About Joanne 

For almost 20 years, Joanne has worked as an independent language and literacy consultant in both primary and secondary schools across Australia and frequently presents for professional associations and at a range of conferences. She loves working with both teachers and their students in a range of settings.

Joanne began her teaching career as a primary school teacher specialising as an English as an Additional Language (EALD/ESL) teacher. She has worked as a literacy consultant and lectured and tutored at several universities.

The majority of Joanne’s consultancy work has involved both short and in particular long term school-based professional learning. This has ranged from working across a whole school to working intensively with grade or stage based groups of teachers. Modes have included whole school presentations and workshops, small group workshops and planning as well as demonstration lessons. More recently she has expanded professional learning to include a range of interactive online formats.

Joanne has authored and co-authored several publications for teachers, including books, articles and podcasts.

Joanne's particular interests include:

• the role of teacher and student talk in developing conversations about language in classrooms
• the design of lesson sequences with the use of oral language to support reading and writing
• the selection of and engagement with quality literature in classrooms
• the upskilling of teachers to develop and justify their own pedagogical knowledge and choices
• access and equity to learning for all students and their teachers
• writing materials to support teacher knowledge and application to the classroom.