# Jocelyn Seamer Education ## About **URL:** https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com **By:** Jocelyn Seamer ## Pages - [Foundations for Literacy Success](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/foundations-for-literacy-success) - [PODCASTS](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/podcasts) - [Writing Success](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/writing-success) - [PROFESSIONAL LEARNING](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/professional-learning-opportunities) - [Ready to Board the Bus? ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/onthebus) - [FREE RESOURCES](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/free-resources) - [Literacy Programs](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/literacy-programs) - [Teacher's Guide to the Upper Primary Literacy Block](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/upper-block) - [Spelling Success in Action](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/spelling-success-in-action) - [HOME](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/) ## Blog - [S7 E11 - What Does It Really Take to Make School Improvement Last?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/118474-s7-e11-what-does-it-really-take-to-make) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 26, 2026) - [S7 E10 - How to Evaluate Spelling Instruction](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/118664-s7-e10-how-to-evaluate-spelling-instruction) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 17, 2026) - [S7 E9 - Why We Should Keep the Early in Early Childhood](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/118050-s7-e9-why-we-should-keep-the-early-in) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 29, 2026) - [S7 E8 - Why Your Spelling Approach Might Be Working Against You (Part 2)](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/117945-s7-e8-why-your-spelling-approach-might) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 22, 2026) - [Relationships, Relationships, Relationships](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/46889-relationships-relationships) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 16, 2026) - [S7 E7 - Why Your Spelling Approach Might Be Working Against You](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/117823-s7-e7-why-your-spelling-approach-might) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 15, 2026) - [S7 E6 - Practical Steps When Grouping for Phonics](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/117645-s7-e6-practical-steps-when-grouping-for) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 8, 2026) - [S7 E5 - What Does the Research Actually Say About Grouping Students for Phonics?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/117207-s7-e5-what-does-the-research-actually) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 1, 2026) - [S7 E4 – The Top 5 Mistakes We Make When Using Decodable Texts](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/117113-s7-e4-the-top-5-mistakes-we-make-when) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 22, 2026) - [S7 E3 - What Does Research Really Say About Decodable Texts?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/116951-s7-e3-what-does-research-really-say) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 15, 2026) - [S7 E2 - The Top 5 Ways to Ensure Reading Success in Years 3 to 6](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/116818-s7-e2-the-top-5-ways-to-ensure-reading) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 8, 2026) - [S7 E1 - The Three Critical Questions Your Students Are Silently Asking You](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/116667-s7-e1-the-three-critical-questions-your) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 1, 2026) - [S5 E6 - Keeping Your Team's Bus on the Road When Onboarding New Staff](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/104191-s5-e6-keeping-your-teams-bus-on-the-road) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 18, 2026) - [Summer Series - When Repeated Reading Doesn't Work](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/110076-s6-e12-when-repeated-reading-doesnt-work) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 11, 2026) - [Summer Series - Are Comprehension Strategies Still a Thing?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/96984-s3-ep-11-are-comprehension-strategies) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 4, 2026) - [Summer Series - How to Maintain High Engagement in Low Variance Instruction](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/89660-high-engagement-in-low-variance) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 28, 2025) - [Summer Series - Tracking Reading Growth Without a Benchmark Assessment](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100011-s4-e2-tracking-reading-growth-without-a) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 21, 2025) - [Summer Series - What Goes into a Great Text-Based Unit?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/115484-what-goes-into-a-great-text-based-unit) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 14, 2025) - [Summer Series - Do Nonsense Words Have a Place in Upper Primary?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98272-s3-e17-do-nonsense-words-have-a-place-in) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 7, 2025) - [S6 E24 - 98 and ¾ Percent Guaranteed: Our Collective Commitment to Every Student](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/115184-s6-e24-98-and-percent-guaranteed-our) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 30, 2025) - [S6 E23 - Text Complexity: It’s About So Much More Than Levels](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/114694-s6-e23-text-complexity-it-s-about-so) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 23, 2025) - [S6 E22 - When Comfort Steals Confidence – The Unintended Consequences of PowerPoints](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/113319-s6-e22-when-comfort-steals-confidence) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 16, 2025) - [S6 E21 - Why Exposure is a Poor Substitute for Learning](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/113022-s6-e21-why-exposure-is-a-poor-substitute) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 9, 2025) - [S6 E20 - A Simple Way to Make School Improvement Stick](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/112396-s6-e20-a-simple-way-to-make-school) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 2, 2025) - [S6 E19 - The Secret to Truly Universal Phonics Instruction (Part 2)](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/111993-s6-e19-what-high-performing-schools-do) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 26, 2025) - [S6 E18 - The Secret to Truly Universal Phonics Instruction (Part 1)](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/111474-s6-e18-the-secret-to-universal-part1) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 19, 2025) - [S6 E17 - How to Streamline Your Assessment Schedule](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/111206-s6-e17-how-to-avoid-over-assessing) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 12, 2025) - [S6 E16 - How to Know Whether to Quit or Persist](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/111071-s6-e16-how-to-know-whether-to-quit-or) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 5, 2025) - [S6 E15 - What Does Research Say About Novel Study?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/110460-s6-e15-research-on-novel-study) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 28, 2025) - [S6 E14 - Should We Be Teaching Phonics in Years 3-6?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/110309-s6-e14-should-we-be-teaching-phonics-in) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 21, 2025) - [S6 E13 - We Fall to the Level of Our Systems](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/110233-s6-e13-we-fall-to-the-level-of-our) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 14, 2025) - [S6 E11 - The Trap Inside the Teachable Moment](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/109982-s6-e11-the-trap) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 31, 2025) - [S6 E10 - Before You Commit to a Program, Listen to This](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/109859-s6-e10-before-you-commit) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 24, 2025) - [S6 E9 - From Wasted Hours to Real Impact: Research on PD That Works](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/108941-s6-e9-from-wasted-hours) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 17, 2025) - [S6 E8 - From Compliance to Commitment: Transforming School Improvement](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/108827-s6-e8-from-compliance-to-commitment) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 10, 2025) - [S6 E7 - Is Your PL Transformative or Transactional?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107878-s6-e7-is-your-pl-transformative-or) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 3, 2025) - [S6 E6 - Why Confidence is a Misleading Measure of Capability](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107877-s6-e6-why-confidence-is-a-misleading) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 27, 2025) - [S6 E5 - How to Reclaim Your Professional Judgement](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107876-s6-e5-how-to-reclaim-your-professional) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 20, 2025) - [S6 E4 - Should We Bring Back the Read-Aloud?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107875-s6-e4-should-we-bring-back-the-read) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 13, 2025) - [S6 E3 - How Do We Prevent Progress Being Wiped Out in a Swing of the Pendulum?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107874-s6-e3-how-do-we-prevent-progress-being) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 6, 2025) - [S6 E2 - Simple Levers to Pull to Increase Your Impact](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107873-s6-e2-simple-levers-to-pull-to-increase) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 29, 2025) - [S6 E1 - Staying Motivated in Tough Times](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107872-s6-e1-staying-motivated-in-tough-times) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 22, 2025) - [Listener Favourite: 5 Evidence-Informed Alternatives to Independent Silent Reading](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107838-listener-favourite-5-evidence-informed) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 16, 2025) - [Listener Favourite: Planning to Make Report Writing Easier](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107733-listener-favourite-planning-to-make) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 8, 2025) - [S5 E20 - If They Knew It, They Would Do It](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107595-s4-e20-if-they-knew-it-they-would-do-it) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 1, 2025) - [S5 E19 - Why Students Find Writing Persuasive Texts So Difficult](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107317-s5-e19-why-students-find-writing) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 25, 2025) - [S5 E18 - Why an Evidence-Based Literacy Block Might Not Be the Best Goal for Your School](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/107208-s5-e18-why-an-evidence-based-literacy) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 18, 2025) - [S5 E17 - MTSS for Reading with Stephanie Stollar](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/106623-s5-e17-mtss-for-reading) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 11, 2025) - [S5 E16 - Is Whole Class Phonics Instruction Really Equitable?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/106520-s5-e16-is-whole-class-phonics) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 4, 2025) - [S5 E15 - Interview with Jenny Cole - Navigating Leadership in a Changing Landscape](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/106176-s5-e15-interview-with-jenny-cole) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 27, 2025) - [S5 E14 - It's Time to Say Goodbye to the Independent Research Project](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/105975-s5-e14-its-time-to-say-goodbye-to-the) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 13, 2025) - [S5 E13 - Maximising Your Lesson Prime Time](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/105869-s5-e13-maximising-your-lesson-prime-time) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 6, 2025) - [S5 E12 - The Secret Weapon for Effective Retrieval Practice](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/105713-the-secret-weapon-retrieval) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 30, 2025) - [S5 E11 Research to the Classroom - Connecting Reading and Writing Part 3 ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/105555-s5-e11-research-to-the-classroom) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 23, 2025) - [S5 E10 Research to the Classroom - Connecting Reading and Writing Part 2 (Practical Application)](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/104972-s5-e10-research-to-the-classroom) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 16, 2025) - [S5 E9 Research to the Classroom - Connecting Reading and Writing - Part 1 (The Research)](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/104797-research-to-the-classroom-connecting) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 9, 2025) - [S5 E8 - When Teachers are Learners - Making Professional Development Work](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/104516-s5-e8-when-teachers-are-learners-making) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 2, 2025) - [S5 E7 - What Does Research Say About Homework?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/104309-s5-e7-what-does-research-say-about) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 23, 2025) - [S5 E5 - AI: A Tool, Not a Teacher ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/103927-s5-e5-ai-a-tool-not-a-teacher) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 9, 2025) - [S5 E4 - Help! My Students Aren't Writing Enough!](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/103633-s3-e4-help-my-students-arent-writing) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 2, 2025) - [S5 E3 - Quick Phonics Assessment to Start the Year](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/103442-s5-e3-quick-phonics-assessment-to-start) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 26, 2025) - [S5 E2 - My Most and Least Favourite F-Words](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/103101-s5-e2-my-most-and-least-favourite-f) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 19, 2025) - [S5 E1 - 5 Ways To Get The Best Out Of The New School Year](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/103100-s5-e1-5-ways-to-get-the-best-out-of-the) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 12, 2025) - [S4 Ep20 - Summer Series - Why It's So Scary To Let Go Of Guided Reading](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/102618-s4-ep20-summer-series-why-its-so-scary) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 5, 2025) - [S4 E19 - Summer Series - High Engagement in Low Variance Instruction](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/102573-s4-ep19-summer-series-high-engagement-in) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 29, 2024) - [S4 Ep18 - Summer Series - Research to the Classroom: Dyad Reading Part 3 (Teacher Talk)](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/102462-s4-ep18-summer-series-dyad-reading-3) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 22, 2024) - [S4 Ep17 - Summer Series - Research to the Classroom: Dyad Reading Part 2 (Practical Application)](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/102383-s4-ep17-summer-series-dyad-reading-2) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 15, 2024) - [S4 Ep16 - Summer Series - Research to the Classroom: Dyad Reading Part 1 (The Research)](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/102382-s4-ep16-summer-series-dyad-reading-1) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 8, 2024) - [S4 Ep15 - Summer Series - Five Ways to Get Ready for the Coming Change](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/102203-s4-ep15-summer-series-five-ways-to-get) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 1, 2024) - [S4 Ep14 - Guidance for Evaluating Impact](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/102088-s4-e14-guidance-for-evaluating-impact) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 24, 2024) - [S4 Ep13 - Let's Talk Year 3-6 Reading Assessment and Grading](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101936-s4-ep13-grading-3-6-reading) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 17, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - How to Answer Tough Questions in the Classroom](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101664-tuesday-tip-tough-questions) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 12, 2024) - [S4 Ep12 - The Secret to Grading Early Years Reading](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101812-s4-ep12-the-secret-to-grading-early) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 10, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - NICE Decision Making Framework](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101595-tuesday-tip-nice-decision-making-framework) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 5, 2024) - [S4 E11 - Making Decisions When The Floor Is Lava](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101685-s4-e11-making-decisions-when-the-floor) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 3, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Say Goodbye to Memorisation Strategies for Spelling](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101488-tuesday-tip-memorisation-strategies) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 29, 2024) - [S4 Ep10 - Instructional Spring Cleaning - Timers During Classroom Fluency Work](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101528-s4-e10-instructional-spring-cleaning-timers) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 27, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Who Decides What?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101295-tuesday-tip-who-decides-what) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 22, 2024) - [S4 Ep9 - Instructional Spring Cleaning - One Student at the Front](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101357-s4-e9-instructional-spring-cleaning-one) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 20, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - #4 Are You Getting The Most Out of Your Sound Buttons?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101175-tuesday-tip-sound-buttons) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 15, 2024) - [S4 Ep8 - Instructional Spring Cleaning - News](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101226-s4-e8-instructional-spring-cleaning-news) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 13, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - #3 Don't Let Disruptions Suck the Life Out of Your Lessons](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101174-tuesday-tip-disruptions) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 8, 2024) - [S4 E7 - The Critical Issue of Teacher Knowledge Building](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/101100-critical-issue-teacher-knowledge-building) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 6, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - #2 Affirmed Students are Engaged Students](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100875-tuesday-tip-affirmed-students) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 1, 2024) - [S4 E6 - Five Reasons that Traditional PL May Not Lead to Student Outcomes](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100990-reasons-that-traditional-professional) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 29, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - #1 Manage Your Own Response](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100840-tuesday-tip-manage-your-own-response) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 24, 2024) - [S4 E5 - The Key to Successfully Implementing a New Program in Your School](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100826-s4-e5-the-key-to-successfully) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 22, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - How You Can Boost Your Students' Vocabulary](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100696-tuesday-tip-boost-vocabulary) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 17, 2024) - [S4 Ep4 - Connecting Explicit Teaching and Engagement in Years 3 to 6 Spelling](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100713-s4-e4-connecting-explicit-teaching-and) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 15, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - How to Combine Phonics and Morphology](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100559-tuesday-tip-combine-phonics-morphology) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 10, 2024) - [Listener Favourite - How Do I Fit Morphology Into My Literacy Block?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100487-how-can-i-find-time-for-morphology) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 8, 2024): Our literacy blocks are so full that it's difficult to find time for all of the things we need to fit in, including morphology. In this week's episode of the Structured Literacy podcast, I share tips for finding time for this important area of instruction in both the early years and upper primary grades. - [Tuesday Tip - Less Doing and More Learning in the Classroom](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100303-tuesday-tip-less-doing-more-learning) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 3, 2024) - [S4 Ep3 - Can Great Teaching Be Scripted?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/100332-s4-e3-can-great-teaching-be-scripted) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 1, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Should I have a stand-alone spelling program?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99955-tuesday-tip-standalone-spelling-program) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 27, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Align Tier 1 with Tier 2](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99818-tuesday-tip-align-tier-1-and-2) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 20, 2024) - [S4 Ep1 - Harnessing Oral Language for Reading and Spelling Success](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99885-harnessing-oral-language-for-reading-and) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 18, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Pencil Case](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99697-tuesday-tip-pencil-case) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 13, 2024) - [Listener Favourites - Tier One Instruction That Hits the Mark](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99774-s2-e8-why-isnt-my-tier-1) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 11, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Stop Trying to Fit Everything into your Literacy Block](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99696-tuesday-tip-fit-everything) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 6, 2024) - [Listener Favourites - Tier-Two Instruction That Hits The Mark](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99645-s2-e3-why-isnt-my-tier-2) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 4, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Building Background Knowledge](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99384-tuesday-tip-building-background-knowledge) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 30, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Frontload Learning](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99272-tuesday-tip-frontload-learning) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 23, 2024) - [S3 Ep25 - Shifts to move to a structured approach in Years 3 to 6 Part 2](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99286-s3-e34-shifts-to-move-to-a-structured) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 21, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Visuals on a lanyard](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99074-tuesday-tip-visuals-on-a-lanyard) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 16, 2024) - [S3 Ep24 - Shifts to move to a structured approach in Years 3 to 6 Part 1](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/99213-s3-e34-shifts-to-move-to-a-structured) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 14, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Transcription at Student Level](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98992-tuesday-tip-transcription-at-student-level) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 9, 2024) - [S3 Ep23 - Supporting Your Year 3-6 Team to Board the Bus](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98963-s3-e23-supporting-your-year-3-6-team-to) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 7, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Be Strict When Assessing Phonics](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98951-tuesday-tip-be-strict-when-assessing-phonics) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 2, 2024) - [S3 Ep22 - How to Choose a Phonics Program](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98955-s3-e22-how-to-choose-a-phonics-program) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 30, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Continuous Sound Blending](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98754-tuesday-tip-continuous-sound-blending) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 25, 2024) - [S3 E21 - 5 Ways to Get Ready for the Coming Change](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98831-ready) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 23, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Improve Fluency](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98689-tuesday-tip-improve-fluency) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 18, 2024) - [S3 E20 - 8 Reasons that the Same Page is a Great Place to be](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98643-s3-e20-8-reasons-that-the-same-page-is-a) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 16, 2024) - [S3 Ep19 - How To Make Sure That Your Spelling Instruction Is Explicit](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98537-how-to-make-sure-that-your-spelling) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 9, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Evaluate Student Engagement](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98274-evaluate-student-engagement) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 4, 2024) - [S3 Ep18 - Explicit Instruction That Doesn't Come At The Expense Of High Flyers](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98367-explicit-instruction-that-doesnt-come-at) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 2, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Avoid Suffixing Shortcuts](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98273-avoid-suffixing-shortcuts) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 28, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Aim for Functional Understanding, Not Perfection](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/97962-tuesday-tip-aim-for-functional) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 21, 2024) - [S3 Ep16 - Planning To Make Report Writing Easier](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/98151-planning-to-make-report-writing-easier) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 19, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Be Laser Focused on Building Foundational Skills Regardless of Age](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/97961-tuesday-tip-be-laser-focused-on-building) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 14, 2024) - [S3 Ep15 - Four Points to Consider When Pacing Phonics Instruction](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/97946-points-to-consider-when-pacing-phonics) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 12, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - Mentor Text VS Stimulus Text](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/97926-tuesday-tip-mentor-vs-stimulus) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 7, 2024) - [S3 E14 - It's Time to Take Radical Responsibility for Student Outcomes](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/97856-its-time-to-take-radical-responsibility) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 5, 2024) - [S3 Ep13 - How to Engage Reluctant Students in the Classroom](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/97442-how-to-engage-reluctant-students-in-the) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 28, 2024) - [S3 Ep12 - What to Expect When Working with a Consultant](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/97233-s3-ep-12-working-with-a-consultant) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 21, 2024) - [Tuesday Tip - The Role of Set for Variability](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/97202-tuesday-tip-improving-pronunciation-set) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 16, 2024) - [Research to the Classroom: Daily Review Part 3 - Teacher Talk ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/96903-research-to-the-classroom-daily-review) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 7, 2024) - [Research to the Classroom: Daily Review - Part 2 - Teaching ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/96376-research-to-the-classroom-daily-review) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 24, 2024) - [Research to the Classroom: Daily Review - Part 1 - The Research](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/95397-research-to-the-classroom-review-part-1) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 17, 2024) - [S3 E7 - Getting Questions Right From the Start](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/95300-getting-questions-right-from-the-start) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 10, 2024) - [S3 E6 - 5 Things to do Instead of Asking for Hands Up](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/95135-things-to-do-instead-of-asking-for) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 3, 2024) - [S3 E5 - When Having the Right Stuff Isn't Enough](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/95043-when-having-the-right-stuff-isnt-enough) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 25, 2024) - [Research to the Classroom - Dyad Reading Part 3 - Teacher Talk ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/94699-research-to-the-classroom-dyad-reading) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 18, 2024) - [Research to the Classroom - Dyad Reading Part 2](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/94514-research-to-the-classroom-dyad-reading) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 11, 2024) - [Research to the Classroom - Dyad Reading - Part 1](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/94419-research-to-the-classroom-dyad-reading) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 4, 2024) - [S3 E1 - Getting Clear About What is Important in 2024](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/94156-literacy-instruction-practices-2024) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 28, 2024) - [S2 E13 - What does it mean to be a productive member of our education community?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/92112-what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-productive) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 12, 2023) - [S2 E12 - Bonus Episode - What to Expect on a Change Journey](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/91864-day-1-what-to-expect-on-a-change-journey) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 12, 2023) - [S2 E11 - How do I help my students who aren't blending?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/91688-how-do-i-help-my-students-who-arent) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 29, 2023) - [S2 E10 - A NICE Framework for Choosing a New Approach](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/91534-a-nice-framework-for-choosing-a-new) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 22, 2023) - [S2 E9 - Why are words confusing?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/91411-why-are-words-confusing) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 15, 2023) - [S2 E8 - Why isn't my Tier 1 Instruction working?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/90496-why-isnt-my-tier-1-instruction-working) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 24, 2023) - [S2 E6 - How do I create an integrated literacy block?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/89966-how-do-i-create-an-integrated-literacy) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 3, 2023) - [S2 E5 - How Do We Know That It's Time To Start And Stop Reading Decodables?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/89847-how-do-we-know-that-its-time-to-start) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 27, 2023) - [S2 E3 - Why isn't my Tier 2 Instruction working?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/89393-why-isnt-my-tier-2-instruction-working) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 13, 2023): Today on the podcast, I'll be talking about tier two instruction, some circumstances that result in it not being as effective as it could be, and some things that we could do to ensure that our and our students' efforts result in great outcomes. - [S2 E2 - How do we know if our whole school approach has gone too far?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/89193-how-do-we-know-if-our-whole-school) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 6, 2023): In this episode, I'd like to discuss how we know if a whole school approach has gone too far. - [S2 E1 - Your Semester 2 Success Plan](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/89085-your-semester-2-success-plan) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 30, 2023) - [S1 E26 - How Can I Find Time for Morphology Instruction?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/88665-how-can-i-find-time-for-morphology) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 16, 2023): Our literacy blocks are so full that it's difficult to find time for all of the things we need to fit in, including morphology. In this week's episode of the Structured Literacy podcast, I share tips for finding time for this important area of instruction in both the early years and upper primary grades. - [S1 E25 - How can I teach spelling well when I don't feel like I know what I need to?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/86778-how-can-i-teach-spelling-well-when-i) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 9, 2023): In today's episode, I'd like to discuss a very real situation in which so many of us feel immense pressure to teach spelling well but feel as if we don't have the knowledge to do so. Spelling knowledge has two aspects to consider: content and pedagogical. Learning English structure, phonemes, graphemes, and orthographic conventions is important. Teaching explicitly and determining the best instruction methods for spelling is also crucial. It's important to consider which concepts to teach, how often, and whether to teach whole class or small group. Weekly spelling tests may also be a consideration. - [S1 E24 - How can I kickstart my upper primary spelling improvement journey?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/86777-how-can-i-kickstart-my-upper-primary) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 2, 2023) - [S1 E23 - How Do I Tackle Spelling in the Early Years?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/86603-how-do-i-tackle-spelling-in-the-early) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 25, 2023): In this episode, I'm going to share some key findings from theory and research when it comes to spelling, evaluate a common practice in spelling instruction, and then go on to suggest instructional practices that are a more efficient and effective alternative based on the research on my own experience as a teacher, school leader, and tutor of students with a learning difficulty. You can find a reference list for this episode at the bottom of the show notes at www.jocelynseamereducation.com. Look for the podcast and blog tab. - [S1 E22 - Change is hard, and we need everyone to do it](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/86601-change-is-hard-and-we-need-everyone-to) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 18, 2023): We all know that learning is challenging. We teach our students a mantra - "we can do hard things." We aim for them to develop resilience, persistence, and the understanding that making mistakes is a natural part of learning. Being a good learner means accepting vulnerability and acknowledging that some days will be tougher. As educators, we must also cultivate an open-mind to improve our teaching practice. - [S1 E21 - Reasons the Wheels Might Fall off Your Whole School Approach - Part 4](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/86107-reasons-the-wheels-might-fall-off-your) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 11, 2023) - [S1 E20 - How to Look After Yourself During Report Writing (It's not what you think)](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/86313-how-to-look-after-yourself-during-report) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 4, 2023) - [S1 E19 - Reasons the Wheels Might Fall off Your Whole School Approach - Part 3](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/86106-reasons-the-wheels-might-fall-off-your) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 28, 2023) - [S1 E18 - Reasons the Wheels Might Fall off Your Whole School Approach - Part 2](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/85998-reasons-the-wheels-might-fall-off-your) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 25, 2023): You've chosen your phonics program, had everyone trained, and have begun to teach at first, things seem to be going well. But a year or so down the track, you still aren't seeing those text-level results you were hoping for. This scenario is really common. Hello there. My name's Jocelyn, and I want to welcome you to the Structured Literacy Podcast. Today I'm going to share some observations from my work with schools about why the wheels may be falling off our bus when it comes to our overall literacy strategy. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share a few more reasons why the wheels might be falling off and some suggestions of what you can do. - [S1 E17 - Reasons the Wheels Might Fall off Your Whole School Approach - Part 1](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/85790-reasons-the-wheels-might-fall-off-your) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 18, 2023) - [S1 E16 - 5 Evidence-informed Alternatives to Independent Silent Reading](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/85667-evidence-informed-alternatives-to) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 7, 2023) - [S1 E15 - 8 Myths of Reading Instruction that Every Teacher Should Know About](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/85481-myths-of-reading-instruction-that) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 30, 2023) - [S1 E14 - When should we start morphology instruction and what might it look like?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/84913-when-is-the-right-time-to-introduce) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 23, 2023): Today we are going to talk about morphology. Now there are so many emerging areas of structured literacy, and while morphology itself is not new, our understanding of it and the place it has in our classroom may be new to us. Some people think that morphology should be taught from day one of foundation, and some people are avid structured word inquiry proponents, and they tend to think that we should only be exploring words and phoneme-grapheme correspondences through the exploration of morphology. Other people, and this has been a pervasive idea that I've come across over the years, think that morphology should not be touched on until after students have the full alphabetic code under their belt. I tend to not be quite in alignment with that idea either. Rather, I think that we can consider the role of phonics and morphology as having a change in ratio from the start of our reading and writing journey all the way through to the older years, where we are refining what we know, and that comes about because of the fact that English is a morphophonemic language. That means it is as influenced by morphemes, and morphemes are the smallest units of meaning in words. It's as influenced by morphemes as it is by the phoneme-grapheme correspondences, which is what we would think of as our phonics or letter sounds. - [S1 E13 - How do I Differentiate to Support a Range of Learners?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/80181-how-do-i-differentiate-to-support-a) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 2, 2023): How can I run a whole class literacy lesson that won't result in my struggling readers falling further behind? It's the heavy question that keeps upper primary teachers awake at night. The answer is differentiation, and in this week's episode of The Structured Literacy podcast, I share how and when it is appropriate to deliver a differentiated literacy lesson. - [S1 E12 - What Does an Upper Primary Reading Lesson Look Like?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/79970-episode-12-what-does-an-upper-primary) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 26, 2023) - [S1 E11 - What Play Can and Cannot Do for our Early Years Students](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/79797-what-play-can-and-cannot-do-for-our) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 19, 2023) - [S1 E10 - Your Upper Primary Phonics Catch-Up Action Plan](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/78993-upper-primary-phonics-catch-up-action) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 12, 2023) - [S1 E9 - What does 'authentic text' really mean in the Australian curriculum?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/78861-what-does-authentic-text-really-mean-in) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 5, 2023) - [S1 E8 - What goes into the Upper Primary Literacy Block?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/78664-what-goes-into-the-upper-primary) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 26, 2023) - [S1 E7 - Why It's So Scary to Let go of Benchmark Assessment](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/78527-why-its-so-scary-to-let-go-of-benchmark) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 19, 2023) - [S1 E6 - Why It's So Scary To Let Go Of Guided Reading](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/78366-why-is-it-so-scary-to-let-go-of-guided) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 12, 2023) - [S1 E5 - Should I Go Rogue or Follow My School's Approach to Literacy?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/78247-should-we-go-rogue) by Jocelyn Seamer (Feb 5, 2023) - [S1 E4 - How Many Feet Does Your School Have on the Bus?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/78106-how-many-feet) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 29, 2023) - [S1 E3 - How do I know if resources are evidence aligned? ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/77942-how-do-i-know) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 22, 2023) - [S1 E2 - Should we be using commercial programs to teach reading? ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/77743-should-we-be-using-programs) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jan 15, 2023) - [Your 8 Step Action Plan to Support Students Struggling with Fluency](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/46944-your-8-step-action-plan-to-support) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 24, 2022) - [Signing off for 2022](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/75685-signing-off-for-2022) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 11, 2022) - [All I want for Christmas is an Evidence Informed Classroom ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/75652-all-i-want-for-christmas-is-an-evidence) by Jocelyn Seamer (Dec 4, 2022) - [Structured Literacy Requires Structured Planning](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/75682-structured-literacy-requires-structured) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 27, 2022) - [Why More Books about Teaching won’t Necessarily Make us Better Teachers](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/75650-why-more-books-about-teaching-won-t) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 15, 2022) - [Text Based Units in a Multi-age Classroom ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/75629-text-based-units-in-a-multi-age) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 13, 2022) - [Let’s Raise Our Voices ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/75988-let-s-raise-our-voices) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 6, 2022) - [The Finer Points of Instruction in Building Background Knowledge](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/75628-the-finer-points-of-instruction-in) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 30, 2022) - [Resourcing Learning For Our Spotlight Children ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/74413-resourcing-learning-for-our-spotlight) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 23, 2022) - [Making Syntax Instruction Meaningful ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/74403-making-syntax-instruction-meaningful) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 16, 2022) - [Introducing The Resource Room ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/74404-introducing-the-resource-room) by Jocelyn Seamer (Oct 2, 2022) - [Consolidating Word Level knowledge in Year 3 and 4 ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/74402-consolidating-word-level-knowledge-in) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 25, 2022) - [It’s Time to Rethink the Make-it-from-Scratch Mindset](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/74383-it-s-time-to-rethink-the-make-it-from) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 18, 2022) - [Anatomy of an effective English unit of work](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/73913-anatomy-of-an-effective-english-unit-of) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 11, 2022) - [Spaced Practice and Interleaving in the Reading Classroom ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/73183-spaced-practice-and-interleaving-in-the) by Jocelyn Seamer (Sep 4, 2022) - [It’s just too loud! ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/73177-it-s-just-too-loud) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 26, 2022) - [The Value of a Longer Text-Based Unit](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/73176-the-value-of-a-longer-text-based-unit) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 19, 2022) - [How Not to Overcomplicate Your Text Based Units](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/73175-how-not-to-overcomplicate-your-text) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 12, 2022): Today’s post provides practical suggestions for getting your students to where you want them to be through a text-based unit. You can also download a full breakdown of version 9 of the Australian Curriculum as viewed through the lens of creating and teaching text-based units for every grade. - [Engaging Reluctant Writers](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/46902-engaging-reluctant-writers) by Jocelyn Seamer (Aug 5, 2022) - [Teaching the ‘Top of the Rope’ with Mentor Texts](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/72559-teaching-the-top-of-the-rope-with-mentor) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 29, 2022): There is so much information available about phonics and PA (bottom of the rope concepts) that you might be forgiven for thinking that that’s all there is to reading instruction. However, it is important to remember that the ‘top of the rope’ concepts also need to be taught explicitly. One of the best ways to teach this is through mentor texts. Mentor texts provide a wonderful stimulus for reading comprehension and writing instruction. You can teach many concepts through mentor texts including... - [Why Explicit Teaching is Student Centred](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/72558-why-explicit-teaching-is-student-centred) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 22, 2022): Ever hear someone say that they prefer a ‘student centred’ approach over explicit instruction? I have and I have to say that it left me shaking my head. You see, I think that structured, explicit reading instruction IS student centred. Here’s why. - [Knowledge is Critical, but Don’t Forget Skills](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/72557-knowledge-is-critical-but-don-t-forget) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 15, 2022): We all know that teacher knowledge is way more important than just having a program in our classrooms. Knowing why you are doing what you are doing can be the difference between highly effective practice and random acts of improvement that don’t lead to great results. In considering how to create sustained, effective practice, I have developed the Teaching Success Framework. There are 8 parts of the framework… - [The Best Advice I’ve Ever Been Given ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/72556-the-best-advice-i-ve-ever-been-given) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 8, 2022): As a teacher and school leader, I’ve had loads of advice from others throughout the years. Some of it has been helpful. Some of it has been downright diabolical and some of it invaluable. In today’s post, I’d like to share five of the best pieces of advice I’ve received in working towards school level change. - [How Shared Vision Contributes to Collective Impact](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/72555-how-shared-vision-contributes-to) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jul 1, 2022): Shared vision can be the difference between strategic, effective practice that results in growth for all students and a series of random acts of improvement that keep people busy but don’t really go anywhere. Without shared vision, each person is doing their own thing and running their own race. They are left alone to struggle through their problems of practice, deal with their own worries and recreate the wheel each and every time they want to teach something. This is a lonely and, very often, ineffective way of working. Shared vision, on the other hand, involves:  - [Making the Switch from Guided Reading to a Structured Approach](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/72065-making-the-switch-from-guided-reading-to) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 24, 2022): Making the switch from traditional guided reading to structured literacy. - [ Keeping Planning Simple](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/72063-keeping-planning-simple) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 17, 2022): Low variance teaching routines lead to low variance planning and reusable resources.   If you’ve done the Writing Success in the Early Primary Years Teach Along, you have access to the Text Based Planning document that came into being when I was  Teaching Principal.  I knew that I needed something repeatable.  I knew that I needed something that would cover the curriculum and had planning that would guide me as I planned.  Reducing cognitive load was the aim of the game!  Think about it like this, do the hard work ONCE, then reuse that planning, again and again, changing out the content.  - [Instruction to Reduce the Need for Small Groups](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/71997-how-to-reduce-the-need-for-small-group) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 10, 2022): You may have taught one or two representations of the phoneme /ay/ and plan to teach a third one in two weeks. Including the two representations, you have already taught in your daily review and reinforcing the decisions students make in spelling will help them be open and ready to learn the third grapheme you have planned. This is particularly important for your students who are struggling with memory, word retrieval or developmental language disorder (remember, there will likely be at least 2 in your class).  - [6 Potential Roadblocks to Early Reading Results](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/71880-potential-roadblocks-to-early-reading) by Jocelyn Seamer (Jun 5, 2022) - [Comprehension Strategies - Still a Thing?](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/71828-comprehension-strategies-still-a-thing) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 29, 2022): I recently wrote a post about my impressions of the English component of Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum. You can find that post here. There is much to be celebrated in the update including the removal of references to predictable texts and 3 cueing strategies. In reading through the content descriptors, however, I was a little disappointed to see that comprehension strategies, “such as visualising, predicting, connecting, summarising and questioning to understand and discuss texts listened to, viewed or read independently” remain almost exactly as they were in Version 8.4. It would be so great if there was a short guide provided as part of the curriculum to outline what research indicates to be the current understanding of the most effective practice! Comprehension strategies in and of themselves, are not to be shunned, but it can be tricky to nail down exactly what they are and how we should be teaching our students to use them in the classroom. Many of us have heard that teaching ‘comprehension strategies’ is not great, but probably don’t really understand why or what we should be doing instead. INSERT IMAGE - confused? Firstly, it’s important to note that the words ‘strategies’ and ‘skills’ are often used interchangeably when referring to comprehension. The language around this teaching changed in about 2000 (the word skills switched to strategies), but the actual teaching did not (Shannahan, 2018). As a result, many of us have a skewed idea of what the term comprehension strategies means and are, perhaps, not teaching what we think we are teaching. Let’s start by unpacking the terms strategies and skills to help us have a better idea of what we are talking about. Strategies are intentional, metacognitive (involve thinking about thinking) and multistep (Hennessy 2021). We use strategies when we monitor our own comprehension while we read. Skills, on the other hand, develop to be automatic with extensive practice and can often be transferred, as with decoding. The challenge with applying the idea of skills to reading comprehension is that there is no evidence that those generic ‘comprehension skills’ (even if they are called strategies) are transferrable at all (Such, 2021). Each text is unique. It requires a different level and type of background knowledge, has different vocabulary and is structured slightly differently. All of this is heavily dependant on the context in which we are using the text and a child’s capacity to comprehend what they read will largely be determined by their background knowledge of the content. This adds up to a realisation that reading comprehension is not a skill (Shannahan, 2018). Teaching inference every Thursday or spending a term focused on summarising in stand-alone lessons using a series of short texts is not going to help our students better understand the texts we present for reading assessment or the novel we choose for text study. So, what is the role of strategies? To answer that question, it is helpful to further define what comprehension strategies are. In short, they are cognitive processes that we can teach children to use to understand what they are reading. Good readers create a mental model of what the text means (Oakhill et al, 2015). We see this when a student can retell a story in their own words or can answer inferential questions by drawing on their background knowledge to fill in unstated information. The purpose of instruction that involves strategies is to help children create these mental models, think about what they are reading and connect with the text. They are plans for constructing meaning (NHCID, 2000). (INSERT IMAGE - MODEL?) In terms of which strategies are most valuable to focus on, research gives us some answers. The National Reading Panel (NHCID) examined 16 comprehension strategies and reported that seven of them appeared to have a scientific basis for improving comprehension in non-struggling readers. These were (in alphabetical order) Comprehension monitoring – paying attention to when meaning breaks down Cooperative learning - Great for upper primary, it involves the scaffolded discussion or and engagement with texts in small groups. Graphic and semantic organisers – illustrating concepts and relationships between concepts Question answering – including a range of questions, not just literal, ‘right there’ questions Question generation – having students come up with questions of their own about the text Summarising – determining what is important and expressing it in their own words We don’t have scope in this post to unpack each of these here but you can find extra information about them at this post from Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/article/seven-strategies-teach-students-text-comprehension It is worth noting that the research examined by the National Reading Panel was focused on upper primary. Early primary teachers should remember that the major factor in early reading comprehension is decoding ability. A couple of points about comprehension strategies instruction. There are alternatives to extensive comprehension strategies instruction. McKeown, Beck and Blake (2009) suggest that while strategies instruction has a place, it should not drive comprehension instruction. Their two-year study involving Year Five students found that students who had experienced a content model of instruction had higher levels of independent recall of a text than those who experienced a strategies instruction approach. When we do engage in direct teaching of comprehension strategies, keep it brief and once your students know how to use it, don’t feel compelled to allocate ‘comprehension strategies’ time in your teaching timetable. The point of the strategies is to help students engage better with text, so put them to work as part of your text based English lessons. Have another look at the curriculum content descriptor and you’ll see that it says ‘use comprehension strategies’. Our goal is to put strategies to work within our lessons that involve rich picture books, information texts and novels. The use of comprehension strategies isn’t improved by practice as is the case with decoding. We support students’ development in their use by engaging in a gradual release of responsibility (Shannahan, 2018), with increasingly complex texts as children make their way through the primary school years. This can be a point of differentiation in your classroom where some students are provided with a fully adult led comprehension monitoring task and others do more on their own. Background knowledge and vocabulary knowledge is critical for overall reading comprehension and students cannot infer without it. Prioritise instruction that builds both of these areas over spending large amounts of time on strategies. (INSERT IMAGE - SOMETHING RELATING TO KNOWLEDGE OR VOCABULARY) To sum up, comprehension strategies remain part of the Australian Curriculum, but it doesn’t mean that we should spend large amounts of time teaching them in stand-alone lessons. A little bit of direct, explicit instruction of strategies can be useful, but main use of them is to help students engage with texts in the context of our lesson involving rich text. When it comes to comprehension overall, decoding, background knowledge and vocabulary have a much larger part to play and should be prioritised in instruction. If you would like to learn more about effective reading instruction, you might like to join me for my new, free program, “5 Things You Need to Know to Get Children Reading”. Beginning July 4th, each day for 5 days you will receive an email with a short video clip, links and downloads to help you on your reading instruction journey. Book your spot by clicking the link below. (INSERT IMAGE AND LINK) https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/products/154608-Five-Things-You-Must-Know-to-Get References Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) 2010 to present. This material was downloaded (www.australiancurriculum.edu.au) (accessed 21st May, 2022) and was modified. The material is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Hennessy, N.L. (2021) The Reading Comprehension Blueprint: Helping Students Make Meaning from Text. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Company. McKeown, M., Beck, I., & Blake, R. (2009). Rethinking Reading Comprehension Instruction: A Comparison of Instruction for Strategies and Content Approaches. Reading Research Quarterly, 44(3), 218-253. Retrieved August 24, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/25655454 (NICHD) Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, DHHS. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel: Teaching Children to Read: Reports of the Subgroups (00-4754). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Shannahan, T. (2018) Comprehension Skills or Strategies: Is there a difference and does it matter? https://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/blog/comprehension-skills-or-strategies-is-there-a-difference-and-does-it-matter#sthash.tRggJ43u.dpbs Such, C (2021) The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading. Sage Publications Ltd. - [Structured Literacy: a Solution to Teacher Overwhelm](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/71793-structured-literacy-a-solution-to) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 21, 2022) - [Version 9 of the English Curriculum Has Landed](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/71654-version-9-of-the-english-curriculum-has) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 15, 2022) - [Beyond Basic Phonics](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/71461-beyond-basic-phonics) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 8, 2022) - [I Asked Teachers to 'Tell Me What You Really Think'. ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/tell-me-what-you-think) by Jocelyn Seamer (May 1, 2022) - [Are Reading Groups Really that Bad? ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/70278-are-reading-groups-really-that-bad) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 24, 2022) - [5 Ways to Support Others Through Change](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/70092-ways-to-support-others-through-change) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 17, 2022) - [How to Help Your Students Feel Safe in their Learning. ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/69703-how-to-help-your-students-feel-safe-in) by Jocelyn Seamer (Apr 3, 2022) - [5 Things You Can Stop Worrying About](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/69584-things-you-can-stop-worrying-about) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 26, 2022) - [You Don't Have to Eat the Whole Elephant Today](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/46976-you-dont-have-to-eat-the-whole-elephant) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 19, 2022) - [Figuring Out Fluency](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/69168-figuring-out-fluency) by Jocelyn Seamer (Mar 12, 2022) - [Display or Decoration? 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During these small group lessons children read predictable texts at their ‘instructional level’.  This approach exposes children to instructional practices that are ok for some, but questionable and downright counter productive for most. - [Whole Group Teaching in the Foundation Classroom](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/blog/46991-whole-group-teaching-in-the-foundation) by Jocelyn Seamer (Nov 25, 2020) ## Products - [The Resource Room ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/the-resource-room) - [Reading Success in the Early Primary Years Book ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/products/174745-Reading-Success-in-the-Early-Primary): Get your signed copy - [Reading Success in Action - Decoding 1](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/products/139406-Reading-Success-in-Action-Decoding-1): A ready reference for teaching the basic code and decoding - [Reading Success in Action - Decoding 2](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/products/143489-Reading-Success-in-Action-Decoding-2): A ready reference for teaching the first half of the complex code and decoding - [Reading Success in Action - Decoding 3](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/products/154031-Reading-Success-in-Action-Decoding-3): A ready reference for teaching alternate spellings of the phonemes of English. - [ Reading Success in Action - Decoding 1 & 2](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/products/144556-Reading-Success-in-Action-Decoding-1-2): A ready reference for teaching the first half of the complex code and decoding - [Reading Success in Action - Decoding 1, 2 & 3](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/products/155413-Reading-Success-in-Action-Decoding-1-2-3): A ready reference for teaching the first half of the complex code and decoding - [Reading Success in Action - Decoding 2 & 3](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/products/155421-Reading-Success-in-Action-Decoding-2-3): A ready reference for teaching the first half of the complex code and decoding - [The Evergreen Teacher Membership](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/page/275463): Easy to access professional learning delivered right to your point of need - [Making the Strategic Shift (Masterclass) ](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/page/664669): A step-by-step guide to creating the transformation you are looking for - [Reading Success in the Upper Primary Years](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/upper-primary-reading): The Reading Success in the Upper Primary Years walks teachers in Years 3-6 through practical elements and decision-making involved in evidence-aligned reading instruction.  - [Spelling Success in Action 1 - Phonics and Early Morphology Catch-up for older students](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/page/694335) - [The Science Behind the Writing Struggle](https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/products/252642-The-Science-Behind-the-Writing-Struggle)