In this second part of the series on transitioning upper primary literacy instruction, Jocelyn focuses on essential shifts in reading comprehension and writing approaches for Years 3-6. She advocates moving away from strategy-focused comprehension instruction toward text-focused learning where background knowledge and vocabulary building take precedence, with strategies serving as tools to engage with rich texts rather than skills taught in isolation. 

Jocelyn emphasises that comprehension is domain-specific and best assessed through text-based units where necessary knowledge has been explicitly taught, rather than through benchmark assessments that can't distinguish between inference ability and lack of background knowledge. For writing instruction, she promotes integrating reading and writing within the same lessons and prioritising foundational skills, stating that students must have automatic handwriting, spelling, and fluent sentence production before expecting successful multi-paragraph writing. 

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 Action addresses phonics, orthography, and morphology to give students a well-rounded understanding of how our language system works. 

Find out how you can help your students move beyond guessing and memorisation at https://www.jocelynseamereducation.com/spelling2

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