Meet The Team

Meet The Team

Tools 4 Teachers is an educational consultancy led by Andy Butler and Erin McKechnie.  We are excited to continue the work established by Jane van der Zeyden in literacy professional development. We work with both leaders, teachers and teacher aides, specialising in oral language, writing and ESOL.

ERIN MCKECHNIE

 
Erin is an experienced teacher and school leader who has taught a range of year levels.  Her passion and expertise lies in the senior school.  She has been a facilitator for Tools4teachers since 2018.  Most recently, her role has been as Learning Support Coordinator at an Intermediate School in Manurewa, South Auckland.
Erin has completed her Masters in TESOL educational leadership, her thesis focusing on PLD in culturally diverse contexts.  Erin has strong pedagogical knowledge about the ELLP pathway document and loves to help teachers to use this document in their daily practice.  Erin’s strengths lie in engaging struggling learners and students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, with a particular focus on literacy.
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ERIN MCKECHNIE

ANDY BUTLER

 

Andy joined Tools4Teachers in 2017 and is an experienced teacher and school leader who has taught a range of year levels. She has a wealth of experience with teaching our newest learners at the New Entrant level and she is focussed on ensuring that these akonga have the best and most successful start to their schooling that they possibly can. Supporting Provisionally Certificated teachers is another area that Andy has extensive experience with. Andy’s strengths lie in building literacy proficiency through a range of approaches where the student is at the heart of the teaching.

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ANDY BUTLER

SALLY MUIR

 

Sally’s passion and expertise in the classroom, especially in teaching young writers, is the foundation of the work she now does as a national literacy facilitator. She was invited onto the development team for the National English Exemplars, the National Literacy Project, Schooling Improvement projects and the Ministry of Education’s Intervention Project: “Accelerating Literacy Learning”.

Her expertise as a writer led to her supporting role alongside Gail Loane, in “I’ve Got Something to Say” (Gail Loane with Sally Muir). Sally was the key writer in the development of The Ministry of Education’s “Accelerating Progress in Writing Years 7 & 8”; “Teaching Writing across the Curriculum in Years 4–6: Increasing Progress”; and “Teaching Writing in Years 1–3: Building a Strong Foundation”, available through Literacy Online TKI.

Now working in schools as an Associate of Tools4Teachers, Sally continues to support teachers in developing skills to lead their young writers.

SALLY MUIR