Episode Transcript
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Jocelyn (00:00):
Hello there.
Welcome to the StructuredLiteracy Podcast recorded here
in Tasmania on the lands of thePalawa people.
I'm Jocelyn and I am verypleased to have you here.
Right now, at the time ofrecording in the start of
October, many teachers are onholidays and others are heading
back to school after a two-weekbreak.
Every one of us teaches becausewe want to see great outcomes
(00:23):
for students.
We turn up day after day, oftenin challenging contexts,
because we believe in the workthat we do.
We believe in the possibilitiesof education.
Today I want to talk aboutsomething that isn't discussed
enough, and that is the longgame of school improvement.
And if you're a classroomteacher listening to this and
(00:44):
thinking, oh, this is one ofthose episodes for leaders, just
hold tight because there'ssomething in this episode for
everybody.
Here's what we need toremember: every small step
matters.
Small, steady improvements inpractice ripple out into
life-changing opportunities forour kids.
(01:05):
But it can feel like we'reworking so hard and still aren't
seeing the results we want.
And I know that feeling.
I've been there.
I know exactly what it feelslike to have worked every
available hour, to have investedtime and energy into making
change stick, only to look upand see just how far we actually
(01:27):
have to go.
It's a universal truth thatprogress, deep, meaningful
progress, is slow.
It can take time for the impactof our work to show up in the
data.
We all know thisintellectually, but it's
understandable to worry thatwe're waiting to fail, that we
will continue down the roadthinking we're getting it right,
(01:49):
and then realising too latethat we're not.
Now that fear is real, it'salso exhausting.
This is precisely whyshort-term data is critical in
any improvement journey.
Data isn't just for decidingwhat to teach next, it's also an
indicator of whether we're onthe right track in our decision
(02:10):
making.
With sound, frequent check-ins,you'll know within a couple of
weeks whether instruction isbeginning to do what it needs
to.
From there, you'll be able tomonitor, tweak, adjust, and
check in again.
Every time you do that, you'removing a step closer to the
outcomes you're looking for.
And remember, we're not lookingfor how many graphemes have we
(02:34):
taught, how many morphemes havewe covered, how many units did
we get through.
We're looking for the impact onstudent outcomes.
When you see students move fromconsolidating eight graphemes a
term to nine, do a happy dance.
When you see that growth isbeing seen in a full range of
students, not just your middleof the road kiddos, high five
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and split a block of celebratorychocolate.
When you hear from parents,particularly the parents of
strugglers, that their child isreading words around the house
and is excited to help write theshopping list, do a little fist
pump and recognise that you aregetting it done.
The spreadsheet is not the onlydata set that counts, but it is
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a critical one.
So if you can't answer thequestion right now about how
many graphemes did the studentsin our early years learn in term
three, and I don't mean howmany graphemes you taught, but
how many things did they notknow at the end of term two that
they now know at the end ofterm three, then there's some
(03:42):
work to be done on yourmonitoring.
All of the wins, whether theyshow up on the spreadsheet or
not, matter.
There are many things that areindicators that your work is
making a difference, even whenthe big data hasn't caught up,
or you don't quite have theminimum viable systems in place
(04:02):
yet.
We've all heard about otherpeople's journeys, and it can
feel like the only acceptablepoint to be at is perfection.
But remember, perfection is theenemy of progress.
The truth is that nobody haseverything worked out.
Not the teacher in theclassroom next to you, not the
(04:24):
school down the road, andabsolutely not the one who's
continually sharing on thesocials about how fantastic
everything is.
Nobody has attained perfection.
And just when you think thatyou're getting close, when you
think that you've nailed it, weall know what happens.
A new group of students comesalong with slightly different
(04:46):
needs, or we have a big staffturnover, so we have to start
our training journey again.
That leads us to be adjustingand tweaking all over again.
The belief in the possibilitiesof our work isn't a pipe dream.
The hope we carry isn'tmisplaced.
It's not naive to think thatevery child in our school can
(05:06):
learn and grow to their fullpotential.
It's the core goal we worktowards.
Now we can achieve this goal,but not if we give up right when
we aren't quite there yet.
Let me share a story with you.
During the Colorado Gold Rush,a man named R.
U.
Darby and his uncle went westto find their fortune.
(05:29):
They staked a claim and theystarted digging.
After weeks of hard labour withpicks and shovels and all of
the old-fashioned things, theystruck gold.
They were really excited bytheir discovery.
They covered the mine up, wentback home, and raised money to
buy some big, heavy-duty, propermining equipment.
They shipped off the machineryto the goldfields and then they
(05:52):
got to work.
Now the first cart of ore wasreally rich with gold.
They thought, wow, just a fewmore shipments will cover the
cost of the equipment, and thenthe profits will roll in.
But then one day withoutwarning, the gold simply
disappeared.
They drilled desperately everyday, but found nothing.
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Finally, discouraged anddefeated, they decided to quit.
They sold their drillingmachinery to a junk man for a
few hundred dollars and wenthome.
But here's the twist.
The junk man wasn't convincedthe mine was worthless.
He hired a mining engineer toget an expert opinion, and the
engineer discovered that thevein of gold ore had simply
(06:36):
shifted during a fault line.
It hasn't disappeared.
It would be found just onemetre from where Darby and his
uncle had stopped drilling.
Say that again.
The gold was one metre away.
Now the junk man went on toextract millions of dollars of
(06:58):
gold from that mine, all becauseDarby and his uncle quit right
before they would havesucceeded.
And I'm pretty sure the lessonis clear here.
Sometimes we give up right whenwe're closest to the
breakthrough.
Now, in schools, we don't sellour equipment and all go home,
never to return, but we dochange things.
(07:18):
We get a new program, weretreat to our comfortable
practices and structures.
We stop doing what isimpactful, sometimes right
before the success is about tobegin.
Now, of course it's possiblethat the program we have in
place isn't robust enough, itdoesn't support cognitive load
well enough, and it doesn'treflect the evidence as much as
(07:39):
it needs to.
And this is as true of some ofthe longest-standing programs as
it is for random things wemight find on the internet.
Now, sure, every phonicsprogram does the basics of
teaching graphemes, phonemes,reading words, and writing
words, but it's the structuresboth within and across lessons
that make the biggestdifference.
But how do we know if we haveit right?
(08:02):
How do we know if what we'vegot is good?
How do we know if success isjust a tweak or two away, or if
we do need to make change?
Well, it depends on how longwe've been persisting with the
work we're doing.
It also depends on where weare.
And if you're a leader oryou're a teacher who's leading
(08:23):
the work, it depends on ourexperience and our knowledge.
In our story about gold mining,the junk man called in an
engineer.
Now, you don't need an engineerbecause you have us, and we
have two podcast episodes thatwill be really helpful in
evaluating your practice.
They're called Tier TwoInstruction That Hits the Mark
and Tier One Instruction ThatHits the Mark.
(08:45):
And these two episodes look atthe elements and principles of
instruction that are criticalfor you to get success in your
classrooms.
And did you also know that weoffer coaching to leaders in
schools to support them throughtheir journey?
Now, if you have one of ourprograms, this coaching is a
standard part of how we help.
But you can also grab acoaching package, even if you're
(09:06):
not using our programs.
We'll pop a link in the shownotes so that you can check that
out.
I have another idea to sharewith you now, and it's called
The Dip.
This concept of being close tosuccess but not seeing it yet is
explored beautifully in SethGodin's book, The Dip.
In this little gem, Godin talksabout three different curves or
(09:30):
situations we might findourselves in in any endeavour.
Now you can buy the book, butif you have an Audible
subscription, you can alsolisten to it.
And he, as the author, narratesit, which I always love.
It's only an hour and a halflong, so shorter than some
podcasts.
Seth Godin talks about threepossible situations when you are
encountering a difficulty.
(09:52):
First, there's the dip.
So you start something new,it's exciting and fun, you see
rapid progress, but then comesthe dip.
The long, hard slog betweenstarting and mastering.
And this is where most peoplequit.
Now, the dip can be a goodthing because it does kind of
act as a filter and it sorts outthe truly committed from the
(10:14):
tourists, but we need to beaware of when we have run into
something that's insurmountableand when it's just a dip, and
we'll cover that in just amoment.
The second concept is thecul-de-sac or dead end.
And this is when you're workinghard, putting in effort, but
nothing is changing.
You're not progressing, youfeel like you're going around
(10:36):
and around on a hamster wheel,getting the same outcomes every
time.
And I might suggest that theway that we as a profession
handle change is unfortunatelystructured as a cul-de-sac.
This idea of quick changeimposed from above, fast, fast,
fast, do it overnight, get a newprogram, get this right thing.
(10:58):
And we don't do what needs tohappen so that we actually get
the outcomes before we decidethat nope, this is stagnating.
We need to start all overagain.
And this makes us change weary.
But how do we know if it's asystem-driven cul-de-sac or an
instructional-driven cul-de-sacthat we can do something about?
Well, let's talk about that.
(11:19):
A cul-de-sac is not that itfeels hard or that there are
some students who it's difficultto shift the data.
A cul-de-sac could be a phonicsapproach that will never lead
to better data, no matter howhard you work, because there is
a fatal flaw in the systems orstructures you're using.
When you realise you're in acul-de-sac, Godin says, you need
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to get out quickly because it'skeeping you from investing your
time and energy into thingsthat will actually lead to
success.
So have a listen to those twoepisodes about Tier 1 and Tier 2
instruction that hits the mark,that will help with some
pointers about whether yourpractices have a flaw or whether
you just need to keep goingwith doing what you're doing.
(12:03):
The third thing is called thecliff.
This is where things get betterand better until there's a
sudden dramatic fall.
Think of addiction.
So the more you engage, theharder it becomes to stop until
it destroys you.
It's a bit dramatic forteaching, isn't it?
And fortunately, we don't seethis one very often.
But one of the areas that I cansee this applying in education
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is that the effort that it takesto make the rapid big change
happen, the emotional andphysical investment needed to do
what is being required of us isso great that it breaks the
team.
Yes, you may get data bumps.
Yes, you might have nice poststo put on the socials, but the
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toll of poorly managed changethat demands huge change without
input quickly can just be toogreat for the team.
This represents a cliff.
Keep going the way we're going,and we're going to fall off the
edge.
The key insights from the dipis this: winners quit all the
(13:09):
time.
We think oh winners never quit.
But I like the way that SethGodin challenges this idea.
He says that winners just quitthe right stuff at the right
time.
Strategic quitting is not thesame as giving up.
It's not the same as beingscattered.
It's about making consciousdecisions based on the options
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available to you and being ableto put your time and energy
where your efforts will have thegreatest impact.
So are we in a dip or at a deadend?
How do we know?
How do we know whether weshould push through or we should
change?
Well, there's a couple ofquestions we can think about.
First one is, am I panicking?
If you're panicking, it's theworst time to decide whether or
(13:54):
not to quit something.
Wait until you have informationand you can think clearly.
The second question is, who amI trying to influence with what
I'm doing?
If we're trying to convincejust one person, maybe a
difficult parent, a skepticalcolleague, or a small faction of
people somewhere who aregetting in the way of progress
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and they're simply not budging,well, that's different from
trying to reach an entire cohortof students or the entire
staff.
The former might not be worthpersisting in.
If that individual is nevergoing to change their mind and
they begin sentences with wordslike, I don't care what you say,
then maybe it's not worthputting our energy there.
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But the latter almost certainlyis.
So where is my energyinfluencing?
Where can it do the most good?
The second question is, whatmeasurable progress am I making?
And this is where thatshort-term data becomes crucial.
If you've ever seen smallimprovements in student
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outcomes, better phonemicawareness, more phoneme-grapheme
correspondences mastered,increased engagement, then
you're in a dip, not a dead end.
Keep going.
But if you're not seeing theprogress, or you're only seeing
progress for some students, thensome things might need to be
tweaked or changed.
The third question is (15:18):
have
other people done what I'm doing
and made it through the dip?
If other people have done it,if it's not impossible, just
hard, then keep going.
If nobody has been able to dowhat you want to do ever, well,
there might be a good reason forthat.
And maybe you look at it ashave other people teaching in a
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context similar to mine beenable to make this work rather
than has anyone ever been ableto make it work?
Because context matters.
We have to have solutionsacross the literacy block,
across all of the grades thatare contextualised for our
school.
Here's what we know about dipsin school improvement.
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Structured literacyimplementation is hard.
It requires changing deeplyingrained practices, learning
new content, and managing thediscomfort that comes with being
a beginner all over again atsomething.
But schools all over thecountry, all over the world,
have successfully made thistransition.
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The path exists.
I have seen it in my ownschools and in some of the
schools I work with.
And I say some because manypeople they get the bump and
think the job is done, so theypull back.
Be prepared that you may haveelements of practice that differ
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in whether they are in a dip, acul-de-sac, or a cliff.
In one thing, you might be in adip.
In another, you could be in thecul-de-sac and just going
around and around.
And in something else, youmight be approaching a cliff.
Pull your strategy apart andevaluate each item: dip,
cul-de-sac, or cliff.
That will give you the guidanceyou need to know the actions
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that you need to take.
You won't have to starteverything from scratch.
No one's starting this work atzero.
You just need to tweak theright stuff.
As we approach the final termof the year, I want to remind
you to celebrate how far youhave come, no matter where you
are in your journey.
The work we do in schoolsmatters a great deal.
(17:30):
Every lesson you teach withgreater clarity, every grapheme
your students master, everysentence they write, every book
that they read with growingconfidence, all matters.
Go gently into term four.
Know that the pressure tochange instruction at the flick
of a switch runs the very realrisk of overwhelming everyone.
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And if you're feeling that way,that you're working so hard and
it's still not enough, knowthat you're giving your students
a tremendous gift.
Know that your efforts are seenand that everything is going to
be ok.
Nobody quits a marathon rightbefore the finish line.
Most people quit when they'rein the middle, when they can't
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see the end and the going getstough.
But that's exactly when pushingthrough matters most.
But the pushing through must besustainable.
You might be a metre from thegold.
You might be closer to thebreakthrough than you realise.
If your students are learningmore than last year, you are
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getting it done.
What we need to do is plan sothat next year's students are
learning more deeply and betterthan this year's.
Your teaching, if you've beenworking on structured literacy,
I guarantee you, is moreeffective than it was 12 months
ago.
And your school systems arestronger than they were at the
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start of the year.
That's not nothing, that'severything.
Keep teaching with intention.
Keep monitoring your data.
Keep celebrating the smallwins.
Keep adjusting and tweaking asyou go.
Who is still not being served?
When you find the answer tothat question, then you know
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where to put your energy.
Above all, keep believing inthe possibilities of the work
that we do, because it's thatbelief that carries us through
to the other side of the dipthat keeps one foot being placed
in front of the other.
All right, everyone, that's itfrom me for this episode of the
Structured Literacy Podcast.
(19:35):
Remember, when you try newthings, you won't break the
kids.
But just make sure you don'tbreak yourself either.
Thanks so much for listening.
Until I see you next time,happy teaching.
Bye.