Thinking and writing draw on those who have gone before, in a more than abstract way. In this article, I answer the call of one philosopher--Novalis, the early German Romantic--in the form of a séance, which is really a dialogue with the dead. I speak to him, as a Maori writer, about the abstract philosophical issues that Maori encounter and…

Where does the object or idea begin, and where does it end as 'unseen' (and how do both those states of being provoke our thinking)? There is scope in Maori philosophising to think of the seen object or its idea in various ways, including as materially constituting the self and the rest of the world; as incomplete for a mental representation; as…

During the Third International Conference on the Teaching of English the author was conscious of a bewildering variety of ideas and impressions on almost every conceivable subject that had some relevance to the teaching of English. In this article, the author shares his thoughts on the conference and the speakers. Donald Graves' account of his…

In Q&A Pam Hook reflects on what drew her to SOLO taxonomy and why she is so motivated to develop its classroom-based use to enhance student learning. She explains what SOLO is and how it can help students to articulate their learning outcomes, understand the learning process, and set new learning goals over time. I also asked her to highlight…

Over a 3-year period (2016-19), four Health and Physical Education teachers from Hobsonville Point Secondary School embarked on a project aimed at making learning more visible for their priority learners. With support from the Teacher-led Innovation Fund, the teachers worked with a group of critical friends--teacher educators, a visible learning…

In the complex and diverse region of Oceania, researchers often work across more than one cultural understanding. Thus, a researcher's position with regard to their research requires careful ongoing negotiation because position, when understood through relationality, is fluid. Negotiating position requires acute reflexivity of the researcher but…

This paper highlights reciprocal teaching as an inclusive instructional strategy that has been shown to improve reading comprehension and metacognitive skills. It provides a conceptual background to reciprocal teaching and examines its purpose, strengths and weaknesses. The notion of reciprocal teaching as an evidence-based practice is also…

This paper describes an experiment carried out at International Pacific College (IPC) as part of an EAP (English for Academic Purposes) paper taught in year one of the BA programme. The trial was aimed at instilling students with the motivation to self-monitor their pronunciation, attempting to raise it to an internationally acceptable level of…

Informed by an amalgam of notions drawn from constructivist, socio-cultural, metacognitive and self-regulation theory, the discourse created to describe assessment to enhance learning has gone through a number of iterations or discursive shifts. As a result, the current discourse is both ambitious and complex with the roles and responsibilities…

Taking into account what research says about getting all children off to a better start in becoming literate, this booklet discusses recent "cutting-edge" research in the area of reading and spelling acquisition, focusing on the practical implications. The first part of the booklet notes what happens in the homes of early readers,…

The critical thinking curriculum used in the four-year business degree program at the Auckland Institute of Technology Faculty of Commerce in New Zealand is described. The design of the business program is modeled on the authors' view of critical thinking as concerned with the intellectual maturity of the whole person. Key intellectual standards…