31 July 2017
Mary-Ellen Betts and Sandra Rowan explain what effective spellers do and how to teach spelling using the NSW English Syllabus.
At the heart of the English syllabus is to make meaning… in order to communicate your message you want to be able to spell it so that people get the meaning you intend…
…Correct spelling is respecting your reader to ensure they get the message you intended…
… ‘Good spellers’ implies that you either get it right or you don’t… ‘effective spellers’ have a range of strategies so that they will have a go at different words and exciting words but they then have ways to get to the correct spelling of it… We want kids who are willing to take a risk, who are willing to expand their vocabulary and try to use it without worrying about ‘am I a good speller?’…
…for kids to be effective spellers the first thing we need to get them to do is care about getting their message across to the reader.
Mary-Ellen Betts and Sandra Rowan
Note for listeners: This episode was originally recorded for the JPL Podcast, hence the references to the JPL Podcast throughout.