Explicit instruction for phonics – an instructional model: Q&A Transcript
Rebecca McEwan:
Q: Is an explicit instructional model suitable for older students with gaps in their phonics knowledge?
To begin with, we'll just say that the scope of this PL really is that we're focusing on F to 2; however, we are getting lots of questions about older students and how this can be adapted for them. Explicit instruction is certainly an effective approach for learners of all ages when it comes to new learning. That's where it's most useful. Even as an adult learner, when I'm learning something new, then it's really supportive for me if somebody shows me, somebody guides me as I have a go, and then I can have a go by myself once that support has been given. I'm actually learning how to update some of the website at the moment, and that's new learning for me.
Elaine Stanley:
Definitely new.
Rebecca McEwan:
That's the model that we've been using and it's really effective. So yes, explicit instruction generally is useful for older students as well. The Lit Hub instructional model for phonics that we went through in our coaching session certainly can be used for older students with those gaps in phonics knowledge. I myself have used it with 3/4s and 5/6s here in Melbourne in some primary schools. That instructional model and the standard lesson in the handouts can be used for your older students, just making sure that that content is obviously updated to address the letter–sound correspondences or phonics concepts that they need to work on.
Elaine Stanley:
I’m actually thinking back to when I first started to use an explicit instructional model. It was with a Grade 4 class. What I did with that group of students was make the focus primarily on spelling because that’s an area that they are more receptive to in a way. They’ve learned to read, by other methods usually, usually not by SSP when they get to that stage, if it hasn’t been coming through the school all the way through, but spelling is an area that they recognise they need, they’ve got gaps in their knowledge. It was easier to start with that focus on spelling. Within the lesson format, you’re still addressing spelling and reading anyway, so you are working on both. They were actually really receptive to the same model, instructional model. What we used to do was keep a spelling journal of concepts that we’ve learned. Actually, some of the more able students kept that journal going and a couple even came back in Grade 6 and said ‘we still use it’.
Rebecca McEwan:
That's when you know it's working.
Elaine Stanley:
I think it's still really workable for the older students because they know things, but they don't know why they know it. It cracks that code at that higher level for them.
Rebecca McEwan:
The spelling generalisations can really help there.
Elaine Stanley:
Another area that is really suited to the explicit instructional model is for morphology. For older students, that's a really important area of the curriculum as well. It's a really good area to use the instructional model to teach morphology explicitly. One of our topics, Topic 7, is all about explicit instruction with morphology. For some people that will be a really good topic to come in at that stage.
Rebecca McEwan:
Absolutely.
Elaine Stanley:
Q: What three areas of teacher knowledge would you invest in first for absolute beginners?
Rebecca McEwan:
So, beginning knowledge for SSP. So firstly, what is SSP? That would be the first one. For those, you could actually look back at the PL overview page on the Literacy Hub and watch those Jocelyn Seamer videos. There are, I think, four modules that we have on there. She goes through what is SSP? What's the evidence behind it? So that would be the first one.
Number two are those explicit instruction principles that we've written about, and we've discussed through Topic 2. If you use that Topic 2 link that's been put in the chat and have a look at the spotlight section and the additional reading, you can find out more about explicit instruction principles.
And then the third thing I would say, cognitive load theory that underpins so much of what we do in SSP and explicit instruction. If you look back at Topic 1, and we can put the link in the chat for you, Topic 1 spotlight section and additional reading, you'll find some information about cognitive load theory.
Elaine Stanley:
For sure. Those are the top three I think that would really get you started.
Rebecca McEwan:
Q: Is differentiated whole-class explicit instruction instruction enough to support students across a wide range of abilities?
Elaine Stanley:
That's a really common question that we get from teachers trying to cater to all needs as effectively as possible. We demonstrated in a lesson in our coaching session, we demonstrated differentiation at the sentence level of working at different students’ point of need. It's good to appreciate as well that you can do that all the way through the explicit instruction lesson, so at the word level for reading and spelling as well as at the sentence level. There are multiple opportunities to differentiate at that whole-class level for different students’ point of need.
As an example, in the lesson plan that we shared, we have students decode the word ‘fish’. What you could do on that decoding page, you could have the whole-class segment and blend the sounds, decode the word ‘fish’, but you can add a section at the bottom either with words in a different colour or in a box, and then the students who are working at a higher level can have a go at decoding a word with more sounds or more difficult sort of words, more complex word structure. You can differentiate on each slide as well within the lesson, so that's one thing.
Rebecca McEwan:
And that's where we talk about differentiating the application rather than the content necessarily. So, ‘fish’ might be for everyone to decode and join in with, but then ‘shift’, which has more phonemes, like you said, might be the one that the more able students are focusing on and anyone else who's confident to have a go. I've seen that work really well in one of the schools I worked with here in Melbourne, and they actually did a separate slide, so that's another option – either on the same slide or a separate slide. Important to remember that that has to be then built into your routine as you're building up this instructional model in your classroom, so the kids know when they should engage with which words to keep that flow of the lesson happening.
Elaine Stanley:
Routines and procedures in place as you go.
Rebecca McEwan:
Absolutely. The other thing I would say here is that remember that Tier 1, the whole-class instruction, is just one piece of the puzzle. We're differentiating within that whole-class instruction, but we always need to complement that with our Tier 2 and Tier 3 instruction, so our small group and our potential one-on one instruction as well. Through your conferencing, through your independent practice tasks, your paired tasks, your teacher focus groups in small groups, yes, it is possible to cater to that wide range of ability, but remembering it's Tier 1, 2 and 3 that are going to bring that to life in your classroom.
Elaine Stanley:
All those parts of the puzzle.
Rebecca McEwan:
That's right.
Elaine Stanley:
At the end of the day, it's hard to take all of that in at once. Each person's got their own context and their own expectations for their school or their classroom that they've got in place. I would say start small and just start to bring in principles of explicit instruction as works for you and your students at the time and build from there really.
Rebecca McEwan:
Absolutely. Actually, in Topic 5, coming up in two topics’ time, three topics’ time, Topic 5, we will have some more details on using that RTI model for your phonics instruction. We're going to actually return to some of the students we talked about in the coaching session for this topic and unpack, that's what whole-class instruction looked like for them. What does their small group or Tier 3 instruction look like?
Elaine Stanley:
Q: How do you ensure all students are being frequently read with to inform individual goals while also allowing time for small groups?
Rebecca McEwan:
Timing, it's always a juggle for us as teachers. Your time to be reading with students, conferencing with students, working with small groups is during the ‘You do’ section of the instructional model. If you haven't had a look at it, do make sure you have a look in the handouts at that instructional model diagram. After our explicit teaching comes that ‘You do’ section. While most students are working on the independent tasks, applying what we've just learned, you can make decisions as the teacher about whether you are conferencing, so doing that one-on-one review and phonics-specific goal setting, whether you are working in small groups for those teacher focus groups, and that is, again, a perfect opportunity to be reviewing and setting phonics-specific goals.
You might be presenting the students with a decodable and unpacking that as a group, but then each student's reading that individually and you’re roving to each of those four or five students and checking in with them, listening to them and reviewing and adapting those phonics goals during the small group as well. It can work hand in hand with small group.
Do remember as well that the explicit instruction model allows for so much interaction between teacher and student and so much monitoring during your daily review and during your explicit teach. You can also be making notes, checking off check boxes and so on during that time, which again is evidence towards whether your students are meeting their phonics goals as well. Lots and lots of opportunities throughout the whole model to be monitoring those goals.
Elaine Stanley:
The beauty of the instructional model is it frees you up as the teacher to be able to focus on that student learning more, rather than what you are teaching. Because the structure stays the same all the time, it frees you up.
I think it's good to remember that it's recommended that you have two to three phonics lessons a week. So in the rest of the week you are covering all the other parts of the curriculum for reading and writing, there's opportunities there as well to do all those other things you need to do, like hear students read.
Rebecca McEwan:
Q: When I'm working with students with additional hearing needs, what do I need to consider for phonics instruction?
Elaine Stanley:
I suppose the first thing that comes to mind is it's really important for students with additional hearing needs that they're sitting front and centre in the classroom in front of you and have clear access to viewing your lips and your mouth shapes, which is really important during phonics lessons. Lots of memes about teachers mapping weird mouth shapes during phonics lessons, but it's really important that they have access to look at you doing that and to see that really close up.
Also, you can have posters with the mouth shapes and things around the room, so visual aids as well or videos of listening at a separate time, listening again to those sounds and seeing the mouth shapes, that's all really important for students with hearing needs.
I've also used in the past a microphone system that tunes in straight to a student's hearing aid system, or it can also be set for the classroom surround sound system. That can be really useful because every child in the class feels like they're getting that direct contact with you, direct sound as if you're speaking just to them. So that's something to consider.
Generally, it's considering the acoustics and the background noise level in your classroom. There's a lot of open-plan type classrooms these days, so that can be an issue that you really need to think about for all students, actually, because they all need to be able to really hear those sounds and attend to those letters and sounds within their phonics lessons.
Rebecca McEwan:
You might also have students in your class with those additional hearing needs that you’re not necessarily aware of. Ear infections, for example, can cause fluctuating hearing loss. It's especially prevalent for students with an Indigenous background, those ear infections and the hearing loss that goes up and down. So it's really beneficial to all students if you're able to do these things. It's not just something that we can do for students with additional hearing needs that are identified, but that sound system is amazing for your phonics lesson, if your school can provide that, and those mouth movements as well.
Elaine Stanley:
Yes, fantastic. I think it's also good to be aware that for different students, different sounds will be the ones that are more difficult. It changes depending on the student. If you can work with any allied health professionals that are working with particular students, so you know exactly which sounds are the ones to focus on, that can be really helpful. And also keeping in mind that when hearing is affected, often speech is affected as well, so taking that into consideration as well. Producing the sounds can be an issue too.
Rebecca McEwan:
Working with speechies [speech pathologists] can be really helpful.
Elaine Stanley:
Q: Can you break down the timing for the parts of the instructional model for us?
Rebecca McEwan:
Ah, timing again. Let's think about this in terms of the two different lesson example types that we put up in our coaching session. The beginning lesson example, which is targeted for that start of Foundation, your early learning of phonics and focused on letter–sound correspondences and some phonemic awareness.
First, advice in terms of timing for that one is be patient and take the time to build up the routine. I know we keep saying that, but particularly for the start of Foundation because the students are still building that independence and their attention spans are still developing as well.
Elaine Stanley:
And building ability to sit still for a short length of time.
Rebecca McEwan:
All of those things. For the beginning lessons, we would advise a 10, 10, 10 model. So 10 minutes of daily review, 10 minutes of your oral phonological and phonemic awareness instruction and 10 minutes of your explicit phonics introduction, so that's where we are doing the ‘I do, We do’ section of the lesson. So, 10, 10, 10. In fact, like we've said, the daily review 10, that would be for every day, and then the rest of that session would be recommended for at least two to three times a week.
Now, following that 10, 10, 10, you would be giving time for your students to engage in independent practice or increasingly independent practice at the beginning of Foundation. Again, it's a bit like letting ping pong balls go into the classroom, so rather than trying to start it all together and sending students off to independent tasks and doing small groups, we really do recommend that that initial independent practice time is in fact supported by you roving and supporting the students to understand what happens during the independent time. Does that make sense?
Elaine Stanley:
Yes. I actually think in those really early stages, the routines and procedures in the lesson are just as important as the content, because building those expectations of what students need to do during that lesson time sets you up for later on when you want to fit more in and have the lessons really run efficiently.
Rebecca McEwan:
I think it's you that says, ‘go slow to go fast’.
Elaine Stanley:
Exactly.
Rebecca McEwan:
Then moving on to our standard lessons, which is what the instructional model sets out, when we are doing grapheme levels, word level, sentence level, get that right. The timing for the standard lesson would start with your 10 to 15 minutes for daily review. Then we'd look at 5 minutes for phonemic awareness instruction targeting any skills with ‘I do, We do’ that your students are showing a need for. Then we'd allocate around 25 minutes for that explicit phonics teach, where we're going through ‘I do, We do’ for reading and spelling at grapheme, word and sentence level. We've got more in that session. The material is becoming more complex, so we need some more time, although the students are more efficient at working along with that model.
So that was 10 to 15 daily review, 5 minutes of explicit phonemic awareness, as needed, and then 25 minutes on your ‘I do, We do’ introduction for your phonics.
Elaine Stanley:
I think if people have really set or really tight time restrictions on their phonics lessons, the place that you can negotiate those timeframes is in the daily review, because as you’re doing it across a week, every day, you can alternate some things in or out each day. You might write at the sentence level one day, but then read at the sentence level the next day. Just if you need to cut it down, that's probably the point to negotiate across a week.
Rebecca McEwan:
Again, it's daily review every day, but your explicit teach for phonics, two to three times a week. Of course, your independent practice and your teacher focus groups that's coming after that explicit teach as well.
Elaine Stanley:
I suppose it's good to remember, we're always thinking about timing and time and how much time we have, but you are covering reading and spelling in those lessons as well. So, there's still lots of time within your literacy block and across the rest of the week to cover all those other parts of the curriculum for reading and spelling as well, and writing.
Rebecca McEwan:
Q: What are some key benefits for teachers in adopting explicit instruction, that I could share with my staff? Some key benefits for teachers?
Elaine Stanley:
Well, I think the number one benefit is always for student learning with the explicit instructional model because the impact is so great for student learning. That's the one benefit for everybody really. But in terms of teachers, it really cuts down lesson planning time because your structure of your lesson is consistent and all you change is content. So, lesson planning time. You'll start to see results pretty quickly with your students’ progress, so that's really beneficial for teachers as well.
Rebecca McEwan:
And motivating for both the students and the teachers.
Elaine Stanley:
Yes, it really is. You're covering multiple areas of the curriculum, as we said before, and again, as we said, it frees teachers up to really work at point of need of where students need that support.
Rebecca McEwan:
You often feel like you're not getting to that handwriting difficulty or that little nitty-gritty piece of information that that student is missing. But the explicit instruction model opens up that time for you.
Elaine Stanley:
I think also once you get going and you've got those routines and the structure and the expectations in place, the student engagement level's really high. It reduces classroom management issues as well, so that's a real benefit for teachers.
Q: For a daily review, how do you know what to put in and what to take out?
Rebecca McEwan:
We talked a little bit about this in the session, the Topic 2 coaching session, so do go back and have a look at that if you haven't. It's all about monitoring the mastery that your students are showing of the content that you've covered already.
One quick tip that I've seen work really effectively in schools is that they actually have a spreadsheet that they track daily review content on. When a new concept's taught, it'd automatically go into the daily review for the next week or two weeks, but then will drop off for new content to come in, and then it could be planned to come back in, in four weeks or in eight weeks to give that spaced review as well. So, some really nifty spreadsheets out there, you can probably look some up online.
That would be a practical way of tracking your daily review inclusions as well as progress monitoring your students. So, when are they becoming really fluent in a certain skill or some knowledge, and that starts to drop out so that other content can come in.
Elaine Stanley:
You do tend to notice just within everyday lessons that they're a bit rusty on that, we're going to put that in the daily review and we'll revise that a little bit. Or, segmenting is not as strong as decoding as blending, so, more of that.
You do make those decisions as you go as well, just as part of your normal teaching.
Rebecca McEwan:
Absolutely.