Podcast and Blog
structured literacy
S4 Ep13 - Let's Talk Year 3-6 Reading Assessment and Grading
Hi there. Welcome to the Structured Literacy Podcast recoded here in Tasmania, the lands of the Palawa people. I’m Jocelyn and I want to say a huge hello to all teachers and leaders grappling with assessment and reporting. Last episode of the podcast, I shared a perspective on reporting and grading early years reading without a benchmark assessment. In the old days, we assessed students, looked at the level and then used that to determine what A-E grade students r…
S4 Ep11 - Making Decisions When The Floor Is Lava
Hi there and welcome to this episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast, recorded here on the lands of the Palawa people of Tasmania.
I have the enormous privilege of talking with school leaders from around the country and working directly with schools. I don't for a single second take the trust that is given to me for granted, and I value so highly the opportunity to be a part of people's journeys. Seeing the tangible results they are achieving is so rewarding.…
S4 Ep10 - Instructional Spring Cleaning - Timers During Classroom Fluency Work
Well, hello there and welcome to this episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast recorded here in Tasmania, the land of the Palawa people.
In this latest mini-series, I've been doing a little bit of spring cleaning. So far, we've looked at the idea of classroom news for oral language development and one student coming up to the front of the room during phonics lessons.
Today, I'm sharing my thoughts on something that impacts all grades in the primary school, t…
S4 Ep9 - Instructional Spring Cleaning - One Student at the Front
Hi there. Thanks so much for joining me on this episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast, the place where we get right down into the nitty-gritty of structured literacy. It's Jocelyn here, joining you from Tasmania, the lands of the Palawa people.
It's wonderful to be working in education at a time when we have a growing understanding of the importance of research and using evidence to guide our classroom decisions. The challenging thing about this is that we …
S4 Ep5 - The Key to Successfully Implementing a New Program in Your School
Welcome to today's episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast, recorded on the lands of the Palawa people of Tasmania. I'm recording this in September 2024 and it's the time of year in Australia when schools begin to turn their eye to making decisions about instruction for the next school year.
To support those efforts, today we're diving into a crucial topic for school leaders: how to successfully implement a new teaching program in your school.
Whether yo…
Tuesday Tip - How You Can Boost Your Students' Vocabulary
In today's Tuesday Tip, I discuss front loading vocabulary and concepts to help students with language difficulties engage more effectively in lessons.
Video Transcript
Hi there, it's Jocelyn, it's time for a tip. This week we're talking about front loading vocabulary and concepts. This is a suggestion often made by speechies for students with language difficulties or processing challenges. Now for these students, what often happens is what the teacher provides in terms of that lead up is not…
S4 Ep4 - Connecting Explicit Teaching and Engagement in Years 3 to 6 Spelling
Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast.
I'm Jocelyn, and today we're diving into a topic that's pretty important for teachers in grades three to six:
How do we connect explicit, structured spelling instruction with opportunities for application and engagement?
Now I know what some of you might be thinking, Jocelyn isn't explicit teaching of spelling just about repeated practice and low variance instruction? Yes, that's a f…
Tuesday Tip - How to Combine Phonics and Morphology
In today's Tuesday Tip, I discuss that to effectively teach children about word formation, you need to combine phonics with morphology.
Video Transcript
Hi everyone, it's Tuesday and it's time for a tip. Very often when we want to unpack words for children during a lesson, we mark the words up, which is a really great idea. That works nicely for the word take t-a-ke, but what about when it comes to taking? This kind of straight marking up doesn't necessarily work as we…
Tuesday Tip - Less Doing and More Learning in the Classroom
In today's Tuesday Tip, I discuss how shifting from focusing on "doing" to emphasising what students are actually learning can make your instruction more impactful.
Video Transcript
Hi, everyone. It's Tuesday, so it's time for a tip.
In their 2006 paper, Kirschner, Sweller and Clark stated, "learning is a change to long term memory."
In our schools, there is way too much doing and often not enough learning. Try and eliminate that language of doing from your conversations…
S4 Ep3 - Can Great Teaching Be Scripted?
Hi there and welcome to the Structured Literacy Podcast. I'm Jocelyn and in this episode, recorded on the lands of the Palawa people here in Tasmania, I'm going to share my thoughts on an issue that many people have many viewpoints about: scripted teaching. Specifically, can great teaching be scripted?
Now, full disclosure, I don't have research to share with you that will definitively answer this question. A review of the literature on this issue yields a numbe…