The Structured Literacy Podcast

What is the Summer Series?

A collection of listener favourites from the Structured Literacy Podcast to get you prepared for 2026.

Today's Episode

In this week's episode of the Structured Literacy podcast, I address the common challenge of tracking student reading progress. 

Has something in this episode resonated with you? Get in touch!

Are your students good readers, but poor spellers? If so, you are not alone. Spelling Succ...

What is the Summer Series?

A collection of listener favourites from the Structured Literacy Podcast to get you prepared for 2026.

Today's Episode

In this week's episode, I share some of my secrets for writing and teaching text-based units that will engage all your students in learning age-appropriate content. 

Has something in this episode resonated with you? Get in touch!

Are your students good readers, but poor spellers? If...

What is the Summer Series?
A collection of listener favourites from the Structured Literacy Podcast to get you prepared for 2026.

Today's Episode
In this week's episode, we're going to talk about how Nonsense words play an important part in phonics assessment, but what about in Years 3-6? This week's episode of the structured literacy podcast explores whether middle and upper primary teachers need to incl...

The difference between curiosity and commitment can make or break a literacy journey. We close our sixth season by drawing a clear line between being interested in structured literacy and being devoted to outcomes for every student, then map how teams can cross that line together. Along the way, we unpack five behaviour groups you’ll recognise in any staffroom, from early adopters to the special-case sceptics, and explain why label...

This episode explores how to select rich texts for comprehension instruction by moving beyond traditional levelling systems. Jocelyn introduces four dimensions of text demand to help teachers find the "Goldilocks spot" - texts that challenge students without overwhelming them. She discusses four common reading scenarios and emphasises matching text complexity to students' abilities while considering cognitive load.

Fo...

This podcast episode argues that while PowerPoints became widespread during COVID and helped reduce teacher cognitive load, over-reliance on them can hinder teachers' development.  The key takeaway: if we are removing all obstacles, how are teachers learning from experience? 

Has something in this episode resonated with you? Get in touch!

Are your students good readers, but poor spellers? If so, you are not alone. Spelling Succ...

The word exposure gets thrown around a lot in schools, especially when a student is behind in phonics or spelling. In this episode, Jocelyn takes a hard look at that belief and explains why presence in a lesson is not the same as learning, particularly for skills that are biologically secondary, like reading and writing.  This episode covers: 

• why exposure is not learning for secondary skills
• what explicit teaching demands o...

School leaders and teachers constantly face the challenge of turning great ideas into
lasting change. In this episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast, Jocelyn
shares a practical, simple strategy to keep school improvement initiatives
alive and thriving. Learn how to create consistency, maintain momentum, and
prevent your best efforts from fading away. Whether you're a school leader or
classroom teacher, ...

Tired of racing through content only to find the learning didn’t stick? In this episode, we take a hard look at the final 5 factors that truly drive universal success in phonics and early reading, moving from admirable intentions to instructional decisions that deliver. 

Has something in this episode resonated with you? Get in touch!

Are your students good readers, but poor spellers? If so, you are not alone. Spelling Success in Act...

This podcast episode outlines the first five of ten critical factors for achieving universal student success in phonics instruction, emphasising that student outcomes, not surface-level metrics like training completion, are what truly matter.

The Five Factors:

1. Engineer student success - Accept responsibility for student learning rather than blaming circumstances
2. Whatever it takes attitude - Commit to whole-school systemic problem-...

This episode helps schools cut bloated assessment schedules by focusing on two essential questions:

1. Who is at risk?

2. What skills lead to success?

Key Principles:

• Not every assessment needs one-on-one administration
• Assessments must inform instruction, not just generate data
• Question whether testing time is more valuable than teaching time
• Avoid decodable text level assessments that reinforce outdated levelling

The bottom line...

School improvement is slow, and many quit right before breakthrough. This episode uses the story of gold miners who quit just one metre from striking gold to illustrate a critical lesson: don't give up in the middle of the hard work.

Seth Godin's Three Scenarios:

1. The Dip - The hard slog between starting and mastering (push through)
2. Cul-de-sac - Going in circles with no progress (quit strategically)
3. Cliff - Unsustainable p...

Novel study has gained traction in teaching circles, but important questions arise about its suitability for all students, time management challenges, and whether it's truly evidence-based for primary schools.

In this episode, Jocelyn explores

• Research comparing novels with shorter stories
•  Teachers challenges in novel studies including time constraints, student stamina issues, and resource limitation...

Should we be teaching phonics beyond the early years? This question lands in my inbox regularly, and for good reason – it touches on critical decisions teachers must make about literacy instruction in upper primary.  In this episode, Jocelyn addresses 

- What research tells us about spelling development
- The ideal scenario vs the reality of the current state of student knowledge
- What it means to be data responsive in spel...

We examine why educational practices often fail to stick in schools despite initial enthusiasm and training. The key insight is that sustainable implementation requires building systems where practices become embedded in school culture rather than being treated as temporary initiatives.

• The implementation dip occurs when the "shine of the new" wears off and teachers must embed practices for the long term
• ...

Repeated reading doesn't work for all students because fluency issues have different root causes. Understanding four reading profiles helps target the right intervention:

1. Speedy & accurate
2. Slow & accurate
3. Fast & inaccurate
4. Slow & inaccurate

Critical principle: First comes accuracy, then comes speed.

Why repeated reading fails: If students lack foundational phonics knowledge (can't automatically decode 6...

We must be strategic about harnessing teachable moments to ensure they enhance rather than distract from our learning objectives. Even experienced educators can get swept up in exciting classroom discussions that inadvertently create inequitable learning environments.

• The satisfaction of engaging students in rich, spontaneous discussions can sometimes lead us away from our lesson objectives
• Developing a "promp...

In this episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast, Jocelyn provides essential guidance for educational leaders navigating the complex process of selecting instructional programs. 

She introduces a research-informed practice model that balances research findings, professional knowledge, and student outcomes, while emphasising that the goal should never be simply to "get a program" but to genuinely improve student learning....

Too much professional development feels like a box-ticking exercise with little to show for the time invested. In this episode, Jocelyn unpacks decades of research findings to reveal the seven elements that make PD truly effective, and shows how leaders and teachers can stop wasting time and start creating lasting impact in classrooms.

Has something in this episode resonated with you? Get in touch!

Are your students good readers, bu...