The Spiral at Work: Leading Change Through Structured Literacy

This moment matters. We’re starting to speak the same language.

Derek Wenmoth’s latest blog post is a very welcome one in my world — and I’m genuinely grateful to see it.

Just over a year ago, I was approached to join Literacy Connections as a Structured Literacy Facilitator. I was both nervous and excited. The educational landscape was polarised — globally — and many of my clients were angry (understandably so) about government mandates.

As someone who works with leaders using the Spiral of Inquiry, I knew the only way forward was through curiosity. I asked myself: What am I seeing? What do our learners need? What am I learning? The more I explored, the more I realised I needed to challenge myself to learn what I hadn’t been taught — and to really understand what structured literacy could offer.

For me, equity is never a side note. It’s a driver. I’m especially committed to ensuring Māori learners experience success as Māori, and that what we do upholds Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I could see that structured literacy — when done well, with integrity — had real potential to support those outcomes.

Derek's reflections affirm a shift that many of us have been engaged in for some time. At Literacy Connections, this is work we’ve been immersed in deeply — guided by research, practice, and the needs of learners.

I knew stepping into this space wouldn’t be easy. But I decided to lean into learning — not defensiveness. I had deep respect for the Literacy Connections team, and I backed myself to grow. I trained in IMSLE, began accreditation through tutoring individual students (a journey that’s still underway), and buried myself in readings and workshops. Honestly? I was overwhelmed — in the best way — by knowledge I’d never encountered during teacher training back in 2000.

Today, I’m proud to specialise — alongside my colleague Linda Baran — in Language Comprehension and Writing through a Structured Literacy lens. Our Directors, Andrea Wylie and Julie Binfield, lead expertise in Word Recognition: phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, decoding.

Over time, I’ve become excited about new experts (to me) like Dr Nathaniel Swain, Dr Judith Hochman, Natalie Wexler, Anita Archer and Doug Lemov — voices helping to reshape how we understand literacy and learning. Some of them have been around for a long time!

At the same time, I still work two days a week as Sweeney Consulting Aotearoa, supporting schools with the Spiral of Inquiry and leadership development.

What I’ve learned is vast. It’s been an exciting and tough year all at once. I’ve watched the polarised views and become deeply curious about how to bridge what have often felt like two competing worlds: the precision of structured teaching and the complexity of rich, student-centred learning.

The Spiral has taught me that staying in curiosity — not judgment — is where transformation begins. It helped me listen more closely, seek evidence, and be open to what learners were showing us. What’s become clear is that it’s not a case of abandoning creativity for structure — it’s about ensuring the structure gives learners the tools to think, explore, and communicate powerfully.

But for us at Literacy Connections, it was never either/or. We’ve always believed in integration — in rigour and relevance. In skills and curiosity. It’s just taken the wider conversation a while to catch up. Here’s what I know for sure:

It’s not either/or. It’s and.

As educators, our inquiry must centre equity: Who is this working for? Who is it not? How do we know?
Structured literacy gives us tools, and the Spiral keeps us honest. It helps us ask the deeper questions — and be responsive to the learners and whānau we serve.

I’m in a strong position to support schools and leaders in weaving structured literacy into wider learning approaches — from inquiry and project-based learning to culturally responsive pedagogy and deep, future-focused learning. Leading structured literacy implementation well means leading with Te Tiriti in mind. It means listening to whānau, valuing mātauranga Māori, and ensuring that no approach is ‘one size fits all’.

We’re constantly evolving powerful ways to build comprehension through writing, rich dialogue, and authentic learning experiences — where students don’t just learn the skills of literacy, but use them to explore and express deep thinking. I’ve seen students write to learn — not just learn to write. I’ve seen engagement soar when writing, thinking and strong comprehension come together. This mahi matters.

Recently, I’ve been connecting with Canadian principals and teachers further along in this journey. They’re seeing the impact of integrated, structured approaches. And they’re seeing what happens when things remain siloed or stuck in false binaries.

This work is complex — and it’s possible.

We can honour what’s come before while moving forward and we can do this together.

I wasn’t always ready to say this publicly. But I am now.

Because this shift is real — and we need more voices, more bridge-builders, and more courage.

The Spiral keeps reminding us to ask: “What’s going on for our learners?”
The answer isn’t either/or — it’s AND. And we’re starting to see how powerful that can be.

If you’re making sense of this too, I’d love to hear what you’re seeing, feeling, and wondering. Let’s keep the conversation going.