Vocabulary instruction that works across the curriculum Verified listing

This session, led by the Literacy Leader at Parafield Gardens High School, shares how a whole school approach to vocabulary instruction was implemented to strengthen students’ word knowledge and reading comprehension.

It is relevant to both primary and secondary educators and leaders interested in building language for learning.

Grounded in the science of reading and language, the initiative was informed by Scarborough’s Reading Rope and focused on addressing how limited vocabulary can affect both learning to read and reading to learn.

Staff across all year levels and learning areas were supported to explicitly teach word knowledge – including subject-specific morphology – using a consistent and measurable approach.

The session will also showcase a range of practical, teacher-developed resources created to support this work.

**This webinar will be recorded and available for two weeks after the event**

Date: Monday 30th June 2025

Time: 1 pm – 2 pm AEST (Melbourne Time)

Cost
LDA Member: $30

LDA Student Member – $15

Non-Member – $50

About Stasha Demosthenous
Stasha is the Literacy Leader at Parafield Gardens High School. She began her teaching career as a Year 6/7 teacher and transitioned to the secondary setting when Year 7 moved into high school.

Stasha is passionate about literacy and is committed to building teacher knowledge and capacity to improve all students’ literacy outcomes.

Since joining PGHS, she has supported staff in developing their understanding of vocabulary and morphology through the use of high-impact literacy strategies.

In addition, Stasha has led the school’s work on improving writing instruction, using Joan Sedita’s Writing Rope as a framework to build staff expertise and strengthen student writing across the curriculum.

Stasha also coordinates the school’s Tier 2 Reading Acceleration Program (RAP), Tier 3 Reading Acceleration Program, and Tier 2 Language Acceleration Program (LAP). Based on the Sounds-Write program, RAP has significantly improved the decoding skills of many struggling Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 readers.