Learning with Leah

📌 Understanding MTSS and RtI is a key aspect of implementing evidence-based practices.

📚Aspects of this post were extracted from essays I wrote for my M Ed at La Trobe where we spent an entire subject learning about MTSS. These are not easy concepts to understand. They do require time and reading.

👩‍🏫 I was first introduced to this framework when I taught at Docklands Primary School and was actually shocked when one of my dyslexic students exited Tier 2 intervention after having so many doses of evidence-based phonic instruction that she was able to read. Previously in 9 years of teaching, I had never seen a student exit intervention.

🏫 Does your school use an RtI approach? Have you noticed it supporting all your learners?

💬 As always, if you have questions or comments please ask away below 👇 or feel free to DM me 🙌

🚌 Explicit Direct Instruction - EDI.

📚What is it and how does it work in the classroom?

👩‍💻The Brandon Park primary school website has good examples of Shane Pearson using this instructional approach with preps during a reading lesson. He differentiates on the spot for his students, and many people find these videos helpful to conceptualise what EDI looks like on the ground.

💫 Many schools that use this approach encourage people to visit, so do try and do that if you can 👌

👀 For further info visit the data works website: https://dataworks-ed.com/trainings/edi/

📝 Or Nathaniel Swain’s blog: https://www.nathanielswain.com/cognitoriumblog/2024/6/whole-class-teaching-not-one-size

💭💬 Got any questions or comments? Pop them below! 👇

📝 In the words of Professor Pam Snow:

“Why do teachers not learn about Project Follow Through in their preservice education? The shameful cover up of findings that did not align with the 1970s Zeitgeist has cost us decades of progress and is education’s Watergate scandal.”

To read more about Project Follow Through go t 👀 ➡️: https://www.nifdi.org/what-is-di/project-follow-through.html

If you are learning with me in Sem 2 at , you will be learning about this 👌

🏫So many schools say that structured literacy and explicit instruction “wouldn’t work in our setting” because of low SES or high EAL (or both)…

🙅‍♀️ Well sorry, but that’s rubbish. I created this graph today that clearly demonstrates that students in low SES areas with high EAL can and DO experience success using evidence-based instructional approaches.

🚫 There are no excuses. We have the evidence and we know what works.

✅ High quality instruction means your pedagogical approach is underpinned by human cognitive architecture and the science behind how we learn

✅ It means incorporating Rosenshine’s principles into your planning and including the aspects of an EDI lesson in your teaching.

And most importantly?

✅ It means using an evidence-based program/approach in your Tier 1 teaching.

Where was that PD when I needed it 14 years ago, huh? 🫠

📝 Some key take aways from Research Ed at Ballarat Clarendon College on March 23, 2024.

🙈I took 23 pages of notes and learned so much while chatting to many, many amazing educators. If you ever have the opportunity to attend any of these days I highly recommend them.

⭐️ Sonia Loudon was such an engaging presenter, she had us laughing throughout her journey of becoming an AP at a new high school and the experiences she’s had in that role.

⭐️ is such a guru when it comes to teaching maths in the early years (and beyond). Maths MUST be taught sequentially and explicitly. Anyone who opens their presentation with a clip from Sesame Street is a winner in my eyes!

⭐️Bron spoke about the instructional playbook at DPS and “Docklands TV” (and internal spot where videos of excellent practice are available to teachers if they are trying to develop skills, I love this idea!) she discussed how to codify terminology and the importance of everyone understanding what each code means. This was only in its infancy when I left DPS, so it was great to see what it is looking like now.

⭐️ Cait and Sarah from AERO echoed a lot of what Tim mentioned in the keynote (they worked together on a lot of AERO’s recent behaviour documents so this makes sense), but the suite of resources AERO have (and continue to) create are next to none. I also learned they are supported by jurisdictions all across Aus! Good to know.

I regret not seeing Trisha Jha, she is doing and writing excellent reports for the CIS and I am a huge fan girl, but there was a timetable clash! (You know it’s a great conference when there’s too much you want to see at one time 😅 )

🏫 Schools seem obsessed with 21st century skills, but when you unpack knowledge and skills carefully you realise skills are not things that can be taught explicitly, they must be founded on a bed of knowledge.

🧠 Teaching students knowledge and providing a systematic scope and sequence for that knowledge is the best way to ensure students have access to an equitable curriculum that provides a strong foundation for further learning (after all, knowledge sticks to knowldge!)

📚For more on this topic, I suggest reading
- E.D. Hirsch’s “Why Knowledge Matters” and
- Natalie Wexler’s “The Knowledge Gap”

💭 The first thing I noticed when I began teaching this way was that my lower students were incredibly engaged in the content because they could access it. I thought they would all hate the topic but they were SO keen!

❓Does your school use a knowledge rich curriculum? Have you noticed a change in your students’ engagement because of it?

🏫 It’s the start of the 2024 school year and we’re all headed back to the classroom this week!

👩‍🏫👨‍🏫 It’s such an exciting time for both students and teachers, getting to know each other and develop our classroom community and microcosms of learning.

📋Developing routines is the most effective way to ensure your classroom remains safe, calm and predictable. We know this leads to higher learning outcomes, because the research tells us this over and over again (Yay! Thanks research!)

📚Explicitly teaching the behaviours you want to see is the only way to… well, see those behaviours!

Research drawn on for this post includes:

Bennett, T. (2020). Running the Room. John Catt Education.

Lee, B. (2023). Implementing a Behaviour Curriculum. Learning with Mr Lee blog.

Lemov, D. (2021). Teach Like a Champion 3.0. Joseph Bass.

McDonald, T. (2023). Teaching Behaviour: How classroom conduct can unlock better learning. Centre for Independent Studies.

💸 I used to spend so much money on my classroom and hours laminating displays, but for who? Me? The parents? To make the room colourful for the students? Little did I know that I was doing all of us a disservice.

🏫 It is still possible to create a lovely learning environment, but an unorganised, unpredictable space that is cluttered with displays doesn’t help anyone feel calm or ready to learn.

✏️ Classroom environments and explicit modelling of behaviours, matter. A recent OECD report found that Australian classrooms are among the “least favourable” for discipline in the OECD (https://theconversation.com/australian-classrooms-are-among-the-least-favourable-for-discipline-in-the-oecd-heres-how-to-improve-student-behaviour)

🧑‍🔬 Everything I have suggested is tried and tested and has research to support it (see below).

📣 PSA: These carousels I make take me *hours* to create, and I will not have time for them soon. I’m not sure what the shape of LWL will look like and take, but, where possible, I will deliver you with edu news when I see it.

💕 If you think others might benefit from this content, please share it 🙌

💭 Questions? Comments? Feel free to add them below 👇

Research (most of which is open access):

Marx, A., Fuhrer, U., & Hartig, T. (1998). Effects of classroom seating arrangements on students question asking. Learning Environments Research (2) pp. 249-263

Rance, G., Dowell, C. R., & Tomlin, D. (2023). The effect of classroom environment on literacy development. Science of Learning. 8:9.

Swain, N. (2022). The pair square: a classroom layout that promotes learning. Cognitorium

Wannarka, R., & Ruhl, K. (2008). Seating arrangements that promote positive academic and behavioural outcomes: a review of empirical research.

Wheldhall, K., Lam, Y.Y. (1987). Rows versus Tables. II. The effects of Two Classroom Seating Arrangements on Classroom Disruption Rate, On-Task Behaviour and Teacher Behaviour in Three Special School Classes. Educational Psychology, 7:4, 303-312.

Link for secondary teachers mentioned in the carousel: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LV8Jjj-Fx70

🌟Back to school challenge from day 5! Two fun facts about you!

🌏 Spending time growing up in Bali was an amazing experience as a small child and had a major impact on how I view the world today. I never saw Bali from a Westerners perspective because I was in the middle of the rice fields hanging with the kids from the village.

🌟 Day 3 of back to school challenge: What you’re teaching this year

👩‍🏫 I am soooo excited to be joining a SOL school this year and working alongside their amazing teachers and students as an instructional coach!

🔬I was also *thrilled* to be asked to be part of the La Trobe SOLAR lab X AERO research project that begins this year and looks at the impact instructional coaches have on schools and their transition to the science of learning.

👩‍🎓I’m looking forward to graduating with my M Ed in the middle of this year and…

👵… Feeling old as I teach more second years about best practice in education at La Trobe in Semester 2 😆

🏖️ I’m soaking up all the holiday time I can at the moment because it’s going to be a busy 2024! Bring 👏 it 👏 onnnnnn 👏

🌟 Day 2 of back to school challenge, a favourite quote!

💫 For me, this quote has always represented the true meaning of education and highlights the incredible power that reading can have on a person’s life.

📚This quote also makes me think of the impact of NOT teaching children to read properly, and the immense detrimental flow on effect this can have on the rest of a child’s life.

🍭 It reminds us of the life changing effect proper education and the ability to read can have on all our learners, and the doors it opens both in their imaginations and the real world 💫

📖 On a personal level, I love this quote because I love reading sooo much. I am grateful that I’ve been able to read and access so many different texts, ideas and research 💗

❓Do you have a favourite edu quote? Feel free to drop it in the comments below 👇👇👇I ❤️ hearing what inspires other educators ⭐️

Helloooo there! 👋

This is me and my girl, Maisy, at our recent Dog Park Christmas Party ❤️

I am going to do this photo challenge has created & that is doing because I am woefully NOT content creative and love that these prompts have been pre-made!

✏️ For anyone new around here, I am Leah, and I run Learning with Leah, an evidence-based business that aims to help parents, teachers and schools to implement best practice.

👩‍🎓 I have been working with children for 20 years, teaching in the classroom for 12 years and am about to complete my second Masters in May

💫 In 2023, I began tutoring in initial teacher education (ITE) at the La Trobe SOLAR lab alongside Dr Nathaniel Swain and together, we are passionate about ensuring teachers graduate knowing exactly how students learn, the importance of research in education (and understanding how to discriminate all forms of research!) and how important evidence-based practices in the classroom are for equity in education ⚖️

📚I became utterly obsessed by evidence based practices when, after teaching for 9 years, I got a job at a school that taught me basically everything I understood about teaching was incorrect. My mind was b l o w n. Ever since then, I have been deep diving into how education got it so wrong, and how we can turn it around to get it right for future generations ❤️

📱From this instagram you can expect deep dives into current edu hot topics, my takes on them and much more other edu related content (….and sometimes some Cavoodles 🐶🙈)

🤓 In 2024, I’m taking on two *amazing* new roles which I will post about soon 💫

📩 Australia’s Educational report card is in, and the results are not good (or surprising).

💰 Privileged and wealthy students who attend private independent schools are fine, but all other categories are in the “cross your fingers and hope for the best” pool.

👎 It’s simply unacceptable for a country like Australia to be ranked so poorly in international testing.

👩‍🔧The key to fixing our fractured system is multifaceted: many parts need to be addressed. I strongly suggest looking at schools in lower socioeconomic areas who have lifted their entire systems using the principles of the science of learning and explicit direct instruction. Their data speaks for itself.

👊 Our lower socioeconomic students are perfectly capable of obtaining high results, but the system is preventing them from doing so.

⚖️ The deeply entrenched inequities in our education system are some of the major driving factors behind my business and everything I do/study/teach.

❤️ I love that I am now able to support pre-service teachers at the START of their careers, as well as many experienced teachers looking for support in their practice.

👩‍🎓 Studying the M Ed at La Trobe has enabled me to understand the mechanics behind our language, how we learn and what needs to change in order to support ALL our learners.

💬 As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome, below 👇

💻 Professor Pam Snow’s latest blog post is a letter to educational leaders who continue to choose outdated practices.

❌ The “choose your own adventure” approach to reading instruction by so many schools is such an inequitable, dangerous way to provide education.

🏫 Pam rightly points out that it’s in secondary school (Year 7) when many students begin to demonstrate lower than average literacy performance. The effect this has on attitudes toward future learning can be devastating.

📝 To read her blog, head to: http://pamelasnow.blogspot.com/2023/10/school-leaders-and-science-of-reading.html?m=1

✍️ The National School Reform Agreement Open Letter has been penned by some of this country’s most prominent researchers and academics.

✍️Understanding the importance of these types of initiatives can help future generations know how to make impact in spaces like educational reform.

😅 Confession time!

🙈See above for further details

🎙️The inquiry into the state education system in Victoria is open for submissions until October 13th, 2023.

🎯Implementing instructional programs, pedagogies and assessments that are evidence-based is fundamental to shifting the needle on Victoria’s data and student learning outcomes.

📍Victoria is one of the last states to adopt evidence-based practices or even acknowledge them in our curriculum.

😓 One third (30%) of our state are below level in numeracy and literacy. This is unacceptable! And absolutely not the fault of the teachers or students.

Have your say:

🔗 to submissions: https://new.parliament.vic.gov.au/news/society/stateeducation/

🔗 to blog article referenced: https://blog.aare.edu.au/what-we-want-to-say-right-now-to-sahlberg-and-goldfeld/

📣Pssst! Want to implement some structured literacy into your classroom but not sure how? This is the post for you!

🌟Implementing the SOR in the early years can feel daunting at first, but when you realise how many amazing programs are out there to support you it becomes a lot more doable!

📚 The programs listed in this carousel all differ in terms of price, scope and sequence and training, so it’s worth investigating this to see what matches your budget/timeline/classroom.

📝I have been learning a lot about Phormes through my work with Nathaniel at La Trobe and it is a free, easily accesible and simple to implement program that covers all of the areas mentioned in this post.(Nate and Shane Pearson wrote the whole program, amazing 🤩🤯)

🌷As per usual, if you have any questions or comments please feel free to reach out or comment below!👇

🧠 Love me a bit of human cog architecture for a Friday morning!

📝Understanding basic human cognitive architecture is a must for all educators, but is rarely taught in initial teacher education (ITE).

🫣Many of our system’s flaws exist because people don’t understand *how* we learn and *what we need* to be successful learners.

🥳 Thankfully, recent reports about ITE are changing this, so more and more graduates will understand these important concepts (far better than their leaders in some cases😅)

🔬Research paper this info is drawn from: Geary, D. (2008). An Evolutionary Informed Education Science. Educational Psychologist. Vol. 43, (4).

⭐️ I’ve spent a lot of this week teaching my undergrads about the importance of teaching our students the code.

📚 If we can’t lift words off the page, we can’t access what has been written which impacts our ability to access much of our curriculum.

😔 When students who have been taught using a whole language approach reach Grades 3-4 and begin to read more texts without pictures, we begin to see just how much they were relying on images to obtain meaning.

🧨As a result, we can begin to see unwanted behaviours as children try to mask their feelings about not being able to read/comprehend more complex texts.

🌻To avoid this (and many other impacts of poor instruction), every student should be taught the code from their first year of school in an explicit, systematic way.

⏰And the next best time to be taught the code after prep is NOW.

Questions? Comments? Let me know 👇

🤔 Choosing a school is a REALLY DIFFICULT decision. Many, many factors influence this decision such as geographical location, financial situations, school reputation and your child’s learning needs. I understand that wading through the plethora of information out there can be overwhelming, so hopefully this post breaks it down a bit for you.

📚 Understanding evidence-based instructional programs isn’t on every school’s agenda, so it’s important to gauge what level of support a school can provide for you/your child and how much of that is based on scientific research. My other post about red flags to look out for compliments this post nicely.

✏️ As always, please reach out if you have comments or questions and if you’ve found this helpful/think others will benefit from it, please share 💕🙏

(Er, awkward side note, but I will not engage in discussion with people who try and tell me whole language has its benefits. There’s just far too much research to prove otherwise.)

📚

👋 Hello and welcome! Thanks for joining my page and being here! I appreciate all your support 🙏

📚 The purpose of this insty page is to try and bridge the gap between research and practice, as well as provide support and (hopefully) some answers as we all try to navigate this thing called the education system 🙃

🙌 If you have any questions or comments, don’t hesitate to reach out 🥰

This is such a useful document for those starting the SOR journey!

Need to know or nice to know… What is at the heart of the science of reading for teachers?

The depth, breadth and volume of articles, books and presentations on scientific reading research is enormous and growing every day. It can be overwhelming even for researchers, educators and practitioners who have been immersed in the literature for decades. Interpreting the research and translating it into classroom practice requires specialised knowledge and a lot of time, and the prospect can be daunting and demotivating for busy teachers who are newly aware of the Science of Reading. But there is a clear pathway through it to great teaching by thinking about simplicity and opportunity cost. One way to think of this is to keep the main thing the main thing – and the main thing is getting students reading fluently and with comprehension, and giving them lots of supported opportunities to do so.

View the full report at https://fivefromfive.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Need-to-Know_5from5_JUNE23_FA.pdf

😅 I’ve finally made the post I can now refer every parent of a pre-schooler to!

📚I am limited to 10 slides on an Instagram post, and there are many other programs out there that would be helpful (NOT READING EGGS!!! ❌😵) but I’ve included some great pre-school activities to get your little one ready for BIG school 😆

🗣️ If you’re a speechy who follows me, please add any other tips for parents in the comments. I reckon your profession might have some magic up your sleeves, too 💫😇

🌷If you’ve found this post helpful, please share it with others. I’m not about marketing but I *am* about supporting people as far and wide as possible 🩷

😅 I’ve finally made the post I can now refer every parent of a pre-schooler to!

📚I am limited to 10 slides on an Instagram post, and there are many other programs out there that would be helpful (NOT READING EGGS!!! ❌😵) but I’ve included some great pre-school activities to get your little one ready for BIG school 😆

🗣️ If you’re a speechy who follows me, please add any other tips for parents in the comments. I reckon your profession might have some magic up your sleeves, too 💫😇

🌷If you’ve found this post helpful, please share it with others. I’m not about marketing but I *am* about supporting people as far and wide as possible 🩷

🧠 It’s time to obliterate one of the most pervasive neuromyths in education…. LeARNiNg StYLeS…*shudder*…

🔬There is simply no scientific research to support this idea. Like most things in education, it sounded good and a lot of people ran with it, so now it’s entrenched in our minds as something real. Well lemme tell you. It ain’t!

🩷Learning needs, however, are VERY real. Many students in our classrooms require accommodations and the skilled, caring, amazing teachers in this world bend over backwards to provide these (sometimes to the detriment of their own well-being!). More often than not, there are not enough resources in a public school to support our students in the ways we wish we could 💔

📚Want to read more about neuromyths? DM me or comment your email and I’ll shoot something through.

🗞️Big day today with a government report indicating Initial Teacher Training is going to have to go through a content overhaul.

💫This is great news!…. If it is done properly 😏

🔗 Link to report: https://www.education.gov.au/quality-initial-teacher-education-review/resources/strong-beginnings-report-teacher-education-expert-panel

🔗 Link to ABC article:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-07/review-of-university-teacher-degrees-at-ministers-meeting/102564402

💭 What do you think? I’d love to chat about this! Just making my way through the 120 page report…brb 😅

-report