Reflecting on 2018, it’s very humbling again to be writing this yearly summary of what we have achieved and the different ways we are working with our wider community.

When I attend anything to do with the NZLA, there is a complete respect for what our team is doing up here. Some of the comments I hear revolve around;
– The strong membership base in Tai Tokerau, the biggest in NZ.
– The fact we still run a Saturday seminar event.
– The way we are always trying new things e.g technology, events, pricing, organisation.
– The amount of events and the quality of the team we have up here, especially with the supportive and collaborative environment we have. We’re always willing to help each other as much as we can.
As well as many other comments.
Gratefully, I recognise these comments, not that we are better than others, as there are so many amazing councils and things happening around the country, but as an acknowledgement that our team brings a lot to the table.

We serve our educational community well and are always looking at new speakers and organisations to bring to the North.

ast year we ran events on The Role of the RT Lit, Mathematics Meets Literacy and Increasing Student Talk During Reading. These events all allowed educators to work in a smaller group environment with some excellent facilitators. While numbers weren’t massive at any of these events, the size created quality interaction with educators.

The TTLA Seminar Day – “Gaining Momentum” takes a lot of effort to organise. The quality of Ian Hunter & Linda Cheer keynotes truly connected with our audience. This was also the first time we had a keynote breakout session to allow those attending to go deeper and wider with our keynotes, something we will try again. We also had excellent workshop presenters, trader resources and quality food.

This seminar was special as we acknowledged Rex Morris as a life member of the TTLA for his services to both Tai Tokerau and the NZLA.

The Spotlight on Literacy event at Kaurihohore was a great mixture of informal PD and teachers connecting. Kauri has a strong philosophy of learning, especially Play Based Learning.

The Committee is also looking at ways we can provide more student centred events. A library event for student librarians was planned, but due to other circumstances was cancelled, but this is definitely an event to re look at. The TTLA also sponsored and helped run the Northland Debating Competition, as well as a Year 6-8 Speech Competition in conjunction with Brenda Rudolph.

The TTLA is weary of the increasing outside pressures of COL’s especially when it comes to funding for teachers to come to a variety of events. The days where we had massive audiences may be over, for most of the time, but we are aiming at quality events for those who attend.

A group of us attended the NZLA National Conference in Manawatu. We also funded a teacher to go to this conference as well. Literacy Landscapes had a great mixture of speakers and it was nice to listen to speakers we haven’t had before. We are inviting two of them to our 2019 Seminar.

This year the TTLA will be donating books to be placed in Northland Dental Clinics. We also donated money towards bringing over a teacher from the Pacific Islands.

In regards to our goals, we have now achieved Charites Commission status, and now need to focus on complying with this. We continue to look for new members to our committee. We also see the need to do more events outside Whangarei.

To the team, this is a dedicated and committed team, we all have our strengths and weaknesses but combined we all support each other to present excellent events, no matter how big or small. I enjoy this role of President, but acknowledge that someone else may wish to step into the job as well, but will do my best till then.

Looking forward to a great 2019!

Warm Regards,

Scotty Delemare
TTLA President 20/3/2019