About the author

Professional

Katherine began her teaching career as a primary school teacher in 1983, teaching across Kindergarten to Year Six, including teaching English as a second language (ESL) and as a literacy support teacher  K-6.  Postgraduate studies in Special Education, completion of a Masters of Education, working in secondary schools as an English and Learning Support teacher, and in a senior role writing teaching strategies for NAPLAN, extended her insight into explicit teaching practices that assisted students to access and express content knowledge across the curriculum and stages of learning (Cohen & Cowan 2011). 

While teaching in the tertiary sector, Katherine was involved in writing subjects to support Literacy in Community Services and teaching computers within the Building and Construction Course in the Technical and Further Education sector (TAFE). Literacy issues again highlighted that students who struggled with decoding and encoding text, also failed to engage at the higher end of critical analysis and in the production of high quality written work across different modes.  A significant number of learners with less than minimum literacy and language skill level requirements struggled with the complex demands of everyday working and study activities (ACAL 2008; Hartley & Horne 2006; ALLS 2006; Trennery 2002) making study more stressful and challenging.

Katherine’s first edition of the Road to Reading in 2005 was the result of a collation of strategies to assist phonemic, phonological and phonics skills with primary and secondary students. The second edition builds on this resource and also includes references to the Australian Curriculum: English to support teachers as they implement the new curriculum.   Katherine is currently completing Doctoral Studies and lecturing in Literacy subjects at the University of Wollongong.


Personal
Katherine spent most of her childhood in the Southern Suburbs of Sydney, apart from a brief time in Townsville, Queensland as a toddler. As an adult, the majority of her teaching in Private, Independent and State Schools has been in Sydney, apart from a brief time at Coorabell, Byron Bay when she lived in Bangalow on the Far North Coast. It was in Bangalow that she began her writing and on return to Sydney in 2005 began publishing her work.

Katherine's partner has also moved into the Education field taking his career experience in Building and Project Management to TAFE. He sees the key issues that literacy gaps can cause for adult learners and the limitations literacy difficulties can create as students communicate meaning in the written form and access information that they require for their area of study.

Katherine is passionate about teaching and developing all aspects of children as they learn – the emotional, social and educational. She strongly believes that children's resilience and ability to cope with situations affects their to their ability to face, deal with and conquer learning to read. Her commitment to developing best practice so that children can access literacy has led to her specialization in the field.

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Katherine is available for public speaking, events and workshops. To contact her regarding this, click HERE.