How To Teach Kids How To Read Debate and the Dumbing Down Of Mathematics in NSW

The state of education is going down the drain in NSW. The Government keeps creating panels and task forces to tackle the growing issue of Australia falling behind in the PISA rankings with our children's abilities declining every single year in the global rankings. The outcome after spending our precious tax money on paying these so called experts... makes me shake my head in despair. 

Kids struggling with mathematics and poor performance...their solution is to delay teaching them key concepts like multiplication. If kids are struggling with mathematics and times table, don't delay it, bring it forward, intensify the education on the areas of concern. They won't improve by merely delaying the concepts and letting the kids grow older before they are taught. If kids in other countries can learn math concepts at a young age, why can't Australian children be expected to learn the same concepts at the same age? Language isn't the barrier. It is our lack of expectations and educational support that is the barrier. 

Currently the maths curriculum has been under debate between the national curriculum authority and the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute(AMSI). AMSI(an organisation of 30 universities and government agencies) in its submission, objected to changes that delayed the teaching of key maths concept until later years. Examples of delays include delaying clock and time concept from year 1 to year 2, pushing back learning times tables and multiplication from year 3 to year 4, learning to solve linear equations in year 8 instead of year 7, removing quadratic equations from year 10 just because some of the concept has been covered in year 9. The proposed draft curriculum emphasised problem solving and inquiry based learning.

 The other issue was English and reading abilities. The outcome of these so called experts(and NSW Education Department) and their conclusion was that kids were having trouble learning how to read and because we are falling behind in English compared to our overseas counterparts, then we should focus on teaching kids more synthetic phonics and testing them on their ability to read FAKE words just to determine their phonics ability. That this suggestion was taken seriously means our seniors and 'experts' have all gone insane. There are so many REAL words to learn and test children on, and yet they need to go and create FAKE words for kids to read just in order to test their phonics ability?!! This is why I felt that I must write. 

These proponents of synthetic phonics believe students need to learn relationships between letters and sounds, which is fine because phonics is very essential to being able to decode words for reading. However the synthetic phonics proponents created a 20 fake word list(such as 'plood' and 'pove') in order to test children's phonics ability and rule out the words that kids have memorised. If they really wanted to test children whilst also teaching them, there are rarer, less frequently used but REAL English words that could be used for testing instead of using fake words and filling children's head up with irrelevant and fake words.

The whole point of learning how to read is a mix of memorising words by sight (as many words in English fail to follow the phonic sounds) and also applying phonics- this falls under the 'balanced literacy' approach which has historically been the approach taken by educators historically to date. What the proponents of synthetic phonics have failed to tackle is the question of why the historical approach is not as effective anymore. 

It's not the teaching style. It's the modern environment and how children are increasingly reading less books. They are exposed to significantly more screen time just like adults. More digital devices. Instead of kids bringing books to read in restaurants and in cars on the way to destinations, parents give their kids the mobile phone, the iPad or play movies in cars that have screens inbuilt into the car seats already.  Screen time is up significantly for children. YouTubing, Netflixing and playing digital games. It's all so portable now and easier to calm and pacify children with digital devices when they are out and about as opposed to making them read actual books.

In 2018 the NSW Department of Education offered $50 per kindergarten child for schools to buy decodable readers however many schools declined the offer. Now the NSW Department of Education is forcing these decodable readers onto schools by not giving them a choice and will buy these books and force them onto schools instead. The decodable texts were thought of as "clumsy and contrived". It would have been significantly better if schools were just given these funds to use however they wish on educational materials. 

There haven't been any long term studies or results on how effective these decodable readers are but the main beneficiaries for sure are the two publishers who will be receiving approximately $4.3million worth of government money, Little Learners and Decodable Texts Australia. Mem Fox wrote before that school books teaching kids to read were rather nonsensical and boring which is why kids didn't enjoy reading them and didn't seek out those books. I haven't seen these decodable texts but if they're anything like the learn to read PM readers that are already in classrooms, many of the stories have no story behind them, just a bunch of simple words strung together just because they meet simple letter sounds. 

According to Damon Thomas, a senior lecturer in English Education at the University of Tasmania, he believes that if children are not interested in reading then it will impact literacy and ultimately the ability to write. He is quoted, "I don't think you can talk about this without touching on the impact of digital technology, and how easy it is for children these days to do other things with their time than sit down and read a book or write a story. This is not a writing in a silo problem. This is a literacy engagement problem. NAPLAN is a bit of a warning sign, but it has far reaching consequences if we have generations coming through who potentially don't have the skills." His comment refers to NAPLAN comparison results of boys and girls in year 3 and year 9 in relation to their performance against the national minimum standard. Over the years, both sexes have deteriorated below the national minimum standard by the time they reach year 9, the boys(20.6%) even more so than the girls(9%). 

The director of strategy for reading at Multilit, Jennifer Buckingham says that boys read less frequently than girls and quantity and quality of reading correlated with writing quality. Books that children read influenced their writing ideas. She believes that kids having trouble with spelling will choose to use simpler words in their writing and that spelling impacted on accuracy, fluency and was a factor in determining the extent to which students enjoyed writing. 

According to Jenny Atkinson(chief executive of Littlescribe and founder of Co-author program), "The Thematic Review of Writing, commissioned by the NSW Education Standards Authority highlights a lack of teacher knowledge, skill and confidence in the teaching of writing as the key challenge. There are three clear problems: the overuse and misplaced use of technology, a lack of purpose and relevance for students and teachers around support for writing and a lack of skills and resources for teachers. There is an over reliance on technology for teachers to collect data to prove the delivery of what has been taught rather than what has been learnt. Students respond digitally to writing tasks. We have created a copy and paste, auto-correct and regurgitation behaviours rather than students learning how to craft original concepts and draft, edit and rewrite-by hand". 

Atkinson also writes that, "...technology is part of the problem. Drawing and writing with a pen taps all parts of the learning brain at once: visual, kinesthetics(the act of doing) and linguistics. This activate more neural pathways as all learning systems are in play. Handwriting layers new knowledge on existing muscle memory, increasing our recall and the ability to glue new concepts together. The overuse of technology has turned off a powerful learning system."

Dr Anabela Malpique from Murdoch University concluded that "handwriting fluency can be used to predict writing quality a year later". 

The quality of the students writing was determined by their ability to recognise and use distinct, appropriate writing styles when required in relation to the various subjects such as science, history, health, technology and music for example. As students learn specialised subjects, the writing used in each subject employs different terminology and words, in English, writing tends to evaluate and analyse texts whereas in other subjects it is more factual or persuasive or informative.  

These so called experts who are influential in what children learn should have higher expectations for children and not dumb down materials or delay teaching key concepts. If children overseas can learn concepts from a young age, why can't Australian children? If delivery of these concepts and teaching style were fine in the last few decades, then what is the reason for the decline? That should be the first port of call when looking for a reason. I have seen children use laptops and iPads more frequently in their 'studies' and learning program and when the parents aren't around for even a few minutes, the kids are watching YouTube and chatting away on messengers and chatting programs. You can't be distracted like that when you have books and a pen in hand with no connection to the internet. I've seen parents just watching and cruising social media while their kids are reading next to them, half distracted by the sounds.

There should be studies done instead on how digital devices have impacted and detracted from children's learning instead of just concluding that it's the teaching material that is the issue and dumbing down the materials. How is Australia going to produce cutting edge designers and inventors of the future if we dumb down materials and lower expectations on what they are to learn?

On conclusion, I am not sponsored by Reading Eggs but I highly recommend that app for teaching kids how to read. I have seen many kids use that app and can read fluently before Kindergarten even starts. Educators should look at that app. It is amazing.

Source:

The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Schools on board with phonics check' by Jordan Baker, 1-2/08/2020

The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Boys can't keep up with girls in writing results' by Jordan Baker

The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Beyond grammar, context is king' by Yaegan Doran and Sally Humphrey, 18/9/2020

The Sydney Morning Herald, 'Parents should put down phones, help solve writing crisis' by Jenny Atkinson, 16/09/2019 

The SMH, 'Teachers to ignore phonics test' by Pallavi Singhal, 18/06/2019 

The SMH, 'War over plan to change how maths is taught' by Lisa Visentin and Anna Pyrtz, 9/7/21 

SMH, 'NSW asks for revision of reading and maths' by Lisa Visentin, 20/8/21 

Opposing the Wallacia Cemetery DA and Catholic Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust

The world in Sydney has gone mad. I haven't written for a long time due to the demands of life however, I felt that I had to put pen to paper, figuratively speaking.

Councils are designed to look after the local area and ensure developments are benefiting the local community. Then the state government changed the planning laws so that they could approve developments which can over ride the wishes of council and the community. 

This is what is happening with the Catholic Cemeteries and Crematoria(CCC), Catholic Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust(CMCT) plans. They bought the Wallacia Golf Club off Panthers and hope to build a cemetery and crematorium right in the MIDDLE, HEART and TOWN CENTRE of Wallacia. 45 hectares(Footnote1) of land right in the heart of the town. That the DA has gotten this far is what confounds me. These are plans to kill the town. The words would be a humourous pun if it wasn't so ludicrous.

Imagine the uproar if CMCT was building a cemetery right in the heart of the Sydney CBD. It's easier to subjugate a smaller town where residents are dispersed and widely spaced out. David and Goliath. It's ironic that it's the Catholic Cemetery too. The irony. 

Come on Sydney, wake up to what is happening. You are reliant on drinking water from Warragamba Dam and you eat prawns, oysters and fish from the Nepean/Hawkesbury River. The site for the proposed cemetery/crematorium is on a flood prone land containing watercourses that flow to creeks and this flows to the Nepean/Hawkesbury River. You swim and enjoy recreational activities on this river. You risk this river being contaminated from cemetery leaches. Don't allow this to happen. There is a saying that applies to this situation, "Don't shit in your own backyard." 

Yes, the golf club is struggling financially. The better option for a struggling golf club would be to build playgrounds for kids, some public facilities, gyms, swimming pool, shops, good quality eateries so that it can pull in customers and revenue. After all, this is how Westfield Shopping centres survive the slaughter from online shopping. And it would be more in line with the typical development and progress that you would EXPECT for a town centre. Now that would be an array of amazing community facilities that local residents can enjoy and be proud of. I wold love to go for a swim or catchup at a local playground. I would love to eat delicious food in the area and have culinary choices to choose from. I would love to be able to meet friends at those sort of facilities and spend my money. 

Also, on another point, there is an airport that is due to be built about ten minutes drive away. Economic benefits will flow to Wallacia in many forms in future. It's valuable land that will be close to the new airport and the new industry in the surrounding regions as jobs and businesses relocate and build themselves in the area. By virtue of Wallacia, Mulgoa and Silverdale being within such proximity to the new proposed airport, there will undoubtedly be increased tourism and patronage of local businesses from the surrounding populated areas and from travellers.

CMCT are deluded if they think that they are the only ones with the best plans and have the interest of the community at stake by developing a cemetery in the town centre. Wallacia and Mulgoa are already tourist destinations with the river nearby, Warragamba Dam, beautiful tree lined roads and the natural bush lands which are catchments for Sydney's drinking water. 

With an airport that is due to be built within the vicinity, this will deliver economic benefits to Wallacia and Mulgoa without even trying. Wallacia and Mulgoa will definitely be enjoying a boost in traffic from tourists and new residents in surrounding areas who are happy to spend money in the local area with day outings, camping near the river on the campground at Wallacia. 

Such benefits could include patronage to shops/retailers, petrol stations, hair salons, eateries, fishing and camping etc. With the increase of economic and business activities at Badgery's Creek which is adjacent to Wallacia and Mulgoa, it would result in more people desiring to live in the area and this would create funds for more schools, improved shops and social facilities. Now these sort of developments would be more aligned to the community and resident's welfare. The increase in tourism and happy people visiting the area would result in more prosperity for locals and better psychological benefits than a cemetery/crematorium.

Mourners and people going to funerals are not going to be enjoying what Wallacia and Mulgoa has to offer. They are sad. They are mourning. They just want to attend the funeral and get out of the area. To go back home. To go cry. I've been to funerals. What happens at funerals is that people mourn and cry. They have no desire to go looking around the suburb or locality of the cemetery/crematorium. Who would want to hang around a cemetery/crematorium? So if the CMCT builds one at Wallacia, who will want to hang around Wallacia?

It's getting ridiculous that we are even forced to consider the idea of CMCT building a huge cemetery in the water catchment regions of Sydney. It's in the catchment region. It's our drinking water! There are residents in the area still drinking tank water and collecting rain water for their personal use. Not by choice but because reticulated water isn't available. 

Erosion occurs because of acid pollutants in the air mixing in with rain. How would CMCT feel about a dose of crematorium air pollutants mixed in with harvested rain water for residents to use? It doesn't even matter how efficiently crematorium filters operate because there will always be unavoidable air pollutants that filters cannot eradicate. How is this proposal even under consideration? And there is no reticulated sewerage to many of the properties in the area. This poses health risks.

The CEO for CCC Peter O'Meara was quoted in the westernweekender.com.au saying, "The style of the landscape will complement the surrounds of the area. It's not like the style of Rookwood, but something that children and families can enjoy too." Do they really think that parents will be taking their kids to enjoy a fun day out at a location where there are bodies being cremated underground, burials and people crying above ground? Hearses and coffins going in and out and people in distraught constantly at the town centre? 

Imagine fielding the questions from children..."What are those cars carrying...?"..."Why are people always crying there?"..."Why are all the people wearing black?"..."Why are the people there so sad all the time?", "What is in that box that people are always carrying?".... So no, families are not going to want to bring their kids to play at the cemetery or whatever sort of community centre that CMCT intends on building to try pacifying the community. It's absurd to think that community members and residents will wish to celebrate special happy events in a centre that is in the cemetery.

There was a quote from a local mother saying, "My kids can't ride their bikes around here, if we want to go for a ride, we have to drive somewhere else." Which parent is going to take their kids for a bike ride or a play date in a cemetery? Or even a community facility in a cemetery? Imagine anyone with kids saying, "Let's have a playdate. The kids can ride their bikes and scooters around at the park at the cemetery/crematorium." There's already beautiful bicycle and walking lanes at the park alongside the Nepean river all the way up to Penrith. 

If Sydney is so in need of cemeteries and graveyards then why are they clearing Rookwood cemetery to build a 16 storey, $200 million dollar unit (the stocktontimes.com)? If anything, the cleared cemetery an be re-used for the same purpose it was designed for, instead of constructing homes there. 




The dailytelegraph.com.au(Footnote 2) wrote that the Wallacia club was the first in the country to allow women to join as associates and that the club historically opened in 1933. This is history folks. History for women. History for Wallacia, Penrith and Australia. Irreplaceable history. 

Peter O'Meara was interviewed on radio recently on 6th March 2018, and O'Meara sounds confounded that (you can hear it in the tone of his voice), "...strangely enough, the opposition seems to be coming from people who actually aren't members of the golf course..." 

How is it strange that the residents oppose a cemetery/crematorium in their town centre? There's a retirement home directly opposite the site. There's a primary school opposite the site. There's no denying that there will be air and water contaminants and leachates. Or that all the roads in the area and leading to the area are rural single lane roads that have had mortality from car accidents due to dangerous over taking. It's not just the welfare of golf club members at stake. 

We all know that Sydney is in need of more burial spaces. No one is denying that. However, the search for appropriate land must go on. The land that Wallacia Golf Club currently resides on is not the appropriate land. Why are we even debating the idea of this. Premier Gladys BereJiklian, the future of Wallacia is in your hands. Is your government going to support the residents and assist in opposing the CMCT DA or are you going to go against community wishes?



Follow up on what is happening via the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Save-Wallacia-Golf-Club-from-becoming-the-DEAD-centre-of-town-341548232970088/

Footnote 1: DA papers lodged by CMCT
Footnote 2: Dailytelegraph.com.au, 'Cemetery headed to Wallacia Golf Course' 

Reverse Mortgages Suck: Don't Use a Reverse Mortgage If Other Options Exist

After seeing the option of reverse mortgages being mentioned in the papers too frequently as an option for 'asset rich retirees who are income poor', I just have to put my thoughts out there for those who are investigating reverse mortgage as an option.

Don't take out a reverse mortgage if you can avoid it.

You have probably spent the past twenty to thirty years paying off your mortgage where the first ten to twenty years was all interest payment and barely any principle. Do you really want the amortisation to work against you again in the last decades of your life when you should be enjoying life?

With reverse mortgages, there are no repayments, loan interest is added onto the principal amount borrowed to be paid off when the property is sold. The debt will grow fast. It will be interest debt compounded with interest charged on interest. 

Compound interest works in your favour when you put your savings in the bank. Interest charges compounded year after year will destroy the equity in your home when it's left to accumulate in the typical reverse mortgage structure.

Ever heard of a loan amortisation schedule? I really recommend looking it up if you haven't. 

When someone buys a property and takes out a mortgage, the first few years of payments will be almost all interest and barely any principle. Most people's eyes will glaze over when they read about an amortisation schedule and the break down of interest to principle in a monthly repayment. Let me illustrate with an example:

Scenario: Jack and Jill takes out a mortgage for $300,000. Principle and interest. 30 year term. Interest rate of 5%. 

1.Principal and interest monthly repayments = $1610.46 ; interest=$1250.00, principal=$360.46

2. After 195 months (just over 16 years!) = P+I monthly repayment =$1610.46; interest=$802.88, principal=$807.59. The monthly repayments will now start eroding your loan principal faster and faster from 195 months

3. After 360 months (30 years)= P+I monthly repayment =$1610.46; interest=$6.68, principal=$1603.78. Loan is finally repaid

With a reverse mortgage, you would replay that scenario backwards! Where the 360 month(30th year) redraw from the mortgage of $1610.46 means $1250.00 is the interest charge and you effectively get only $360.46 to spend out of that $1610.46.

But you don't need that much? But you won't be redrawing for that long? It doesn't matter how much or the time frame of the redraw, the amortisation schedule is an eye opener and you are really giving your future, older self a hard time if you take out a reverse mortgage because the interest charge compounded on interest will erode your equity.

You could live to 100 years old and beyond. You could be homeless. I'm not even being dramatic. It's just the way the maths work. So don't take out a reverse mortgage if you have other options or you can avoid it. Just thought I would analyse that for anyone who is trying to do research because it is such a detrimental option but it is being bandied about in the news as an attractive option with no draw backs mentioned or high lighted.

I haven't come across a single article in mainstream news yet that highlights and objectively analyses the pros and cons of reverse mortgages. Only the benefits are discussed. 

Paying Endless Insurance Bills

Lately it feels like all I've been doing is paying insurance bills one after the other to protect against an unknown future and unforeseen events that may be detrimental to my hip pocket.

In the past few weeks, there have been a multitude of bills and statements regarding death insurance, disability insurance, car insurance, home and contents insurance, health insurance and the list is endless.

Since I haven't claimed against my insurance providers for years and years, I feel like I'm paying premiums into a black hole. Although being young means we are the ones paying for the older folks who are claiming insurance, it still doesn't alleviate the feeling that paying for insurance is such a (necessary) waste.

I'd rather pay my premiums and not claim, than have to claim of course. To claim insurance would mean whatever detrimental event that I've insured against has actually happened and I'd rather not have those events happen!

Does anyone else find insurance bills tiresome?

Saving The Planet One Step At A Time

Certain things annoy me. I don't know what sort of things drive you crazy but it's the rubbish dumpers that does it for me. Things like people dangling their hairy or manicured hands out of the car and letting their rubbish drop onto the road. Or walking behind said rubbish dumpers.

How hard is it to hold onto your rubbish for that extra 50m?
Or waiting until they reached their next destination to empty the trash into the bin?

Maybe I should stop watching evironmental documentaries. I watched an episode about how plastic gets into the waterways and ocean. It takes many years but the plastic eventually breaks down into tiny pellets which fishes and turtles think are edible. Some marine animals die, some suffer pain for their lifetimes and some get very sick.

I'm not a greenie or a tree hugger. Infact, I'd come under fire if I professed to be one because I have some hypocritical behaviours too.

In Christmas 2007, my family and I stayed at Vincentia, which is a coastal town in Jervis Bay about 3 hours drive, south of Sydney. Early one morning, I went for a walk and there was a gentleman in his fifties, walking around collecting dumped rubbish. He wasn't a council worker or anything. He was a local resident. He greeted me and we fell into a conversation.

Inspiration. It doesn't take a meeting with a President or Prime Minister to do it for me. It takes a person who has respect for themselves, their beliefs and they try to make things happen instead of waiting for things to happen. The gentleman told me that he used to get annoyed at the people who would visit their town for holidaying and dump a lot of rubbish at the parks and beaches.

One day he realised, it's easier to just pick up the rubbish himself and deal with it than to grumble about it, see it every single time he goes out for walks and get annoyed all over again on a daily basis. After he'd started doing that, there were barely any rubbish anymore on his walks and people were less inclined to dump if they saw that it was a clean and tidy park.

I''m starting to understand his mentality. I like to go for bike rides and walk along the river. It really annoys me when I ride past sections of the river where the rubbish have washed up onto the shores in giant piles of human strewn detritus. Recently I've started to clean up the riverside areas. There's no point waiting for something to happen because nothing will on its own.

You could pretty much apply that gentleman's attitude to anything you want to happen in your life. Don't wait for the change because oftentimes, things don't change by themselves. You need to go out there and make those changes.

If it annoys you, fix it.
If it bothers you, change it.
If you want it, go for it.

xx

The expert email 'forwarder'

Before you click that "Forward" button on your email, stop and think, 'I can do this, but am I just being lazy?'

The 'Forward' function in Outlook and email clients exist so that we can share information but it's not there simply for people who want to shirk their work duties. Lately, I've been getting annoyed because a staff member at one of our vendors prefers not to do any work but forward my requests and give me phone numbers to call and follow up for myself. It's understandable if his sole function is to divert emails but his role is to assist me in work related matters and action my requests.

At work it's been a rant of mine ever since one of the staff at a vendor of ours got promoted and she was totally awesome. Her promotion is awesome but she's left us in a bottomless pit with her new, crappy replacement. If I sent her any request to action or investigate, she would be onto my request immediately and she chased, she pursued, she followed up, she diarised and she got results for me. It was a like working relationship dream come true. Even if it was a request that was not her immediate duty, she would forward the request to her colleagues but she would follow up with them first and then get back to me with her results. I email her my requests, she emails me her results = working relationship dream come true.

Her replacement however is a total fail. He likes to forward emails. Not once has he actioned any of my requests without me having to repeatedly hassle him for results. I'm not his mother and I'm not his girlfriend nor his secretary. It's not my role to chase him for answers, replies and results and I've got deadlines to work to. He doesn't understand the concept of using diaries and calendars to schedule in tasks. Everyone has one of those in the office. The expert forwarder. The expert forwarder is extremely experienced in pressing the forward button and passing the work and responsibility to others. Sometimes they don't even read their emails because they know that once it has been forwarded, it's not their responsibility anymore unless it comes back.

It would be a dream come true if the expert forwarder that I have to deal with right now gets promoted because he fails on all my requests. Unfortunately the possibility of him being promoted are slim simply because if his manager asked clients to rate his service, we'd all give him a zero. How does one handle expert forwarders? How can you compel one to actually do some work instead of passing the buck around? How can you manage an expert forwarder to actually perform the work instead of trying to flick you off to other departments when their role is to field all enquiries from you and act on your requests internally?