the essentials of word work pat johnson when vulnerable readers thrive 2014 summit: series two...
TRANSCRIPT
The Essentials of Word WorkPat Johnson
When Vulnerable Readers Thrive2014 Summit: Series Two
Catching Readers Before They Fall: Supporting Readers Who Struggle, Johnson & Keier,
One Child at a Time: Making the Most of Your Time with Struggling Readers, Johnson
www.stenhouse.com
Demonstrate and teach word solving principles with whole group or small group lessons.
Provide opportunity for students to apply the principles – hands on work with words in applicable activities.
Teach for, prompt for, and reinforce problem solving while readers are processing continuous text.
When Readers Struggle, p. 242
“Remember, word solving is about learning how to connect words in ways that generate more word knowledge. Word learning will be useless unless children can use the information while writing and reading.”
Fountas & PinnellWord Matters, p. 99
Children need to use a balance of their
sources of information when solving words on continuous texts.
woodsforest
f in dfind
look booklooks took
Meaning
Syntactic Visual
Sources of Information:
Word Solving
An ELL child might place a lot of weight on visual analysis.
“Another child who has strong oral language skills … may try to avoid the tedium of the careful analysis of print in reading and attention to detail in writing. And their avoidance behavior requires astute detection.”
Marie ClayLiteracy Lessons 2, p. 168
Also be aware of:
Child who looks up and away rather than trying to solve.
Child who has a “learned confusion” and thinks there are 2 alternatives and that either response will do. You must help him learn what is OK and what is not OK.
Child who did pretty well sounding letter by letter, but never moved onto chunks.
It isn’t always about accuracy – sometimes it’s about taking on a part of a
word solving strategy or strategic behavior.
“Struggling readers tend to appeal rather than work actively at words.”
Fountas & PinnellWhen Readers Strugglep. 261
Adapted from Schulman, Guided Reading in Grades 3-6
Pinnell & Fountas, Guiding Readers & Writers, 3-6
Johnson, One Child at a Time
“…the teacher’s job is not delivering knowledge, but arranging for the problem to be manageable, sustaining the child’s problem-solving attempts emphasizing flexibility.”
Peter Johnston “Revolutionary Contributions” The Journal of RR, Fall, 2007
“We do not want the brain to specialize in learning one response for each symbol. Why? Because English is not like that. It is more important that the beginning reader adopt a different stance: ‘It might be this, or it could be that.’ ”
Marie ClayLiteracy Lessons 2, p. 123
What would happen if children are inflexible and think that ‘a’ either says short a or long a:
am sawagain caughtstain animalmall anyway hard saidbean
“…children should be flexible enough to try something else when their first trial is unsuccessful, and that they need a growing repertoire of what the most likely possibilities may be.”
Billie AskewVoices on Word Matters, p. 149
14 Principles of how words work:1. Initial letters can be changed. go/so look/book make/take2. Final letters can be changed. cat/can bed/bet hot/hop beat/bean3. Letters can be added to the ends of words. look/looks play/playing stay/stayed the/them teach/teacher you/your4. Words can be put together. in + to = into dog + house = doghouse5. Initial letters can be upper or lower case. the/The Here/here is/Is
Principles of how words work:
6. . Middle letters can be changed. dad/did sat/sit got/get ripe/rope 7. Letter clusters at the beginnings of words can be
added or changed. play/stay sing/thing stamp/champ8. Letter clusters at the ends of words can be
changed. will/with must/much back/band9. Letter clusters in the middle can be changed. sheet/shirt pail/peel chirp/champ
Principles of how words work:
10. Letters can be added to the front of words or word parts.
am/ham or/for up/cup it/spit11. Some words sound the same but are spelled
differently. here/hear to/two/too12. Some words are spelled the same but sound
different. read/read record/record
Principles of how words work:13. Words can be read through analogy. stump st op j ump crack cry back trail tr ee m ail
14. Letters can be added at the beginning and at the ending of words or letter chunks.
at splat splatter stand understand understanding eat tr eat tr eat ing am champ champion ar art smart smartest
Child makes analogies on his own:
“Before the teacher can allow the child to think of another word and then make the change himself, he must be working with considerable independence. She has to prepare the ground carefully for that independence.”
Marie ClayLL2, p. 144
Learning how words work could be done entirely on the words the child already knows. Do not hurry into new territory.
Most supportive level:
Notice the different concepts:book can uplook cat cup
Teacher gives both words and does so both orally and visually.
Slightly less support from teacher:
go has _and shirt
Teacher gives the two words orally, but only one is visual.
“The habit of linking needs to start early.” Lee Skandalaris
We want kids to say, “this is like that.”• “I have that word in my other book”• ‘brother’ – that’s like Brian’s name• This story is like that other book• Hey, ‘shoe/too’ – they rhyme• That has ‘and’ in it --- standing
When does a child really know a word?
• New word• Only just known• Successfully problem-solved• Easily produced but easily thrown• Well-known and recognized in most contexts• Known in many variant forms.
Marie ClayLiteracy Lesson Two, p. 46
Balanced Literacy Approach
To-With-By
Modeled Writing Shared Writing Interactive Writing Independent Writing
Read Aloud Shared Reading Guided Reading Independent Reading
Teacher
Students
Word work opportunities throughout the day:
• Mini-lessons for word study• Morning Message• Shared Writing/ Interactive Writing• Centers/Stations• Writing Workshop• Shared Reading• Before, during, after Guided Reading
“We can’t get inside and rewire a brain, but we can arrange things so that it gets rewired. If we are skilled, we can set up conditions that favor this rewiring, and we can create an environment that nurtures it.”
James ZullThe Art of Changing the Brain
“Struggling readers… generally have a lower repertoire of words that they can recognize effortlessly and their word solving is inefficient, slow, and tedious.”
Fountas & PinnellWhen Readers Struggle, p. 261
“By the end of first grade, children should be able to write 50-100 words quickly and accurately and to use their knowledge of spelling patterns to produce many more words, which may be correct or nearly correct.”
Fountas & PinnellWord Matters, p. 89
Develop a way to study words:
• Look at the word; use your eyes. (teacher can say it and run finger under it.)
• Run your finger under it as you say it slowly (coordinating L-to-R)
• Close your eyes and see it.• What do you hear at the beginning? (using
ears.)• Look again (child scans without help.)• Now try writing it here (not copying.)
• Arrange for repetition• Arrange for over-learning• Practice reconstructing with magnetics• Introduce tracing• Use games
“Games in general have little value, but designed specifically for a particular child and used for a brief period of time they may help to increase the items that a child remembers.”
LL2, Clay, p. 176
Other sources - Word Matters:• Chapter 14 – How to set up routines in your
classroom for a word study system – choosing words, spelling buddies, activities with word learning, look/cover/say/check, buddy tests, etc.
• Appendix 34 – lists of mini-lessons on word solving strategies, saying words slowly, using resources, giving a buddy test, etc.
• In When Readers Struggle - Chapter 12, Building and Using a Repertoire of Words – activities for working with words.