Balanced Word Instruction – Supporting Students with CCN to crack the alphabetic code

Sally Clendon and Jane Farrall

Centre for Literacy and Disability Studies ¡ We would like to acknowledge the Centre for

Literacy and Disability Studies at the University of North Carolina for the generous sharing of their expertise and knowledge.

A Model of Word Reading (Adams, 1990)

Context Processor

Meaning Processor

Orthographic Processor

Phonological Processor

Print Speech

Orthographic Processor

¡  Input comes from individual letters, groups of letters, and the associative links made between them.

¡  Includes knowledge of letters and conventions of print that govern their use.

Phonological Processor

¡  Input generally comes from speech, -  Inner speech and speech alternatives (e.g., cued speech) can

also provide the input.

¡  Includes knowledge of words in series, syllables, syllable segmentation, rhyming, and phoneme segmentation.

Meaning Processor

¡  Input comes from a combination of the individual letters (orthographic) and speech (phonological).

¡  Includes knowledge of vocabulary and receptive language comprehension.

Context Processor

¡ Input comes from combination of individual letters (orthographic), speech (phonological), and meaning processor.

¡ Involves the ongoing interpretation of the text (i.e., meaning-based).

¡ Includes knowledge of the world, syntax, narrative development, text structure, book conventions, and reasoning.

Emergent Readers ¡ Assessment for Emergent Readers ¡  Alphabet

¡  Phonological Awareness

¡  Teaching emergent readers ¡  Alphabet

¡  Phonological awareness

Assessment

Universally Accessible Emergent Literacy Battery ¡ Assessment from the Centre for Literacy and

Disability Studies – still in draft form

¡  Four subtests: ¡  Concepts About Print

¡  Letter identification

¡  Phonological awareness

¡  Writing

Letter identification sub-test

¡  Show me the K

¡  Show me the F

¡  Show me the A

F K A

Letter identification sub-test ¡  Test all 26 upper case letters;

¡  If more than 8 correct then…;

¡  Test all 26 lower case letters;

¡  Can be administered via pointing, eye gaze or partner assisted scanning;

¡  Tells us how many letters a student knows, how instantly they recognise them, how confident they are with the alphabet;

¡  A large number of “no responses” also tells us that the student is very early in their alphabet knowledge.

Phonological Awareness sub-test ¡  Three further sub-tests ¡  Initial consonant recognition

¡  Rhyme recognition

¡  Phoneme blending

Initial Consonant Recognition

¡  Listen to these words: ¡  Sun ¡  Pig ¡  Balloon

¡  Which one has the same beginning sound as Sam?

Rhyme Recognition

¡  Listen to these words: ¡  Slide ¡  Brush ¡  Drink

¡  Which one rhymes with ride?

Phoneme Blending

¡ What word do you get when you put these sounds together?

¡  /c/ /ae/ /k/

Teaching

Teaching the Alphabet ¡ What children need to know about letters: ¡  Letter-shape recognition

¡  52 symbols (upper and lower case)

¡  42 distinct shapes

¡  Letter-name knowledge

¡  26 letter names

¡  Letter-sound knowledge

¡  About 44 sounds represented by letters or letter combinations

¡  Letter-writing/selecting abilities

Teaching the Alphabet ¡  Letter of the week supported by: ¡  Alphabet book

¡  Alphabet songs

¡  Fingerspelled alphabet/Braille (if appropriate)

¡  Making/painting/drawing the letter

¡  Name wall

¡  Incidental teaching

¡  Use student names!

Introducing the letter of the week

Alphabet Books ¡ Commerically available books

¡ Custom books

¡  Large selection of accessible alphabet books on Tar Heel Reader www.tarheelreader.org

Things  to  do  with  S. Jane  Farrall  

There  are  so  many  things  to  do  that  start  with  S.  

In  the  morning  you  can  stretch,  

then  take  a  shower.  

A<er  that  you  can  sip  some  juice.  

Then  you  can  skip,  

and  sing,  

and  smile.  

And  when  you  are  ?red  you  can  sleep,  

un?l  you  snore!  

Alphabet Songs ¡  From YouTube “Have Fun Teaching”

Fingerspelled Alphabet/Braille (if appropriate)

Making/Painting/Drawing the letter

Brainstorming

Name Wall

Incidental Teaching ¡  “Look – there’s an S on that stop sign. Just like

your name Stephanie.”

¡  “Oooh – this wombat is sleepy. That’s one of our S words.”

¡  Lots of focus on their names, then moving onto other letters.

Incidental Teaching

Incidental teaching

Phonological Awareness ¡  Refers to an individual’s awareness of sounds,

syllables and words in speech.

¡  For emergent readers we aim to improve their overall phonological awareness

¡  Particular focus on hearing initial sounds in words

Phonological Awareness ¡ Many of the letter based activities

¡ Word Sorts

¡ Onset rime

¡  Incidental Teaching

Word Sorts

Onset Rime ¡ Onset Rime has been shown to be one of the

most effective ways of improving phonological awareness (Adams, 1990).

¡  Rime word families in order of three levels of ease of learning ¡  Easiest: it, ay, in, ap, ill, an, ack, ip, ing, at, ore, ug, ell ¡  More difficult: aw, ide, ake, ock, unk, ick, oke, ank,

ice, ash, ump, ink ¡  Most difficult: ine, ain, ate, ail, est, ale, ight, ot, uck,

eat, ap, ame ¡  (Koppenhaver and Ericksson, 2000; based on

information collected for Cunningham et al, 1999)

Onset Rime

Onset Rime

Conventional Readers ¡ Assessment for Conventional Readers ¡  Automatic Word Identification

¡  Mediated Word Identification

¡  Developmental Spelling

¡  Teaching Conventional Readers ¡  Word Wall

¡  Keyword Sorts

¡  Making Words

¡  Guess the Covered Word

¡  Ear Spelling

Word Identification

¡  Both automatic and mediated word identification are required for successful silent reading comprehension.

¡  Strong mediated word identification skills coupled with lots of practice in connected text is the best route to automatic word identification.

Assessment

Assessing Word Identification

¡ Automatic Word Identification (Flash): - Assessed using words from graded word lists printed on index

cards or presented in PowerPoint - Words are flashed for less than 1/3 of a second. -  1 point for each word read when flashed.

¡ Mediated Word Identification (Analysis): - Assessed using words that were not read accurately in the flash

mode. -  Students can look at word for 3-5 seconds. -  1/2 point for each word read with analysis.

¡ 18 point total to go on to next level.

Graded Word Lists

keep

need

not

what

children

thing

was

animal

they

were

saw

want

every

went

like

from

said

live

comes

help

commissioned

arduous

tumultuous

navigated

straits

initiated

skirmish

laboriously

reluctant

settlement

crucial

encyclopedia

remembered

rebellion

ammonium

opportunity

emulate

meticulous

mantle

nebula

Primer Words Upper Middle School Words

mother

need

Assessment Modifications

¡ Use Words ¡ Provide 4 words that are visually similar to target

word. ¡ Say, but donʼ’t show, the target word. ¡ Ask, “Show me the word I just said.” ¡ Problem: you provide speech, and student links

it to print rather than the reverse which children without disabilities are doing.

¡ Better than nothing!

bird blocks

bear bed

Developmental Spelling Assessment

back

lake

stick

sink

peeked

side

Ferroli & Shanahan (1987)

mail

light

feet

dress

dragon

test

Stages ¡  Print has meaning, e.g., N for feet ¡  “graphic elements can represent ideas” ¡  scribble, numbers, letter-like strings, letters...

¡ Visual Cue, e.g., WVPOK for feet ¡  read/spell broadly and contextually ¡  letter choices based on visual features

¡  Phonetic Cue, e.g., F, FT, FET for feet ¡  learning letter/sound correspondences ¡  phonetic spellings

¡  Transitional, e.g., DRAGIN for dragon ¡  rule-based, though not always conventional

¡ Conventional

Thomas’ Spelling

back

lake

stick

sink

peeked

side

mail

light

feet

dress

dragon

test

bik

l

sk

sak

pr

sr

m

lht

fet

ds

dgd

tt

Teaching

Teaching Words...

¡ Needs to be comprehensive

¡ Needs to minimise metalinguistic demands

¡ Needs to be systematic and explicit

¡ Needs to be words-based (not picture-based)

Three Key Purposes

1.  Help children learn high-frequency words needed for fluent, successful reading with comprehension.

2.  Teach children the skills required to decode and spell words they will use for reading and writing.

3.  Help children understand how words work.

Word Wall

¡  Used to teach words that you don’t want students to have to work to decode or spell.

¡  Used to teach words that you expect students to read with automaticity and spell with accuracy by the end of the year.

¡ Not a mastery approach.

Word Wall Content Basics

¡ Unimportant words need not apply… ¡  High frequency words ¡  Generative patterns (“keywords”)

¡  at, can, like, old

¡  High utility

¡  School name, TV favourites, writing topics

¡  Spelling demons

¡  Words kids regularly misspell in writing

37 Common Rimes (Wylie & Durrell, 1970)

ack ap est ing ot ail ash ice ink uck ain at ick ip ug ake ate ide it ump ale aw ight ock unk ame ay ill oke ank an eat in op ell ine ore

rain said the

they

Quidditch

teacher

us

people

play

because can did

down

eat friend good

nice make

made

like

little

kick jump in have

out

after

and

all

The Process ¡  Typically 5 new words are added each week

¡  Some teachers in self-contained classrooms may find that they can only add 3 each week given the complexity of their students’ needs

¡  For beginning readers, the words include the 37 key words, sight words that can’t be decoded (e.g., was), and other words that are personally meaningful to the class (e.g., school mascot)

¡ Words are placed alphabetically by first letter and remain in the same place throughout the year

¡  Teach the meaning of the words and then spell the words by clapping, chanting and then writing

¡ Complete daily activities to teach the words and how they can be used to read and spell other words

¡  Refer to the wall throughout the day to encourage its use

Some Word Wall Activities 1.  Dictate sentences using only Word Wall Words.

2.  Spell word wall words that share a spelling pattern with the rhyming words. ¡  “I’m thinking of a word that starts with l and rhymes with

hike.”

3.  Add endings to words. ¡  Add the ending “s” to make rains, then “ed” to make

rained, then “ing” to make raining.

4.  Play I Spy ¡  “I am thinking of a word on the wall. It has 4 letters. It is on a

yellow card. It rhymes with the word pain. The word is …”

Portable Word Walls

http://www.teachingmaddeness.com/2012/06/monster-ously-new-mini-offices.html

Word Sorts – Learning to Use Words You Know

¡ Visual

¡ Auditory

¡  Spelling

Visual Word Sorts

¡  Step 1: Select two key words the student knows that have a common spelling pattern ( at - pick).

¡  Step 2: Make sure student can read the two key words.

¡  Step 3: Show student a word that has the same spelling pattern as one of the key words.

¡  Step 4: Ask the student to indicate which key word has the same spelling pattern as the new word. Compare/Contrast the two words.

at pick

fat

bat

sat

lick

sick

Auditory Word Sorts Word sorts begin to engage the phonological processor when students begin to sort words based on the way they sound prior to checking the visual pattern.

¡  Step 1: Select two key words the student knows that have a common spelling pattern ( at - pick)

¡  Step 2: Make sure student can read the two key words.

¡  Step 3: Tell the student a word that has the same spelling pattern as one of the key words.

¡  Step 4: Ask the student to indicate which key word has the same spelling pattern as the new word.

¡  Step 5: Show the student the new word and compare/contrast it with the selected key word to check.

Spelling Word Sorts Guiding students to use the selected key word to try to spell the words prior to checking the response visually engages the phonological processor even more deeply.

¡  Step 1: Select two key words the student knows that have a common spelling pattern ( at - pick)

¡  Step 2: Make sure student can read the two key words.

¡  Step 3: Tell the student a word that has the same spelling pattern as one of the key words.

¡  Step 4: Ask the student to indicate which key word has the same spelling pattern as the new word.

¡  Step 5: Ask the student to try to use the key word to spell the new word.

¡  Step 6: Show the student the new word and compare/contrast it with the student’s spelling attempt correcting as necessary.

Jake - Word Sorts

Making Words

¡  Teaches children to look for spelling patterns in words and recognize the differences that result when a single letter is changed.

E, I, L, N, S, T

¡  I

¡  in, is, it

¡  sit, tin, ten

¡  tens, sent, lent, lint, line

¡  lines

¡  ?

Take two letters and make in

Add a letter to make the three-letter word tin. Some cans are made of tin. Letʼ’s all say tin.

Instructional Feedback is Key!

Add a letter to make the three-letter word tin. Some cans are made of tin. Letʼ’s all say tin.

l n i

This word says lin. We are trying to make the word tin. Let me show you how I write tin. Take a look at your word and see what you need to do to make your word look like mine.

Week One

Sorting and Transfer

¡ Sorting ¡  Refocuses students on the words they’ve made. ¡  Find all the words you made that: (1) have the same beginning

sound (2) have # letters (3) share a spelling pattern

¡ Transfer ¡ Gets students to use what they’ve learned to do something they

haven’t been taught directly. ¡  Use the words you made to help you spell a new word that: (1)

starts with the same sound (2) ends with the same sound (3) shares the spelling pattern

A Month Later

Guess the Covered Word (Cross-checking)

¡ Write a sentence on the board covering one word with two sticky notes.

¡  Read the sentence and students suggest words that could fill in the blank. Record each of the words suggested.

¡  Uncover the initial consonant and modify list accordingly. Add other possibilities.

¡  Take off the 2nd sticky note to see which is the correct word.

I ate all the raisins.

Guess the Covered Word

I ate all the r aisins.

I ate all the raisins.

Ear Spelling

¡  Teach children to write the sounds they hear in the order they hear them.

¡  Encourage ear spelling in any preliminary draft writing

¡  independence, efficiency, maintain meaning focus...

¡ AAC users should be encouraged to use first-letter cueing and invented spelling in their face-to-face communication long before they are able to read or spell conventionally.

Integrated Instruction

Rhyming Riddles

Sound Sorts

Word Sorts