Writing Traits Masterclass Series
Build your teachers' capacity to provide effective explicit instruction and feedback to their students.Â
Request a whole school price now"This course has created better conversations with staff about writing. Their teaching is now more explicit and the feedback to the children is much more focused. Teachers are feeling upskilled when talking about writing with students."
Teresa, Literacy Leader, Buln Buln Primary School
To teach writing effectively, your teachers need to be able to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses in their students' writing.
To do this, they need a shared understanding of and a common language for the qualities of good writing.
- What are the specific ingredients required to create an effective piece of writing?
- What makes one piece of writing better than another?
- What specific and relevant feedback can they give to significantly improve their students' writing?
When you build your teachers' knowledge about the qualities of good writing, you enable them to provide more effective feedback to their students and empower them to engage in more effective explicit teaching.
This course is aimed at building your teachers' collective knowledge of all the ingredients required to craft strong writing.
Provide an ongoing drip-feed of writing PL to your teachers
Support your teachers in an evidence-based cycle of action research
Bring the joy and engagement back to your students' writing
Is your school focused on improving student growth and engagement in writing?
- Support your teachers to reconnect their students with the joy of writing by providing them with ongoing professional learning around effective writing instruction.
- Build a consistent and shared language around the ingredients of effective writing (Hint: it's MUCH more than just structure and spelling!)
- Build your teachers' capacity to identify the strengths and weaknesses in their students' writing so they can make more effective instructional decisions.
- Teach your staff to deconstruct mentor texts so they can use these to teach their students the specific strategies writers use to craft engaging and effective texts.Â
- Build your teachers' confidence to teach writing and enjoy doing it.
- Empower your students to love writing and know how to do it well.
What school leaders are saying about the Traits Masterclass:
Cowes Primary School, VIC
The self paced pre-recorded masterclass series was very supportive of our leadership team managing professional learning along with the other constraints a leadership and teaching position can bring. Narissa's presentation capabilities supported this as she was interactive despite the pre recording and we were able to revisit sections during our discussions if required.
St Benedict's Catholic School, QLD
The Traits Masterclass has been a resource within a 'Writing Project' within our school. It has been great professional learning to help teachers understand the traits. We love that it's online and self-paced. It's been a great resource to go with the 6+1 Traits book.
Westgrove Primary School, Vic
We love the 1 hour modules. We allocate time for PLC bands to meet to go through modules together. But we also love that staff can front load for upcoming modules or revisit as needed. We love that you can access the modules for the year and pace the learning to ensure staff aren’t overloaded.
How does this course work?
This course is divided into 6 X 1 hour modules, each focused on a different trait. The one-hour modules are made up of shorter pre-recorded videos to allow flexibility in how you present the learning to your staff.
This drip feed of content allows you to roll out your traits learning in a way that follows all seven of the researched features of effective professional development (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017):Â
- Is content focused
- Incorporates active learning
- Supports collaboration
- Uses model of effective practice
- Provides expert support
- Offers feedback and reflection
- Is of sustained duration
No more ineffective 'one and done' or 'drive by' one-day literacy PDs!
The online format of this course allows you to provide ongoing and flexible support for your teachers, so they can engage in a powerful cycle of learn-> trial-> reflect-> repeat.
What school leaders say about the online learning format
Lorraine, Literacy Leader- Benton Junior College
"We loved the fact that this course was pre-recorded. It meant we could watch the lessons when it suited and it also meant we could pause for discussion. We were able to go back to the content at any time in the year which was very useful. We loved that it was 'self-paced' because we could then fit it in around other teaching and learning commitments."
Amy, Literacy Leader- Romsey Primary School
"The online nature of the course allowed us to unpack one trait at a time, with time to discuss as a staff, go back and implement ideas in our classes and then come back and discuss further. This format was great for us as it gave us flexibility in how we implemented the course and allowed more staff to be involved. The learning was more beneficial in small chunks rather than doing it in one big possibly overwhelming hit."
What's included in a whole-school subscription?
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For teachers:
You can decide if you'd like each individual staff member to have a personal login to the Traits Masterclass course or if you'd prefer to limit access to literacy leaders only. (We've found that some schools like to limit access initially -so they can ensure everyone is working through the modules at the same pace- before providing each teacher with their own access so they can revisit the lessons in their own time). It's completely up to you!
 The course itself is made up of six 1-hour deep dives into each of the traits of writing:
- Module 1: Ideas trait
- Module 2: Organisation trait
- Module 3: Voice trait
- Module 4: Word choice trait
- Module 5: Sentence fluency trait
- Module 6: Conventions trait
Each module is broken up into a series of lessons that range from 3-20 minutes in duration. In each module, teachers will learn:
- what the specific trait is
- how to find examples of the trait in mentor texts and
- what the trait looks like in real samples of student writing.
You'll have access to all the lessons in the course for 12 months from your purchase date. (Note: You'll also be able to purchase extended access if required) .
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**BONUS** For school literacy leaders:
Literacy Leaders of schools who purchase whole school access to the Traits Masterclass will receive exclusive access to a community of Traits Leaders. Â
This community includes FREE monthly Q&A sessions (held on Zoom) to check in with your literacy leadership and support the implementation of the Traits Masterclass in your school.Â
This community will also enable you to connect with other literacy leaders so you can share your progress, ask questions and discuss all things effective literacy leadership.
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Take a look inside the course...
How much does it cost?
Access to the Traits Masterclass Series is normally $250AUD + GST per person, but we offer significantly reduced prices for large group and whole school purchases.
Contact [email protected] to request a quote for your school.Â
Request a quote for your school
At Oz Lit Teacher we're serious about improving the literacy outcomes of every student across Australia. We believe postcode should not determine destiny which is why we donate 5% of all our profits to Australia's Indigenous Literacy Foundation. This foundation is focused on improving the literacy rates in remote indigenous communities in Australia and we're very proud to support their work.
What classroom teachers say about this course
Hayden, 5/6 teacher
I loved the practical examples that we could use and implement in our teaching. We could watch the videos, discuss as a group and then literally place ideas into our planner for the following week.
Melissa (Year 1/2 teacher)
One of the main takeaways I have from this course is to 'focus on one thing at a time'. I used to find it difficult to give students specific feedback on their writing when there were so many things that needed 'fixing'. Narrowing that focus down now to using a particular 'lens' when looking at student writing has helped both me and my students improve their understanding and enjoy the whole writing process much more.
Kym (Year 2 teacher)
This course makes teaching writing so much less scary! It provides a nice, structured method without a prescribed sequence. This allows us to reach all of our students as they are all at different points in the learning. I am actually excited about teaching writing now. I have been incorporating the traits into our Team planning and am already seeing results in students' writing. Thankyou!
Frequently Asked Questions
When can schools sign up?
How long will we have access to the course?
Are there any live workshops?
Can I pay for this course via a school invoice?
Are there discounts available for large group / whole school purchases?
Our staff have already learned a bit about the traits- will this content be any different?
Is this course suitable for secondary teachers?
Our school is not in Australia, can we still enrol?
Where can I access the T's & C's of the course?
Still got questions?
No problems! Simply fill out the form below and we'll get back to you.
Sign your school up now
Support your teachers to provide more effective teaching and feedback to their students.
Build your teachers' confidence and knowledge to go beyond structure and conventions when teaching writing.
Bring the joy and engagement back to your students' writing.
Sign your school up to the Traits Masterclass now