Dip Teach(EC), BEd(Prim), MEd(Research), EdD
My latest study is titled: Handwriting, keyboarding, or both? That is the question.
Dr Noella Mackenzie brought to Charles Sturt University a wealth of experience as a classroom teacher, special education coordinator and Reading Recovery Tutor. Dr Mackenzie's knowledge and experience of early literacy development and catering for the diverse literacy needs of young learners is founded in her experience in the application, interpretation and analysis of early literacy assessment and intervention at a district, region and state level. Her Reading Recovery Tutor role for the NSW Department of Education and Training (now Communities) saw her work intensively and extensively with hundreds of teachers between 1990 and 2004 in both Australia and the USA.
Since her arrival at the university in July 2004, Noella has focused her energies on teaching undergraduate and higher degree research students, research into literacy learning and teaching and ongoing work with teaching professionals in the field. Noella is a member of the Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE). Noella's teaching is strengthened by her experience of teaching children, ongoing work with teachers, research, and strong understanding of contemporary literacy and associated technologies. She provides CSU students with current, authentic learning opportunities and assessment tasks which link contemporary literacy and relevant technologies with teaching and learning theories, practices and pedagogies.
Noella's research focuses on literacy teaching and learning and in particular writing acquisition. Previous projects at the master and doctoral levels examined issues relating to teacher professional learning, teacher morale, the status of the teaching profession and the impact of extrinsic teaching awards on recipients and their non-recipient colleagues. Current research projects are focused on writing acquisition and the relationship between success with early writing and ongoing literacy development with a particular focus on the relationship between talking, drawing and writing.
Member of research centre: The Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education (RIPPLE) is a multi-disciplinary research centre that conducts high-quality applied research and consultation in the field of professional practice and implications for professional learning and education.
Member of Collaborative Research Network (CRN): The Excellence in Research in Early Years Education (EYE) Collaborative Research Network (CRN) between Charles Sturt University (CSU), Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and Monash University (MU).
A two-part process with multiple stages. The central focus on understanding and supporting young writers. The project builds on previous research focused on early writing.
Part 1: Becoming a Writer: the place of handwriting in early years classrooms – 2016 in Australia
Co-Investigators: Dr Noella Mackenzie, CSU; Ass Prof Janet Scull, Monash University, Collaborator: Dr Terry Bowles University of Melbourne.
Part 2: weWrite: writing in early primary education [weWrite: Kirjoittaminen ja näppäintaito alkuopetuksessa] – 2016 in Finland
Co-Investigators: Dr Noella Mackenzie, CSU, Dr Tuija Turunen, University of Lapland, Finland.
Chief Investigator: Dr Noella Mackenzie (CSU)
Associate researchers: Ms C Phillips and Ms M Bishop (VCAA).
Understanding and supporting young writers examined approaches to the teaching of writing in the final year of preschool and the first year of school; measured the impact of different approaches to teaching young writers and investigated the role of children's drawing in early writing instruction. This project addressed an important concern for Australia in current times given that 'literacy under-achievement has high social and economic costs' (Department of Education, Science and Training, 2005, p. 7).*Report, video for Early Childhood Professionals and Parents, and brochure for parents
Exploring writing in year 1 was launched with two separate but connected projects in 2010. The first project involved an exploration of writing in year 1 in Victoria and NSW. Samples of writing from 1700 year 1 children were gathered and analysed using an analysis tool developed for this purpose. The second project involved writing and Reading Recovery which is the highly regarded early literacy intervention which is implemented at year 1 level in many schools.
Investigators: Dr Noella Mackenzie (CSU), Ass Prof Janet Scull (Monash University), Dr Terry Bowles (University of Melbourne) and Ms Lynne Munsie (NSW DEC)
In 2013 1000 samples were analysed to form base data for a number of publications. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis are applied to the studies outlined above.
The analysis tool used in the study and has proven useful to teachers in classrooms is available here.
This project addresses a gap in early literacy research by examining Early Childhood Educators and parents understandings of how to support the literacy learning and in particular the emergent writing, of children 3 years and younger.
Co-investigators: Dr Noella Mackenzie, Dr Laura McFarland and Ms Natalie Thompson.
Becoming a writer (in the first year of formal schooling) began in 2007 and has a particular focus on the relationship between talking, drawing and early writing. An exciting professional outcome of the Becoming a Writer Research has been the development of resources to be used by schools with parents of children starting school.
Undergraduate teaching: Bachelor of Education (K-12) and Bachelor of Education (EC/Prim). Undergraduate teaching is focused on literacy in the primary school classroom. Noella's teaching is strengthened by experience of teaching children, ongoing work with teachers, research, and strong understanding of contemporary literacy and associated technologies. Postgraduate teaching: Master of Education, Master of Teaching (Sec), Bachelor of Teaching (Sec), Graduate Certificate Indigenous Education.
Higher Degree Research Student Supervision
Children's perspectives of their literacy experiences in and out of school in the 21st century.
Spelling in the upper primary years
The transition to school of students identified as gifted
Developing an understanding of the value of reflection in supporting teachers while changing their practice.
The impact of personal responses to texts on reading comprehension.
What grows an avid reader?
Parents experiences of parent involvement in their children's schooling
About the Writing Analysis Tool
Writing is a complex process, and this complexity poses particular challenges when researchers and teachers approach the task of analysing young students' writing samples. This tool is designed to map shifts over time in the range of skills and competencies young writers use to communicate intended meanings and messages using standard writing conventions. Writing samples (N=3193) were collected from 1799 students, in the two most populous states of Australia in 2010. The close analysis of 210 samples by four members of the research team supported the development of the tool. The tool and its application revealed key areas of learning and the current range of Year One students' writing in these areas. While designed for the purpose of research, the tool has the potential to help classroom teachers capture shifts in students' writing, assist teachers to provide feedback to students, and support teaching decisions.
This web app is designed for desktop/laptop devices and tablet devices. It has not been optimised for mobile phones.
The recommended browsers are listed on the main application page. Though this tool is built with HTML5 and CSS3 it has only been optimised for the recommended Firefox, Safari and Chrome browsers. It is also recommended that you use the latest versions of these browsers for the best experience.
Get the latest versions of these browsers:
Becoming a writer began in 2007 and has a particular focus on the relationship between talking, drawing and early writing. Each year since 2007 Noella has worked closely with preschool and early years teachers and gathered extensive data from young children. An exciting professional outcome of the Becoming a Writer Research has been the development of a short video presentation View the video[ 12 minutes long, opens in new window]. to be used by schools with parents of children starting school. The presentation is supported by a take home brochure for parents. These resources were funded and supported by the NSW Department of Education and Communities, Riverina Equity programs. In 2015, Becoming a Writer expanded into a project titles; Understanding and supporting Young Writers which was run with the Victorian Curriculum and assessment Authority with Kindergarten and Prep teachers from the Marysville Cluster and Darebin Early Years Network. A second video and brochure are two of the outcomes of this project. You can find out more about Noella's work with the VCAA by going to their website.
VCAA – new (2016) video for Early Childhood Professional and Parents and brochure for parents.