cognitorium
/ kɔg•nə•toː•riː•əm /
noun, place of learning
dr swain’s cognitorium
A NEW BLOG ABOUT teaching, Teachers, Learners, and Learning.
The Cognitorium is a place which holds the learning experience as sacred. Journey with me as I put the Science of Learning into practice, honouring the experiences, motivations, and curiosities of my students—young and old.
ABOUT
Dr Nathaniel Swain
I am a Teacher, Instructional Coach, Researcher and Writer. I am passionate about language, literacy and learning, and effective and engaging teaching for all students.
I am a Senior Lecturer of Learning Sciences and Learner Engagement at La Trobe University’s School of Education.
Over my career, I’ve worked with students and teachers in a range of government school settings including Brandon Park Primary School in Melbourne’s East.
In 2019, I founded a community of teachers and other educators committed to the Science of Learning: THINK FORWARD EDUCATORS.
TEAChING Practice
Instruction
Student Engagement
Language
Literacy
Linguistics
Mathematics
Science
Humanities and Social Sciences
Write to learn
There is no official partnership between Brandon Park Primary / Nathaniel Swain and The Writing Revolution® by Judith C. Hochman and Natalie Wexler. THE HOCHMAN METHOD®, THE WRITING REVOLUTION®, and ADVANCING THINKING THROUGH WRITING® are registered trademarks of The Writing Revolution, Inc. The materials in Write2Learn are created as classroom materials to accompany The Writing Revolution®’s methodology and progression of writing skills.
write to learn materials Can now be downloaded to trial in your school
An initiative of teachers at Brandon Park Primary School, Write to Learn (w2L) is a set of curriculum materials for the teaching of writing. It is inspired by methodologies recommended by The Writing Revolution® within an Australian curriculum context, and combines this with teaching approaches from Explicit Instruction.
Write 2 Learn has been compiled by teachers at Brandon Park Primary school, and represents a work in progress for best practice writing instruction aligned to principles from The Writing Revolution®, and a Knowledge Rich Curriculum. We want more schools to implement best practices in Writing Instruction, and we hope these materials support such changes.
Note to schools
The Writing Revolution® offers comprehensive training for Australian Schools, and Hochman and Wexler’s book is a must purchase for any teacher.
There are additional syntax and grammar materials available through the incredible Syntax Project, facilitated by Stephanie Le Lievre from Serpentine Primary School (WA).
Benefits of w2L
Weekly units across every primary year level for the entire year
Editable powerpoint and word document formats for you to adapt to suit your needs
Get students learning FROM their writing: Embedding of curriculum content into writing lessons at sentence, paragraph, and text level
Includes additional units on Story Grammar for explicit teaching of narrative genre, and advanced embedded clause units (e.g. V-ing, and V-ed clauses).
Read more here
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Supporting students with Paragraph Writing
Slides from Tutor Learning Initiative Presentation
Inverting the legacies of balanced literacy presentation
Slides from Dr Swain’s SBP Presentation
Knowledge rich-Curriculum meets bulletproof instruction
Intermediate / Advanced Spelling through Morphology
Year 1 Mesopotamia Unit (adapted from Core Knowledge)
Year 3 Vikings Unit (adapted from Core Knowledge)
Learning and Engagement Icons Key PDF (adapted from icon set by Brad Nguyen)
Slides from Tutor Learning Initiative Presentation
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