Don't stop now; we still have work to do!

 Taking a moment to reflect on how far we have come in our journey with structured literacy is truly rewarding. As an individual, my exploration into this field began in 2018. It was then that I wrote my first blog post, sharing my initial insights into the fascinating world of the reading brain at the end of April that year.

From that initial step, my passion for learning and implementing structured literacy practices has continually moved my teaching approach forward. In May 2018, I shared another blog post, expressing my excitement about decodable books and phonics. This was just the beginning. By 2019 and 2020, our entire school was engaging in structured literacy learning, leading to rapid growth. Our journey has been marked by an ongoing cycle of reflection, refinement, and adaptation. A crucial element of our progress has been our willingness to acknowledge and learn from our mistakes, which has empowered us to deepen our understanding.

The self-driven nature of our learning journey has been another important factor. We have progressed at our own pace, addressing our unique needs and challenges. Now, in 2025, I sit here, enthusiastic about the prospect of nationwide consistency in New Zealand, where we can establish a consistent baseline for best practices in literacy education. It has been seven years since I began this journey, and while I often cringe at some of my initial thoughts, I treasure my early blog posts as milestones of growth and reminders that every journey must start somewhere.

Despite our achievements, what we are currently striving for should be viewed as merely a baseline for effective practice—what every child in New Zealand should receive. It’s important to recognise that this is not the end of our efforts. Significant work remains. As the title of this reflection suggests, don't stop now; we still have work to do.

A baseline for best practice is a start, but it won't meet the needs of every student. We need well-developed systems to support students who struggle (Tier 2 and 3) and those who require additional challenges. Our goal should be to deliver exemplary practice to the entire class while ensuring that every student's needs are met.

It's encouraging that we are making strides toward more robust Tier 2 and 3 support, but we must admit that we are far from reaching our destination. Schools are doing their utmost, yet meeting these children's needs necessitates comprehensive systems and adequate resources. Implementing a phonics check is one thing, but do schools have the resources and systems in place to act on the data? We must question the practicality of class teachers conducting these assessments when they already gather valuable phonetic information. It may be more practical for one designated individual to handle assessments and provide feedback. An individual who is also in charge of implementing systems of identification and support.

Additionally, our understanding of dyslexia, developmental language disorder (DLD), dyscalculia, and neurodiversity remains inadequate across the sector. Schools often lack the time and resources needed to address these diversities effectively. Ideally, each school should have a dedicated expert to establish systems for identification and support, but this is not currently feasible within the resourcing we receive. Our education system needs easy access to speech-language therapists, educational psychologists, occupational therapists, and more. Expecting teachers to fill roles for which they haven't been trained is unrealistic and unfair. Building an exceptional educational environment requires both funding and key personnel.

Additionally, we must better identify and support students who need challenge. This goes beyond assigning independent projects; it involves teaching that genuinely meets their advanced needs. While teachers strive to provide differentiated instruction, our children deserve more. A gold standard of practice cannot be achieved if teachers are stretched too thinly.

While meeting the needs of all children is complex, it is achievable with the right systems and resources. Our journey in structured literacy is far from over, and we must remain committed to ensuring every child receives the support they need to thrive.  

This journey is in no way basic, schools currently don't even receive enough funding to provide teacher aides to those who desperately need it.  Throwing resources at schools, while gratefully accepted, is just one tiny part of the puzzle, if we truly want to transform our system, much, much more is needed.

You could say, we are not done yet!

 

Whole Class Teaching - What Could Go Wrong?

If you have followed any of my posts over the last few years, you will know I am an enthusiastic advocate of whole class teaching. I have employed this method in mathematics for a long time and transitioned to using it in literacy a couple of years ago.

The Success of Whole Class Teaching

I am deeply passionate about whole class teaching, and when I reflect on the progress of my class over the past couple of years, compared to when I was teaching in smaller groups, I am convinced of its efficacy. It is not just working well but is highly effective.

Addressing Diverse Needs

A primary concern often raised concerning whole class teaching is how to cater to the diverse needs within a classroom. How can educators effectively address the needs of every child? Does whole class teaching imply that everyone receives identical instruction?

Potential Pitfalls of Whole Class Teaching

This concern leads to the crux of this discussion: where could whole class teaching fail? If the approach results in everyone receiving the same instruction and nothing more, it is likely that it will not meet the needs of all children. This issue pertains not only to children who may struggle with learning but also to those who excel and learn implicitly. These children might already be using their foundational knowledge to self-teach and only require minimal guidance to grasp and apply new concepts.

Whole class teaching can indeed falter if teachers assume that merely following a script and delivering the same lesson to all students suffices, without modifying the level of support or extending the content as needed. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for ensuring every child benefits from consistent explicit teaching, but I also know it is possible to notice, adjust and accomodate within this.

Adapting Instruction in Mathematics

When I began teaching mathematics to the whole class, the session's objective remained consistent. However, the level of support or challenge was tailored before, during, and after the session to meet the students' needs.

This adaptation could involve pre-teaching the concept to those who need it, providing additional repetitions for reinforcement, or expanding on the concept to offer extra challenges either within or after the session.

The Role of Play-Based Pedagogy

Here, the beauty of a play-based pedagogy becomes evident. Children engage in play that challenges and interests them. Those who quickly form connections in their learning and enjoy extra challenges often pursue these through play. These moments allow me to determine how best to support each student's individual needs and provide for them within the environment. Not only does it benefit these children, but it benefits everyone, as learning is shared with the whole class and inspires further discovery for everyone.

Applying Whole Class Teaching to Literacy

When I began teaching literacy through whole class instruction, I applied similar principles. Literacy encompasses reading, spelling, handwriting, and foundational writing skills. While the sessions are uniform, those needing additional support receive it individually or in small groups at other times. Students requiring extra challenges can be provided for within the session by introducing advanced content, which involves some observation and questioning. Sentences can be expanded, and spellings elaborated upon. Extra support is available as needed, while other children are able to exercise more independence. Those who enjoy additional challenges can be encouraged to engage further, reading complex texts, writing about their readings, sharing insights with peers, and even creating simple podcasts to integrate their knowledge.

Implementing "Just Right for Me" Reading

Our "just right for me reading" initiative complements our whole class sessions. It requires some coaching, but with effective routines and systems in place, students quickly begin reading texts of their choice that are appropriate for their stage. This allows me to support those who need it while giving others the freedom to explore more complex texts.

Modifying Class Stories

Class stories can also be tailored. Although this was unnecessary last year, I now have children entering my class this year who are already reading significantly ahead of their peers. This year I will create more complex texts for them to read and engage with, in addition to the class story we all share. (You can learn more about how I have used these class stories in the past by reviewing some of my previous posts.)

Conclusion: Avoiding Misinterpretation of Whole Class Teaching

In conclusion, the danger in whole class teaching lies in interpreting it as providing just the same instruction to everyone. We understand that the greatest difference between students is the number of repetitions they require and the level of support needed. Therefore, even within a whole class teaching approach, it is crucial to observe, adjust, and accommodate to ensure that all children receive what they need.

Further Exploration

The video below discusses how various needs can be met in mathematics using a whole class teaching approach.

You really need to try whole class teaching of literacy

Well, it has been a little while since I actually sat down to write a blog post so I thought it was about time I got back into it.

For those that have been following my journey, you will know I started whole class teaching for literacy in 2023.  It has been one of the best things I have ever done as a teacher and I want to urge others who may be considering it, to leap in and give it a go.

You can read back over my blogs, but the main reason I started whole class teaching for literacy (had always done so for maths) was that I felt I was spread to thin across my class, that I was not having a positive impact on all of my groups and it was impossible to deliver any extra support for those that needed it, I just did not have the time.  Sometimes, I would find myself, with the end of the day looming, squeezing in a reading group, just so I felt better that I had seen them that day.  Value added = 0.

My main concern about whole class teaching was the broad spread of abilities within my Yr1-3 class, I struggled to get my head around how an earth teaching whole class would be beneficial for everyone.  I started out thinking it was about reading, but over time I have come to see literacy as everything and understand now that the boxes we create for reading and writing, are just that, boxes constructed within as system that needs to finally acknowledge that all areas of learning are connected.  By teaching in a connected way, we do our ourselves and our children a huge benefit.

When I started my journey into Structured Literacy I worked hard to get my head around everything, to really understand the evidence and enact that into practice that actually worked in a real classroom.  However, I was tied to my reading groups and it wasn't until I let these go, that the real magic started to happen.

If you have read my other posts, you will know I started writing my own sessions, then tried UFLI and then, last year, felt confident enough to again write my own, this time, truly incorporating everything into our class sessions.  You will also know that my connected texts were an overwhelming success, something I am very proud of.

The intention of teaching whole class, is to ensure that everyone gets everything.  We know the main difference between how children learn, is in how many repetitions and what level of support they may need.  Like everyone, I had children that needed one repetition and others that needed multiple practices.  

Whole class teaching ensured these repetitions happened, while still introducing them to parts of the code, that had they sat in a group, they may not have worked with until much later on.   What I found with whole class literacy teaching was that children made more rapid progress within the stages they were consolidating, but also, because they'd been working with parts of the code I may not have previously introduced, they didn't stall, in fact, they started to read and spell words I would never have expected them to read or spell.  In essence because they were not assigned to sit in a group and largely move with that group, they consolidated learning more quickly, developed an understanding of the code outside of what they would have worked with in a group and experienced a huge amount of success, which in turn lead to increased motivation and engagement.  In essence,  success bred success and success bred independence.

For those children who required less repetitions, they still benefitted from the repeated practice daily, but also consolidated more advanced elements of the code more rapidly and started using these elements in their independent reading and writing because they had so much stored in their long-term memory, that they in turn had the cognitive bandwidth to apply to new areas of learning and develop extra skills I may never have introduced them to before.  

Rather than 'holding them back' the opportunity to engage in a lot of repetitions of learning did the opposite, it propelled them forward even faster.

So, how, when there is such a wide spread of levels, do you decide where to start, and what is included?

This is the big question isn't it.  Where to start.  

What is included, changes over the year, the sessions start out quite simply and then get more developed as the year goes on.  Learning within these sessions includes:

*Retrieval of sounds

*Handwriting

*Teaching of new sound

*Apply that by reading and spelling words associated with that new sound

*Irregular words, retrieve those known and learn new

*Word chains - spelling

*Dictated sentence

These sessions evolve as I get better at designing them, but here is a link to a very simple one from the beginning of Term 1.  Basically, I look at the whole class, decide what sounds the class have consolidated as a whole, put those in our retrieval deck and then start teaching from there.  

This is a link to one of our slides from the beginning of Term 4, you can see that it has become much more developed.

The slides do follow the same flow from week to week, but different aspects may be dropped or added depending on our focus.  The slideshow is used for the whole week.

My connected texts had a big role to play here and you can learn more in this video about those.

This vide also explains more about these texts

Children all read these connected texts, which go from very simple, to quite complex over the year.

Decodable books are used for independent practice and used with Tier 2 children that need it.   My Tier 2 children benefit from the class session and an individual or group session, meaning they are getting the extra practice that they need.

I still check in every fortnight with my children individually, just to track their progress and keep a record of where they are up to in the scope and sequence, this allows me to see where there are common areas of need that I need to focus on.  

What Have I Noticed?

*Because this is literacy and everything is integrated, children are building stronger foundations.  Spelling and writing has greatly helped their reading and comprehension.

*I have more time to focus on explicit teaching, children are getting more, rather than me being spread to thin.

*Tier 2 children benefit greatly from practicing at their level, but also participating in the class sessions, they have often acquired understandings further up the code, meaning that when we get there, they need less repetitions.

*Children all become very capable readers and those children we would class as natural readers really skyrocket.  

*Because within the reading we initially focus on sentence level fluency, I noticed the whole class had much better fluency by the end of the year and in turn, their comprehension was better.

*Children feel successful, they enjoy it and do really well.

*I am not so stressed trying to plan for groups throughout the week.

*Children benefit from practicing from decodable texts, while still being about to benefit from less controlled texts.

If you are still on the fence about whole class teaching for literacy, just leap in and give it a go, I promise, you will not look back!