Megan Thompson – Assistant Principal, Newcastle East Public School

I think the best place to start would probably be the student data.

Lucy Partridge - Teacher, Newcastle East Public School

Yeah, absolutely.

Megan Thompson

So, after looking at the results of the phonics screeners that we've done with our students, for my kids, it would seem like they've got a really good grasp of their single-letter graphemes and phonemes.

[Screen shows: Phonics diagnostic assessment – assessment guide and student materials.
Text on screen: Note – short on-demand phonics assessment.]

Lucy Partridge

I agree. Mine did really well with the single letters. And looking at the K-2 syllabus for English, I think the next step for us is moving on to digraphs.

[Text on screen: Note – systematic approach to phonics instruction.]

Megan Thompson

Yeah.

Lucy Partridge

Do you think your kids would be up to that?

Megan Thompson

Absolutely. Yes. So that, we've got the GPC instructional sequence here and you can see that they move through the single-letter graphemes, and the next step is,

Lucy Partridge

/sh/. Okay.

[Screen shows: English K–2 instructional sequence – grapheme-phoneme correspondences.
Text on screen: Note – GPC instructional sequence.]

Megan Thompson

That's the first digraph.

Lucy Partridge

Beautiful. That's the same for our decodables as well. The next sound moving through there is /sh/, so that's perfect timing.

Megan Thompson

That works well. Okay, so what we want to do in our lesson is make sure we've got whole class, really explicit teaching, before they move off to some independent work.

Lucy Partridge

Excellent, so you're thinking SMART board with some resources, kids have their mini whiteboards?

Megan Thompson

Yeah, definitely.

Lucy Partridge

Great.

Megan Thompson

And let's see how we can get some connected content happening there.

Lucy Partridge

Well, handwriting, that will be easy because you can explicitly demonstrate how to do both the letters together and then maybe even just make sure they're aware that the ‘s’ and the ‘h’... the ‘h’ is a tall letter.

Megan Thompson

Yeah.

Lucy Partridge

They can practise that in the air. They love doing it on each other's backs. And then practise on their whiteboards.

[Text on screen: Note – multi-sensory methods.]

Megan Thompson

All right, so in that explicit lesson on the SMART board, we'll get lots of blending practice, some encoding practice, and spelling practice as well. So, I guess some more connected content would be looking at where the digraph falls in different words.

[Text on screen: Note – decoding and encoding.]

Lucy Partridge

Whether it's at the front or at the back, at the end.

Megan Thompson

Beginning or end, that sounds good. So, we need to think about which kids we're going to try and extend a little bit.

[Text on screen: Note – planning for differentiation.]

Lucy Partridge

I definitely have a few that will need some sort of extension. What if when they're writing the words, so we'll get them to write some words down onto their mini whiteboards, what if we get them to add some suffixes onto the end? So they might add a couple of extra Elkonin boxes and maybe add ‘ing’ or ‘es’ or something like that to extend them a little bit.

Megan Thompson

Yeah, I've got a few kids who could definitely work with that.

Lucy Partridge

Okay.

Megan Thompson

And I'll tell you where we could get some more connected content. If we have some decodable sentences and I read, the children read back to me, we can work on fluency and really model fluent reading, and…

Lucy Partridge

And actually bring up the word fluency and get them to, yeah.

Megan Thompson

And some comprehension. So, you could have your decodable sentence, a couple of pictures underneath. We've read the sentence a few times, a couple of pictures, and they have to select the picture, you could say, by pointing.

Lucy Partridge

Oh yeah, they could just go, "This sentence matches that picture."

Megan Thompson

Yeah, exactly.

Lucy Partridge

That'd be fun.

Megan Thompson

And then how about whole class, explicit part, and then half of the kids stay on the floor and we've got these decodables really feature the /sh/ sound and they've already got a good grasp of all these single letters.

Lucy Partridge

So, they're all known ones.

Megan Thompson

So, if we keep half on the floor and they do a bit of partner reading, and the other half...

[Text on screen: Note – using decodable texts.]

Lucy Partridge

The other half could do this independently.

Megan Thompson

Yeah, so some work on Elkonin boxes.

Lucy Partridge

Great.

Megan Thompson

And.

Lucy Partridge

Oh, this is good because that has the GPC at the start and some of them have it at the end, like ‘fish’.

Megan Thompson

Yeah. Perfect. And then some more comprehension: read, trace, write. And if they can draw the picture to match the word, that shows comprehension.

Lucy Partridge

In your own pace.

Megan Thompson

Yeah. Okay, I think we're ready to move forward.

Lucy Partridge

Great. Let's do it.

[Text on screen reads: Summary:

• A systematic approach to phonics instruction should build grapheme-phoneme knowledge from the initial to the extended phonics code.
• Students are taught to decode (read) and encode (spell) as part of phonics instruction.
• Using decodable words, sentences and texts allows students to apply their Phonic knowledge.
• Decodable texts should be aligned with a reputable grapheme-phoneme correspondence instructional sequence.
• Phonics can be taught in parallel with Vocabulary, Phonological awareness, Print conventions, Reading fluency, Reading comprehension, Spelling and Handwriting.
• Explicit teaching strategies that are planned for use include gradual release of responsibility, determining a clear learning focus, chunking and sequencing learning, connecting for learning, opportunities for practice and checking for understanding.]

[End of transcript]

Megan Thompson – Assistant Principal, Newcastle East Public School

So, today, we're going to start by revising and reviewing some of the sounds that we've been learning over the last few weeks.

[Text on screen: Note – instructional routines.]

So, I'm going to show you a grapheme and you're going to tell me the phoneme or the sound that it makes. Are you ready?

[Text on screen: Note – using metalanguage.]

Students

Yes.

Megan Thompson

There's nothing new here. These are all sounds that we've done before. Eyes to the board. Here we go.

[Text on screen: Note – whole class teaching.]

Students

/g/ + /l/ + /f/ + /k/ + /r/ + /h/ + /u/ + /z/ + /l/.

[Text on screen: Note – revision of GPCs.]

Megan Thompson

Remember that one? We don't say, /l/ + /l/ do we?

Students

No.

Megan Thompson

We just say, /l/. Here's another one like that.

Students

- /s/.

Megan Thompson

Now the next slide you're going to see is some words that we're going to blend the graphemes together, and we're going to read the words, but you have to wait until the arrows pop up. Remember, let's not rush in. Okay. Even though you might know the word straight away. Are you ready?

[Text on screen: Note – using final blending to decode words.]

Students

/z/ + /a/ + /p/ ... ‘zap’.

Megan Thompson

You've got it.

Students

/z/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘zip’.

Megan Thompson

Perfect. Here's another one.

Students

/f/ + /e/ + /l/ ... ‘fell’.

Megan Thompson

Excellent. I think there might be one more.

Students

/m/ + /e/ + /s/ ... ‘mess’.

Megan Thompson

Fantastic.

[Text on screen reads: Summary:

• Instructional routines that bring predictability to phonics lessons allow students to focus on the content rather than the task. This can decrease students’ cognitive load.
• Teachers should use metalanguage to support and develop student understanding as appropriate.
• Whole class teaching significantly increases the amount of time every student receives direct instruction from the teacher.
• Students revise previously learned grapheme-phoneme correspondences to ensure learning is both systematic and cumulative.
• Students applied final blending to decode words, where each phoneme is pronounced individually and then blended together (/c/ + /a/ + /t/ ... cat). Successive, or additive, blending is an alternate decoding strategy where 2 phonemes are pronounced and immediately blended, and remaining phonemes are added one at a time (/m/ + /i/ ... /mi/, /mi/ + /l/ ... /mil/, /mil/ + /k/ ... milk). Connected phonation is another decoding strategy where breaks between phonemes are avoided and the reader stretches out the phonemes (/mmmmaaaaat/ ... mat).]

[End of transcript]

Megan Thompson – Assistant Principal, Newcastle East Public School

Because you know all of those sounds so well, it's time to introduce a new one, different to the one we did yesterday. The sound we're going to learn today is this one. /sh/.

[Text on screen: Note – sharing learning intentions.]

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

Oh, I noticed some people lifting their finger to their lips. Take your finger away. Look at my mouth. /sh/.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

What is my mouth doing? The corners of my lips come in. My lips come out. /sh/. And I blow. You have a go at making that sound.

[Text on screen: Note – explicit teaching of phonological awareness skills.]

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

Perfect. Stop and put up your hand if you can tell me where your tongue is when you make the sound /sh/?

Student

At the top.

Megan Thompson

Okay, let's do it again.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

Is your tongue touching anything?

Students

No...

Megan Thompson

It's not, it is up the top, but it's not actually touching anything in our mouth. Listen to me, make the sound again.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

Am I using my voice?

Students

No.

Megan Thompson

I'm not. I'm just blowing. So, the way we make the /sh/ sound is by blowing. Okay, let's do it one more time.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

Perfect. Can you look at the person next to you or someone near you and watch them make the /sh/ sound?

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

All right. Everybody eyes back to me. Now that we can hear the /sh/ sound and we know how to make the /sh/ sound, let's see how we write and read the /sh/ sound. I wonder if anyone can remember what it's called. This is a very special grapheme because we have two letters that come together to make one sound. That's got a special name.

[Text on screen: Note – using metalanguage.]

Students

A digraph.

Megan Thompson

A digraph! Two letters that come together to make one sound. And those two letters are 's' and 'h'. And when they come together, we don't say /s/ + /h/ anymore, we're going to say /sh/. Okay? I think you're ready to learn how to write the grapheme that represents /sh/. Let's have a look first at, we're going to follow these dots so we know how to write it. Ready? We've got our 's' first and then our 'h'.

[Text on screen: Note – parallel content.]

Now let's get our pretend pencils. Okay. Ready? I'm going to turn around this way as well. Start your 's' at the top. Make an 's', that's it. Pencil comes off, pencil back on and make our 'h' up and over. So we have... do it one more time. We have 's' is a short letter. And then we have a nice tall 'h'. Get your pretend pencil and on the floor have a go at writing, /sh/.

[Text on screen: Note – multi-sensory methods.]

Great! You write on someone's back, the grapheme /sh/. See if you can feel it. Are they doing it properly? Okay everybody, eyes back to me. We've written it in the air. We've written it on the floor. Let's write the grapheme /sh/ on your whiteboard. Let's do it three times. Can you make sure that your 'h' is nice and tall? Have a look up here again. If you forget, look at the screen. Because your 'h' needs to be much taller than your 's'. Perfect. They are amazing. 1, 2, 3. Chin it!

[Text on screen: Note – checking for understanding.]

Do you know what I love, how, you've got the 'h', nice and tall and the 's' is smaller. Look, the 's' comes up to that hump on the 'h'. Wonderful. Okay, I'm going to say a word and I want you to listen for the /sh/ sound and tell me if it's at the beginning, the middle, or the end of the word. ‘ship’.

Students

‘ship’.

Megan Thompson

Beginning, middle or end? ‘ship’.

Students

In the beginning.

Megan Thompson

You've got it. It's at the beginning. Let's try that again. ‘fish’. ‘fish’.

[Text on screen: Note – varied position of grapheme.]

Students

The end.

Megan Thompson

‘fish’. You are right. It's at the end, good girl. Okay. Little bit more practise. This time, every time you see that grapheme, we are going to make the sound that matches it, okay? Sometimes I'm going to ask you to make it loud. Sometimes I'm going to ask you to make it soft. Are you ready?

[Text on screen: Note – repetition is an important part of deliberate practice.]

Students

Yeah. Yes.

Megan Thompson

Okay. Let's go.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

This one I want you to do really soft.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

The next one I want you to do really loud.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

It's hard to do loud because we don't use our voice. We are just blowing, aren't we? We've gone through the sounds we already know. We've learnt /sh/... And now we're going to read some words that have /sh/ in them. Okay? And we're going to blend the letters together, the sounds together to read the words. Eyes up on the screen. Here we go.

Students

/sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘ship’.

Megan Thompson

Again.

Students

/sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘ship’.

[Text on screen: Note – blending practice using decodable words.]

Megan Thompson

Well done.

Students

/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘fish’.

Megan Thompson

One more time.

Students

/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘fish’.

Megan Thompson

Nicely done.

Students

/d/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘dish’.

Megan Thompson

Again.

Students

/d/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘dish’.

/sh/ + /e/ + /l/ ... ‘shell’.

Megan Thompson

Again.

Students

/sh/ + /e/ + /l/ ... ‘shell’.

Megan Thompson

We're going to do some writing now. Say this after me, say it.

[Text on screen: Note – instructional routines.]

Students

Say it.

Megan Thompson

Stretch it.

Students

Stretch it.

Megan Thompson

Listen to each phoneme.

Students

Listen to each phoneme.

Megan Thompson

Write each phoneme.

Students

Write each phoneme.

Megan Thompson

Here's a little reminder. We're going to say each word each; we are going to stretch it or segment it into its parts; we are going to write what we hear and then we are going to check. Okay? What's the last step? Checking what we've written. Say, ‘ship’.

Students

‘ship’.

Megan Thompson

Say it again.

Students

‘ship’.

Megan Thompson

Okay, let's stretch it out into its phonemes. ‘ship’.

[Text on screen: Note – segmenting practice using decodable words.]

Students

/sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘ship’.

Megan Thompson

One more time.

Students

/sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... ‘ship’.

Megan Thompson

Can you please draw on your board a big rectangle and 2 lines inside it to make 3 boxes and have a go at writing. /sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ...

[Text on screen: Note – using Elkonin boxes.]

There we go. /sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... You have a go. Are you ready? 1, 2, 3. ‘ship’. Also, I love how your 'h' is taller than your 's' as well, like we talked about before. Okay, last step is check. Let's check! /sh/ + /i/ + /p/ ... Did you get that?

Students

Yeah.

Megan Thompson

Awesome. Let's rub out our letters, but leave our 3 boxes there. We're going to do another one. Okay, next one is ‘fish’. Let's say it.

Students

‘fish’.

Megan Thompson

Let's stretch it into its phonemes.

Students

/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘fish’.

[Text on screen: Note – using hand gestures.]

Megan Thompson

One more time.

Students

/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... ‘fish’.

Megan Thompson

It's time to write it. /f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ... Do you remember? Well done. That is amazing. Gee, you guys are quick learners. Fish. Okay, it's time to do another one. Check before you rub it out. Are you ready everybody? ‘shell’! Say ‘shell’.

Students

‘shell’.

Megan Thompson

Let's stretch it.

Students

/sh/ + /e/ + /l/ ... ‘shell’.

Megan Thompson

Write it. I want you to write, ‘splashing’. ‘splashing’. Have a go at ‘splashing’.

[Text on screen: Note – planned differentiation.]

‘shell. /sh/ + /e/ + /l/ ... Okay. How did you go with splashing? /s/ + /p/ + /l/ + /a/ + /sh/ + /ing/. You got it! Good girl, let's have a look at shell everybody. Do you notice everyone this time in ‘shell’, there are two 'l's at the end?

[Text on screen: Note – timely and task focused feedback.]

Students

Yes.

Megan Thompson

Okay. When we have that short vowel /e/ and then a /l/, it's followed by two 'l's. So, if you didn't put two 'l's, pop your second one in when you check, awesome. Rub out and congratulations girl, you got the hard one. ‘splashing’. Well done.

[Text on screen reads: Summary:

• ‘Sharing learning intentions’ is an important explicit teaching strategy as it allows the teacher to communicate the learning goals. Learning intentions should be written in student-friendly language and referred to throughout the lesson.
• The explicit teaching of phonological awareness skills, including phoneme articulation, supports effective phonic knowledge development.
• Teachers should use metalanguage to support and develop student understanding as appropriate.
• Phonic knowledge content from the NSW English K–10 Syllabus can be taught in parallel with Handwriting content.
• Multi-sensory methods integrate the 3 senses used in reading and writing: sound, sight and touch.
• The explicit teaching strategy ‘checking for understanding’ allows teachers to collect and analyse responses from all students to guide instructional decisions.]

[End of transcript]

Megan Thompson – Assistant Principal, Newcastle East Public School

We have learnt /sh/. We have read words and written words that have /sh/, now we're going to read sentences that have /sh/ words in them, okay?

[Text on screen: Note – chunking and sequencing learning.]

Now, you're going to listen to me read the sentence nice and fluently, and then we're going to read it together. And then, we're going to do that activity where you have to pick the right picture. There's going to be two pictures, and you have to pick the one that matches the sentence. Do you remember doing that previously?

[Text on screen: Note – parallel content.]

Students

Yeah.

Megan Thompson

And I know it's going to be tempting for you to jump in and read, but listen to me read it fluently first and then you can have a go. Are you ready? Here we go. ‘The /sh/ + /i/ + /p/ … ship, is very /b/ + /i/ + /g/ … big.’ I'm going to do it and then we'll do it together. ‘The ship is very big.’ Let's do it together, go.

[Text on screen: Note – using example sentences.]

Megan Thompson and students

‘The ship is very big.’

Megan Thompson

Okay, one more time.

Megan Thompson and students

‘The ship is very big.’

Megan Thompson

This time, when you see the picture, pick the right one that matches the sentence. This one, or this one?

[Text on screen: Note – quick comprehension checks.]

Students

That one.

Megan Thompson

You've got it, perfect. Let's do that again with a different sentence. My turn first, then yours. ‘The’... Shh, my turn first. ‘The /sh/ + /e/ + /l/ … shell, is /p/ + /i/ + /n/ + /k/ … pink and /r/ + /e/ + /d/ … red.’ Do you think we're ready to do it together?

Students

Yes.

Megan Thompson

Fluently?

Megan Thompson and students

‘The shell is pink and red.’

[Text on screen: Note – using phonic knowledge and known high frequency words.]

Megan Thompson

I might get out Mr. Pointy so I don't have to walk across in front of it. Let's do it again.

Students

Mr. Pointy!

Megan Thompson and students

‘The shell is pink and red.’

Megan Thompson

We might try that one more time because I think I heard some people saying something else. Let's go.

Megan Thompson and students

‘The shell is pink and red.’

Megan Thompson

Which picture, is it this one, is it that one? Let me see.

Students

That one.

Megan Thompson

Exactly, this one's pink and red, very good. Okay, before we do our next one, I've shown you how to read the sentence and sound out the words. If you flip over your whiteboard, you're going to find a sentence of your own to try and read. ‘A’-

Megan Thompson and student

‘A fish is’-

[Text on screen: Note – independent practice and checking for understanding.]

Student

‘In the dish.’

Megan Thompson

How you doing there, mate?

Student

‘A’…

Megan Thompson

/f/ + /i/ + /sh/ ...

Student

‘Fish is in’-

Megan Thompson

‘The.’

Student

‘The’-

Megan Thompson and student

/d/ + /i/ + /sh/ ...

Student

‘dish.’

Megan Thompson and student

‘A fish is in the dish.’

Megan Thompson

Okay. Are we ready to try that together?

Students

Yes.

Megan Thompson

Okay, put your finger under the first word.

Students

‘A’-

Megan Thompson

Hang on a second. And let's do it together, go.

Megan Thompson and students

‘A fish is in the dish.’

Megan Thompson

Alright, look up here. Here it is, let's do it together.

Megan Thompson and students

‘A fish is in the dish.’

Megan Thompson

Choose the picture that matches that sentence. That's it. Because the fish is not in the dish in this one.

Student

It's trying to get out.

Megan Thompson

It doesn't want to be eaten for dinner, I think. Okay.

[Text on screen: Summary:

• The teacher uses the explicit teaching strategy of ‘chunking and sequencing’. She articulates how the learning has built throughout the lesson.
• Content from Phonic knowledge is taught in parallel with Reading fluency and Reading comprehension content.
• The example sentences provide an opportunity to reinforce the target phoneme and for cumulative review of grapheme-phoneme correspondences that have been previously learned.
• Quick comprehension checks ensure that students are making the connection between word reading and meaning.
• The teacher models how to use Phonic knowledge and known high frequency words to read a decodable sentence.
• Students engage in independent practice while the teacher checks for understanding and supports or extends students’ learning as required.]

[End of transcript]

Megan Thompson – Assistant Principal, Newcastle East Public School

Now we are going to break up into two groups and I'm going to have half of you on the floor and we're going to be reading to a partner. Either this book or this book.

[Text on screen: Note – planned differentiation.]

Okay, taking it in turns. Have a page each. Like we just said, if you finish the book, please read it again because every time you read it, you become more fluent. And the other half of the class are going to be back at tables doing this one, which is very similar to what we were doing on our whiteboards before. Do you remember? We were saying the word, stretching the word, and writing the word into the boxes.

[Text on screen: Note – instructional routines.]

Student

And listening to the phoneme.

Megan Thompson

And listening to the phonemes. Perfect, and then another sheet that I have for you to do, do you remember yesterday we read the word?

Students

Yeah.

Megan Thompson

We traced the word.

Students

Yeah.

Megan Thompson

We had a go at writing it by ourselves.

[Text on screen: Note – decoding and encoding.]

Students

Yeah.

Megan Thompson

And then, hands up and tell me what we did in this last box?

Student

We drew it.

Megan Thompson

We drew it, that's exactly right. And that tells me that you were able to read the word. Okay, go and find somewhere to work and you can get started. My reading friends come down here.

Student

‘He /g/ + /o/ + /t/ ... got a /f/... fresh... but...’

[Text on screen: Note – repeated reading practice.]

Megan Thompson

‘He got a fresh /b/ + /u/ + /n/ ...’

Student

‘bun’. ‘The /s/ + /m/ + /e/ + /l/ ... smell of the /b/ + /u/ + /n/ ... was yummy, yummy, yummy.’

Megan Thompson

Great job!

Student

‘Pam went to the big fish on the shell. It had a shell in it and a red fish. The fish in the dish had long lashes.’

[Text on screen: Note – focused observation and note taking.]

Student

Can you have a turn?

Student

‘A ship was in the dish for the fish.’

Student

/i/ ... /p/ ... ship. Fish.'

[Text on screen: Note – modelled examples displayed during independent practice.]

Megan Thompson

Good. So we've got, you say these sounds in ‘kiss’.

Student

‘/k/ + /i/ + /s/ ...’

Megan Thompson

Yes. When we've got an /i/ followed by /s/, we need to put two ‘s's there. Can you add another 's'? And 's' goes that way. Okay, let's say the sounds.

[Text on screen: Note – timely and task focused feedback.]

Student

‘/k/ + /i/ + /s/ ... kiss.’

Megan Thompson

That's it!

[Text on screen: Note – students are encouraged to enunciate each phoneme.]

All right everybody. So, now is your chance to show me that you know how to hear the /sh/ sound and write the grapheme for /sh/.

[Text on screen: Note – referring back to the learning intention.]

We're going to go back to our tables in a minute. And on each of the desks you'll find a little post-it note. I want you to do two things on that post-it note. I want you to write your name. That's really important. And then I want you to think of a word that has /sh/ in it and write that onto your post-it note. It can be one of the words we've talked about today. Or you might know another word that has /sh/ in it. And you are going to have a go at spelling that by yourself. Find a table with a post-it note.

[Text on screen: Note – checking for understanding.]

Can you write your name down the bottom? All right everyone! Leave your post-it note on the table. And you can put your chair in and come back to the floor. What did you do?

Student

‘shocking’.

Megan Thompson

Shocking? Shocking! Like... Like that? Oh! Just to finish off, let's get our pencils out one more time and let's write /sh/ and say it.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

Three times.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

One more time.

Students

/sh/.

Megan Thompson

Fantastic. You have all been absolute superstars today and I'm so proud of you. Go like this. Turn it around. Give yourself a pat on the back.

[Text on screen: Summary:

• Planned differentiation may include the use of a range of decodable texts to support or extend students’ learning.
• Repeated reading of the same text enhances both reading fluency and reading comprehension.
• Instructional routines that bring predictability to phonics lessons allow students to focus on the content rather than the task. This can decrease students' cognitive load.
• Decoding and encoding are reciprocal processes that are both necessary parts of phonics instruction.
• For repeated reading practice, paired or partner reading can be used.
• The teacher engages in focused observation, making notes about students' targeted reading behaviours.
• For success in independent practice, modelled examples are displayed on the board.
• The teacher provides timely and task focused feedback to correct errors and ensure high rates of success.
• Students are encouraged to enunciate each phoneme as they write it.
• The teacher refers back to the learning intention to refocus students’ attention.
• The teacher checks for understanding using an exit ticket. This formative assessment will be analysed and used to evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and student progress towards the learning goal.]

[End of transcript]

Megan Thompson – Assistant Principal, Newcastle East Public School

All right, Lucy, so now the lesson is finished, I've got some work samples here that we could use as formative assessment tasks. For this one, the children had to come up with their own word that had the /sh/ sound. So, they had to show us that they could hear, read, and write a word that contained /sh/. And what I've done is sorted them out. So, with these two, this student is using the /ow/ sound. Their word was show, ‘o’ + ‘w’, we haven't learnt that GPC yet.

[Text on screen: Note – analysing formative assessment work samples.]

Lucy Partridge – Teacher, Newcastle East Public School

We haven't learnt that. So, they would definitely be ready for some extension. And is this the ‘splashing’?

Megan Thompson

‘Splashing’. So they've taken what we did in class and sort of-

Lucy Partridge

Added the suffix.

Megan Thompson

Yeah, added the suffix. This group of students all chose words that we did in the lesson, except ‘shot’. That one was a new one. This little group over here, so we've got someone who wanted to write ‘shocking’. So, they've had a really good go at that. We haven't learned the GPC ‘ing’ yet. So, and we seem to have, I've noticed a little bit of confusion between the /e/ and the /i/ sou nd. So, this is supposed to be ‘shell’, but she's written ‘shill’.

Lucy Partridge

Okay.

Megan Thompson

Here, these two students probably need another go at that lesson. Maybe we could have a little focus group where we revisit that because they haven't really shown that they've been able-

[Text on screen: Note – planning targeted phonics intervention.]

Lucy Partridge

Maybe more segmenting, because they're missing a vowel here. So, maybe they need to go back to counting how many sounds and phonemes are in a word.

Megan Thompson

I have a feeling this student might've looked at the person next to them, lacked a bit of confidence there.

Lucy Partridge

It is backwards, so maybe they've-

Megan Thompson

And they couldn't read it back to me when I said, "What word did you write?" They couldn't read it back to me.

Lucy Partridge

So, probably not confident, so...

Megan Thompson

But as a whole, I think that we'd be ready to move on to /ch/ with a few people having a little bit of revision. What about the other independent work that we had?

[Text on screen: Note – using formative assessment to determine the next focus.]

Lucy Partridge

Okay. Oh, so I've got this as well where a lot of the students are reversing their ‘b's and ‘d's. So, maybe a handwriting focus.

Megan Thompson

About where the letter, where the formation starts.

Lucy Partridge

Starts. Exactly.

Megan Thompson

Okay.

Lucy Partridge

They did well. Good fish.

Megan Thompson

Ah, there's another example of the confusion between /e/ and /i/. That's a short vowel.

Lucy Partridge

Yeah, okay. What else do we need to see?

Megan Thompson

Oh, the other thing is the double consonant at the end, so.

Lucy Partridge

Which we've spoken about, but maybe we need to revisit that a little bit more.

Megan Thompson

I think they know how to read it, but they might need a little bit of revision in writing it.

[Text on screen: Note – decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling).]

So when there's the short vowel followed by an /l/ , /s/ or /z/ sound, you've got to double that final consonant, because there's a few in there.

Lucy Partridge

A couple.

Megan Thompson

Yeah. ‘Hill’.

Lucy Partridge

‘Hill’ as well. Okay, oh and ‘shell’.

Megan Thompson

‘Shell’, yeah, there we go. Overall as a group, I think that we've achieved the learning intention.

Lucy Partridge

Absolutely.

Megan Thompson

And we are ready to move on to the next digraph.

Lucy Partridge

Excellent.

Megan Thompson

Sure. Sure.

Lucy Partridge

Let's do it.

[Text on screen: Summary:

• Teachers analyse formative assessment work samples. They evaluate the effectiveness of teaching and student progress towards the learning goal.
• Teachers plan for targeted phonics intervention for both students requiring extension and support.
• Teachers use formative assessment to determine the next focus for learning.
• Students are taught to decode (read) and encode (spell) as part of phonics instruction.]

[End of transcript]

The department acknowledges and thanks teachers and leaders from Newcastle East Public School for their participation in these videos.