Welcome! My name is Mali Ellis, I am passionate about learning and teaching, I have wanted to be a teacher since I was little and have worked with kids for over 10 years. I love to travel and explore on roadtrips throughout our neighbouring Australian cities, or across the world to learn about other cultures, communities and lifestyles. Moreover, animals are a major passion of mine, particularly enjoying volunteer work at shelters, learning about new and facinating species (my favourite animal being the axolotl) or caring for my 2 dogs and bunny. Literacy activities that I enjoy predominantly encompass narrative or creative writing, enabling creativity and imagination. I have loved the Hunger Games series over the years, and particularly as of recent; The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood.

The NSW Spelling Sequences is an evidence based approach that involves the simultaneous explicit teaching of the phonological, orthographic and morphological features of words starting at the beginning of spelling instruction, using and integrating various sources of linguistic information where students learn to correctly spell a word (NSW Department of Education [DE], 2023). The sequences emphasise explicit teaching and linguistic inquiry, enabling students to “test and form theories” regarding spelling generalisations (NSW DE, 2023, p.3).

Phonology instruction enables students to segment words in into syllables and phonemes as manageable parts, stage 2 outlines a focus of applying phonological skills to multisyllabic words (NSW DE, 2023, p.3)

Orthographic instruction enables students to understand letter patterns and sequences, representing phonemes and gaining knowledge of spelling generalisations (NSW DE, 2023). Stage 2 highlights explicit teaching of grapheme and letter patterns and placement and proofreading and editing of written work (NSW DE, 2023, p.3).

Morphological knowledge allows students to spell with greater accuracy and understand the function of “meaningful units” in words, adding prefixes and suffixes to influence meaning, understanding inflected and derivational suffixes, prefixes and homophones (NSW DE, 2023, p3-4).

The NSW Spelling Sequences for stage 2 is focussed on consolidating prior phonological knowledge and moving toward morphological and etymological spelling strategies, providing resources of word lists aligned to specific developmental stages, teaching points that connect spelling to reading and writing, supporting information and sample words, and clear sequential focus areas with school term considerations to map development (NSW DE, 2023, p.4).

It does not provide lesson plans or activities for the sequences or differentiation for the diverse abilities of each individual student, teachers apply and use the guided sequential focus areas and knowledge to create appropriate activities and lessons based on student stages or abilities (NSW DE, 2023, p.3).

A spelling game using AI for your sequence and the evaluated effectiveness of AI to achieve this.

AI-Generated Spelling Game

Game Name: Word Builder Race

• Students are split into teams.

• AI generates base words from the sequence (e.g., port, form, struct).

• Students race to add prefixes/suffixes correctly to make new words (e.g., reform, structure, transportation).

• AI can “check” answers and give hints about meanings and origins.

Example Prompt for AI:

“Generate 10 words with the root port. Some should include prefixes, some suffixes. Provide definitions.”

AI created a game that can be beneficial to reinforce students’ understanding and prior knowledge in the stage 2 NSW spelling sequences, however utilising AI to check answers can be problematic as artificial intelligence is often wrong, unreliable and does not provide sources for the information provided.

Learning about real-life subjects in the classroom encourages our students, school and broader community to feel empowered by their ability to enact change or make a difference, the heart of encouraging kids to be critical thinkers who are passionate, engaged and reflective. The KidsNews article “New tool to help save threatened animals in urban neighbourhoods” outlines the growing concerns for Australia’s threatened species and the immense pressure that habitat loss and climate change has put on our plant and animal species (Couacaud, 2022).

Couacaud (2022), has highlighted a multimodal opportunity for students to engage with hands-on, experiential learning in your own backyards, an interactive tool developed by the World Wide Fund named ‘My Backyard’ that enables users to discover threatened species that may live in the local area and how to support protecting them (Couacaud, 2022).

To encourage students in their learning about Australia’s environment and how they can make change, they will also engage with multimodal approaches within the classroom to support their understanding and how to use their voice. By analysing texts and drawing on growing knowledge of context, students build literal and inferred meanings in texts to reinforce their understanding through comprehension strategies (adhering to curriculum code VC2E2LY10 in the strand analysing, interpreting and evaluating in the level 2 English curriculum), for example when reading the text ‘Say no to plastic’ by Heaton and Heaton (2022), students are inspiring students to “be the change” and encourage action through emphasising that “the smallest voice can have the strongest message” (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority [VCAA], 2024).

The text ‘The Lorax’ further explores the effects of human actions and subsequent consequences to our environment with multiliteracy approaches available to deeply engage with the text and encourage student’s critical thinking (the physical book by Dr Seuss (1971), a read-aloud video version, or the 2012 movie adaptation ‘The Lorax’ directed by Chris Renaud with deeply meaningful songs and reflective, powerful dialogue), audiences are cautioned by the Lorax that “unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better”.

Such multiliteracy approaches encourage students to understand images and sounds as opportunity to add meanings of a text (level 2 curriculum content code (VC2E2LA08), for example the songs in the movie adaption by Renaud (2012) that strengthen the emotional and persuasive impact of the text, developing a critical literacy understanding of texts positioning audiences to care about the environment, to take action or to not be greedy (for this specific example) (VCAA, 2024).

Rhyme and repetition are also heavily utilised in both ‘The Lorax’ by Dr Seuss in the text and Renaud’s 2012 movie adaptation with meaningful songs and dialogue (particularly from the character the Once-ler), providing opportunity for students to identify, reproduce and experiment with rhythmic sound and word patterns in poems, chants, rhymes and songs; adhering to the level 2 examining literature strand of the English curriculum (VC2E2LE04) (VCAA, 2024).

https://www.kidsnews.com.au/animals/new-tool-to-help-save-threatened-animals-in-urban-neighbourhoods/news-story/657fe9732356782d2ec6a631ebccc46f

Review for a chosen children's book for an audience of teachers/school librarians/PSTs.

• https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yvhXNyUkiAtYMKLTERcRVa4j6pPqYLc6/view?usp=sharing

(Please acsess through the provided link on Google Drive)

"Eats, Shoots & Leaves" authored by Lynne Truss, illustrated by Bonnie Timmons and published in 2006 by Profile Books.

Suitable for Level/Grade 2 students, meeting the Victorian Curriculum (Version 2.0) English (Language substrand) level content descriptions of:

• Recognise that capital letters are used in titles and commas are used to separate items in lists (VC2E2LA10)

• Understand that images and sound add to or multiply the meanings of a text (VC2E2LA08)