Secretary’s Report to ETAQ AGM 17 March 2018
Secretary's Report
Presented to the Fifty-first Annual General Meeting
of The English Teachers Association of Queensland, Inc.
Saturday 17 March 2018
This report aims to cover the activities of ETAQ during 2017.
Patron
Anita Jetnikoff was elected as patron at the March AGM. Anita contributed a regular Patron’s Column for the association’s journal, Words’Worth.
Management Committee
The Management Committee met eight times during 2017. Meetings were held monthly except for January, May, August and December. The February meeting comprised members of the 2016-17 committee which included Michelle Regan and Helen Johnston with Diana Briscoe absent.
Those elected at the AGM held in March 2017 were:
Position / Name / Meetings attendedPresident / Fiona Laing, Forest Lake SHS / 8/8
Vice President / Dr Kelli McGraw, QUT / 5/8
Secretary / Bronwyn Darben, Runcorn SHS / 7/8
Treasurer / Trish Purcell / 8/8
Membership Secretary / Sophie Johnson, Brigidine College / 7/8
- Member
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The new members elected at last year’s AGM attended from March onwards – Jarred Adams, Jeffrey Lewis and Annie Fischer. Fiona Laing attended via teleconference in July.
Venue for Management Committee meetings
Most of the meetings of the Management Committee were again held in a board room at the offices of the IEUA-QNT (Independent Education Union Australia – Queensland and Northern Territory Branch, formerly the QIEU, Queensland Independent Education Union) in Turbot Street Spring Hill.This space is provided free of charge and the union arranges for one of its staff to work late to allow us access to the building. This generous support has been in place for many years and is much appreciated by ETAQ.
May’s special meeting was held at QUT to facilitate video- conferencing with branch members and specialists in developing ETAQ’s response to the new SATE curriculum.
Administration Officer
Trish Purcell continued in her role as the association’s part-time Administration Officer and Treasurer.
Membership
The numbers of financial members of the Association for the last three years were as follows:
Year / Life / Full (i.e. individual) / Student / Retiree / Corporate / Total / Estimated total # reached2015 / 9 / 235 / 64 / 7 / 156 / 471 / 2919
2016 / 9 / 239 / 48 / 8 / 141 / 445 / 2662
2017 / 8 / 236 / 57 / 18 / 148 / 467 / 2835
PD Activities
Face-to-face PD activities were conducted in Brisbane during 2017 as detailed below. In addition, PD events were also conducted by the Toowoomba and Townsville branches.
Seminar 1
- Date: Saturday 11 March 2017
- Type: half-day seminar
- CPD hours: 3 hours 15 minutes
- Theme: Tectonic Shifts: Changes and challenges for assessment and learning in English
- Format: 1 x keynote address plus suite of supporting workshops
- Keynote speaker: Claire Wyatt-Smith
- Attendance: 186including 16 presenters
- Venue: Corinda State High School
- Convenor: Julie Arnold with Melanie Wild and Jackie Rutter
Beginning Teachers’ Day
- Date: Saturday 6 May 2017
- Type: Beginning Teachers’ Day – This was the 8th year that ETAQ has run this activity
- CPD hours: 5 hours 25 minutes
- Keynote speaker: Melanie Wild
- Attendance: 44 registrations plus 14 presenters, committee etc.
- Venue: Citipointe Christian College, Mansfield
- Convenors: Melanie Wild and Melissa Blacklock
Seminar 2
- Date: Saturday 27 May 2017
- Type: half-day seminar
- CPD hours: 3 hours 45 minutes
- Theme: Diversity and Differentiation in the English Classroom
- Format: 1 keynote address plus a suite of supporting workshops
- Keynote speakers: Dr Misty Adoniou
- Attendance: 91 + 8 presenters
- Venue: Mt Alvernia College, Kedron
- Convenor: Peter Algate and Annie Fischer
Grammar Refresher Course 1 and 2
- Dates: Saturday 10 June 2017 and Saturday 28 October
- Type: half-day (9-12:30) class activity
- CPD hours: 3 hours
- Title: A half Day grammar workshop
- Format: presentations, exercises & discussions
- Presenter: Garry Collins
- Attendance: 38, 23
- Venue: University of Queensland
State Conference
- Date: Saturday 18-19 August 2017
- Type: full-day conference plus 50th anniversary events
- CPD hours: 7 hours 25 minutes
- Theme: Fifty and Fabulous: A narrative of English teaching in Queensland
- Format: 2 x keynote addresses plus suite of supporting workshops
- Conference event speakers: Nick Earls, Frances Whiting
- Keynote speaker 1: Larissa McLean Davies “What forces shape us? Telling the stories of English: past, present and future
- Keynote speaker 2: Markus Zusak “Another keynote about an alarm clock, a jewellery box, and the board game she smashed him over the head with (or we’re all just made of stories)”
- Attendance: 424 including 38 presenters
- Venue: Lourdes Hill College
- Convenors: Dr Stew Riddle and Matthew Rigby
Literary Breakfast - cancelled
- Proposed date: Saturday 21 October 2017
2017 AATE/ALEA joint national conference
The 2017 AATE/ALEA joint national conference was held in Hobart over the period 6-9 July. The theme was Cutting Edge: Margin to Mainstream.
Assisted attendance at conferences
Assisted attendance (Jim Buckley Memorial Scholarship) was offered toJohn Thomas for the state conference in August, covering registration and $200 towards costs for travel and accommodation.
The following were sponsored for the National Conference in Hobart with the payment of their registration expenses:
Narelle McBride (Aquinas College), Karen Norman(Cooloola Christian College), Kelli McGraw (QUT), Pippa West (Forest Lake State High School) and Fiona Laing (AATE representative).
Utilizing digital technologies
ETAQ’s digital presence continued strongly in 2017.Our website (etaq.org.au) offers a range of functionalities, including online registrations for PD events, online membership signup and payment, behind the wall’ for resources such as videos and powerpoints of PD presentations. Previous years’ issues of Words’Worth and English in Australiaare available in this area. Teachers in schools covered by corporate membership and non-members are also able to sign up to receive e-pistles and other news items which are regularly emailed out. Currently 1799 people are registered for this service. This represents a strong outreach to members, shown by the vast increase in the number of recipients throughout 2017. The website continues to make registration for events smoother and has allowed for registrations for events in Townsville to be managed through the website as well. Communications are also more efficient as they have links to registration forms and other key links from the website.
ETAQ has used 2017 to restructure its engagement with its social media platforms. Through the creation of a new policy and guideline to its use of social media, the newly renamed Social Media Team (SMT) have developed an action plan in order to target and engage its members in more meaningful ways.
Currently ETAQ’s social media presence operates through Facebook on a public page and a closed group, Twitter, and most recently Instagram. Each of these accounts have been structured to engage members in particular ways. The Facebook page is seen as the central hub for all social media, and is used to both promote ETAQ and AATE events, as well as share posts of interest to its members and the wider community concerning the teaching of subject English in Queensland and Australian contexts. The closed group is used to provoke discussion of English teaching, sharing resources, and event opportunities for its members. Twitter is engaged for on the ground PD events to facilitate discussion about presentations and topics offered at each event. Instagram is to tell the visual story of ETAQ and its members.
ETAQ’s presence on social media has seen a significant increase in engagement by its members on all channels in 2017. Through its Facebook channels, both public page and closed group, there has been a significant increase in engagement on all platforms from the 2016 period, with more than 500 new followers of the Facebook page, and more than 100 members in its closed group.
2016 / 2017Facebook Page / 1220 / 1764
Facebook Closed Group / 400 / 503
Twitter / Data unavailable / 746
Instagram / N/A / 143
This increase in engagement is in part thanks to Sophie Johnson’s English Teaching campaign, in which 50 members of ETAQ were profiled on the Facebook page. Many of these posts experienced significant engagement, with some posts receiving more than 200 comments and reached over 5000 Facebook users. This culminated at the Annual State Conference, when many of these luminaries were celebrated on the day.
Engagement on Twitter continues to increase at our major PD events, with many people interacting with the anniversary hashtag #etaq50. The SMT is looking to increase this engagement in 2018.
At the end of 2017, Sophie Johnson, Bronwyn Darben and Stew Riddle decided to step down from the Social Media Team. We thank each of them for their work in creating such an engaging space online for our members. The SMT looks forward to building on their work in 2018 to create an engaging and meaningful online experience for ETAQ members.
Competitions
Literary Competition 2017
With the completion of the 58th Annual Literary Competition (first established in March of 1959), this competition has surpassed all others, particularly with the number of entries received; 1126 writers submitted literary pieces. This 200+ entry increase is due in part to the inclusion of Year 5 in the categories of Short Story and Poetry. Nevertheless, the increase also reflects the keen interest of Queensland and Northern Territory writers to showcase their literary talents, and the esteem in which the Competition is held. The quality of these entries was again outstanding as was demonstrated at the Presentation Evening on 11th October, 2017. The winning entries were published in the November 2017 issue of the IEUA-QNT’s journal, The Independent Voice, as well as featuring on ETAQ’s official website, together with the judges’ commentaries. The winners in each category and the judges’ comments will be published in ETAQ’s Words’Worth in 2018.
The breakdown of entries is as follows:
A – Years 11/12 Non-Fiction Prose / 29A – Years 11/12 Short Story / 140
A – Years 11/12 Poem / 42
B – Years 9/10 Short Story / 158
B – Years 9/10 Poem / 74
C – Years 7/8 Short Story / 152
C – Years 7/8 Poem / 65
D – Years 5/6 Short Story / 303
D – Years 5/6 Poem / 128
E – Teachers – Short Story / 35
Total / 1126
The Queensland Multicultural Centre at Kangaroo Point has become a regular and ideal venue for showcasing the literary talents of the awardees with the Presentation Evening being held there on Wednesday 11th October, 2017. Many family members, friends, teachers, judges and of course the recipients themselves were in attendance, as well as several dignitaries from the IEUA-QNT (Andrew Elphinstone, Paul Giles) and ETAQ (Fiona Lang, President). Regional Queensland again featured highly in the winners’ circle with several of them travelling long distances with family to be present to accept their prizes. For instance, Isabella Martin travelled from Cairns to accept 1st place in the 7/8 Poetry section. Zoe O’Flanagan of Holy Cross School, Trinity Park, Cairns, took out 1st place for the Year 5/6 Poetry Division, but was unable to attend the Presentation Evening. The 1st place-getter in the 7/8 Short Story division, Syren Letizia, travelled from Innisfail, while Courtney Smith of Rockhampton Girls Grammar School accepted 1st place with family in attendance. Others travelled from the Gold Coast and Toowoomba.
Alongside the inspiration of the writers, was the wisdom and experience of the Presentation Evening’s guest speaker, Peter Carnavas. Peter took the audience on a personal journey of his own writing experiences. Mrs Barringham, his Year 6 Teacher, was his first encouragement for writing and illustrating. Peter encouraged daydreaming as a source of material for writing and to be true to oneself, writing “the story you want to write”.
The judges’ reports appeared in full in the evening program, however, judges were advised to deliver only a brief excerpt of their comments. This worked well. Timeliness is an important factor at this event, with the proceedings to be completed by 8.30pm. It also allowed for the main focus to be on the recipients of the awards, and winners had the opportunity to chat to judges at the end of the program. Holding of applause until the end of each section’s announcements, also provided for a more seamless evening.
The originality checking system (Turnitin), initiated in 2016, was again used for this year’s prize winners and Highly Commended entries. Courtesy of the University of Southern Queensland and Stewart Riddle, and managed by Michaela Brittain of the IEAUA-QNT, the program confirmed the originality of all writers’ work, except for one. The entry was withdrawn prior to the announcement of winning recipients, the judge advised and the relevant school notified of the plagiarism by the IEUA-QNT. The Entry Form outlines this authentication process and there is a requirement that the entry form be signed, declaring the submission to be the writer’s original work. This process is vital to upholding the integrity of the competition and it is pleasing to see that only genuine pieces were awarded prizes.
Prize monies were paid by electronic funds transfer for the first time this year, replacing the issuing of cheques. Thanks to Trish Purcell, ETAQ’s Treasurer, for coordinating this process and ensuring all recipients received their prize money. In previous years, a number of recipients had failed to present their cheques; this new system overcomes that problem.
This competition is, of course, made possible with the ongoing valued support and sponsorship of the Independent Educators Union of Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory branch. I would especially like to convey my appreciation to the IEAU-QNT’s Michaela Brittain, Marion Gardner and Joe Burnett for their invaluable help and sponsorship and to Sara El Sayed for photographing the evening’s event. Also acknowledged on the evening is the ongoing support and sponsorship of the senior non-fiction section by James Cook University. Sincere thanks also to Penguin Random House in Sydney for their contribution of age- and category-specific book prizes for each place-getter.
Heartfelt acknowledgement goes to all students and teachers for their valued submissions. Congratulations to the winners, place-getters and highly commended awardees. The 1st place-getters for 2017 are:
Section A Non-Fiction Prose – Courtney Smith, Rockhampton Girls Grammar School, Rockhampton
Section A Years 11/12 Short Story – Liam Harris, All Saints Anglican School, Merrimac
Section A Years 11/12 Poem – Ayla Tartic, Queensland Academy for Health Sciences, Southport
Section B Years 9/10 Short Story – Eryn-Danae Armstrong, Ferny Grove State High School, Ferny Grove
Section B Years 9/10 Poem – Vivi Baker, Somerset College, Mudgeeraba
Section C Years 7/8 Short Story – Syren Letizia, Good Counsel College, Innisfail
Section C Years 7/8 Poem – Isabella Martin, Cairns Hinterland Steiner School, Kuranda
Section D Years 5/6 Short Story – Georgia Munn, St Elizabeth’s School, Tarragindi, Brisbane
Section D Years 5/6 Poem – Zoe Flanagan, Holy Cross School, Trinity Park, Cairns
Section E Teachers’ Short Story – Kelly Harrison, San Sisto College, Carina.
Special acknowledgement goes also to the judges for these various divisions. These judges’ time, commitment and expertise is greatly appreciated. These tireless individuals are Dr Judith Seaboyer, Pam Schindler, Esme Robinson, Dr Stephen Torre, Jeffrey Harpeng, Garry Collins, Duncan Richardson, Cindy Keong, Beryl Exley and Debbie Peden. Judges retiring from the competition this year include Dr Judith Seaboyer, Pam Schindler, Dr Stephen Torre and Duncan Richardson. The tireless work and wisdom of these judges has been greatly appreciated.
Debbie Peden has been coordinating the ETAQ component of the competition since 2010 and each year she has recognised and marvelled at the creative abilities of the writers who submit their work for scrutiny. It takes courage and commitment to share one’s literary craft with others: commendation to the students and teachers who make this Literary Competition possible and so successful, together with those who have inspired and guided them. Debbie is looking forward to the Queensland and Northern Territory writers continuing their creativity and celebrating their work through the Literary Competition in 2018.
Curriculum Matters
Australian Curriculum: English
The major change in 2017 was the release and QCAA PD preparation of new syllabuses in English, Essential English, English as an Additional Language, Literature and English and Literature Extension. The first four syllabuses were substantially based on the Australian Curriculum for Senior English. These syllabuses are due for implementation in year 11 in 2019.