S3 E20 - 8 Reasons that the Same Page is a Great Place to be

Now , this is a bit of a shorty one , because I know it's report writing time for teachers in Australia and you don't have time to listen to a big podcast episode , so I'm going to be sharing with you some thoughts that come from a blog post that I wrote in 2021 , called Eight Reasons the Same Place Is A Great Place To Be .

One of the challenges we have when bringing teams together into a structured approach is getting everyone to have a shared vision of what instruction can look like and helping each other to commit to what we're going to find on the other side of the change journey .

So I'm going to share eight reasons today that it's great to put the hard yards in , to work with your team , to step alongside them and bring everybody on the journey together to build collective efficacy and a shared vision .

If we were to go for a visit to many a local school , we would likely find a great deal of variation in reading instruction from one classroom to the next . It's not uncommon for one teacher to be using one program for phonics and decoding and another to be using something completely different .

E even if both of these programs are evidence-informed, t This difference in programs and approach can be problematic . In far too many schools , teachers are left on their own to figure out how best to teach reading . This is unfair on students and teachers alike and , thankfully , is less common than it used to be .

Let's look at why it's a good idea to get everyone on the same page in reading instruction . The first reason is consistency . Now , an old phrase that I've used in a previous job is " consistency creates credibility , and it's absolutely true .

One of the things we want to be able to tell our parents is that , no matter what classroom your child is in , they will be receiving high quality instruction . Having every teacher use the same approach for phonics and reading instruction means that , no matter whose class the child is in , they are receiving precisely what they need to learn at school .

Children receiving quality , evidence-informed instruction shouldn't be left to chance . Inconsistency is the enemy of continuous improvement . The other element of this that's really important to consider is that we have to choose resources that are high quality and evidence-informed , as well as providing explicit instruction .

A great teacher can take just about anything and turn it into instructional gold , but not every teacher is experienced . Not every teacher is in the same spot when it comes to knowledge and experience to be able to bring the evidence to life in their classroom .

If the resources we're using only result in pretty okay learning , but in the hands of a great teacher can do good things , we've got a problem . Because the gap between where the resource sits and the proficiency of the teacher: all of that gap is chance , and we don't want to leave any instruction to chance .

The second thing that makes it a good idea to all be on the same page is instructional time from year to year . Now in Australia we're currently approaching the middle of the school year , but in the US and Canada you're approaching your summer , which means that after the break , students will be coming back to a new class and probably a new teacher .

As children move through the grades , there is minimal loss of instructional time when we're all on the same page . W when everyone's doing something different, c Children waste time at the start of each year getting used to a new method of teaching and a new way of thinking about how our language works .

When you have consistency in every class , we can just pick up where we left off teacher, Now in Australia , NAPLAN is now in Term 1 . This creates interruption to getting into the flow of teaching and learning , and I've heard that from a number of teachers and leaders . Term 1 is also when we often have things like swimming lessons , carnivals , school photos .

All of these school-based events , as well as the ones that come from outside our school , can interrupt learning . Teachers are telling me, at the moment, that they're feeling like T term 1 is not nearly as impactful as it could be, because of all of these things that they've got going on .

But when we have a consistent approach to teaching and learning year in and year out , week one is about getting to know our new teacher . Week two , we are hitting the ground running with instruction .

We don't have this huge loss of instructional time that can happen , and if we're taking all of T term 1 just to get into school , what a wasted opportunity that is . The third reason that it's a good idea for us all to be on the same page is that we can measure impact .

Common teaching approaches and common assessment enable us to reliably measure progress within and across classes . This also helps us get on the same page about progress targets and helps us have a clear vision about what our strategic improvement agenda is .

It's so very powerful to sit down with a team of teachers and examine the cohort data , knowing that we all have a common understanding of what we're looking at and what led us to this point . As an instructional coach or leadership team , this helps us identify teachers who are performing well and those who might need extra support in their practice .

And nd when it comes to this common assessment piece , remember we need to sit outside the normed data . Many schools are making the shift to normed reading assessment , which is so powerful , so we're talking about DIBELS , acadians A cadience other normed tools , but those tools don't necessarily tell us what to teach next .

They don't necessarily help us overcome or identify problems of practice . So we have to have data that sits at the coalface of instruction . We need phonics monitoring data . We need some syntax information . We need to be able to know where our students are sitting .

That doesn't mean you have to have a test test, t are different ways to collect this information , but think about your data collection and your assessment from a number of different perspectives . Don't over-assess . Don't spend all the time in the universe assessing so that you don't have time for teaching , but be clear about what your assessment is going to give you .

When we have a shared vision about the purpose for assessment , how to use it and what impact it can help us have for students , magical things can happen . The next reason that the same page is a great place to be is because it enables us to support our strugglers much better .

It's so much easier to identify students who are at risk or struggling when we have common vision for what's happening . We can then support them . Common understanding of the milestones we're looking for or observations that might be red flags during assessment , A such as difficulty acquiring basic phonemic skills , means we can intervene immediately .

We don't have to wait for a whole term, term or two terms, terms or a year, year to notice that something isn't . right W when we are all on the same page, p Professional learning is so much more effective . When we're all doing something different , even when it's similar , it's really hard to provide focused , targeted professional learning for the team .

Great professional learning involves developing common language and common objectives . It also involves opportunities to practice instructional routines and observe each other's classrooms, to see what great performance looks like .

Sure , we can do this if we're working towards a set of guidelines , but it still leaves the individual teacher to figure out the finer points of instruction on their own .

This is particularly difficult for graduate teachers and we know that we have a number of teachers sitting in the space who are still studying, in some places permission to teach or there's other names, b But they actually haven't officially graduated yet .

A and they're in the classroom hitting the ground running, or at least sinking or swimming, a And let's hope they're not sinking , let's hope they're swimming . But a common approach and a same page helps those teachers to swim . It helps our students' results continue on regardless of who's in front of them . Being on the same page helps us weather staff turnover .

When we can point to exactly what we do here and provide clear guidance , it's much easier to weather the storm of a changing team . This is so very important in remote or hard-to-staff schools who see high turnover from year to year .

When you have a new teacher join your team , you don't have months or a year for them to come to a certain level of proficiency in reading and writing instruction . They really need to hit the ground running .

An established program or set of practices means that you can be very clear about what's expected and support your new staff to do great work right from the start .

It also helps you in the recruitment process because you can confidently articulate what the expectations are , what the systems are you use in your school , and that helps you to find a great fit between your school and your team members . Being on the same page helps us think about differentiation a little differently .

Essentially , differentiation is the way we respond to the needs of our students . Different school and class contexts may well call for different approaches to meeting those needs . Now , while all students should receive the same high level of instruction , it isn't always viable for one teacher to support the wide range of student need in their class .

In these cases , it might be worth thinking about sharing a cohort of students across a number of teachers and classes for a period of time each day .

Far from being the old streaming and the land of low expectations for the bottom group , this flexible grouping is a chance for all students to receive fully guided instruction in the foundational skills exactly at their point of need , for as much time as possible .

Now , when you have some students working on the basic code and learning to blend , some students beginning to learn the extended code and some students almost or actually just reading anything they can pick up, i It truly isn't possible to meet all student needs within the one decoding lesson .

Some students are left behind , others are bored and they're not being extended . The alternative of small groups is equally unsatisfying , because the minute we break into small groups we lose instructional time and some of our students are left to their own devices .

Not to mention , this creates noisy classroom environments that actually just make it harder for kids to learn . W when we're on the same page, i Implementing updated instruction is easier .

Now because the writers of a program or tool have already put a great deal of thought into the sequence of content and instructional routines, t Teachers are able to just focus on instruction, t They can focus on their students . They don't have to interpret research , slowly constructing their understandings , figuring out what this looks like in practice .

They can just get into it without engaging in much trial and error , which generally ends up with them spending a whole bunch of time doubting themselves in order to teach w Well . A program or tool doesn't remove decision making or the need to build knowledge and skills at all .

Teachers absolutely are at the heart of the instructional process to meet the needs of their students , but having consistent tools does give teachers and students a jump start in shifting practice from balanced literacy practices to evidence-informed instruction .

Working towards consistent practices in literacy instruction has enormous benefits for both students and teachers , and if you have a great program in place , ensure that you're working with it with fidelity , in that you are recognizing the most impactful elements of it and doing it really well . Spend time practicing , observing and coaching each other .

If you don't have a program and would like to take steps to get on the same page in any element of literacy , you might consider having a look at T the R resource R room , where we provide so many lessons and resources and so much professional learning to help get your team together .

But whatever your program , resource or approach , know that consistency in implementing evidence-informed practice creates credibility and leads to continuous improvement . Being on the same page means that you have collective efficacy, t hat means collective belief in what can be done . You have collective success and celebration and you have collective struggle .

Nobody has to manage the process of teaching all of your students to read and write on their own . I hope you've enjoyed this shorty episode of the Structured Literacy Podcast . I also hope that , if you are in the midst of writing reports , that you're able to find the most direct path from where you are now to where you want to go .

I want to remind you to celebrate the successes you're seeing in your students and embrace the sometimes scary data and evidence that there's still work to do . Nobody's starting this work from zero . Nobody is starting at rock bottom .

Everyone is working from strength and I have no doubt that in the semester to come , you're going to work from yours and build on what your students have achieved . Have a wonderful week and I'll see you in the next episode . Bye .