Hello all,From April 20th to May 5th I was lucky enough to work with teachers and students in Bangkok and Melbourne on SWI. It was a particular treat to be able to co-lead workshops with fellow long-term experts in SWI Fiona Hamilton in Bangkok and Lyn Anderson in Melbourne. Since the content was the same for all of these sessions, I’ve constructed this one document for everyone. I’m including many links to many resources here. The idea is not to try and go through them in any specific order, but instead to offer you a document that you can return to over time and take what you need as you need it. I expect it will make most sense to those who attended the 2-day or 3-day workshop, but teachers who had a short visit from me or Lyn in your classroom should still find many useful links here. I hope people find it a useful document to return to again and again over time. Don’t hesitate to email Pete with questions. Resources to Support SWIIf I promised a resource that you do not see here, please Email me here. I will then make sure to get those documents to the whole group. An outline of useful links and resources follow...

Workshop BookletAt this link you can download a workshop booklet that is much larger than the paper version shared in the workshops. It contains many activities and links to other resources.Conventions for “Spelling-Out Word Structure”Spelling-out word structure is one of the most important practices teachers can take on to help build their own understanding of word structure -- and thus that of their students. Lyn modelled the simple act of “writing-out loud” in front of students for morning messages or any other context. Helping students to write word sums out loud is so important.As you get more comfortable with the process, it allows you to integrate SWI seamlessly into any teachable moment. • Click here for a booklet laying

out the conventions for “writing word sums out loud.”

• Click here for a page with background and videos on spelling-out word structure.

• Click here for a page on “spelling-out word structure” as an assessment tool.

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Follow-Up for 2017 April - May Structured Word Inquiry Workshops • Pete Bowers & and Fiona Hamilton (A Place for Words) @ ELC International Bangkok • Pete Bowers & Lyn Anderson (Beyond the Word) @ Wesley and Melbourne area schools

please + ure →

a) Note that <-ure> is a vowel suffix that replaces the final, single, silent <e> of <please>.

b) Draw a line through that silent <e> to remind yourself to announce that change when you complete the right side of the word sum.

...is written and spelled aloud in groups like this:! p--l--ea--s--e-- “plus” --ure “is rewritten as”

This written word sum…

Step #1: Build left side of word sum.

Step #2: Say “Check the joins!” and mark changes on left side of word sum.

vowelsuffix

please + ure →

final, single, silent <e>

Spell and write out the result...! ! ! ! please + ure → pleasure! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

...in groups like this:!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! p--l--ea--s-- “no <e>” -- “pause” -- ure

Step #3: Complete right side of word sum, announcing the structure you have represented on left side of word sum.

For suffixing conventions see Big Suffix Checker and/or Interactive Suffix Checker

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Steps for constructing word sums that include marking and announcing of dropped single, silent <e>s

Click HERE for a short video of a Grade 1 student, Sophie spelling out the word sum for <wonderfully> in such a way that you can see her own morphological problem-solving in action. Note how spelling-out loud helps us see her wonder if there is an <-er> suffix on the base <wonder> on the left side of the word sum, but than she has made up her mind that it does not when she spells out the result without pausing on the right side of the word sum. Click HERE for a video of my son Skyler as we use “spelling out” rather than “sounding out” to help him make sense of print in his first couple weeks of reading independently. LEX grapheme cards. Since spelling-out includes announcing graphemes, teachers need a reliable resource for referencing and understanding graphemes. These are the only such cards I trust! I highly recommend following Gina Cooke’s LEX blog as well!Key Concepts and Terms of Structured Word InquiryClick here for a draft document that I think of as a kind of “scope” but not a “sequence” of the key concepts and terms that are involved in structured word inquiry instruction. This is not a document to be read quickly, but one to treat as a reference when you come up against

terms you are unsure of. It offers many links to illustrations of these concepts. I recommend this document for teachers in general, but particularly for those tasked with integrating structured word inquiry into their formal curriculum. Structure & meaning Test: Understanding the interrelation of morphology and etymologyUnderstanding spelling is about understanding the nature of the relationships between written words. I cannot overstate the importance of deepening your understanding of the interrelation of -- and the distinctions between -- morphological and etymological families.

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On-line Tools for Scientific Word Inquiry

The Word MicroscopeClick HERE for videos and a new guide for working with this tool guiding structured word inquiry. (Only for PC’s) That page has a variety of “how to” videos and other resources showing teachers and tutors how they can use this program to guide and record scientific inquiries into the morphological structure of words and their related word families. The Word Microscope was built by Neil Ramsden, creator of the Word Searcher, the Mini-Matrix-Maker (how to video here) and the On-Line Suffix Checker.

Scientific understanding of spelling can only move forward when we know how to reject or confirm hypotheses about how words are related. The “structure and meaning test” is needed to analyze and assess a perceived connection between words. We investigated these ideas in multiple ways in all our sessions. The “oval & square” activity on page 10 of your workshop booklet is a key reminder of these concepts along with the analogy of a “ marking members of the same etymological family. See the “circle and square” diagrams on page 9 & 10 in your workshop booklet.Links to revisit the structure & meaning test:• See this page on Real Spellers on the Structure &

Meaning test. It includes resources including a video of me teaching the “oval & matrix” activity in Dan Allen’s Grade 5 class in Zurich.

• Watch a video at this page introducing the Word Microscope. (Even if you can’t use this program, this is a useful review!)

• Click HERE for a video walking through the concepts of etymological relatives and morphological relatives.

Links to Resources for Getting StartedAbout WordWorks (click here)This page is full of resources for getting started. It also includes a number of videos and (and and audio file) of presentations I’ve done for various organizations. That page also has my published research. 

Lyn Anderson’s “Beyond the Word” Blog (Click here)The Nueva School teachers, and others around the world will tell you how important Lyn’s blog has been to their learning - especially for teaching younger children. I once asked Lyn for posts she might recommend for those getting started. Here is what she recommended:

Starting the learning journeyTeaching orthography in the early yearsCan we teach orthography to young children?The power of kinaesthetic learningStarting the learning journey (article on Real Spellers)

“Teaching How the Written Word Works”Most of you have access to my resource book that takes teachers and students through the basic concepts of morphology and how it relates to phonology and etymology. You can also see a video of me teaching from the first lessons at this link. These lessons were the basis of my instruction in my Grade 4/5 intervention. The vocabulary results of that study were published here. WW Newsletters: Here are a few I recommend…WW Newsletter # 84: How to "integrate SWI?" and other articlesWW Newsletter #82: Structure is Freeing (Stories from a year at the Nueva School, and the “snow plant” story)WW Newsletter # 76: The Getting Started Issue (This one has many resources for getting started with SWI)

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School-Wide Structured Word Inquiry Investigations: Starting with <know> or <love>This document shares examples of school wide investigations that allow teachers from K to 8 to investigate the spelling system from the same word family at the same time. Follow the links for resources, videos. Working with the young struggling students: What if the student can’t read yet? (Research and Practice)This special newsletter focuses on the story of a gifted but frustrated non-reader in Grade 1 and how SWI tutoring helped him reach that crystalization moment of independent reading of an advanced chapter book. It's an important and moving story by guest author and tutor Rebecca Loveless. See her amazing new website and book her for PD at your school!Classroom VideosClick here for a document offering background and resources related to videos of lessons I taught in Grade 5 and Grade 1. WordWorks YouTube: Click here for my YouTube page with many classroom videos. Enactive Word SumIn some of my we had time to do model the “enactive word sum” in which participants act out each structure involved in spelling out a word sum. See this link from Lyn Anderson’s blog for images of students doing this activity with the <heal> family.

Click here for a pdf with the “pieces” that can be used for creating a web and a corresponding matrix with words from the <please> family. Real Spellers is a website where people post and discuss spelling questions. Free to join! Find all the teacher blogs at this site as well.

A start with the ResearchThis 4-page paper offers a good introduction to the research on morphological instruction presented for a practitioner audience.This recent article by Devonshire, Morris and Fluck (2013) found that 5-7 year olds taught about the interrelation of morphology, etymology and phonology with the use of word sums scored significantly higher on standardized measures of reading and spelling than did the comparison group that received systematic, explicit phonics instruction. This brand new article, (Bowers J.S. & Bowers, P.N., 2017), “Beyond Phonics: The Case for Teaching Children the Logic of the English Spelling System” in Educational Psychologist offers the fullest analysis of SWI in the research.All of my research is available at the bottom of my About WordWorks page. Classroom Blogs The SWI community has no hierarchy. It is a scholarly group of teachers and tutors doing their best to learn and add to the learning of how our writing system works. Exploring the work of your colleagues in these blogs with

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stories and videos of this instruction in action is a great way to deepen your own understanding.

✦ Lyn Anderson’s Early Years blog✦ Skot Caldwell’s Grade 1 Class (archived)✦ Skot Caldwell’s current 4/5 Class✦ Jen Munnerlyn’s Grade 1-5✦ Dan Allen’s Grade 5 Class✦ Mrs. Steven’s Grade 5 Class✦ Ann Whiting’s Grade 7 Class

SWI Facebook PageSome time ago, Lisa Barnett, an educator I had never met started up a closed SWI Facebook Group for anyone interested in sharing their questions and learning with SWI. It has grown into a very productive community space where people can feel comfortable asking “beginner” questions and a large range of “experts” including myself, LEX author (and linguist) Gina Cooke and many others are delighted to share their understanding. Many LEX and Spellinar courses get organized here. If you are interested, email Lisa <seethebeautyindyslexia@gmail.com> to let her know you attended one of my workshops and that you’d like to join the group.Real SpellingReal Spelling is the main resource that sparked the learning of this community. I highly recommend exploring the Real Spelling Gallery for films explaining how spelling works. (Sadly this Gallery will be gone soon due to technical issues. Go now!)

Use the Real Spelling Gallery to study individual orthographic concepts and terms.

Take a “Spellinar” with the Real Spelling author to deepen your understanding about spelling -- and to get started on Real Script!

Gina Cooke & the Linguist-Educator Exchange (LEX)Click HERE for the LEX store for these essential orthographic resources. Follow Gina’s excellent blog, but most of all, sign up for her LEXinars to deepen your own understanding of English orthography.

Sound LiteracyFollow this excellent blog by Kathy Penn, and explore her important app for the iPad.

Sum(m) + ing Up!I could not be more excited to invite you all to be a part of this community of scholars that are working hard to re + volute/ + ion + ize understanding of our writing system in schools. It is a joyful ride. With people like Lyn and Fiona and many other’s offering PD and leadership in this work, we are in great shape!

Pete Bowers, May 9, 2017

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