About

Multimodal Me is the official blog of Kerri-Jane Burke with the aim of sharing effective teaching and learning strategies for all modes of English: reading, writing, speaking, listening, viewing and representing.

Kerri-Jane studied Communication and Cultural Studies at the University of Wollongong. She is an experienced HSC marker and currently teaches English and leads a dynamic team at Moss Vale High School on the southern highlands of New South Wales, Australia. Her interests include collaborative writing processes and promoting literacy education through engaging texts. She regularly presents at conferences and has contributed articles to mETAphor, Literacy Learning: the Middle Years, Screen Education and the teach.learn.share database (now available on Scootle).

In 2015, Kerri-Jane received an Outstanding Professional Service Award from the Professional Teachers’ Council of NSW.

Kerri-Jane has been a Director of the English Teachers’ Association of New South Wales, and is currently a member the Professional Development Committee. In June 2016, Kerri-Jane traveled to the United Kingdom as part of her study tour on ‘Teacher and Student Writing Groups’ funded by the NSW Premier’s English Teachers’ Association English Scholarship.

Beginning in 2017, Kerri-Jane established and oversaw the ETA Writing Teacher groups that met regularly to write, share and discuss classroom strategies. This community of practice was created to promote enjoyment of writing and playful engagement with the English language while supporting confidence in teacher identity as writers. Ultimately, students will benefit from pedagogy informed by practice.

Kerri-Jane took leave in 2020 to write her first full-length novel, and resumed teaching in February 2021.

2021

• Responding to HSC questions: improving literacy through Stages 4-6 with Louise Mumford

Ongoing professional learning and writing project across KLAs at Moss Vale High School, Strategic Direction 1: School Improvement Plan 2021-2024

• Reflective Writing and Teachers as Writers with Sharyn Stafford

English Curriculum Statewide Staffroom Virtual Staff Meeting, NSW Department of Education

• The NSW Premier’s English Teachers Association English Scholarship: A retrospective – featuring a photo spread on Writing Teachers’ Workshops

mETAphor, Issue 1

2020

• If in a busy teaching career a writer

ON HOLD: this workshop is not suitable for the now online conference due to COVID-19 social restrictions – to be considered for a later conference … Inventing Futures, Ideas in Fight, Implementing Frameworks AATE/IFTE ‘IF’ Conference

• Premier’s ETA English Scholarship Advice to Applicants with Eva Gold

Online Webinar

2019

• ‘Zines’ in Charged with Meaning: Becoming an English Teacher’

Phoenix Education, 2nd Edition

• Approaching Texts Creatively

Passion to Practice ETA Annual Conference

• English Extension 2 (Writing) Sessional Academic

School of Education, University of Western Sydney

• Writing Teachers

Co-ordinator and workshop facilitator: ETA

2018

• Writing Teachers Online – pilot project

Co-ordinator and workshop facilitator: ETA

• Sample Creative Writing Response and Reflection

English Standard and Advanced Year 12, 2019-2020, Cambridge University Press

• Writer in Residence – Lucy Palmer 

Co-ordinator: Moss Vale Community of Schools

• Let’s Create: Writing Opportunities at MAAS with Karolina Novak, Education Program Producer at the Powerhouse Museum

#Let’s Create ETA Annual Conference

• Creating Poetry Zines: ETA Writing Teachers Retreat at Q Station with Jo Curry and Bonnie Rae

#Let’s Create ETA Annual Conference

• Writing Teachers – introductory comments and zine production

#Let’s Create ETA Annual Conference

• Writing Teachers – a New South Wales experience

The Art of English: Language, Literature, Literacy, AATE/ALEA Annual Conference, Perth

• Writing Teacher: Teaching Writing

Early Career Teachers’ Big Day Out, ETA

• Writing Teachers Retreat – Q Station

Program development, event co-ordinator and facilitator: ETA

• The Reconciled Writer – a writing workshop in conversation with Sam Wagan Watson 

mETAphor, Issue 1

• Review: Flying through Clouds

mETAphor, Issue 1

• Writing Teachers groups: Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong – ongoing

Co-ordinator and workshop facilitator: ETA

2017

• What Writing Teachers Do

Re-imagining English – ‘None of us wants to be in calm waters all of the time’ Jane Austen. ETA Annual Conference

• Re-imagining Writing: Reflection and analysis with Yianni Vasilakis

Re-imagining English – ‘None of us wants to be in calm waters all of the time’ Jane Austen. ETA Annual Conference

• Writing Teachers – discussion forum

Re-imagining English – ‘None of us wants to be in calm waters all of the time’ Jane Austen. ETA Annual Conference

• Writer in Residence – Philip Hall 

Co-ordinator: Moss Vale Community of Schools

• Guest Editor: Writing Teachers edition

mETAphor, Issue 3

• Creative Writing in Secondary Schools – online presentation/webinar

TLN, Victoria

• Writing Teacher: Teaching Writing

Early Career Teachers’ Big Day Out, ETA

• ‘Strawberry in Schist’

New Shoots Anthology – poems inspired by plants, Red Room Poetry and The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney

• Writing Teachers Retreat – Q Station

Program development, event co-ordinator and facilitator: ETA

• Teacher and Writing Groups – Premier’s English Teaching Award Report

mETAphor, Issue 1

• Writing Teachers groups: Newcastle, Sydney, Western Sydney and Wollongong – ongoing

Co-ordinator and workshop facilitator: ETA

2016

• Reviews: The Natural Way of Things, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller, Aleph, Mobile Library

‘Holiday Reading Suggestions’ in mETAphor, Issue 4

• The Writing Teacher and Teacher of Writing

To unpathed waters, undreamed shores, ETA Annual Conference

• Writing for Life: Private and Public Worlds 

To unpathed waters, undreamed shores, ETA Annual Conference

• Writer in Residence – Rhiannon Hall

Program Development and Co-ordinator: Moss Vale Community of Schools

• Review: Book and Elephant Man

mETAphor, Issue 3

• Conceptual Learning through Writing

All the World’s a Classroom, 53rd Annual Conference of the National Association for the Teaching of English, UK

• Conceptual Learning in English – Transitions Writing Project: Evaluation Report

Team Leader: Moss Vale Community of Schools

• Contributing to the English Faculty with Sharyn Stafford

Early Career Teachers’ Conference, ETA

2015

• Outstanding Professional Service Award

Professional Teacher Council of NSW

• Occasional Address – Palliative Care Home Support Package (PEACH) Program DVD launch

NSW Health: South Western Sydney Local Health District

• Five Bells Teaching Resource by Mel Dixon – with additional ideas by KJ Burke

Reading Australia 

• The Bamir Language Gallery – sharing the joy of words and language learning

Curiouser and Curiouser, ETA Annual Conference

• Transition Project – Concepts 

Curiouser and Curiouser, ETA Annual Conference

• Review: Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary

mETAphor, Issue 4, 2015

• Premier’s English Teachers’ Association English Scholarship – recipient

NSW Department of the Premier, ETA NSW, NSW Department of Education

• Column Editor – Taking the Lead: Head Teachers share helpful hints

 mETAphor, 2015

• Conceptual Learning in English – Transitions Writing Project

Team Leader: Moss Vale Community of Schools

• Corporate Marking webinar – Leading an English Faculty

Professional Learning for ETA NSW

• The Black Balloon teaching resource with Imelda Judge, Eva Gold and Viviana Matiello,

ETA NSW

• The Bamir Language Gallery – nurturing and engaging young minds 

Capitalising on Curiosity ‘ninggi warrguu’  – look and ask why – Nurturing Inquiring Minds, AATE/ALEA National Conference, Canberra

• Literacy Displays: Student Engagement through Collaborative Learning

Brave New World? 52nd Annual Conference of the National Association for the Teaching of English, UK

• Writing for Publication

mETAphor, Issue 1, 2015

• Review: Stray

mETAphor, Issue 1, 2015

2014

• Reading Australia – new ideas to celebrate Australia’s most exciting writers with Mel Dixon and Zoe Rodriguez

Countdown 2015! ETA Annual Conference

• Writing for Publication with Mel Dixon

Countdown 2015! ETA Annual Conference

• Sample AoS essay: The Motorcycle Diaries

English Standard and Advanced Year 12, 2014-2015, Cambridge University Press

• Music Videos – multimodal texts to engage and inspire

mETAphor, Issue 4, 2014

• Review: Nona and Me

mETAphor, Issue 3, 2014

• Judge – Best Factual Television Series

IPAF 2014 ATOM Awards

http://atomawards.org/

• Reading Australia: supporting literature and building engaged young minds with Zoe Rodriguez, Philip Page and Ann Small

aNTicipating new territories, AATE/ALEA National Conference, Darwin

• HSC Standard Module A Elective 2: The distinctively visual world of Vertigo a pastoral by Amanda Lohrey

mETAphor, Issue 2, 2014

• The Distinctively Visual: Vertigo 

Exploring Module A, ETA NSW Professional Development Event

• Discovery and the Motorcycle Diaries with Mel Dixon

Exploring Discovery, ETA NSW Professional Development Event

2013

• Transformations: from reflection to analysis: the 3D Reflective Writing Scaffold

Innovation, ETA NSW Annual Conference

• ED Talks: introducing new texts for the 2015 HSC Prescriptions – Co-ordinator Standard Module A and Standard Module C with Ales Wharton, Vivianna Matiello and Seth Fitmansu

Innovation, ETA NSW Annual Conference

• Action Learning Project – Student Reflection on Improving Writing 

co-ordinated by ETA NSW

funded by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) through the Australian Government

• Teaching Strategies from Ross Clark’s Writing Poetry Masterclass

mETAphor, Issue 3, 2013

• Judge – Best Factual Television Series

IPAF 2013 ATOM Awards

http://atomawards.org/

• These Boots

if: books Australia – Memory Makes Us online collaborative writing project

• Between Two Worlds: harnessing opinion to write objectively using the 3D Reflective Writing Scaffold

Brave New World, AATE/ALEA National Conference, Brisbane

• Practical Strategies – Between Two Worlds: harnessing opinion to write objectively using the 3D Reflective Writing Scaffold

Literacy Learning: the middle years, Volume 21, Number 2, June 2013

• Attendee Reflection on Create, Collaborate, Publish and Connect

Group Presentation by Jennifer Denehy, Prue Gill, Jennifer Nott, Shannon Symons, Rita van Haren from the 2012 Five Bells National Conference

Connections Across the Curriculum – Global Education NSW Project

2012             

• Music Videos: engagement, reflection and analytical response writing with reluctant learners

TESOL Seminar 5, DEC & University of Technology

• Reflective Writing the 3D format – practical literacy strategies

teach learn share, The National Literacy and Numeracy Evidence Base  via scootle

Full article, including research base and further reading

• Thinking in the Key of MTV: Engaging Students Through Music Videos

Screen Education, Issue 66, Winter

• Long Form Judge

ATOM Awards

• Digital Stories and Multimodal Narratives – an update

ETA NSW – South Coast Branch, Kiama High School

2011              

• Why Music Videos?

Zine distributed through Sticky Institute, Melbourne

• Digital Stories and Multimodal Narratives

Making Connections That Count ETA NSW Conference, Sydney

• Multimodal Texts: engaging reluctant learners through music videos

Mulitliterate-Multicultural-Multifacted ALEA Conference, Melbourne

Screenfutures ATOM and Screen Conference, Melbourne

2010              

• Making Memories

Way2Go, Issue 7

2009              

• Year 10 Students Reflecting on the Classics

Literacy Learning: the Middle Years, Number 1

2008

• Just Imagine: A Successful Creative Writing Experience

mETAphor, Issue 4

• Writers Talk 2007 Lesson Plan

http://www.tale.edu.au (no longer available – unable to find on Scootle site)

2007                  

• Reflective Writing: the 3D format

mETAphor, Issue 4

tls2_reflective_writing_3dDownload