Word Study Instruction in the K-2 Classroom
This article explains word study instruction and provides tips for implementing an effective word study program in a K-2 classroom. The author and his colleagues have been very active in investigating and completing research on using word study instruction in the classroom. Word study instruction is an approach to teaching spelling "that moves away from a focus on memorization." Immediately upon reading this I thought about Theresas' posting last week about her spelling tests not being over a specific set of words sent home with her students. Using what they call "word work" teachers explore and teach the alphabetic, pattern, and meaning layers in English orthography.
The authors work is based on "sociocultural theories that view learning as a change in the ways learners participate in specific, socially situated activities." (pg. 571). These theorists believe that learning is inherently social and that they best through school activities that promote observation, participation, and social interaction. Wertschs' theory of of mediated action and Rogoffs' theory of cognitive development were also used as part of the framework for this piece.
The tips for implementing word study instruction in your classroom are as follows:
1. Assess Students Word Knowledge Using Multiple Assessment Tools
-Assess students before beginning Word Study Instruction
- Need to assess often, periodic assessment isn't enough
- Use students independent work as an ongoing assessment tool
-Using more than one type of assessment tool gives you that much more information you can use to guide your students learning.
2. Use a Homogeneous Small-Group Approach to Instruction
- Use a small group approach since all students reading and spelling levels were not the same throughout any classroom
3. Carve Out Time to Prepare for Word Study Instruction
-Planning word study instruction takes a significant amount of planning time
-Perhaps the most important key to making this type of instruction work
4. Teach Word Knowledge, Not Just Words
-Students need to learn word knowledge so that they can apply this knowledge to other reading and writing activities
-Use high frequency words as examples of exceptions to generalizations you are teaching with word study instruction
5. Demonstrate How Word Study Can Be Used During Reading and Writing
- Use interactive writing as a context for guided practice
6. Teach Strategies that Support Students' Use of Word Study Instruction
- Explicit strategy instruction and guided practice
-Teachers model use of strategies during interactive writing activities
7. Make Your Own Word Wall Work
-Make it clearly visible and accessible
- Place words on the wall that illustrates the orthographic feature or principle you are working on but also can be used as a way to spell other words
-Change the wall often, it should be a dynamic tool. Remove words that students already know
8. "Word Work" Should Work, Too!'
- Plenty of opportunities to explore orthographic features through games and hands-on activities
- Word sorting is highly recommended
9. Engage Students in Extensive "Real" Reading and Writing
- Daily extended authentic reading and writing
- The reading and writing activities provide teachers a context for examining students' use of word study instruction
SAIL- A Framework for Prompting Next-Generation Word Study
The author developed and instructional framework called SAIL (which stands for Survey, Analyze, Interpret, and Link) in order to help teachers realize how they could better utilize small-group word introductions. Survey, Analyze, Interpret, and Link are four seperate lesson components. SAIL groups are differentiated according to student levels so that teachers are better able to target instruction according to that groups needs. These small groups meet with the teacher for 20 minutes a week and follow up opportunities are provided throughout the rest of the week. The Survey part of instruction includes the teacher introducing the words and taking inventory to make sure the students can identify them. Words are typically chosen to use in these lessons because they are either unfamiliar, they have multiple meanings, there are common misconceptions about them, they have multiple meanings, and/or they give opportunities to develop new meanings. Next the teacher helps them categorize the words according to orthographic characteristics. The next lesson component is Analyze, where the teachers help students analyze the categories they have come up with to ensure each word matches up. The students say the words out loud and look for patterns. After the students have analyzed the categories, they attempt to Interpret or compare and contrast how the categories are alike or different. Students share their thoughts with the group and this is where the students should hopefully come to realize the takeaway of the lesson. Lastly the lesson comes to an end when teachers help the students to Link what they have learned by writing or reading a sentence that includes a word with a feature they just learned about or some other activity that links what they have learned to something else. This important step helps put the lesson in context so that it will stick with the student- so to speak. After the Link portion, this is where teachers would provide additional follow up activities throughout the week.
The word study article was rich in examples and activities to implement word study in a classroom. Interactive writing is one of my favorite activities to do with the class. It's a great way to incorporate reading skills and writing skills while engaged in a guided and interactive approach. During this activity, the students always feel a sense of ownership with the created writing piece and it really keeps them engaged and motivated. During interactive writing, as a student is writing a sentence onto the chart paper, as the other students wait for the next prompt, I will have them practice manipulating words, like coming up with rhyming words, alliteration, adding prefixes and suffixes, and much more. It really does tie in reading and writing words altogether and allow great practice and modeling.
ReplyDeleteI like that you have given your other students tasks while they are waiting for their classmates to write during your interactive writing lessons. In the word study article, the author stressed the idea that teachers also need to explicitly teach students how to apply what they’ve been practicing and learned during word study time through interactive writing lessons like yours that you described, because not all students will automatically transfer that knowledge into their authentic writing. This article also really reiterated the importance and effectiveness of small groups as a means to effectively differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all learners. The author explained that the whole group lesson was mostly beneficial for the averaged ability literacy group. However, the lesson failed to meet all learners. It was too easy for the advanced group and too difficult for the struggling group. In order to solve this problem, the author highlighted the importance of grouping students by their needs for small group instruction.
DeleteThe style of instruction and amount of discussion within the SAIL approach for small group instruction was intriguing. The use of unfamiliar words and teaching it to young learners will expand their vocabulary and really help with understanding applying it as it is taught through SAIL. I especially liked the movement involved in the small group instruction. I move my hands and arms unintentionally when teaching word work, and it really helps the students with understanding and processing what I expect from them. For instance, when we talk about compound words, the movement of my hands apart and bringing them together helps some of the students visualize the words combined to create a compound word.
ReplyDeleteIn reference to SAIL--I like the analyze feature. When introducing new words, I will write a word on the board and ask my students to think about what they know before answering--look for patterns, chunk it, or see if it resembles a word they already know. Recently, our new vocabulary word was "malicious". One of my students referred to "Maleficent" from the Disney show--which led to a great word study!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a description for the four different components in SAIL. I was preview research articles fro Ganske, but I didn't find a description until I found this site! Thanks.
ReplyDelete