Whole Class Teaching - matching our expectations to reality

 I have had many people interested in understanding how whole-class literacy teaching is implemented in a Year 1-3 class, where there is a wide range of learning stages (from pre-stage one to 'off decodable stages'). I have blogged a bit about this, and you can find older posts by scrolling through this page.

This year, I started with great enthusiasm, having ended the previous year on a high note with my students and feeling very confident about teaching the whole class. I planned my sessions, intending to deliver each part in bite-sized amounts throughout the day. I thought I had designed pared-back sessions and eagerly jumped into it.

Immediately, I realised that what I had planned was slightly out of reach—not so much in terms of achievement levels, but more concerning executive functioning. The children struggled to meet the expectations I was setting, even though we were only aiming for ten-minute sessions at a time, interwoven with valuable play blocks. How did I know they were struggling? Their behaviour made it very clear. They were cognitively and developmentally overloaded.

I continued for a few days, slightly pruning what I included in the slides, but I went home feeling quite defeated.

I firmly believe that kids do well if they can. Therefore, for some reason, even in a pared-back fashion, what I was expecting, or how I was delivering it, meant they couldn't do well. I also believe that we must meet children where they are, not just in terms of achievement, but also in terms of development. So, instead of 'blaming' them, I wanted to find out what I could do differently.

I started by completely stripping away my plan, choosing to focus on sounds and spelling, along with very explicit, step-by-step teaching of our handwriting shapes. I concentrated on my rhythm, my wording, and how I could be more explicit. I established language around how we used our boards and pens, including what we do with our pens when we are not using them ("cap it and park it") and how they recognize through my hand movements when I wanted them to respond.

I focused on my pacing: Could I be more energetic, clearer? Were they understanding my language? Could I be more explicit? How was I articulating the sounds? Was I being clear enough? Were they practicing enough? I really reflected on myself.

Instantly, the vibe changed. The children were engaged, they experienced success, found the rhythm, and were able to sit for the entire 15 minutes of our main session included in the slideshow. They were regulated, not overloaded, and their nervous systems were calm—a great foundation for learning. I was then able to start incorporating some of my catchphrases: "Mistakes are how we learn, but only if we notice them,"  "Practice makes progress," and so on. I even had the opportunity to introduce self-talk.

This is an example of my currently very pared-back slideshow, which will grow over time but, right now, is just right for us.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17JYBij3R_HF5RyiviDCLACHXxjMrzZJ1LHoQcy-5t3k/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1i8PuyNpaHJ40PV0yyC5SVmg1BgOG1QDr6aC0YtAIqM8/edit?usp=sharing

Weekly Whole-Class Literacy Overview

Please note that these slides are simplified, and the little songs we use are designed to encourage children to experiment and play with words. I consciously incorporate spaced practice with these, and in the slides preceding these, our songs have focused on short vowel sounds. Short vowel sounds often pose a significant challenge for children, particularly in spelling, so I emphasise them consistently and repeatedly. Over time, the letter sounds that the children have mastered (most of the class have stage one and two sorted) will be removed, and only the new or commonly challenging ones will be continued. It is also important to note, that while a few of my readers have no need for decodable readers as tools, they still have spelling as a much needed focus.

What Does Whole-Class Literacy Look Like Over the Week?

• Handwriting: We start the day with handwriting practice. We are working through our Casey shapes on whiteboards and will gradually drop shapes as they are mastered. We are currently focusing on writing the letters a, b, c, d, and have recently added e, ultimately I want them to be able to work on fluency by writing the alphabet in order. As the children progress from acquisition to fluency, we will introduce additional letters. Twice a week, children work in their handwriting books, focusing on letters related to the focus shapes (for instance the focus has been on those letters with Casey’s open mouth for now.) Fluency is our goal after children have acquired all of the shapes. This segment is brief, lasting a maximum of 15 minutes, but is adjusted based on how settled the children are. Afterwards, they have 20–30 minutes of playtime.

• Slideshow Literacy: This typically occurs when we return from the initial play-based time. It generally takes us about 15 minutes to go through the slideshow. If we don't complete everything, we revisit it after a break. Over time there will be word ladders that children will take away and work on word reading fluency with a buddy, for now, we are just focused on our initial routines. This structured approach helps to ensure that literacy skills are developed systematically and that each child can progress at their own pace while addressing any difficulties with particular sounds or letters.  Teach it, before you have to fix it.

• Just-Right-For-Me Reading: At some point during the day, we dedicate ten minutes (a duration that will increase throughout the year) to our "just-right-for-me" reading. A video provides more information about this activity.  Most of the class are reading decodable books, while a few will be reading from chapter books just right for them.

• Class Stories: Once or twice a week, we engage with class stories. I use Pearl, our storytelling puppet, to capture children's imaginations and gather their ideas. The focus is on repeated reading and sentence-level comprehension. This year, we have two versions of the text: a basic one and a more complex version with additional details. More information is provided in the video below.

This is Pearl the puppet, who helps connect us to the world of our 'story' friends.

This structure supports literacy development by combining handwriting practice, reading comprehension, and creative storytelling, all tailored to meet the children's evolving learning needs.  This year, I have two versions of the story, one basic and one more complex.  I am very conscious that those children further along the progress scale need to be provided for too.

So our whole class literacy is basically:

1. Handwriting
2. Slideshow
3. Just right for me reading (where the decodable books are used as tools)
4. Class stories (not quite decodable stories that focus on sentence level fluency and comprehension)

What Else?

While we work on spelling as a big part of our whole class focus and have a big focus on handwriting, elements of writing do stand outside of this.  Once a week we will engage with a session from the Syntax project and right now our focus for writing is on writing a full sentence using colourful semantics.  

The emphasis is on oral language and it is a heavily scaffolded process.  I found last year, that the work put in here, had big spinoff benefits for the remainder of the year and last year my children were writing better than ever class I have had before.  I credit this progress to the time we spent building the foundations of writing, or you could say the building blocks of writing.

We will slowly start into SRSD towards the end of this term and that was a winning approach last year, with the training that we are doing this year, I expect there to be an even greater impact.

We also have a class chapter book that we are reading (Naught Amelia Jane) and are focused on building knowledge in specific areas so that we have something to write about.  As this is not a post about writing, I will not go into much more detail, but I have posted before about this.  Here is the blog post specifically about knowledge building.

Like everyone we also read quality picture books, shared books and as we advance into the term I will start to add fluency passages like poems that we can learn 'off by heart' to focus on prosody.  We work to a level where we can perform this, similar to the idea of readers theatre or talk for writing.

Supporting Diverse Learning Needs

This year, I am particularly focused on catering to children whose progress is significantly ahead of their peers. To address this, I have introduced two versions of our class stories: a basic text and a more complex text. We also engage in extended writing activities with the class, where everyone contributes ideas. These stories are then sent home for either independent or shared reading. With the more advanced students, I work in small groups on the complex text. Together, we write based on what we've read, exploring intricate spelling patterns and studying morphology.

For students needing additional support, I have two children at Stage One in Year Two/Three, and one child pre-Stage One. I work with them individually in a Tier 2 setting each day. These children also receive Tier 3 support outside the classroom, which is closely aligned with our classroom activities.
Each child has an individual literacy goal derived from assessment sheets. This approach helps us monitor their progress and tailor our teaching strategies accordingly. We share these goals with whānau, providing clear guidelines on how they can assist their children with practice at home. Some children require more frequent check-ins, while others might only be seen three times a term.

When necessary, I work with children individually or in small groups based on their needs. These groupings are flexible and used only when required. Some students engage in more repeated readings of our class stories, while others read in small groups with me.

By implementing these strategies, I aim to ensure that each student's unique learning needs are met as effectively as possible within the limited time that we have throughout the day.