Season Two, Episode 5: The choreography of learning
About this episode
Hannah Pointon discusses the implementation of structured literacy and maths at Woodstock School, emphasizing the importance of clear routines in fostering a productive learning environment.
Summary In this episode of Chalk Dust , Rebecca Birch and Dr Nathaniel Swain are joined by Hannah Pointon, a Year 3/4 teacher at Woodstock School in Hamilton, New Zealand. Hannah shares how her school has moved towards structured literacy, structured maths, explicit teaching, and teaching behaviour as a curriculum in its own right. Using early-year classroom footage, the episode explores how clear routines transform classroom life: lining up, entering the room, organising materials, whole-class reading, whiteboard responses in maths, and even collecting lunchboxes. Hannah shows how routines that look simple on the surface are deliberately taught, scaffolded, practised, and reinforced until they become calm, independent habits. Across the conversation, the hosts reflect on the difference between reacting to chaos and proactively teaching the behaviours students need for learning, safety, and belonging. The result is a classroom that feels purposeful, warm, and highly structured — not because students are constrained, but because they know exactly how to succeed. Mentioned resources and explainers Structured literacy A systematic approach to teaching reading that gives students…
More episodes of Chalk Dust
- Season Two, Episode 10: Professor Anna Stokke on Effective and Engaging Math(s) Instruction
- Season Two, Episode 9: Every Class is a Reading Class
- Season Two, Episode 8: Getting Hands-On
- Season Two, Episode 7: Everyone can learn mathematics with John Mighton
- Season Two, Episode 6: The Knowledge Rich Classroom of Laura Stam
- Season Two, Episode 4: The power of precision
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