Signing off for 2022

To say that it has been a big year here at Jocelyn Seamer Education is an understatement! Over the past 12 months, I have: 

• Submitted, finalised and released my first book with Routledge
• Delivered Teach Along courses to almost 1000 people
• Finished and released Reading Success in Action – Decoding 3
• Written around 50 blog posts
• Presented at 3 Sharing Best Practice conferences 
• Met and had dinner with Linnea Ehri (eek, so exciting!) and presented at an event alongside her
• Directly supported various schools and regions with professional learning 
• Supported over 4000 teachers through my free professional learning experiences
• Welcomed over 3000 new members to the On the Science of Reading Bus Facebook group 
• Created and launched the Resource Room, the only membership of its kind aimed specifically at helping teachers implement structured literacy into their classrooms. 

You might look at this and think that I’m a bit of a superwoman. That couldn’t be further from the truth. There is no way that I could ever do all of this on my own! 

So, it’s time to send out some huge thank yous to: 

• First and foremost, my amazing husband, Mark Bailey. If you’ve received something in the mail from me or had an invoice sent through to school, he’s the one who made it happen. Whether it be binding nearly 1000 Teach Along workbooks, organising printing and postage of the Reading Success in Action series or keeping our house running and children alive, his never-ending support is a true inspiration to me. 
• When it comes to all things visual, Vicky is my go-to gal. From Tuesday tips, blog posts, social media posts and the Teacher Voice Survey to the upcoming podcast, Vicky helps me communicate with all of you. She also answers your email queries and reminds me when I have forgotten to do things!  
• My children – ours is truly a family business, and our kids are a part of that. They each have their jobs to do, paid, of course!
• We also work with a range of small businesses that I’d like to encourage you to consider if you are looking for someone to help you with graphic design, printing or business finance. 

Jo Wilson Design is the amazing graphic designer responsible for all our branding elements. If you are seeking some original artwork or a logo redesign for your school, you can contact her at www.jowilsondesign.com.au 

The Reading Success in Action books (as well as other crazy things I come up with) are lovingly produced for us right here in town by Print Domain Burnie. Whether you are local or not, you can’t go wrong with dealing with Michael and his team. Their customer service is exceptional and they are happy to ship your order right to your door.  https://www.printdomain.com.au/ 

Bookkeeping and financial services – Narelle from Volta consulting is a darling who really understands the explicit teaching model! She has helped us to establish our financial systems and provided some really excellent training along the way. Know someone running a small business who could use some help? Send them to https://voltaconsulting.com.au/

And then there are my ‘unofficial’ supporters, who I just have to mention. 

Jenny Cole was my leadership coach back in the day and is now a good friend. Our weekly accountability calls are so important as I seek to serve the needs of the education community. If you are looking for a leadership coach or are a new or aspiring leader looking to upskill, I can’t recommend Jenny’s work highly enough. https://www.positivelybeaming.com.au/ 

The On the Science of Reading Bus Cheerleaders – The amazing Liz Foley, Nadine MacAninch and Larissa Marchant are terrific human beings and dedicated teachers. I can’t think of better people to help drive the bus. Thank you to this ‘gang of three’ for your encouragement, feedback and support.  

Finally, I want to say a massive Thank You to all of you who passionately advocate for your students each and every day. We know that a shift to structured literacy literally changes lives.   Your stories of the actions you take in your classrooms are so inspirational to me, and I am truly grateful that I can be a small part of helping you do what you do. 

What’s coming in 2023? 

While 2022 has been epic, we aren’t done yet!   Plans for 2023 include: 

• Launching the Evergreen Teacher platform so that schools can do professional learning and development in their own time and their own way. We need professional development to be sustainable and ongoing so that growing knowledge can truly make it into the classroom.  
• Releasing an upper primary version of Reading Success in Action, called Spelling Success in Action. This series for upper primary will focus on explicit morphology instruction and enable you to take teaching beyond the PowerPoint with simple, low variance routines and tools to help students grow in spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension and writing. 
• Release of The Structured Literacy Podcast. We will be making the shift from blog post to podcast in 2023. Keep your eye out! 
• Delivering new Teach Along Courses to our Resource Room members and continuing to grow the resource base. 
• We are also bringing a new member of the team on board. Her identity is a secret (for now), but I look forward to welcoming our newest colleague in a big way in the new year.  Stay tuned!

For now though, we are off for a few weeks of rest and family time before the 2023 school year begins, and I hope you do the same. We wish you and your families a restful break and I look forward to catching up with you all somewhere in real life or on the internet next year. 

All my best, 

Jocelyn