Australian Curriculum Summary And Analysis

The Australian Curriculum establishes a standard through which students in Australian education centres are taught how to read, write, speak and create English across a range of texts (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2014). This essay will discuss guided writing strategies, focusing on writing purpose and grammar; it will look at modelled writing strategies with a focus on spelling and punctuation. It will further look at two contrasting teaching strategies of reading, independent and modelled reading in application with reading fluency, phonological awareness, comprehension, and vocabulary. These theories will be supported utilising the Australian Curriculum, and other government educational planning and

One important aspect is the teacher can target the individual needs of each student during a guided session through observation and review of their work as they are writing (Fellowes & Oakley, 2014). The educator can assist a child’s skill in writing purpose through providing the topic of the writing and manufacturing the type of text that will be written. A guided writing approach enables students to organise their thoughts into a structured scenario through a prior planning where students plan out what and how they want to put their words into composition (Lan, Hung & Hsu, 2011). Vygotsky emphasised the importance of a scaffolded classroom, where in groups children of lesser skill, for example in grammar, can be supported and guided by those who are more competent in that skill (Gibson, 2008). In a guided setting, the teacher would maintain control of the group by setting the context of the activity, then as the students begin to write they gain responsibility of their writing with the teacher available for support to the individuals in the group who need a little extra assistance with grammar or text organisation (Hyland,

It is recommended that modelled writing sessions do not extend for long periods of time as they can become too tedious and rote and the children can begin to lose interest (Fellowes & Oakley, 2014). In a learning scenario where the class is increasing their spelling knowledge, a modelled teaching lesson could be the most fitting approach to ensure the child is learning how to spell words correctly the first time through teacher directed instruction (Fox & Vivas, 1984). Often educators will explain the thinking behind their doing; this is called ‘thinking aloud’, which encourages the children to think before they write to ensure that what they are about to write makes sense (Wray et al., 2000; Fellowes & Oakley, 2014). Additionally, when children are focusing on punctuation, the educator can take full control in a modelled setting and instruct the students explicitly on when to use commas and how punctuation affects the way their written literature is read (Fox & Vivas, 1984; Wray et al.,