As I study “Words Their Way,” I continue to learn more about the English writing system that I had not known before. I now view spelling, also known as orthography, in a different light. Word study is an effective and necessary tool which guides students how to search and analyze words in order to construct a complete, in-depth understanding of how spelling words represent sound and meaning. I wonder if my school teachers utilized my spelling tests as a means to investigate orthography, or were the tests used a tool as a repetitive drill and memorization assignment. The purpose of word study examines words in order to reveal the logic and consistencies within our written language. There are three layers of orthography, alphabet, pattern, and meaning. As students learn to read and write, they form the layered record of orthographic history. Word study give students experiences they need to progress through these layers of orthography.
Therefore, I chose to assess a second grader, Joslynn, who happens to be a former kindergarten student of mine. As I recall, Joslynn struggled with phonemic awareness in kindergarten, but was determined to become a better reader. It was a privilege to be able to spend some one-on-one time with her again and see how far she has improved. I was amazed at her strategic processes as she stretched out words during the spelling test and as she questioned and corrected herself. She was calm throughout the assessment nor did she stress when she was confronted with challenging words.
Joslynn’s final results show her spelling stage is “Middle Within Words-stage” which is the third stage of spelling development, which coincides with the transitional period of literacy development. This confirms she has mastered the basic letter-sound correspondences of written English, however, she needs improvement with letter sequences that function as a unit, especially long-vowel patterns that include silent letters. She spelled 9 correct words out of 26 words. She scored 36 feature points out of a total of 56 which resulted in a total of 45 points out of the total of 82.
Joslynn would benefit from targeted instruction in common long vowels such as:
- long vowel a letter patterns: /ai/ and /a_e/
- long vowel o letter pattern: /oa/
- long vowel i letter patterns: /igh/ and /i_e/
- long vowel e letter pattern: /ea/
- and other vowels such as /ew/, /aw/, /ou/, /oi/, and /ir/
There are several teacher-directed and individual activities to assist students who require improving their word spelling. I suggest Joslynn should get a carefully planned systematic word study in supplemental interventions such as word sorts to guide her mastery of vowel and consonant patters in the within word pattern stage. First, I would use words she can read, such as words that start with consonant blends. The spelling inventory have me a good idea of what type of words would be easier vs more complex for her abilities. Next we would sort words by sound and pattern to contrast vowels by how they sound. At this time, I would not teach rules, but encourage her to sort words by finding reliable patterns within words. Including oddball words in sorts which don’t usually fit the CVCe pattern can be difficult for students, but should not be avoided. This will allow them to experience the challenge of the English writing system as they learn that not all words follow the same rules, but are required to be recognized as high-frequency words.
Once students have had the opportunity to sort word patterns, blind sorts may be assigned between 2 student partners where a partner read words aloud as the other partner distinguishes the vowel sound but also associate it with a visual orthographic pattern.
I would like to see Joslynn begin a word study notebook divided into sections which will provide an organized structure in addition to her documented work. In the notebook she would record her weekly sort and phonics/spelling activities in the word section. In another section she can list vocabulary from content area instruction, and an ongoing list of homophones, homographs, and other words with multiple meanings in another section.
Learning is at its best when a student is able to ‘play’ while they gain new concepts. Some games found in “Words Their Way” are Vowel Spin on page 233. Players spin for a featured vowel sound or pattern and then remove pictures or words form their game board that match the feature. Another fun game is Vowel Concentration (p234). This games is played very similar to the traditional, popular concentration game but students look for pairs of words with the same sound and pattern. The Jeopardy game (p235) is available for groups of four to five students to recall and spell words that follow a particular pattern. Finally, Hink Pink (p239) is a traditional language game that involves solving riddles by a pair of rhyming words.
As a reading specialist, I now will be more aware of what to look for as an effective language curriculum which provides hands-on opportunities for students to manipulate words and features in ways that allow them to generalize beyond isolated, individual examples to entire groups of words that share the same spelling patterns and provide texts which contain the spelling patterns as well. By explicitly teaching and practicing word study at least 10-15 minutes daily students will learn phonics, spelling, and vocabulary based on their developmental or instructional levels. Students’ learning then will be based on ways they are naturally inclined to learn by comparing and contrasting word features and discovering consistencies. I am excited to create many of these games and sorts not only for my English Learners, but for our struggling readers throughout elementary. I recommend elementary through secondary teachers to learn the great advantages all students could benefit from word study. “Words Their Way” is a great resource to assess and focus instruction for struggling readers to learn their way.
