Explicit instruction for phonics – an instructional model: coaching webinar questions transcript
Rebecca McEwan:
There are a few questions in there around timing of the daily review and the lesson and how to fit that into a literacy block.
Q: Can effective instruction be delivered in 30 minutes per day?
Elaine Stanley:
Yes, it definitely can. But the caveat to that is that you've had time to build all of those routines, and that students are really familiar with the structure of the lesson first. Once you get all of those parts in place and all the routines and procedures in place, you can definitely complete the lesson in 30 minutes. I suppose we've just demonstrated that then really, because that was within 30 minutes.
Rebecca McEwan:
In the early stages it will take a little bit longer, but you might also be doing less content. But it is important to take that time at the beginning to build the routines, because, like Elaine said, it'll pay off in the end, and that practice leads to fluency and efficiency within the lesson.
Elaine Stanley:
Yes, exactly.
Rebecca McEwan:
The other thing you can do is make some decisions around what you're including in the daily review each day because, like Elaine said, that's something ideally that we do every day, whereas the explicit teach for phonics, new letter–sound correspondences, we're recommending two to three a week to fit all of everything else in across the Big Six, what we need in our lessons.
In the daily review, for example, you might do sentence-level reading on one day, and then the next day you might focus on the writing part, if you're finding that timing is a little bit tricky. You can definitely make decisions to cater to what your students need, but also cater to what your timetable is.
Elaine Stanley:
Just looking on the list, there's a question here about centres.
Q: Having centres as part of explicit instruction, where do they fit? And, also, rotations within the classroom, do they fit within this model?
Rebecca McEwan:
Okay. For best outcomes, we as the teachers want to spend as much instructional time with as many students as possible, which happens through the whole-class instruction, as we've just demonstrated. It comes back to that teacher-directed principle of explicit instruction, and it allows for that ‘I do, We do’ structured modelling, the guided practice. That's where the learning happens for new content.
Elaine Stanley:
Yes. I suppose if you are required to do rotations as part of that, if that's a requirement at your school, you can think of them as the opportunity to do those independent practice tasks. So, making sure students are really familiar with the tasks they're given to do and that they can complete them independently, but use your rotations for that time. But then having said that, you'd always want to monitor that students are really still doing those tasks really well.
Rebecca McEwan:
With content that they're familiar with.
Elaine Stanley:
Yes, so that they're not practising misconceptions or errors without you there. It's making sure that you are really catering to those students' skill level and knowledge level in the task you give them, so they can do them independently really well.
Rebecca McEwan:
Small-group wise, some people might think of that as part of their rotation, our advice is that that small group time really is for that 20% of your students who need extra face-to-face time with you to have success, because our goal is success for everyone. Some students need more or less of that interaction.
Elaine Stanley:
Actually the whole premise of explicit instruction really is that students get more time with the teacher, so for that guided practice and explicit instruction. That's the ultimate aim.
Q: During a phonics lesson, is there room for fun phonics games?
Rebecca McEwan:
Phonics and fun go together and not just with the first phoneme! Firstly, in our experience in schools across Australia, we've worked with schools all across the country, students love explicit instruction phonics lessons apart from any other games that you might play. It's something that is really engaging for students. I think you had a really nice experience with that, Elaine.
Elaine Stanley:
Yes. There was a school I was working with last year in Sydney, and I went to visit them. They were using our instructional model that we've just shown you. When I arrived at the school, I met with the principal and she said, ‘Oh, we've told all the students you are coming and they're so excited.’ She said, ‘You've like got celebrity status in the school.’ When I went into the classrooms, all the kids were staring at me, and one little boy came up and said, ‘Are you the lady that wrote our fun phonics?’ because that's what they'd called it. I thought, right, I'll claim it. ‘Yes, I am.’ I said, ‘Do you enjoy them?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ Then he scuttled off. You can see from the students how much enjoyment they get from the lessons and, yes, it's evident.
Rebecca McEwan:
Yes. I think a lot of that motivation and engagement comes from the fact that in this type of a lesson, students feel the success and we're ensuring success for everyone. Because we're introducing tiny pieces of new content, they feel that growth and that learning as well.
Elaine Stanley:
What I love is that students can tell you in real time, ‘I can do that this week and I couldn't do that last week.’ They can see that development themselves. They don't have to wait to be told, ‘You're doing really well at this.’ They can see that development happening.
Rebecca McEwan:
Then back to games. So yes, there's time for games. Do you want to talk about that a little bit more?
Elaine Stanley:
Because the lessons are so interactive, a lot of the independent tasks can be, as we mentioned before in the independent task list there that was in the lesson plan, there can be lots of games that are brought in there for independent activities. Also there's room within the lessons for use of manipulatives or magnetic counters or different ways to shake it up a little bit as well.
Rebecca McEwan:
Yes.
Elaine Stanley:
So yes, it makes it fun for everybody.
Rebecca McEwan:
Absolutely. The phonological and phonemic awareness slide pack from Topic 1, there's games in there. There's interactive physical lessons in there as well. So, the answer is yes. There's room for fun and room for phonics games as well.
We're getting towards the end of our session.
Q: Some people have asked about explicit instruction in a school, starting explicit instruction in a school where it's not yet implemented and some best tips for success.
This PL series?
Elaine Stanley:
Yes, for sure. If you're really looking at where to start, I would suggest you go back and look at Topic 1 because we really unpack how to choose a progression, start with phonological and phonemic awareness instruction. They are your really big two starting points.
Rebecca McEwan:
Then in terms of explicit instruction specifically, I'd encourage you to go back and look at the principles of explicit instruction, so either in our spotlight section or Rosenshine's article, and together as a staff choose one, choose a couple that you really want to focus on to make a start on committing to, and that could be your starting point. But start small, start small.
Elaine Stanley:
All right.