October 25, 2025 • 17 mins
Tired of racing through content only to find the learning didn’t stick? In this episode, we take a hard look at the final 5 factors that truly drive universal success in phonics and early reading, moving from admirable intentions to instructional decisions that deliver.
Has something in this episode resonated with you? Get in touch!
Are your students good readers, but poor spellers? If so, you are not alone. Spelling Success in Action addresses phonics, orthography, and morphology to give students a well-rounded understanding of how our language system works.
Find out how you can help your students move beyond guessing and memorisation at https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/spelling2
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jocelyn (01:16):
Welcome back to the Structured Literacy Podcast
recorded here in Tasmania on thelands of the Palawa people.
You're joining me for part twoof our series on the 10 critical
non-negotiable factors forachieving universal success in
phonics instruction.
If you haven't listened to lastweek's episode yet, I'd
encourage you to go back andlisten to that one first.
(01:37):
In that episode, we covered thefirst five factors for success,
which really focused onmindset, systems, and our
fundamental approach toinstruction.
Those first five factors laythe foundation for everything
we're going to discuss in thisepisode.
Because even with the bestintentions and the right systems
in place, if we don't get theinstructional decisions right,
(02:00):
we won't see the universaloutcomes we're aiming for.
These factors, six to ten, arewhere the rubber meets the road.
And this is where we move fromhaving the right mindset and
systems to actually implementinginstruction that works for
everyone.
So whether you're a classroomteacher thinking about your
daily practice, a middle leadersupporting your team, or a
(02:22):
school leader looking at thewhole school picture, there's
something in today's episode foryou.
So let's get stuck in withfactor number six.
For factor six, we have to swingback to how we build strong
memories for learning.
So essentially, component sixis that programs must
(02:43):
intentionally and effectivelyintroduce only one new piece of
information at a time and givestudents the time and full
engagement opportunity to encodethat information before we
introduce something new.
We can actively and consciouslyonly think about one thing at a
(03:03):
time.
John Sweller, the architect ofcognitive load theory, reminds
us that we can only have two tothree things in working memory
to process within a given task.
We know from informationprocessing theory that a failure
to encode new learning to getthat one thing in our heads and
practice it results in theinformation either sitting in
(03:25):
our sensory memory anddisappearing or existing only
for about 30 seconds and thenit's gone.
Even if we repeat somethingthat the teacher says and then
we repeat it to a partner, if wethen leave it and move on to
something else, it will be gonein about 30 seconds.
In light of this, introducingfour or six graphemes at a time
(03:49):
to students who have no schemato connect with just doesn't
make any sense.
Now, some students who come tothe learning experience with
existing schema and no memorychallenges will probably be ok,
but they're also likely the samestudents who are ok with
balanced literacy.
Remember, we aren't designingthe core experience for them.
(04:12):
We're designing it lookingthrough the lens of the most
vulnerable, knowing that we canincrease the pace for students
who are ready for more.
So please look at yourinstruction and count up how
many new concepts are introducedwithin the lesson.
Now there's no magic formula toworking out what this should
(04:35):
look like, but it's pretty clearto me that six or seven
concepts covered in a 20 to 30minute session is simply too
many, particularly for ouryoungest and most vulnerable
students.
It's almost like we're takingthem on a tour of content and
occasionally asking them to joinin.
And if you don't believe me,look at the faces of your
(04:57):
students during the instruction.
Literally take an iPad and putthe screen facing the wall, put
this at the front of theclassroom, record the students
in the lesson and then watch itback.
You're not looking at you,you're looking at them.
And of course, have a look atthe data.
Because if instruction ishitting the mark, it will be
(05:21):
reflected in the data.
It's so frustrating to me thatthis fundamental factor of
learning is overlooked inprograms, and that I'm
increasingly hearing fromteachers and instructional
leaders who get it, but arespending countless hours
rewriting their school's chosenprogram so that it's fit for
(05:43):
purpose for all of the students.
Now I'm not suggesting studentswill only do one thing in a
lesson.
They need to practice previouscontent, write words, read
sentences and text, and all ofthe components of a solid
literacy block.
But when it comes to how muchnew content we're introducing
and how much time and how manyrepetitions we're giving them to
(06:06):
encode that and build strongmemories, this has to be really
carefully managed.
If we don't do this, we areguaranteed to be overloading
working memory for some studentsin every single lesson.
Critical factor number seven isthat the programs of
instruction, whether we buy one,we get one for free, or we make
(06:29):
up our own, must be designed sothat it's the teacher who makes
the decisions about when tomove on in content, based on
what they see in their students,not in a set-pacing guide that
tells you in term four, weekfour, on Thursday, you will be
teaching lesson number.
(06:50):
No program developer knows howyour students are going to
respond to instruction.
They're not sitting in theclassroom determining whether
what you have taught has stuck.
If we aren't monitoringresponses and making decisions
based on that, then all we'redoing is teaching and leaving
(07:10):
gaps in our wake.
If we're not monitoring andmaking decisions, we aren't
going to be able to provide theappropriate repetitions needed
or to cycle back and reteach ifnecessary.
We just teach and then we say,wow, look, we got through this
much content.
But that is not actually thequestion.
The question is, how much of itdid the students learn?
(07:33):
So rather than a week-by-weekpacing guide, I have a
preference for what I callat-least points.
These are our minimumexpectations for growth and
achievement for what studentswith difficulty can achieve with
robust instruction.
And really, when it comes tophoneme-grapheme correspondence,
the expectations aren'tactually that high.
(07:55):
If a student consolidates eightto ten phoneme-grapheme
correspondences every term forthe whole of their early years,
they'll be in a really good spotto enter Year 3, ready to make
morphology the core part ofinstruction.
Success factor number eight isabout having multiple check-in
(08:16):
points.
We must have a range ofcheck-in points or several
feedback loops of varyinglengths.
Of course, we need to check forunderstanding within lessons.
We then need to have a weeklycheck-in to see whether what we
taught last week has stuck.
The next one is the fifth weekof a five-week teaching cycle,
(08:37):
and then we have the formalassessment that is done roughly
every term.
Now this might sound like alot, but please remember I'm not
talking about sitting everystudent down one-on-one and
doing an assessment all thetime.
That bit, that one-on-oneassessment, only happens once
per term and it's short andsharp, not 40 minutes worth.
(08:57):
Critical factor number nine isabout an ongoing commitment to
building teacher capability.
In my Clarity Shift model ofdevelopment, there are two
elements of learning.
One is about the context, whichis the needs of the students,
knowledge of the pedagogy, andhow a program operates.
The second one is knowing howto make decisions to meet the
(09:19):
needs of the context.
Learning about all of thisisn't accomplished through just
watching modules or attendingtraining.
That's necessary, but the realwork is ongoing.
We have to help people developskills and knowledge to
interpret and respond to data,and this is a long-term
endeavour.
The real development happens aswe perform our regular work,
(09:44):
not before it.
Having strong leadership and anintentional, ongoing focus on
building teacher capability is amust.
I was recently visiting one ofthe schools that I consider to
be truly high-performing.
The early years middle leadersmet with me and asked for
feedback on how they hadfollowed on from the data work
we'd done together.
(10:04):
They talked about how they'dreviewed the data, broke it
down, identified the mostimportant parts to tackle first,
created a plan for instruction,then they enacted the plan in
their teaching beforereadministering the assessment
to evaluate impact.
And then they did it all overagain for the next thing that
needed to be addressed.
(10:25):
The ability to do this has onlydeveloped because the junior
school leaders, Trudy, Narelleand Jill, have had a no excuses,
rock solid commitment tocontinual improvement.
Now, if you work in a complexschool, you might hear about
schools who seem to be moreprivileged, where the students
(10:48):
certainly come from a backgroundthat's very different from the
students you teach.
And you might think, well,sure, they can do that, look at
their context.
And that feeling is reallyunderstandable, but it
misrepresents the factors forsuccess.
There are plenty of schoolswhose students come from
privileged backgrounds who don'thave great results.
(11:10):
And there are plenty of schoolswhere students come from really
challenging backgrounds who do.
There's no cookie-cutter answerto getting outcomes.
But what I can tell you is thatthe same 10 factors show up
every time in the schools who Isee who are getting outstanding
results, regardless of context.
Though how they implement willlook different depending on each
(11:34):
school's unique circumstances.
The most critical factor at theschool I just described has
been a leadership team whosimply will not rest until
excellence has been achieved.
And we're up to number 10.
The final criticalnon-negotiable that we must have
if we're going to see universalgrowth for our students.
(11:56):
And point number 10 is allabout leadership.
If someone isn't driving yourschool's literacy bus, don't be
surprised if the results don'thappen as you want them to.
To get what I call minimumviable systems happening, that
is, having the systems that geteverybody learning, almost takes
a force of nature to be in thatdriver's seat.
(12:19):
And this person has to havetheir eyes squarely on the
goals.
Without someone, or a couple ofsomeones, to hold it all
together and keep everyonemoving in the same direction,
the success of the improvementagenda is somewhat left to
chance.
And as I put this episodetogether, I'm thinking about
(12:39):
Iona and Sarah, who, supportedby their head of junior school,
helped their team navigate thechallenges of shifting practice.
Looking at their NAPLAN scores,both Year 3 and 5 students have
in past years bucked nationaltrends.
When the line showing yourschool's growth is much steeper
than the line showing growth forstudents with similar
(13:02):
backgrounds, you know you aregetting many things right.
And if these two leaders werehere, they'd deny that they did
anything special.
They'd say that they were justdoing their job.
And I guess maybe they werejust doing their job, but they
were doing it in the only waythey knew how, which was to be
determined, to have an eye onthe data, to make decisions,
(13:26):
yes, about what's needed forstudents, but also that were
responsive to the needs of theteam, to bring everybody
together.
If we don't have strongleadership driving improvement
activities in our school,initiatives will often go around
and around in circles, neverquite getting anywhere.
Because there isn't that oneperson who says, yes, this is
(13:48):
it, we're in, let's go.
People look to each other forthe confirmation, not knowing if
it's time, and so it neverhappens.
Are we seeing outcomes that areencouraging from the change work
that's happened in schools?
Yes, we are, and we have tocelebrate.
(14:08):
We also have to recognise thatthe job is not yet done.
There's still hard work to go.
So, how about this?
Let's choose our hard.
Let's choose the hard thatenables us to live out our
calling.
Let's choose the hard thathonours our role as the agents
of change that so many of uswant to be.
(14:31):
Let's choose the hard thatleads to data outcomes and
student well-being we cancelebrate.
For me, this has been the onlyway of being that's ever made
sense.
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode of the podcast.
I hope that these ten criticalfactors give you clarity as you
(14:53):
plan for next year and as youevaluate where your school is on
the journey.
Remember, we're not doing allten things tomorrow, regardless
of what political cycles wouldlike.
We're choosing the things thatwill have the most impact on
students.
And we're making the changesthat are the smallest possible
(15:17):
changes first that increase theeffectiveness of what we do.
Your school may be teachinggreat phonics lessons, but
you're not grouping in any way.
So perhaps for you, it'slooking at who are the students
who the data shows isn't beingserved as we believe they could
be.
(15:37):
And group just them together.
We're not saying tip up theschool and ruin everything.
Celebrate the strengths thatyou have, recognise them, don't
change things that don't need tobe changed, but also have a
good hard look and say, ok, Ican see that these things may
(15:58):
need to be adjusted.
And then make a plan movingforward that is manageable,
achievable, and sustainable.
That's all from me for thisepisode of the Structured
Literacy Podcast.
Until next time, happyteaching, everyone.
Bye.
Welcome back to the Structured Literacy Podcast
recorded here in Tasmania on thelands of the Palawa people.
You're joining me for part twoof our series on the 10 critical
non-negotiable factors forachieving universal success in
phonics instruction.
If you haven't listened to lastweek's episode yet, I'd
encourage you to go back andlisten to that one first.
(01:37):
In that episode, we covered thefirst five factors for success,
which really focused onmindset, systems, and our
fundamental approach toinstruction.
Those first five factors laythe foundation for everything
we're going to discuss in thisepisode.
Because even with the bestintentions and the right systems
in place, if we don't get theinstructional decisions right,
(02:00):
we won't see the universaloutcomes we're aiming for.
These factors, six to ten, arewhere the rubber meets the road.
And this is where we move fromhaving the right mindset and
systems to actually implementinginstruction that works for
everyone.
So whether you're a classroomteacher thinking about your
daily practice, a middle leadersupporting your team, or a
(02:22):
school leader looking at thewhole school picture, there's
something in today's episode foryou.
So let's get stuck in withfactor number six.
For factor six, we have to swingback to how we build strong
memories for learning.
So essentially, component sixis that programs must
(02:43):
intentionally and effectivelyintroduce only one new piece of
information at a time and givestudents the time and full
engagement opportunity to encodethat information before we
introduce something new.
We can actively and consciouslyonly think about one thing at a
(03:03):
time.
John Sweller, the architect ofcognitive load theory, reminds
us that we can only have two tothree things in working memory
to process within a given task.
We know from informationprocessing theory that a failure
to encode new learning to getthat one thing in our heads and
practice it results in theinformation either sitting in
(03:25):
our sensory memory anddisappearing or existing only
for about 30 seconds and thenit's gone.
Even if we repeat somethingthat the teacher says and then
we repeat it to a partner, if wethen leave it and move on to
something else, it will be gonein about 30 seconds.
In light of this, introducingfour or six graphemes at a time
(03:49):
to students who have no schemato connect with just doesn't
make any sense.
Now, some students who come tothe learning experience with
existing schema and no memorychallenges will probably be ok,
but they're also likely the samestudents who are ok with
balanced literacy.
Remember, we aren't designingthe core experience for them.
(04:12):
We're designing it lookingthrough the lens of the most
vulnerable, knowing that we canincrease the pace for students
who are ready for more.
So please look at yourinstruction and count up how
many new concepts are introducedwithin the lesson.
Now there's no magic formula toworking out what this should
(04:35):
look like, but it's pretty clearto me that six or seven
concepts covered in a 20 to 30minute session is simply too
many, particularly for ouryoungest and most vulnerable
students.
It's almost like we're takingthem on a tour of content and
occasionally asking them to joinin.
And if you don't believe me,look at the faces of your
(04:57):
students during the instruction.
Literally take an iPad and putthe screen facing the wall, put
this at the front of theclassroom, record the students
in the lesson and then watch itback.
You're not looking at you,you're looking at them.
And of course, have a look atthe data.
Because if instruction ishitting the mark, it will be
(05:21):
reflected in the data.
It's so frustrating to me thatthis fundamental factor of
learning is overlooked inprograms, and that I'm
increasingly hearing fromteachers and instructional
leaders who get it, but arespending countless hours
rewriting their school's chosenprogram so that it's fit for
(05:43):
purpose for all of the students.
Now I'm not suggesting studentswill only do one thing in a
lesson.
They need to practice previouscontent, write words, read
sentences and text, and all ofthe components of a solid
literacy block.
But when it comes to how muchnew content we're introducing
and how much time and how manyrepetitions we're giving them to
(06:06):
encode that and build strongmemories, this has to be really
carefully managed.
If we don't do this, we areguaranteed to be overloading
working memory for some studentsin every single lesson.
Critical factor number seven isthat the programs of
instruction, whether we buy one,we get one for free, or we make
(06:29):
up our own, must be designed sothat it's the teacher who makes
the decisions about when tomove on in content, based on
what they see in their students,not in a set-pacing guide that
tells you in term four, weekfour, on Thursday, you will be
teaching lesson number.
(06:50):
No program developer knows howyour students are going to
respond to instruction.
They're not sitting in theclassroom determining whether
what you have taught has stuck.
If we aren't monitoringresponses and making decisions
based on that, then all we'redoing is teaching and leaving
(07:10):
gaps in our wake.
If we're not monitoring andmaking decisions, we aren't
going to be able to provide theappropriate repetitions needed
or to cycle back and reteach ifnecessary.
We just teach and then we say,wow, look, we got through this
much content.
But that is not actually thequestion.
The question is, how much of itdid the students learn?
(07:33):
So rather than a week-by-weekpacing guide, I have a
preference for what I callat-least points.
These are our minimumexpectations for growth and
achievement for what studentswith difficulty can achieve with
robust instruction.
And really, when it comes tophoneme-grapheme correspondence,
the expectations aren'tactually that high.
(07:55):
If a student consolidates eightto ten phoneme-grapheme
correspondences every term forthe whole of their early years,
they'll be in a really good spotto enter Year 3, ready to make
morphology the core part ofinstruction.
Success factor number eight isabout having multiple check-in
(08:16):
points.
We must have a range ofcheck-in points or several
feedback loops of varyinglengths.
Of course, we need to check forunderstanding within lessons.
We then need to have a weeklycheck-in to see whether what we
taught last week has stuck.
The next one is the fifth weekof a five-week teaching cycle,
(08:37):
and then we have the formalassessment that is done roughly
every term.
Now this might sound like alot, but please remember I'm not
talking about sitting everystudent down one-on-one and
doing an assessment all thetime.
That bit, that one-on-oneassessment, only happens once
per term and it's short andsharp, not 40 minutes worth.
(08:57):
Critical factor number nine isabout an ongoing commitment to
building teacher capability.
In my Clarity Shift model ofdevelopment, there are two
elements of learning.
One is about the context, whichis the needs of the students,
knowledge of the pedagogy, andhow a program operates.
The second one is knowing howto make decisions to meet the
(09:19):
needs of the context.
Learning about all of thisisn't accomplished through just
watching modules or attendingtraining.
That's necessary, but the realwork is ongoing.
We have to help people developskills and knowledge to
interpret and respond to data,and this is a long-term
endeavour.
The real development happens aswe perform our regular work,
(09:44):
not before it.
Having strong leadership and anintentional, ongoing focus on
building teacher capability is amust.
I was recently visiting one ofthe schools that I consider to
be truly high-performing.
The early years middle leadersmet with me and asked for
feedback on how they hadfollowed on from the data work
we'd done together.
(10:04):
They talked about how they'dreviewed the data, broke it
down, identified the mostimportant parts to tackle first,
created a plan for instruction,then they enacted the plan in
their teaching beforereadministering the assessment
to evaluate impact.
And then they did it all overagain for the next thing that
needed to be addressed.
(10:25):
The ability to do this has onlydeveloped because the junior
school leaders, Trudy, Narelleand Jill, have had a no excuses,
rock solid commitment tocontinual improvement.
Now, if you work in a complexschool, you might hear about
schools who seem to be moreprivileged, where the students
(10:48):
certainly come from a backgroundthat's very different from the
students you teach.
And you might think, well,sure, they can do that, look at
their context.
And that feeling is reallyunderstandable, but it
misrepresents the factors forsuccess.
There are plenty of schoolswhose students come from
privileged backgrounds who don'thave great results.
(11:10):
And there are plenty of schoolswhere students come from really
challenging backgrounds who do.
There's no cookie-cutter answerto getting outcomes.
But what I can tell you is thatthe same 10 factors show up
every time in the schools who Isee who are getting outstanding
results, regardless of context.
Though how they implement willlook different depending on each
(11:34):
school's unique circumstances.
The most critical factor at theschool I just described has
been a leadership team whosimply will not rest until
excellence has been achieved.
And we're up to number 10.
The final criticalnon-negotiable that we must have
if we're going to see universalgrowth for our students.
(11:56):
And point number 10 is allabout leadership.
If someone isn't driving yourschool's literacy bus, don't be
surprised if the results don'thappen as you want them to.
To get what I call minimumviable systems happening, that
is, having the systems that geteverybody learning, almost takes
a force of nature to be in thatdriver's seat.
(12:19):
And this person has to havetheir eyes squarely on the
goals.
Without someone, or a couple ofsomeones, to hold it all
together and keep everyonemoving in the same direction,
the success of the improvementagenda is somewhat left to
chance.
And as I put this episodetogether, I'm thinking about
(12:39):
Iona and Sarah, who, supportedby their head of junior school,
helped their team navigate thechallenges of shifting practice.
Looking at their NAPLAN scores,both Year 3 and 5 students have
in past years bucked nationaltrends.
When the line showing yourschool's growth is much steeper
than the line showing growth forstudents with similar
(13:02):
backgrounds, you know you aregetting many things right.
And if these two leaders werehere, they'd deny that they did
anything special.
They'd say that they were justdoing their job.
And I guess maybe they werejust doing their job, but they
were doing it in the only waythey knew how, which was to be
determined, to have an eye onthe data, to make decisions,
(13:26):
yes, about what's needed forstudents, but also that were
responsive to the needs of theteam, to bring everybody
together.
If we don't have strongleadership driving improvement
activities in our school,initiatives will often go around
and around in circles, neverquite getting anywhere.
Because there isn't that oneperson who says, yes, this is
(13:48):
it, we're in, let's go.
People look to each other forthe confirmation, not knowing if
it's time, and so it neverhappens.
Are we seeing outcomes that areencouraging from the change work
that's happened in schools?
Yes, we are, and we have tocelebrate.
(14:08):
We also have to recognise thatthe job is not yet done.
There's still hard work to go.
So, how about this?
Let's choose our hard.
Let's choose the hard thatenables us to live out our
calling.
Let's choose the hard thathonours our role as the agents
of change that so many of uswant to be.
(14:31):
Let's choose the hard thatleads to data outcomes and
student well-being we cancelebrate.
For me, this has been the onlyway of being that's ever made
sense.
Thank you so much for listeningto this episode of the podcast.
I hope that these ten criticalfactors give you clarity as you
(14:53):
plan for next year and as youevaluate where your school is on
the journey.
Remember, we're not doing allten things tomorrow, regardless
of what political cycles wouldlike.
We're choosing the things thatwill have the most impact on
students.
And we're making the changesthat are the smallest possible
(15:17):
changes first that increase theeffectiveness of what we do.
Your school may be teachinggreat phonics lessons, but
you're not grouping in any way.
So perhaps for you, it'slooking at who are the students
who the data shows isn't beingserved as we believe they could
be.
(15:37):
And group just them together.
We're not saying tip up theschool and ruin everything.
Celebrate the strengths thatyou have, recognise them, don't
change things that don't need tobe changed, but also have a
good hard look and say, ok, Ican see that these things may
(15:58):
need to be adjusted.
And then make a plan movingforward that is manageable,
achievable, and sustainable.
That's all from me for thisepisode of the Structured
Literacy Podcast.
Until next time, happyteaching, everyone.
Bye.
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