference
Brisbane, July 2013
A Reflection by Jenna Coates
I was fortunate enough to attend the recent AATE/ALEA National Conference, held in Brisbane. It
was thanks to a Network of Education Associations of Tasmania (NEAT) scholarship which
supported the funding of my attendance. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the
members of the Tasmanian South ALEA local council committee for nominating me for the
scholarship, for their encouragement and ongoing support. It would be remiss if I did not make
special mention of two of my colleagues, Adrienne Willing and Meree Barber for being such amazing
mentors, thank you! I am in my fifth year of teaching and am always striving to improve my practice
and it is with recognition of professional organisations like ALEA, AATE and NEAT, that provide
such high calibre professional development to support teachers’ in making this possible. The
benefits associated with belonging to the professional organisation ALEA are outstanding and I
encourage any teacher to consider membership so they also can enjoy the associated benefits.
The title of the conference was “Brave New World” and the common theme throughout the
conference was heavily weighted on the use of technology and its use in the classroom to enhance
engaging literacies. There was also a strong point made that there tends to be a focus on the
technologies in isolation and not what the students can do with them to produce and demonstrate
their abilities. The conference also pointed out the importance of ensuring the links between the
student, technologies, tools and the real environment.
Technology literacies can be highly motivating for our students, tap into everyday/popular practice,
and raise equality issues related to access and opportunity and while demanding a variety of
responses. During the sessions I attended, the speakers shared a variety of technologies and
demonstrated the way in which they can be implemented. Attending professional learning which
provides teachers with ideas which can be taken straight back into the classroom is greatly
appreciated. The majority of the sessions that I attended at the conference provided many new,
creative and motivating ways to implement technologies. Book Creator, Comic Book and Nosy Crow
iBooks are some of the favourite apps that I have taken away and used in the classroom. iPads and
other technologies continually prove to be a strong motivator for students in the classroom. During
the session presented by speakers Sharon Moloney and Gillian Light, interesting ipad functions and
internet websites such as Simple Wikipedia and Pixar, were shared. Both speakers provided many
ideas on how such tools can be implemented into teaching and learning.
A second key theme that proved to be a trend among the speakers was writing and effective
instruction and the programming associated. I found speakers Sheena Cameron and Louise
Dempsey very inspiring to listen to and felt very fortunate to have them sign a copy of their
publication The Writing Book which I purchased at the conference. Their session focused on the idea
of the gradual release of responsibility; ‘I do, we do, you do’. Writing for short periods of time to
engage and create excitement for students was encouraged to increase student interest in writing.
Speaker Alison Davis pointed out the importance of encouraging students to think about writing as a
‘thinking process’. Knowing that writing is a form of thinking, it is imperative that we remember that
writers write best when they have knowledge about the content that they will be writing about. All
three of these speakers are highly regarded by educators and always provide exceptional
professional learning opportunities offering pedagogies which can easily be implemented in the
classroom. I use many of their ideas and encourage all teachers to attend their sessions when given
the opportunity.
This was the first national conference I have attended. I found it very fast paced and hectic, yet
extremely valuable and worthwhile. It was a fantastic opportunity for networking and allowed me to
enhance my skill based knowledge when teaching technology literacies and writing, among other
areas of English-literacy. I would like to thank NEAT again for providing me with the scholarship
that supported my attendance. I am looking forward to implementing more of the fantastic ideas
and tools in the classroom which I have been fortunate enough to learn throughout the course of
the conference.
Thank you,
Jenna Coates
Springfield Gardens Primary School, Tasmania