About Jo
Step Outside the Square!
I love wearing clothes that reflect the topics that the children are writing about… Read More
My experience draws on a prolific career in the area of Language Arts.
After many years of classroom teaching (including two one-teacher schools) and two years as a teacher librarian, I then proceeded to spend six years in educational publishing at both primary and secondary levels. In 1987, Ashton Scholastic published my first book, ‘The Hilton Hen House’, which was re-printed in 2003 as a Big Book Pack. I am now the author of 26 books for children and teachers.
Over the past 16 years, I have specialised in the genre of poetry. I have visited hundreds of schools all over Australia conducting writing workshops for children in the classroom and poetry P.D. sessions for teachers.
I am offering teachers all over Australia my services as a poetry specialist, author, and Motivational Speaker.
I have a passion for writing and creating and I will bound into your school, attired in costume, with a wealth of ideas and poetry models to share with you all.
Look forward to meeting you on one of my adventures!
Cheers, Jo
When I worked at John Paul College in Daisy Hill, we had Jo visit our school twice over two years so she got to work with all our primary grades. She is wonderful at motivating students AND teachers to use a wide range of poetic forms — not acrostic! In particular the mandala poems are so creative and can by ESL students as well.
On her second visit, she worked across alternate grades for one week and on the Friday each class presented a class poem which they acted out. It was fantastic. But, the most valuable part of Jo’s visit was that the children were writing poems at home and school for weeks after she was gone.
I would highly recommend her as a poet in residence to get full PD value. Her staff PD is hilarious — she is a great presenter.
Lynda Rifai
National Education Manager
Mediasphere
… her work was characterised by thorough preparation, innovative and imaginative lessons and an ability to motivate and engage multi-age groupings and children of diverse ethnic backgrounds.
The variety of poetry forms modeled by Jo was impressive, as was the quality and quantity of the poems produced by the children. I cannot recommend Jo Hinchliffe too highly.
Carmel Fitzgerald
Author-in-Residence Co-Ordinator
Thomastown West P.S.
Jo is inspirational. She spent one week with our students and produced an amazing performance that showcased their poems. Our students and teachers are still writing poems weeks after her visit.
The depth and scope of poetic forms taught by Jo gave our students a wide range of structures to express themselves.
Lynda Rifai
Teacher Librarian
John Paul College, Brisbane
Jo relates well to students and staff, enthusing them and drawing out their own abilities. She is easy to work with, relaxed and friendly, yet completely professional and dedicated to a task — her final involvement went far beyond what was expected.
Helen Kennedy
Head of English (Sec)
Caulfield Grammar
Wheelers Hill Campus