1. Professional learning course Examining the Literacy teaching guide:
Phonemic awareness
Materials required:
Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, NSW DET, 2009.
Literacy Continuum (K-2), NSW DET, 2010
Task handouts
Post-it notes
Butcher’s paper or cardboard for collage (Task 4)
Explain that: This workshop provides an overview of the Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness.
Instructions for the presenters are written in regular font.
Dialogue for the presenters is written in bold font.

2. Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the traditional Custodians of this Land, where the Aboriginal People have performed age-old ceremonies of storytelling, music, dance and celebration.
We acknowledge and pay respect to the Elders past and present, and we acknowledge those of the future, for they will hold the memories, traditions and hopes of Aboriginal Australians.
We must always remember that under the concrete and asphalt this Land is, was and always will be traditional Aboriginal Land.
Acknowledge Country where it is appropriate to do so.
Follow protocols if Aboriginal participants are present.
Invite Aboriginal participants to do Welcome/Acknowledgement of Country. If none, proceed with this one.
Link: We will now look at the professional teaching standards for this session.

3. Professional Teaching Standards
Standards addressed at Professional Competence in this workshop include:
1.2.2: Apply research-based, practical and theoretical knowledge of the pedagogies of the content/ discipline(s) taught to meet the learning needs of students.
6.2.1: Reflect critically on teaching and learning practice to enhance student learning outcomes.
6.2.3: Engage in professional development to extend and refine teaching and learning practices.
State that: These are the Professional Teaching Standards covered in this workshop.
For new scheme teachers who participate in this course, it will contribute 1.5 hours of ‘teacher identified’ professional learning.
Link: We will now look at a summary of the anticipated learning for this course. 3

4. Anticipated learning During this session, you will:
clarify your understanding of phonemic awareness and its significance as an early literacy skill
debunk myths about teaching phonemic awareness and examine principles for teaching phonemic awareness
examine a sequence for the systematic teaching of phonemic awareness
consider how to incorporate the explicit and systematic teaching of phonemic awareness within a balanced and integrated literacy program
reflect on and apply your new learning when assessing, planning and teaching phonemic awareness.
Read the anticipated learning points with participants.
Link: We will begin this session by looking at the structure of the Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness. 4

5. Contents of the guide Introduction About phonemic awareness teaching
Explicit phonemic awareness teaching in action
Bibliography
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness p. 5.
Ask participants to: Refer to Contents page, p. 5.
Phonemic awareness is one of the critical aspects of the Literacy Continuum and as such, demands explicit and systematic teaching. It is therefore appropriate that we examine this guide so that we are aware of how we should assess and teach phonemic awareness.
CLICK to bring in the five sections of the document.
Link: We’ll begin by looking at the Introduction.
Appendices

6. Section 1 - Introduction
Purpose
Links to the Literacy Continuum
About this guide
Exposing phonemic awareness myths
Catering for student diversity when teaching phonemic awareness
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, p. 5
State that: There are five areas covered in the Introduction.
Read the contents from the slide.
Link: We will now look closely at the first three of these areas.

7. Purpose, Links to the Literacy Continuum and About this guide
Task 1
Work in pairs.
Each person reads pp. 6-7 to locate and discuss the following:
the definition of phonemic awareness
the meaning of phonological awareness
why we need to explicitly teach phonemic awareness
how phonemic awareness should be taught
the relationship between phonemic awareness and phonics.
Share responses with your partner.
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp. 6-7.
Explain that: It is essential to develop a shared understanding of the overall purpose and background to the teaching guide in preparation for the rest of the workshop. It is also important to note that phonemic awareness needs to be taught within a balanced and integrated approach to literacy teaching, along with the other critical aspects of early literacy development, such as phonics and aspects of writing.
Ask participants to: Work with your partner to complete the task outlined on the slide.
Allow 10 minutes for this task including sharing.
NB: Ensure that participants fully understand the differences and similarities between phonemic awareness, phonological awareness and phonics.
Link: We will now look at some of the myths surrounding phonemic awareness.

8. Exposing phonemic awareness myths
Work in pairs.
Read each myth from the handout and record your own beliefs about the statement, based on your own practice and experience.
Swap sheets with your partner, who will record their own beliefs and experiences beside yours.
Refer to pages 8 and 9 to compare your joint responses with those in the guide.
Highlight statements/beliefs that match with the guide.
Discuss findings with the group.
Task 2
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp. 8-9.
Handout: Task 2: Exposing the myths
Read the instructions for the task from the slide.
Allow 10 minutes for this task including time for partner and group discussion, i.e. only a few minutes for each person to write their own responses before swapping sheets and discussing.
Link: We will now look at Catering for student diversity when teaching phonemic awareness.

9. Catering for student diversity when teaching phonemic awareness
Task 3
‘The diverse literacy needs of students must be taken into account when planning, teaching and assessing phonemic awareness if all students are to have an equal opportunity to succeed.’
Individually read Catering for student diversity when teaching phonemic awareness - pp
Note the implications for your classroom and your school.
Share these implications with your partner/group.
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp
Read the task instructions from the slide.
Allow 5 minutes for this task.
Link: We will now look at the About phonemic awareness teaching section of the document.

10. Section 2 - About phonemic awareness teaching
Principles of effective phonemic awareness teaching Sequencing phonemic awareness instruction NSW English K-6 syllabus and the Four Literacy Resources model Being explicit and systematic about teaching phonemic awareness in a balanced and integrated literacy program. Three key strategies: Modelled, guided and independent teaching Early years’ teachers talk about teaching phonemic awareness in their literacy sessions Key resources that will assist and enhance phonemic awareness teaching
State that: There are seven parts within this About Phonemic awareness teaching of the guide.
Read the contents from the slide.
Link: We will first examine the Principles of effective phonemic awareness teaching.

11. Principles of effective phonemic awareness teaching
Task 4
Task
Group collage
Refer to pages of the guide: Principles of effective phonemic awareness teaching
As you read each principle, record the key words/phrases on separate post-it notes
Share and collate responses in the form of a collage and give it an appropriate title.
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp
Post-it notes for each participant.
Butcher’s paper or large sheet of cardboard for display.
State that: There are five important principles that underpin phonemic awareness teaching. As teachers, we should reflect on these principles to determine if our teaching of phonemic awareness is being effective. So that we have a shared ‘picture’ of phonemic awareness teaching, we are going to create a collage of key words and phrases which describe effective phonemic awareness teaching.
Read the task instructions as materials are distributed.
Allow several minutes for participants to read and jot down their key words and phrases.
Invite participants to share a key word or phrase with the group as they come out and post it on the collage, but no duplicates are to be placed on the collage.
Discuss an appropriate title for the collage and label appropriately, for example, Phonemic awareness teaching is… Phonemic awareness teaching should be…
Allow minutes for this task.
Link: We will now examine the section Sequencing phonemic awareness instruction.

12. Sequencing phonemic awareness instruction
Task 5
Task
‘Teaching phonemic awareness using an effective sequence will facilitate student learning.’
Pages 14 and 15 deal with the order in which phonemic awareness skills should be taught.
Read through this section in order to share how it directs you to plan for explicit and systematic teaching of phonemic awareness.
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp. 14,15
Literacy Continuum (K-2)
Read instructions from slide to the participants.
It may be necessary to prompt the discussion with questions such as:
How does this section help us to be explicit in our literacy teaching?
How does this section help us to be systematic in our literacy teaching?
How does the sequence on page 15 link to the markers on the Literacy Continuum?
Link: We will now examine where phonemic awareness is located in our syllabus and how it links with the Four Literacy Resources model.

13. English K-6 Syllabus links and the Four Literacy Resources model
Task 6
Task
Think–Pair–Share
What does our English K-6 Syllabus mandate about teaching phonemic awareness?
How does the Four Literacy Resources model support the teaching of phonemic awareness?
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp. 16,17
Invite participants to answer each of these questions and share with a partner before checking information found on pages 16 and 17.
Invite comments regarding any information in the guide that was not expected or in line with their answers.
Inform participants that: Further information relating to these two references is provided in the Appendices from p. 49 onwards.
Link: We will now look at Explicit, systematic, balanced and integrated phonics teaching

14. balanced and integrated
Explicit, systematic,
balanced and integrated
Task 7
Task 7
Read through the dot points listed on page 18.
Use them to reflect on your own phonemic awareness teaching.
Place a:
 to identify current practices
? to identify practices that could be improved
* to identify practices that need to be included
Share these with your partner/group.
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp
Handout: Task 7: Explicit, systematic, balanced and integrated phonemic awareness teaching
The top section of text is a quote from p.18 of the guide.
Read both the quote and the task instructions on the slide.
Allow 5 minutes for this task including an opportunity for participants to share.
State that: On page 19 we are shown ‘A process for explicit and systematic teaching’. We will refer back to this when, further on in the session, we examine lesson structures around this model.
Link: We will now look at phonemic awareness in relation to the three key strategies of modelled, guided and independent teaching.

15. Modelled, guided and independent teaching
Task 8
Task 8
Read through this section on pages 20 and 21.
As you read, use your handout to record the key words and phrases for each strategy.
Share with the group.
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp
Handout: Task 8: Modelled, guided and independent teaching
Acknowledge the quote from page 20 of the guide.
Read the task instructions on the slide.
Allow 10 minutes for this activity.
This activity could be adapted (if time is short) by allocating one teaching strategy to each person or group, and then sharing key words afterwards.
Note for presenters: ‘Scaffolding’ refers to the temporary ‘point of need’ support that enables students to acquire new learning. Support is progressively adjusted as students become increasingly able to independently demonstrate their learning. (Glossary definition)
State that: We will not examine the next two pages where early years’ teachers talk about their teaching of phonemic awareness in their literacy sessions.
Suggest that participants read this section at a later time. It could possibly be discussed at a later stage/staff meeting.
A list of key resources is provided on page 24 to assist and enhance phonemic awareness teaching. These will be revisited when we look more closely at activities for practising and applying phonemic awareness learning.
Link: We will now examine the third section of the guide, Explicit teaching in action, to learn how information presented up to this point is applied to classroom instruction.

16. Section 3 - Explicit phonemic awareness teaching in action
Navigating this section of the guide At a glance: The phonemic awareness aspect of the Literacy Continuum A process for explicit and systematic phonemic awareness teaching The process in action: Phonemic awareness
State that: The four parts within this section of the guide provide detailed information and specific guidance for teachers about how to implement the systematic assessment, planning and teaching of phonemic awareness using the Literacy Continuum.
Read the parts listed on the slide.
Link: We will now look at the first two parts of this section, which you will need to be familiar with, in order to navigate through this section of the guide.

17. At a glance: The phonemic awareness aspect of the Literacy Continuum
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, p. 26
State that: At a glance: The phonemic awareness aspect of the Literacy Continuum is a one page summary of the clusters of markers that appear on the Literacy Continuum.
Note that Best Start markers are referenced with the arrow icon(►)
Ask participants to: Turn to page 26 in the guide. Take a few minutes to read through the phonemic awareness aspect of the Literacy Continuum.
Allow 3 minutes for this slide.
Link: We will now look at A process for explicit and systematic teaching.

18. A process for explicit and systematic phonemic awareness teaching
…a continuous cycle of assessment,
planning and instruction.
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, p. 27
State that: A process for explicit and systematic phonemic awareness teaching is a model of the process for teaching this critical aspect in an explicit and systematic way.
Explain that: The process represents a continuous cycle of assessment, planning and instruction. It demonstrates the place of modelled, guided and independent teaching strategies within the process.
Briefly discuss the more detailed process of assessment, planning and instruction as compared with the simpler version presented on page 19.
Link: We will now explore what the teaching of phonemic awareness might look like within a balanced and integrated literacy program.

19. The process in action Choose another learning goal
Task 9
Choose another learning goal
Choose an appropriate teaching focus
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp
Handout: Task 9: The process in action
State that: Each double page focuses on a different cluster of markers (from first to fifth clusters) and provides a model for the teaching needed to progress students to achieve the skill development described on the next cluster of markers. It is essential to follow the process provided on page 31 to complete this task.
First choose a cluster of markers relevant to a group of students in your class, for example, Kindergarten teachers might choose cluster 2 or 3 to examine.
Read through the two pages for that cluster of markers, comparing the steps with the process described on page 27.
The task involves choosing another learning goal (CLICK for animation) and replicating the steps exemplified in the guide.
Use the handout task sheet to record the process for your next teaching focus. (CLICK for animation)
Distribute Task 9 handout.
Direct participants to: Begin the task by recording the clusters, the new learning goal and the teaching focus on the top of your handout sheet.

20. The process in action
Task 9
Task 9
What would these steps look like for your new teaching focus?
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp
Handout: Task 9: The process in action
Explain: Once the new learning goal and teaching focus have been determined, we can follow through the steps for explicit instruction.
(CLICK for animation).
Direct teachers to complete the task. NB: If time is short, it should be completed after the session and used as part of the implementation activity.
Allow at least ten minutes for this activity as it will constitute planning that teachers can then implement in the classroom, as part of their explicit and systematic phonemic awareness teaching.
Inform teachers that: The next section of the document provides some practical ideas for ‘practising and applying’ new phonemic awareness knowledge that you can add to your lesson planning sheet.
Link: We are now in the final stages of the document: Appendices.

21. Section 4 - Appendices
Glossary Websites for additional information and support Supporting students with significant difficulties in learning to read Supporting Aboriginal students Supporting students who are learning English as a second language (ESL) Supporting students from low socio-economic backgrounds The Four Literacy Resources model Linking the NSW English K-6 Syllabus and the Literacy Continuum Ideas for practising and applying phonemic awareness learning
State that: There are nine parts of this section. Firstly, the glossary and websites provide additional useful information explaining terminology and suggesting further resources to investigate. Next, the appendices deal with some specific information for some of the diverse groups of learners we may have in our classrooms and school. It is recommended that you read through these pages in your own time.
Continue to read through the appendices and relate them to previous content covered in the workshop.
Link: We will now examine Appendix 9 which provides some independent teaching activities around each cluster of markers. This will enable us to complete our planning for explicit and systematic phonemic awareness teaching.

22. Ideas for practising and applying new learning
Task 9
Refer to The process in action planning sheets.
Locate the same cluster of markers as in the last activity.
Select and record one or two ideas that you could use to support students to practise and independently apply new phonemic awareness learning.
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp
Handout: Task 9: The process in action
Explain to participants: This task is a continuation of the previous one and you will again need to focus on the same cluster of markers. For example, if you chose the 3rd cluster in The process in action, record an idea/s from the 3rd cluster which you could provide for students to practise and apply independently in the literacy session.
State that: You will have a further 5 minutes to complete this task.
Link: We will now consider how this planning can be put into place after the workshop.

23. Post-workshop task - Applying new learning
If necessary, complete the planning begun in today’s session.
Implement your phonemic awareness lesson/series of lessons using A process for explicit and systematic phonemic awareness teaching (p. 27)
Be prepared to share your experiences at a team/stage meeting at a later date.
State that: Research has shown that teachers learn best when they are engaged in constructing their own understandings of the effectiveness of particular pedagogies, when engaged in learning specific content, and when sharing their experiences with their colleagues.
To support you in applying your new learning, we have included this task: Use the planning recorded on Task 9: The process in action to teach a series of phonemic awareness lessons and be prepared to then share results with your professional learning community, whether this be at a stage/team or whole-school meeting.
Inform participants when this is likely to take place.
CLICK to bring in the information on the slide.
Link: Our final task in this workshop is to reflect on our learning.

24. Reflection is not profitable unless it affects practice.
Reflection activity
Task 11
Refer to your Task 7 handout or pp of the guide.
Re-consider your practice in light of your progressive understanding of The process in action.
Review your reflection, in terms of how you might include or improve, and once again share with a partner.
Materials: Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness, pp
Handout: Task 7: Explicit, systematic, balanced and integrated phonemic awareness teaching
State that: As Christine Edwards-Groves states “Reflection is not profitable unless it affects practice.” (from On task: Focused literacy learning)
We will now take a few minutes to reflect on our learning as a result of this course.
CLICK to bring in the reflection task.
Read through the task instructions on the slide.
State that: This task requires you to revise your earlier reflections in light of your enhanced understanding of further recommendations of the guide and especially ‘The process in action’.
CLICK to bring in the Reflection (slide 25) while participants engage in reflection.
Reflection is not profitable unless it affects practice.
Edwards-Groves, 2003

25. REFLECT ION REFLECT ION
Allow 3 minutes for this reflection activity.

26. Bibliography
Edwards-Groves, C.J (2003) On task: Focused literacy learning. Primary English Teaching Association (PETA), Sydney, NSW.
An introduction to quality literacy teaching (2009) Curriculum K-12 Directorate, NSW Department of Education and Training, Sydney, NSW
Literacy teaching guide: Phonemic awareness (2009) Curriculum K-12 Directorate, NSW Department of Education and Training, Sydney, NSW
Acknowledge resources.
Thank participants for their participation and remind them of the timeline for implementing the post-workshop task.