The document provides an overview of the Australian Curriculum (AC) and how it is implemented in Victoria through AusVELS. It explains that AusVELS takes the AC verbatim and places it within the Victorian Essential Learning Standards framework. It addresses teacher confusion around changing curriculums and suggests focusing on fewer key skills and mastery of core concepts. The document provides examples of different types of curriculum units and emphasizes designing units to maximize learning through measurable objectives and feedback opportunities.

1. Deciphering The Jargon
What The Australian Curriculum Means For The English
Classroom

2. AusVels
• From 2013 AusVels is the mandated
curriculum for Victorian Government and
Catholic Schools and the recommended
curriculum guideline for independent
schools

3. AusVels
• AusVels for English is identical to The
Australian Curriculum
• Why call it AusVels then?

4. AusVels
• AusVels takes the Australian Curriculum
word for word and houses it within the Vels
Domain Framework
• Physical Personal and Social Learning
• Discipline Based Learning
• Interdisciplinary Learning

5. What the....
• But I just worked out what VELs was all
about - I have to start again....????

6. Assessment
?

7. Not Quite
• Pick a year level between 7-10
• Consider the units you currently do at that
year level
• Which descriptors do these units meet?

8. But I’m Not Doing
Everything
• The American Education Researcher
estimated it would take the typical student
23 academic years to master state
standards (What Works In Schools 2003)

9. It’s less means more
• The Australian Curriculum is an
opportunity to do fewer things - and to do
those things better

10. What to do?
• How can I do this efficiently?
• What skills in particular do students need
to ‘master’?
• How can I meet curriculum priorities

11. Five Types of Units
• Context
• Creative
• Critical
• Communication
• Comprehension

12. Context Unit
• Big idea: What does this idea or topic mean?
• Explore: What are different examples and ideas on
this topic? What do texts on the same topic or in
the same genre do similarly or differently?
• Do: Create a text on a topic that represents a
personal view on that theme. Or, create a text in a
specific type of genre that utilises the features of
that genre.

13. Different Context
Units
Theme Units Genre Units
•Identity (Australian / Teen) •Science Fiction
•Community •Fantasy
•Family •Horror
•Heroes •Fairytales
•Justice •True Stories
•Globalisation •Detective / Mystery Stories
•The Environment •Teen Texts

14. Hero Context
• What does it mean to be a hero in the
movies?
• What does it mean to be a hero in sport?
• What does it mean to be a ‘real-life’ or
‘everyday’ hero?
• Who is a personal hero?

15. Hero Context
• Compare and contrast two different types
of heroes

16. Horror Context
• At Year 9, a Horror Context Unit might
cover...

17. December

18. Compare the ways that
Spectre
language and images
are used to create
character, and to
influence emotions and
opinions in different
types of texts - LI - 7 - 14

19. Horror Context
• Create a text that uses or satirises horror
conventions with an accompanying
commentary
• Compare or contrast the horror
conventions in two or more texts

20. Creative
• Big idea: How can we use different texts as models
for creating our own texts?
• Explore: Look at three or more texts that are
examples of the same text type to compare
different features and style of the that text type.
• Do: Create our own example of the text type
using features of the examples we looked at or
innovating and modifying those features for our
own purposes.

21. For example
• A unit on fairytales could include these
descriptors
• Which ones would you want students to
‘master’? Which ones would you want to
assess students on?

22. In particular
• Creative units that allow us to model use
of language
• Creative units that link to comprehension
units

23. Inanimate Alice

24. Context + Creative
• A context unit might have both a creative
and analytical outcome

25. Critical Unit
• Big idea: What is my opinion about the worth,
merit, accuracy or fairness of this text or
perspective?
• Explore: How do others express their critical
opinion effectively?
• Do: How can I express my critical opinion
effectively?

26. Critical Unit
• How am I being asked to think or feel
about something?
• Do I accept this?

27. Critical Unit
• Presentation of issues / media bias
• Embedded messages in texts - particularly
teen films
• Critical evaluation of advertising
• Critical evaluation of webpages

28. Critical Unit
• At Year 10: Evaluate the social, moral and
ethical positions represented in texts =
What do I think about what this text has to
say?

29. Critical Unit
• What is a text that you teach with a
message that you don’t necessarily agree
with?

30. Critical Unit
• At Year 9 - Use comprehension strategies
to interpret and analyse texts, comparing
and evaluating representations of an event,
issue, situation or character in different
texts = How do two different news reports
present the same issue? Which is fairer?

31. In reality, the girl
was standing on a ledge
Funny?
beneath her or had
climbed into a safe
position. But the
cleverly-staged -- and
hilarious -- photo,
Smug: Despite almost
which made its way to
giving her mother
the front page of
Rebecca, left, a heart
Reddit last weekend,
attack, Samantha Busch,
looks shocking enough
right, insisted the
to fool many viewers.
prank wouldn't be her
- Huffington Post last
- Daily Mail

32. Evaluate the impact on
audiences of different
choices in the
representation of still
and moving images
LA - 10 - 8
Critical Unit
Understand and explain how combinations
of words and images in texts are used to
represent particular groups in society, and
how texts position readers in relation to
those groups LI - 8 - 16

33. Critical Unit
• At Year 8 - Identify and evaluate devices
that create tone, for example humour,
wordplay, innuendo and parody in poetry,
humorous prose, drama or visual texts =
which is the more effective ad? Why?

34. Critical Unit

35. Critical Unit

36. Communication Unit
•How do we use language to represent who we are?
•How is language used to communicate formally and
informally?
•How is language used to communicate functional
ideas and abstract ideas?
•How have we changed the way we communicate
formally and informally, functionally and abstractly?

37. Communication Unit
• Changing English
• Power of English / English & Identity
• Formal / Informal Language Conventions

38. Communication Unit

39. Communication Unit
• What unit are you doing at the moment
where there is an opportunity for students
to consider the changing nature, the power
or formality/informality of English?

40. Comprehension Unit
•Big idea: What is a key message of a text?
•Explore: What are a range of things an author does to
show us what this text is about?
•Do: What are they key things I need to refer to to
represent my understanding of what this text is
about?

41. Comprehension Unit
Different Texts
•Identify and explore ideas and viewpoints about
events, issues and characters represented in texts
drawn from different historical, social and cultural
contexts - LI - 7 - 12
Techniques
•Compare the ways that language and images are used
to create character, and to influence emotions and
opinions in different types of texts - LI - 7 - 14

42. Break Time

43. Types of texts
• Multimodal Texts
• Digital Texts
• Satirical Texts
• Graphic Novels
• Texts From Other Cultures
• Asian and Indigenous Texts

44. A basic guide
• At Years 7, 8 & 9:
• 1 traditional multimodal text (i.e a film)
• 1 non-traditional multimodal text
• 1 text from a different cultural context
• 1 novel
• 1 satirical text

45. Multimodal Texts
• The Australian Curriculum’s Glossary defines a
multimodal text as a “combination of two or more
communication modes (for example, print, image
and spoken text, as in film or computer
presentations).” According to this definition texts
that we already traditionally study, such as film, tv
shows or advertisements, qualify as a multimodal
text.

46. Multimodal Texts
Traditional Multimodal Texts New Multimodal Texts
(Traditional Literacies) (New Literacies)
•Feature films •Multimodal Short Films
•Documentaries •Interactive digital non-fiction
•Picture books •Interactive digital fiction
•Magazines •Animated digital picture books
•Print Advertisements •Web pages
•TV Advertisements •Web advertising (including viral
•TV Shows advertising)
•Web shows
•Mash up texts

47. Multimodal Texts

48. Explain how authors
creatively use the
structures of
Multimodal Texts
sentences and clauses
for particular effects
-LA - 9 - 7

49. Web Pages

50. Satirical

51. Graphic Novels

52. Texts From Different
Cultural Contexts

53. The Sapphires

54. Asian & Indigenous
Texts

55. Satire

56. Plot Device

57. Quick text audit
• Technique
• Ideas
• Genre
• Non traditional
• Satire
• Other Cultures
• Traditional

58. What can you take out?
• What do students need to master?
• How much time is spent on core skills?

59. Year Planner
• Different Types of Units
• Links between units

60. Unit Planner
• Measurable learning targets

61. Unit Planner
• There are three parts to a well written skill
statement: measurable verb, target and
descriptor:
• Compare in writing 3 elements, line, stanza,
meter, using traditional / non traditional
forms of poetry
• From: A Guide To Curriculum Mapping by
Janet A. Hale

62. Focus on a unit
• What is a measurable learning objective?
• What elements of The Australian
Curriculum can be used?

63. Planning for effective
feedback
• Three stages for input:
• Planning
• Producing / Revising
• Reflecting

64. Planning for effective
feedback
• Describe language features used in the
created text taken from a modeled text
and explain their purpose.

65. Planning for effective
feedback
• 1 thing I’m doing well
• 1 thing I’m uncertain of
• 1 thing I know I need to improve

66. Break Time

67. • Think Christmas
• Write a sentence with a dash, colon or set
of brackets in it

68. Core skills
• What are the core skills in English?

69. Maximise learning
• Write a sentence about the anaphylaxis
training this morning

70. Maximise learning
• Write once = assessment
• Write twice = learning opportunity

71. Maximise Learning
• Add more detail - by adding parentheses
• Add more detail - by adding a relative
clause (who, which, that)
• Add more detail - by adding an adverbial
clause - (while, although, even though,
despite)

72. Linking Grammar /
Writing
• Adverbs - poetry
• Adverbs - instructional writing
• Prepositions - narrative writing
• Colons / dashes - text response writing
• Commas - persuasive writing

73. Five Elements of
Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Parts of Speech
• Sentence structures
• Punctuation

74. Grammar Lesson
Phases
• Students explore grammar concept (read
material, look at examples, reciprocal
summarisation)
• Think about grammar concepts (what do
they have in common, compare/contrast,
group, associate)
• Apply
• Explain back

75. Explore

76. Punctuation Example
• Explore: Look at punctuation video /
punctuation picture book / punctuation
examples
• Think: Put these punctuation marks into
two or more groups (. , : “ “ () ? ! - )
• Apply: Punctuation Edit 1-2-3 (delete one
punctuation mark, add two new
punctuation marks, change three
punctuation marks)
• Explain back: This punctuation mark is
like...

77. Handout 1

78. Parts of Speech /
Vocabulary
Noun Verb Adjective Adverb
Friend befriend/s friendly friendlily
Danger endanger/s dangerous dangerously
Protection protect/s protective protectively
Instinct - Instinctive instinctively
Opposite oppose/s - -
Action act active actively
Transformation transform transformative -

79. Friendsheep
Happiness, Action,
Happily, Find Act
Happy
Opposite, Friend,
Danger,Danger
Oppose Friendly,
ous, Endanger
Befriend
Protection, Instinct, Change,
Protect Instinctively Changes

80. Grammar Focus
• What is your grammar focus for each unit?
• How will students demonstrate their
mastery of this?

81. Recognising Effort
• High: All words spelt with the correct number
of syllables
• Medium: Most words spelt with the correct
number of syllables
• Low: Some words spelt with the correct number of
syllables

82. Grammar Assessment
• Used at least four different ways to start a
sentence
• Used at least two different types of internal
punctuation and two different types of
terminal punctuation
• Revised the structure of at least five
sentences during the drafting stage

83. In a nutshell
• What unit type?
• What text types?
• What core reading and writing skills?

84. Thank you