June 21, 2025 • 12 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jocelyn (00:00):
Hello there and welcome to this episode of the
Structured Literacy Podcastrecorded here in Tasmania, the
lands of the Palawa people.
I'm Jocelyn and I am so pleasedyou've joined me as we head
into what is a particularlydemanding time for many
educators.
We're just now entering seasonsix of the Structured Literacy
(00:21):
Podcast and thank you so much toall the people who have
followed us on whatever platformyou happen to be listening on.
But if you're not alreadyfollowing, can I ask that you
subscribe?
Just click that little buttonand that will make sure that you
don't miss a single episodethat we have for you in this and
(00:41):
all the upcoming seasons.
It'll also mean that morepeople are able to find us in
the podcast platforms, which isalways a good thing.
It's report writing to focusonly on the big data, those
term-by-term assessments, naplanresults or the major project
(01:34):
we've committed to implementing.
While these big picture goalsare important, keeping our eyes
solely on the summit of thatmountain can leave us feeling
deflated and discouraged,because when we're climbing the
mountain with our eye firmly onthe peak, it's a little bit like
only cheering for our footyteam.
(01:55):
When the full-time whistleblows, we feel like that goal
will just never come.
So the key to staying motivatedand maintaining progress is to
break the journey down intosmaller chunks and articulate
and celebrate those smallmilestones that will lead us to
the big returns we're lookingfor.
(02:15):
So let me share some of thesemilestone moments that are
absolutely worth celebrating.
Milestone one is getting yourtiming right.
Celebrate when you get yourtimings in your literacy block
right and work to the clock sothat you can fit everything in
Note.
(02:35):
I didn't say that everything inthe literacy block was perfect,
but that you made it work.
Didn't say that everything inthe literacy block was perfect,
but that you made it work.
Just getting through all of thecomponents the daily review,
explicit phonics, decodable text, reading, sentence level
transcription, shared writingand your language-based lessons
through your text-based unitwithin the allocated time is
genuinely an achievement.
(02:56):
It means that you're developingthose low variance routines
that support both you and yourstudents.
When you can move smoothly fromone component to the next
without losing instructionaltime, you're building the
foundation for everything elseto work.
Milestone number two is studentsknowing the routines.
(03:18):
When the moment comes, whenyour students know the routines
and begin to anticipate what'scoming next, you really should
celebrate, and we see maximumbenefit in this when someone
else is taking the class.
So knowing that you can not bethere and your class will still
run relatively smoothly is ahuge achievement.
(03:40):
And don't forget that whenstudents know what those low
variance routines are and canmanage them, the instances of
negative behaviors dropconsiderably.
So when students canautomatically collect their
whiteboards for the daily review, move to their desk for
sentence transcription orpartner up to read a decodable
text without extensive direction, you've created something
(04:03):
really special.
You've built learning behaviorsthat support everyone's
cognitive load and everyone'ssuccess, and that's the
foundation of a high challenge,high support environment.
Milestone three is short-termdata movement.
When you start to see theshort-term data move, it's time
(04:26):
for a happy dance.
Focusing solely on NAPLAN oryearly data collection can make
achieving goals feel unrealisticand distant.
It can also mean that you couldbe teaching for an extensive
period of time and not realizingthat things aren't necessarily
working.
Short-term phonics data willgive you such a clear picture of
(04:47):
where your students are up toand help you stay the course
while feeling motivated.
It's these short-term goalsthat will move the needle on all
of the other measures.
In the early years, this mightbe students automatically
recognising graphemes that theywere struggling with just weeks
ago, or blending words withincreasing fluency In years
(05:09):
three to six.
Your students' data shows up indaily review sessions, such as
when they grow automaticity intheir responses to questions
like write down all the ways youknow how to write A.
These things can give you andyour students such a sense of
achievement.
And how do we get students tobuy in?
(05:30):
How do we keep ourselvesmotivated in the moment, and
motivated by building andcelebrating success.
So these moments of recognitiontell you that your explicit
teaching is working and thatstudents are building the
knowledge they need for thereading and spelling success
that you're aiming for.
Milestone number four isstudents making connections.
(05:54):
Celebrate when students startmaking connections across their
learning In years three to six.
This might be recognising morethemes across the curriculum.
I hear this often from teachersusing our Spelling Success
Program or our resources in theresource room that they will
have learned a prefix or suffixor a base in their explicit
(06:14):
literacy lesson and then in thescience lesson they're saying,
hey, we know this base, or Ihaven't seen this word before,
but I think it might havesomething to do with when
they're making those connections.
It's really powerful Foreveryone.
It's students using vocabularyyou've explicitly taught in a
range of contexts, or drawing onknowledge built in HASS or
(06:39):
science to help comprehend yourtext in English.
So all of these connections areindicators of strong learning
growth.
When students are able to makeconnections across curriculum
areas, this is evidence thatlearning is transferring, and
this is exactly what we'reworking towards Knowledge that
(06:59):
students can use flexibly acrosscontexts.
Milestone number five is yourfirst full data collection.
So when you're learning to usea new assessment approach across
the school, it can feel reallybig and scary, particularly if
the new tool looks quitedifferent from what you're used
(07:22):
to.
So just completing the firstdata collection, even if you
realise you've made somemistakes along the way, is
absolutely a cause forcelebration.
Moving away from benchmarkassessments to skills-based
assessments represents asignificant shift in practice.
Getting through that firstround of phoneme-grapheme
(07:43):
correspondence checks, theblending assessments or the
fluency measures, means you'rebuilding the systems that will
give you the information youneed to really support and
evaluate your students' growthto really support and evaluate
your students' growth.
So just completing your firstdata collection with a new tool
is a cause for a little staffroom party.
(08:06):
The most important milestone ofall is about student engagement.
We want to celebrate this whenyour students tell you they've
loved a lesson or they'refeeling good about themselves.
This is what we're aiming for.
But we're not doing it becausewe're becoming children's
entertainers.
We're celebrating because thestudents themselves can see
(08:31):
their own success.
So we teach for that success.
And when students start toexperience it well, all of a
sudden everything else becomespossible.
If you're a leader, this mightbe teachers expressing
confidence and satisfaction intheir practice.
It could be parents providingfeedback that their child is
(08:52):
doing things they've never donebefore.
These moments of humanconnection and growth remind us
why we do this work.
Success is all about the journey, and I know that that's a
little bit cliche.
But success isn't just aboutbig picture data.
Don't get me wrong.
That big picture data isnecessary and exciting when it
(09:12):
comes.
But we're never going to getthere if we give up on our
improvement journey before we'vehad time to embed there, if we
give up on our improvementjourney before we've had time to
embed the practices that willlead us to the results we know
are possible.
Every small win builds momentum.
Every routine that becomesautomatic frees up cognitive
load for deeper learning.
Every moment of student successbuilds confidence for the next
(09:37):
challenge.
These aren't just steppingstones to something better.
They're the evidence thatbetter is already happening.
As you finish this term andhead into the holidays, take
time to acknowledge how faryou've come.
Notice the small changes inyour classroom, in your students
and in your own confidence.
(09:57):
Small changes in your classroom, in your students and in your
own confidence.
These victories matter andthey're preparing the ground for
even greater success ahead.
Remember, sustainable changehappens gradually and every step
forward is worth celebrating.
Every single small thing thatyou do to consistently move your
practice to anevidence-informed model of
(10:19):
instruction is a gift to yourstudents.
You're doing important work andevery small milestone is proof
that you're on the right path.
Until next time, happy teachingand well done on all that
you've achieved.
Bye.
Hello there and welcome to this episode of the
Structured Literacy Podcastrecorded here in Tasmania, the
lands of the Palawa people.
I'm Jocelyn and I am so pleasedyou've joined me as we head
into what is a particularlydemanding time for many
educators.
We're just now entering seasonsix of the Structured Literacy
(00:21):
Podcast and thank you so much toall the people who have
followed us on whatever platformyou happen to be listening on.
But if you're not alreadyfollowing, can I ask that you
subscribe?
Just click that little buttonand that will make sure that you
don't miss a single episodethat we have for you in this and
(00:41):
all the upcoming seasons.
It'll also mean that morepeople are able to find us in
the podcast platforms, which isalways a good thing.
It's report writing to focusonly on the big data, those
term-by-term assessments, naplanresults or the major project
(01:34):
we've committed to implementing.
While these big picture goalsare important, keeping our eyes
solely on the summit of thatmountain can leave us feeling
deflated and discouraged,because when we're climbing the
mountain with our eye firmly onthe peak, it's a little bit like
only cheering for our footyteam.
(01:55):
When the full-time whistleblows, we feel like that goal
will just never come.
So the key to staying motivatedand maintaining progress is to
break the journey down intosmaller chunks and articulate
and celebrate those smallmilestones that will lead us to
the big returns we're lookingfor.
(02:15):
So let me share some of thesemilestone moments that are
absolutely worth celebrating.
Milestone one is getting yourtiming right.
Celebrate when you get yourtimings in your literacy block
right and work to the clock sothat you can fit everything in
Note.
(02:35):
I didn't say that everything inthe literacy block was perfect,
but that you made it work.
Didn't say that everything inthe literacy block was perfect,
but that you made it work.
Just getting through all of thecomponents the daily review,
explicit phonics, decodable text, reading, sentence level
transcription, shared writingand your language-based lessons
through your text-based unitwithin the allocated time is
genuinely an achievement.
(02:56):
It means that you're developingthose low variance routines
that support both you and yourstudents.
When you can move smoothly fromone component to the next
without losing instructionaltime, you're building the
foundation for everything elseto work.
Milestone number two is studentsknowing the routines.
(03:18):
When the moment comes, whenyour students know the routines
and begin to anticipate what'scoming next, you really should
celebrate, and we see maximumbenefit in this when someone
else is taking the class.
So knowing that you can not bethere and your class will still
run relatively smoothly is ahuge achievement.
(03:40):
And don't forget that whenstudents know what those low
variance routines are and canmanage them, the instances of
negative behaviors dropconsiderably.
So when students canautomatically collect their
whiteboards for the daily review, move to their desk for
sentence transcription orpartner up to read a decodable
text without extensive direction, you've created something
(04:03):
really special.
You've built learning behaviorsthat support everyone's
cognitive load and everyone'ssuccess, and that's the
foundation of a high challenge,high support environment.
Milestone three is short-termdata movement.
When you start to see theshort-term data move, it's time
(04:26):
for a happy dance.
Focusing solely on NAPLAN oryearly data collection can make
achieving goals feel unrealisticand distant.
It can also mean that you couldbe teaching for an extensive
period of time and not realizingthat things aren't necessarily
working.
Short-term phonics data willgive you such a clear picture of
(04:47):
where your students are up toand help you stay the course
while feeling motivated.
It's these short-term goalsthat will move the needle on all
of the other measures.
In the early years, this mightbe students automatically
recognising graphemes that theywere struggling with just weeks
ago, or blending words withincreasing fluency In years
(05:09):
three to six.
Your students' data shows up indaily review sessions, such as
when they grow automaticity intheir responses to questions
like write down all the ways youknow how to write A.
These things can give you andyour students such a sense of
achievement.
And how do we get students tobuy in?
(05:30):
How do we keep ourselvesmotivated in the moment, and
motivated by building andcelebrating success.
So these moments of recognitiontell you that your explicit
teaching is working and thatstudents are building the
knowledge they need for thereading and spelling success
that you're aiming for.
Milestone number four isstudents making connections.
(05:54):
Celebrate when students startmaking connections across their
learning In years three to six.
This might be recognising morethemes across the curriculum.
I hear this often from teachersusing our Spelling Success
Program or our resources in theresource room that they will
have learned a prefix or suffixor a base in their explicit
(06:14):
literacy lesson and then in thescience lesson they're saying,
hey, we know this base, or Ihaven't seen this word before,
but I think it might havesomething to do with when
they're making those connections.
It's really powerful Foreveryone.
It's students using vocabularyyou've explicitly taught in a
range of contexts, or drawing onknowledge built in HASS or
(06:39):
science to help comprehend yourtext in English.
So all of these connections areindicators of strong learning
growth.
When students are able to makeconnections across curriculum
areas, this is evidence thatlearning is transferring, and
this is exactly what we'reworking towards Knowledge that
(06:59):
students can use flexibly acrosscontexts.
Milestone number five is yourfirst full data collection.
So when you're learning to usea new assessment approach across
the school, it can feel reallybig and scary, particularly if
the new tool looks quitedifferent from what you're used
(07:22):
to.
So just completing the firstdata collection, even if you
realise you've made somemistakes along the way, is
absolutely a cause forcelebration.
Moving away from benchmarkassessments to skills-based
assessments represents asignificant shift in practice.
Getting through that firstround of phoneme-grapheme
(07:43):
correspondence checks, theblending assessments or the
fluency measures, means you'rebuilding the systems that will
give you the information youneed to really support and
evaluate your students' growthto really support and evaluate
your students' growth.
So just completing your firstdata collection with a new tool
is a cause for a little staffroom party.
(08:06):
The most important milestone ofall is about student engagement.
We want to celebrate this whenyour students tell you they've
loved a lesson or they'refeeling good about themselves.
This is what we're aiming for.
But we're not doing it becausewe're becoming children's
entertainers.
We're celebrating because thestudents themselves can see
(08:31):
their own success.
So we teach for that success.
And when students start toexperience it well, all of a
sudden everything else becomespossible.
If you're a leader, this mightbe teachers expressing
confidence and satisfaction intheir practice.
It could be parents providingfeedback that their child is
(08:52):
doing things they've never donebefore.
These moments of humanconnection and growth remind us
why we do this work.
Success is all about the journey, and I know that that's a
little bit cliche.
But success isn't just aboutbig picture data.
Don't get me wrong.
That big picture data isnecessary and exciting when it
(09:12):
comes.
But we're never going to getthere if we give up on our
improvement journey before we'vehad time to embed there, if we
give up on our improvementjourney before we've had time to
embed the practices that willlead us to the results we know
are possible.
Every small win builds momentum.
Every routine that becomesautomatic frees up cognitive
load for deeper learning.
Every moment of student successbuilds confidence for the next
(09:37):
challenge.
These aren't just steppingstones to something better.
They're the evidence thatbetter is already happening.
As you finish this term andhead into the holidays, take
time to acknowledge how faryou've come.
Notice the small changes inyour classroom, in your students
and in your own confidence.
(09:57):
Small changes in your classroom, in your students and in your
own confidence.
These victories matter andthey're preparing the ground for
even greater success ahead.
Remember, sustainable changehappens gradually and every step
forward is worth celebrating.
Every single small thing thatyou do to consistently move your
practice to anevidence-informed model of
(10:19):
instruction is a gift to yourstudents.
You're doing important work andevery small milestone is proof
that you're on the right path.
Until next time, happy teachingand well done on all that
you've achieved.
Bye.
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