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Hi there, I'm Jocelyn Seamer. Teacher, former school leader, author, and all around cheerleader for teachers everywhere. Learning to read and write is a matter of social justice. Every child deserves to learn through evidence informed practices, and every teacher deserves to be fully supported to make that happen.The Structured Literacy Podcast goes beyond the program to get to the heart of what it's really like to build a structured approach to literacy across the school.
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School leaders and teachers constantly face the challenge of turning great ideas into lasting change. In this episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast, Jocelyn shares a practical, simple strategy to keep school improvement initiatives alive and thriving. Learn how to create consistency, maintain momentum, and prevent your best efforts from fading away. Whether you're a school leader or classroom teacher, this episode offers a straightforward approach to making school improvements stick. Has...
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 g...
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 Quick Links Jocelyn Seamer Education Homepage The Resource Room...
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 Quick Links Jocelyn Seamer Education Homepage The Resource Room...
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 Quick Links Jocelyn Seamer Education Homepage The Resource Room...
Novel study has gained traction in teaching circles, but important questions arise about its suitability for all students, time management challenges, and whether it's truly evidence-based for primary schools. In this episode, Jocelyn explores • Research comparing novels with shorter stories • Teachers challenges in novel studies including time constraints, student stamina issues, and resource limitations • Quality of text and instruction matters more than text length • The role of us...
Should we be teaching phonics beyond the early years? This question lands in my inbox regularly, and for good reason – it touches on critical decisions teachers must make about literacy instruction in upper primary. In this episode, Jocelyn addresses - What research tells us about spelling development - The ideal scenario vs the reality of the current state of student knowledge - What it means to be data responsive in spelling instruction - The most effective path forward in makin...
We examine why educational practices often fail to stick in schools despite initial enthusiasm and training. The key insight is that sustainable implementation requires building systems where practices become embedded in school culture rather than being treated as temporary initiatives. • The implementation dip occurs when the "shine of the new" wears off and teachers must embed practices for the long term • Different teachers need different types of support – some need training, others coac...
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 Quick Links Jocelyn Seamer Education Homepage The Resource Room...
We must be strategic about harnessing teachable moments to ensure they enhance rather than distract from our learning objectives. Even experienced educators can get swept up in exciting classroom discussions that inadvertently create inequitable learning environments. • The satisfaction of engaging students in rich, spontaneous discussions can sometimes lead us away from our lesson objectives • Developing a "prompt or park" decision framework helps manage student curiosity without sacrificin...
In this episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast, Jocelyn provides essential guidance for educational leaders navigating the complex process of selecting instructional programs. She introduces a research-informed practice model that balances research findings, professional knowledge, and student outcomes, while emphasising that the goal should never be simply to "get a program" but to genuinely improve student learning. Jocelyn outlines the NICE framework for decision-making and share...
Too much professional development feels like a box-ticking exercise with little to show for the time invested. In this episode, Jocelyn unpacks decades of research findings to reveal the seven elements that make PD truly effective, and shows how leaders and teachers can stop wasting time and start creating lasting impact in classrooms. 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 ...
Sustainable school improvement happens when change is done with teachers, not to them, and when professional learning builds genuine understanding rather than just compliance with programs. • The key difference between compliance and commitment in school change • Why program implementation alone isn't enough to transform practice • Starting with strengths rather than deficits when approaching improvement • Understanding the "why" behind instructional decisions, not just the "what" • Creating...
In this episode, Jocelyn unpacks a crucial distinction in the world of education: the difference between professional learning that simply ticks a box and learning that leads to lasting transformation in classrooms. Drawing on her experience as both a teacher and professional learning facilitator, Jocelyn explores the essential elements of impactful PL—from long-term commitment and real-world relevance to leadership support and collaborative action. If you’ve ever sat through a PD session won...
In this episode of the Structured Literacy podcast, Jocelyn challenges the common assumption that teacher confidence equals competence, drawing on the Dunning-Kruger effect to show how the least skilled teachers often overestimate their abilities while knowledgeable educators frequently doubt themselves. Using her Responsive Leadership Model, she demonstrates how different developmental phases create mismatches between confidence and actual capacity, advocating for educational leaders to focu...
Professional judgment grows from a foundation of deep, defensible knowledge about how learning actually works. When you understand the cognitive science behind reading development, why systematic phonics instruction matters, and how orthographic mapping occurs, you're equipped to make informed decisions rather than simply following a script. Yet the strongest professional judgment comes from those constantly willing to question their own assumptions. This balance—being confident in what you k...
In this episode of the Structured Literacy podcast, Jocelyn argues for reintroducing regular read-alouds in upper primary classrooms, which have largely disappeared amid the focus on explicit, systematic instruction. She explores how interactive read-alouds build oral language foundations that support reading fluency through developing students' "language prediction engine"—the ability to anticipate what words come next based on vocabulary and syntax knowledge. Drawing on research showi...
In this episode of the Structured Literacy podcast, Jocelyn addresses how to safeguard the progress made in evidence-based literacy instruction by making data collection an integral part of teaching rather than an administrative burden. Drawing on Teacher Voice survey data showing significant shifts away from sight word programs and predictable texts between 2021-2023, she emphasises that implementing structured literacy programs means nothing without measuring their actual impact on student ...
In this episode of the Structured Literacy podcast, Jocelyn outlines five strategic refinements to boost teaching effectiveness once foundational structured literacy practices are established. Drawing on cognitive science research including Dehaene's four pillars of learning and Rosenshine's principles, she presents actionable strategies: increasing student responses with early engagement within 30 seconds to activate attention systems, managing response ratios strategically for different lea...
In this episode of the Structured Literacy podcast, Jocelyn addresses how educators can maintain momentum during challenging periods by celebrating incremental progress rather than focusing solely on major outcomes like NAPLAN results. She outlines five key milestones worth celebrating: mastering literacy block timing and routines, students developing automatic behaviours that reduce negative incidents, observing short-term data movement in phonics assessments, witnessing students make cross-...
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Looking for the download file from season 3, episode 22 please. How do I access this? Thank you
i don t know how to get to show notes