The Reading-Writing-Spelling Connection

1. The Reading-Writing-Spelling Connection 2013 IRC Conference: “Literacy for Life” Springfield, Illinois Denise Reiddereid@eiu.edu Eastern Illinois University

2. Questions for Reflection What is the purpose of spelling? Is spelling important? Is spelling developmental? What is the teacher’s role in teaching spelling? What is the child’s role in learning to spell?

3. Two Spelling Phases Learning to Spell (Pre-kindergarten through First Grade) vs. Correct & Automatic Spelling (Second Grade through Eighth Grade) (Learning to Read to Reading to Learn!)

4. Spelling is not “caught” from reading! It needs to be explicitly taught to help students see patterns and create a “DICTIONARY” in the brain. Children have to be active and engaged learners! Select activities/processes that help children TRANSFER from spelling lessons/tests to WRITING. Spelling enables students to write, read and speak fluently.

5. Teaching Emergent Spellers • Need to help learners “break the code”. (Alphabetic Principle) • Learn through writing—include daily writing block. • Writing increases reading/spelling and helps children develop word specific knowledge. • Differentiate instruction. • Use research based spelling strategies. • Increase sight word vocabulary (high frequency words that will aid writing).

6. Phase 1: Learning to Spell (Emergent Literacy) Gentry (2004) p. 14

7. Samples of Writing Early Phonemic Level 2 Writing Scribbling/Drawing Level 0 Writing Pre-phonemic Level 1 Writing Phonemic Level 3 Writing Transitional Level 4 Writing

8. CCSS 2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. (pages 25 and 26)

9. Assessing Emergent Spellers The Monster Test (Richard Gentry) Let’s practice! Student’s writing Let’s practice! “I know of no single more direct, powerful, and relatively easy to accomplish assessment of early literacy than to look at a child’s writing and let the child’s invented spelling tell you what he or she has learned, or not learned, about literacy.” (Gentry (2004), p. 78)

11. Research Based Practices • Writing block (student choice/hands-on experiences) • ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) • Private Speech • Scaffolded writing (Bodrova & Leong, 1998) • Materialization • letter boxes (Elkonin boxes) • hand spelling (onsets/rimes) • finger spelling • stretching out the sounds (stretchy cloth/slinky) • Adult Underwriting (Feldgus & Cardonick, 1999) • Story Framing

12. Phase II: Correct & Automatic Spelling Gentry (2004), p. 15

13. Keep in mind … • It is easier to read a word than it is to spell a word. • Spelling words should come from high frequency words and patterns taught in reading from the previous year. • Spelling instruction should take about 15 minutes a day. • Spelling is working with words and noticing patterns that have high utility and can be applied to writing. • Spelling instruction should be differentiated based on student’s developmental level. • Good spelling books can be an effective resource.

14. Assessing 2nd – 8th graders Pre-test core spelling list Student writing “Teachers have been trained in teaching reading and writing, but we are not trained to look at how children use words. We do not know what the child’s word-specific knowledge reveals. We do not know the impact that word-specific knowledge has on other aspects of literacy development. By adding a spelling dimension, an ability to look at a child’s word-specific knowledge and the ability to focus directly on what it tells us about the rest of his or her literacy, we make a powerful connection.” (Gentry, 2004, p. 77)

15. Six Research-Based Techniques to Use with Weekly Word Lists “Good teaching of spelling may be coordinated in a teaching framework for teaching words, teaching spelling patterns, teaching strategies, and teaching important spelling principles or rules.” (Gentry (2004), p. 65) • Careful word selection (core list & student writing—ten words) • Using a pretest-study-posttest format • Using a self-correction technique • Teaching children how to study unknown words • Spelling games and board games • Word sorting Promote Smart Spelling with Partner Quizzes http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/instructor/spell198a.htm

16. Stages of Spelling Development(Bear, Invernizzi, Templeton, & Johnston, 2007)

17. CCSS 2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. (page 28)

18. References Beech, J. R. (2005). Ehri’s model of phases of learning to read: A brief critique. Journal of Research in Reading 28(1), 50-58. Brown, J. & Morris, D. (2005). Meeting the needs of low spellers in a second-grade classroom. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 21, 165-184. Gentry, J. R. (2004) The Science of Spelling. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Newlands, M. (2011). Intentional spelling: Seven steps to eliminate guessing. The Reading Teacher, 64(7), 531-534. DOI:10.1598/RT.64.7.7 Tompkins, G. E. (2009). Language Arts: Patterns of Practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. (Chapter 12) (1999). Reading & writing, grade by grade: Primary literacy standards for kindergarten through third grade. National Center on Education and the Economy and the University of Pittsburgh.