After all she has spent the past 20 years in the classroom teaching literacy.
“It is so important we all learn to read. Not only is it a practical skill, it can take us anywhere in the world from space to the jungle, to a world simply beyond our imagination,” Nicole said.
Always looking to improve her own skills, Nicole is in the process of completing a Masters of Learning Intervention; specialising in how students can be catered for to ensure learning success for all.
This experience, along with years of research and time in the classroom, has ultimately seen Nicole experience a philosophical change in the way she teaches, and has resulted in her developing her own workshop for parents of early and struggling readers.
The workshop specifically looks at language development, phonemic awareness and the role a parent can play in helping their child learn to read.
“Teaching parents the skills to support their children at home in a safe and comfortable environment is extremely beneficial,” Nicole said.
The workshops will be held on demand and while they are a one-off, additional support and resources are available.
Nicole initially threw around the idea of tutoring but she thought a workshop format was a more affordable way to get information out and across to a wider audience.
“I am hoping to teach parents the skills and knowledge for early literacy through multi-sensory play and structured activities using resources they have at home; weirdly enough, things like matchbox cars can teach phonemic awareness through play and exposure to language,” Nicole said.
She said while reading to children was great, it was a myth that it actually taught children to read.
“Prior to COVID the Australian Centre of Educational Research found 40 per cent of Australians 15 and over were functionally illiterate, and I expect after COVID those figures might be a little worse,” Nicole said.
Nicole said over the past couple of years there had been a strong push nationally away from balanced literacy to structured literacy, particularly in NSW, which is ahead of the other states.
“The Science of Reading principles are based on 30-plus years of research and show we need to move away from predictable texts, from prompting kids to skip words, look at the pictures or guess an unknown word and instead move to more phonic-based or decodable text approach.
“I learnt to read using phonics and I taught my own kids the same way.”
Predictable text is when the text repeats the same structure over and over — essentially the child recites the text — while with decodable reading, kids look at the words and are taught the sounds behind them.
Nicole said we all lived in a text-based world where more and more communication was via written text. Learning to read has never been more important.
Nicole said information on her Uppercase Literacy workshops could be found on Facebook.
“I have developed my own range of products which can help with the process,” she said.
“I will also show parents how they can use what they already have and where to access free resources.
“The Echuca Library is also a great resource and has a fantastic range of decodables to use.”
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