Thank You – Seven Steps

Thank you for letting us know.

With the shift from Persuasive to Narrative, it was a tricky year for many students. Many loved the chance to write a Narrative, but good narrative structure and style can be more challenging!

Would you like more writing support in your school? We can help!

If you feel some teachers need more training, we have One-Day Workshops throughout the country from August through mid-November. You can find the closest to you here.

Another option is our newest training: Seven Steps Online. It is a fantastic way to support your teachers with ongoing momentum and motivation with the Seven Steps, along with arming them with lots of additional and new classroom resources. You can watch this short video to learn all about it.

If we can help in other ways, just let us know. You can email us on online@sevenstepswriting.com.

Testimonials

“Fantastic! Thanks so much for making all the detail I'd read on your website come to life in such an energetic presentation.”
CAROL RANDALL
Mudgeeraba Creek, SS
“Thanks so much for helping motivate me to motivate my kids to be interested in the makeup of stories. I can't wait to start making story graphs using our own characters next week!”
Amanda Lindeman
P-3 Teacher, Kilcummin State School
“Two of our teachers attended your Seven Steps seminar last year. They used the program in the Grade 3 cohort. Our NAPLAN results in those two grades were outstanding.”
Aspley SS
QLD
“Hands on, real teaching ideas, humorous, practical - brilliant. All teachers should do this seminar.”
Jeanette Gemmell
Eumundi SS
“Entertaining, interesting, relevant, motivating. It gave me a clear vision for where I want our school to go in regards to writing improvement.”
Toni Pittard, HOC
Maryborough Central SS
“A super session of awesome techniques to enhance the teaching of writing.”
Rita R
Year 6 Teacher
“Very inspirational – user friendly and achievable. To me (who has been on many PD's) – this one resonated. It made sense, unpacks writing well and has loads of common sense, creative ideas that should encourage my reluctant writers to flourish.”
Bellfield Primary School
NSW
“Jen's passion for writing is evident in her enthusiastic presentation. A thorough knowledge and understanding is shared step by step.”
Annette Stinson
“Thank you again for an outstanding presentation on Friday. It was very obvious listening to you all day how passionate and knowledgeable you are. All my teachers are very enthused. Congratulations Dianne.”
Steve Wiseman
Principal
“Dianne was an outstanding presenter – full of engaging ideas to use in the classroom. The activities for us were engaging and kept us thinking creatively.”
Susan Buckland
Assistant Principal
“Well worth it! Even for a Saturday! Dianne’s pace of delivery and clarity of explanation made SS2WS ready to implement at school from the GET GO!”
Michael Boyle
Teacher
“Wish I had learnt this at school. Dianne was wonderful at presenting and very knowledgeable.”
Monique Capill
“Fantastic! A real pivotal moment in my educational career. Can’t wait to get started. Pina was amazing! Engaging…Empowering…A true game changer!”
Claire Hayward
Teacher
“Pina, what an inspirational facilitator you are of this amazing program. Many thanks.”
Holmes
“I loved it. Lots of practical ideas I can use in the classroom. Very engaging presenter. Thanks Pina! ”
Erica Sherlock
Teacher
“Excellent – extremely useful. Ann is outstanding – knowledge, skill, teaching teachers, great methodology.”
Peter Gates
Teacher
“Really terrific! So many useful strategies and ideas to engage all levels of writers. Ann is down to earth, professional and engaging. Thanks so much. I can’t wait to start doing it.”
Selina Bird
“Ann was an excellent presenter, engaging & enthusiastic with outstanding knowledge & easy to follow explanations. Fantastic examples & her classroom knowledge was very helpful.”
Paula Panettier
“Students and teachers are very positive about the journey so far. Lots of lovely stories about reluctant writers feeling very comfortable and confident. The teachers all seem really pleased with the program and the student work.”
Lindy Montague-Pope
Head of Curriculum
“A sequential plan to explicitly teach writing in an engaging manner.”
Ed Gordon
Head of Junior Secondary
“In the past I've been too focused on the big picture, the finished story and wanting it to be GREAT, but I didn't know how to get there - but now I do!”
Rebecca Blanchard-Blackburn
“The success I do see so far is consistency of language and an excitement and passion about writing that we did not have before.”
Stacey
Head of Curriculum
“Students and teachers are very positive about the journey so far. Lots of lovely stories about reluctant writers feeling very comfortable and confident. The teachers all seem really pleased with the program and the student work.”
Lindy
Head of Curriculum
“It was a fantastic day of learning and very applicable to all classes, even at high school. I can quickly see uses for it in year 7 and even year 12!”
Rachael
High School Teacher/Literacy Coordinator
“Fantastic – stimulating and incredibly useful. I love that it was compartmentalised and structured and student centred. This means success for all abilities”
Helen Bortfeld
Teacher
“Teaching my students writing through Seven Steps has not only improved their writing but also improved my teaching skills and pedagogy. I am now extremely passionate about writing and begin my day very excited which has the most amazing flow on effect to the students.”
“Children need to learn to write from energetic and excited teachers - Seven Steps empowers me to be just that.”
“An empowering reminder that anyone can create an exciting story”
“I have loved leading the Seven Steps in our school and being a part of a very enthusiastic (yes….everyone – even the ones who hated writing before) classroom of students.”
“Brilliant. This needs to be every school's writing program.”
Belinda
Master Teacher
“Our Writing result in Year 9 is against the national trend which showed a 1.7% drop from 2014 to 2015, where our result went up by 11.4%. I can guarantee our writing success was due to students being exposed to the Seven Steps of Writing Success. Students love it.”
Valissa
STLaN Literacy Coach
“I just wanted to drop you a quick line and let you know that my kids and I have been making story graphs (using pictures instead of words) from well-known stories for the past week now and they love it! We had some kids not able to attend school last week because we had so much rain and they even did their own graphs at home! Each day we start with 20 minutes of Seven Steps (which often turns into at least half an hour!) and I am fighting to start other work because they want to talk about every book they've ever read and every movie they've ever seen! Even when we read on the carpet now they stop me during stories and tell me who the main characters are, what the problem is and what the exciting bit is to solve the problem! Thanks so much for helping motivate me to motivate my kids to be interested in the makeup of stories. I can't wait to start making story graphs using our own characters next week!”
Amanda Lindeman
P-3 Teacher, Kilcummin State School
“Professional and exciting. I came with high expectation and I was ready to learn. My experience was satisfying and enriching.”
Robyn
Teacher, QLD
“Great – love how the steps are all structured & set out clearly. Lots of great ideas. I’m excited about sharing this great tool with my colleagues. I’m now feeling a lot more confident to go back and implement it. Thank you.”
Catherine
NSW
“Absolutely fabulous. I am keen to return to school to continue this amazing journey we are on.”
Robyn
Master Teacher, Goondiwindi State School
“I can't express to you how passionate I am about the program. I have been implementing it with enormous success in my class. The results so far have been incredibly impressive and the impact on the children's skills and enthusiasm for writing transformative. Even the parents of my students are using the language of the Seven Steps with myself and their children.”
Diahnn B.
Assistant Principal, Dural Public School (NSW)
“I have been implementing the program with enormous success in my class and on my stage of Year 1 and 2 teachers. The 7-year-old students in my class can tell you the top tips of each step and put them into practice. They pick out similes and metaphors in imaginative texts that they read and will also identify the pebble, rock and boulder in a story. (Zoey in my class also believes that Hansel and Gretel also incorporates an Uluru!) They use Sizzling Starts for their speeches now, they write using onomatopoeia, similes and their senses to create quality descriptive texts.”
Diahnn B.
Assistant Principal, Dural Public School (NSW)
“I attended a Seven Steps PD and it was AMAZING!!!! On Wednesday I tried brainstorming around the word "run" and then we wrote some sizzling starts for one minute. The kids loved it and you could have heard a pin drop during the one minute of writing!!!! Thank you for such an amazing tool and the continuing emails!!!”
Jo
Year 4A Teacher, Petrie State School
“I find Seven Steps, both face to face and online sessions one of the most practical and cost effective resources available. I enjoy hearing students and teachers (and in some cases parents/carers)sharing a common language and understanding of writing. Steps 2 - 7 have also been great in assisting with self and peer feedback sessions, especially in middle and upper primary.”
Collette
Master Teacher, Yeppoon State School
“Fantastic! A wonderful resource for teaching writing in the classroom. Hands on, practical & time efficient activities to take back to the classroom to engage students in writing.”
Jennifer
Teacher Year 4, Carlton Public Primary School
“Fantastic. Anne was a fantastic presenter and very knowledgeable. She kept the audience engaged and busy. This workshop has been one of the best I have attended over my career. It has inspired me to change how I teach writing and provided me with resources.”
Irene Perente
Assistant Principal, Bert Oldfield PS
“The best PD I've been to in my 10 years of teaching. Fantastic steps to writing which has made the thought of teaching writing to year 5's so much easier. Students will benefit greatly from my attendance.”
Kath Frahm
Mooloolaba SS
“Lots of fantastic ideas for our teachers to implement in their classrooms. The framework now makes so much more sense and will definitely improve the quality of writing in our schools.”
Caroline Hume
Literacy Leader, St Joachim’s PS
“BRILLIANT - I'm going back to school tomorrow and telling our principal that everybody in our school deserves this learning opportunity. Pina was truly amazing!!!”
Lara Sullivan
Year 5 Teacher, Our Lady of Lordes Tarro
“Very professional presentation. Wonderfully "grounded" in practice. Well paced with lots of activities and power point examples. I attended a Saturday session 2 years ago - I KNOW that the 7 Steps works - I have taught the steps for 2 years and students LOVE to write now. Each week is a shared adventure in developing skills and fostering delight in writing.”
Robyn Johnson
Teacher/Librarian, Wilsonron State School
“Seven Steps is such a great program and I was thrilled to work with teachers today who have planned their term 1 unit for 2015 all around 7 steps to writing - they know how valuable the techniques are and how well they fit across the text types. I am starting a 7 week coaching session with a year 4 teacher next week- the beauty is that the kids love it too so I always feel welcomed when I drop into classrooms.”
Tracie Heaton
Currumbin Primary School
“My years 9's went great in the NAPLAN writing last year, they are all ESL students and they all improved by 20% above the normal growth rate!!! My principal was rapt! Our 3's, 5's and 7's also showed accelerated progress in writing, so hopefully the coaching has helped. So the Seven Steps program works with ESL and high school kids as well.”
Lee Hegarty
Secondary English and Library Teacher, Cocos Islands District High School
“I can tell you our Year 5 NAPLAN writing results (which was the only thing going downwards in our results) has improved so much (particularly amongst the targeted boys) that our auditor initially did not believe our data!! He wanted to take it home and study it. Wow!”
Genevieve Clark
Literacy Coach, Camp Hill State Infants And Primary School
“My co-teacher introduced me to 7 Steps this year when she came on board. I have a lower ability composite year 4/5 class and they themselves are amazed at how much their writing has improved, and we have only just done Sizzling Starts. They are so much more enthusiastic about writing as they've learnt so quickly how to make it fun and engaging. So this has such a big thumbs up from me. It's made English lessons far more meaningful and effective already and we've only just started.”
Glenna
Taroom P-10 State School
“Our whole school Seven Steps Online licence has been invaluable in up-skilling our staff (many beginning teachers) with the tools to use Seven steps in the classroom. We have used the online course in a variety of ways at staff meeting PD sessions and teachers are able to access the information again, whenever they want.”
Lynn Mattingley
Master Teacher, Middlemount Community School
“It has a great variety of practical and instructional information to motivate and enhance the teaching of writing. It has ignited the passion to inspire students to enjoy writing and share it with different audiences.”
Karen Deacon
Principal, Bonnet Bay Public School
“I actually have recommended the Seven Steps to Writing Success to my colleagues at a staff meeting where I ran a small session with examples of my students' writing samples (Sizzling Starters are a favourite in my class). The NAPLAN information and activities such as the writing rubric and mini lessons with Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are excellent tools to use during our Daily 5 and Café sessions, which I suggested is a great opportunity for word work and writing time!”
Lidia Lacy
Grade 5 Teacher and Literacy Coordinator, Myrniong Primary School
“The real class videos are great. I have done the course at school for PD but I love how the online REMINDS me of things I have forgotten. I have it there whenever I need it.”
Leticha Mathison
Teacher, Childers State School
“We have used Seven Steps Online to roll-out the Seven Steps across our school with positive feedback and results on all fronts!”
Danielle Hartmann
HOC, Gin Gin State School
“I love the fact that I can go back to any of the teaching videos and watch again. The support materials are also very useful and practical. You run with them straight away.”
Sandy Tyndall
Experienced Senior Teacher, Yorkeys Knob SS
“Having completed the workshop and subsequently the coaches course this writing programme has changed the way I teach writing and I now see the evidence that it makes an enormous difference to the way my students write. Every teacher should be teaching writing this way. The online resources are great and continue to inspire my teaching.”
Rita Renwick
Year 6 Key Literacy Teacher, St Simon Peter
“As an EALD teacher, Seven Steps really supports our pedagogy with importance of quality teaching, explicit modelling and oral interaction.”
Renata Ninevski
EALD K-6, Jesmond Public School
“Distrustful, nay incredulous! Could a one day course take this Maths nerd & excite him to write? A resounding, "You Bet!" Lots of great ideas, better still s+s + lesson plans. I now feel bold & brave & better equipped to lead my "stewed ants". Thank you.”
Billy Creanor
Teacher Yr 5, Lakes Grammar
“I feel like the next 5 weeks of term are planned for in writing.”
Ellie Beers
Teacher Yr 4, St Francis of Assisi
“Habit changing. Mind altering. Wow! Beautiful in its brilliance. Exciting and encouraging. A very informative session, adaptable for infants, differentiation easily executed. Thank you.”
Sally Hagley
Teacher, St Joseph’s Merriwa
“AMAZING!! Such a fresh approach to teaching writing in the modern classroom.”
Lea Mulrooney
Special Education Teacher, Woodburn Primary School
“Once again this inservice was inspirational. In over 30 years of teaching and inservicing I can still say positively that this is the most valuable resource and inservice I have ever encountered. I have seen its value in my classroom and I feel empowered again with refreshed ideas and applications.”
Darelle Poyitt
Teacher Yr 6, Redeemer Baptist School
“Being responsible for the planning of the day, I appreciate what has been a very pleasant experience from my first request for the professional development to this day which has been full of information delivered in a manner that has maintained the attention of all staff and provided us with food for thought and implementation.”
Katriona Bailey
Curriculum Co-Ordinator, Redeemer Baptist School
“Would recommend it to everyone, this presentation was just as engaging as the content. That’s a first for me to be focused and listening the whole time.”
Kim Kutasi
Teacher Yr 3, Wilkins Public School
“Very inspiring, great to see pedagogy not just theory! I want to go and teach it now. I have a thousand ideas racing through my mind.”
Tracie Rowe
Master Teacher, Clinton State School
“I was amazed myself at how easy and simple the classroom activities are. I was shocked by how quickly my own writing skill improved in 1 day. Imagine how beneficial this will be for my students! Really pleased by the results of this program.”
Stephanie Rawlings
Secondary English Teacher, Mt Larcom State School
“It was a fantastic day of learning and very applicable to all classes, even at high school. I can quickly see uses for it in year 7 and even year 12!”
Rachael Cuthbert
High School Teacher/Literacy Co-ordinator, Cavendish Road State High School
“Fantastic! I was unsure how beneficial this PD would be for us EC teachers - very pleasantly surprised and highly engaging. A very worthwhile literacy PD.”
Trish Chapman
EC Teacher, Tom Price PS
“Best PD I have attended in a long time. Incredibly useful. I usually take away 1 or 2 ideas to work on - this time my mind is full!”
Judith Hillman
Grade 5 Teacher, Jindalee State School
“This is a professional development over 2 days that really packs a punch. This approach to writing is exciting and full of great ideas for teachers and students alike.”
Genevieve Clark
Literacy Coach, Camp Hill State Infants And Primary School
“Made at ease immediately and felt confident to participate fully. Jen's passion for writing is evident in her enthusiastic presentation. A thorough knowledge and understanding is shared step by step.”
Annette Stinson
Class Teacher, Eatons Hill State School
“I just attended the workshop yesterday in Perth and although I was amazed by the content and can’t wait to use it in class…… I actually wanted to let you know how amazed myself and my colleagues that attended were with our presenter. She absolutely made the day . She was very warm hearted and her approach to the days content was done in such a fantastic way that there was never a dull negative feeling, or a bored period that you usually experience at these seminars. She is an absolute asset to the team and we want to thank her for invigorating our passion for writing in the classroom again!”
Alyssa Campbell and Haajira Sallie
Illawarra Primary

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