Sharon Callen
Sharon is the founder of Teachific (online resources for teachers) and Cue Learning (professional development in schools www.cuelearning.com.au). She is an experienced teacher, author and consultant who is passionate about children and their learning. She is determined to bring you the most engaging resources possible for your curious learners, and support that will take your teaching to a deeper and more satisfying level. All resources come out of her ongoing, 'hands on' work with teachers and leaders in a number of schools across Australia.
Experience
- Sharon has a Graduate Diploma in Teaching, specialising in English Language Arts and Literacy.
- She greatly enjoyed fifteen years working as a teacher in South Australian primary schools.
- She was involved in university level projects and courses, for example, Networking to Learn, a national project in Australia.
- Since 2000 she has loved working as a literacy consultant in schools in Australia and USA
- Sharon has written teaching resources for ASIC in the area of financial literacy for students.
- She is author and co-author of a number of publications on best practice in literacy instruction.
- And now she is the founder of 'Teachific' online resources for teachers.
Published Works - Children's Books
- In 1995 Sharon wrote a book for families and their grandparents called 'I Miss You' Koala Books 1995. It won a Notable Book Award as part of the Children's Book Awards in Australia.
- Scholastic Canada helped her publish the innovative Triple Treat resource for Kindergarten classrooms. It has since been distributed by Scholastic in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. All 36 books, writing templates and teaching planning cards are now available online on the Teachific wesbite.
- Sharon worked jointly with Denise Ryan and Associates, Scholastic Canada, Capstone Classrooms, and Teacher Created Materials (TCM) in the US to write over 100 books for young readers which have been distributed worldwide.
- Her most recent series, LEAP! Little Books With Attitude, has won a Learning Magazine award in the U.S. The award title is the '2016 Teachers' Choice Award for a Classroom Program'. The awards honour products of exceptional quality and outstanding performance.
Consultancy in Schools
- Sharon was delighted to work for six years as a literacy consultant in New York schools (from 2001).
- And from 2008 as a literacy consultant in Australian schools.
- In 2011, together with Flinders University in South Australia, she won an Ian Potter Foundation grant to work on the jointly designed 'Choosing to Read' literacy project in two northern region schools in Adelaide, supporting students and teachers in reading improvement.
- In the years following, as part of Cue Learning consultancy, she developed (and is still developing) ongoing, innovative approaches to literacy teaching and learning with leaders and teachers in mostly Australian schools, tailored to their needs.
Teachific and the Future
- Sharon's aim for Teachific is that teachers will form an ongoing professional relationship with her through immediate access to her 'thinking' and very practical resources on the website, her podcasts and blogs, and Facebook community.
- She hopes to attract those interested in forming a creative, inquiring, connected and engaging approach to literacy teaching and learning