The Essentials of Word WorkPat Johnson

Calgary Summit October 22, 2015

patjohnson222@gmail.com

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

“…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

Students need to be flexible when word solving.

“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

Teachers need to be thinking about the concepts of how words work

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.

Much less support:

look play must _or car_

Teacher asks the question.Child must initiate the word.

Least amount of support:

• When reading continuous text, the child must make the analogy.

st am p

“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

There are different levels of knowing a word.

We cannot assume that a correctly read word is known in all its detail.” Clay, LL2, p. 46

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

Instruction on “word work” is woven throughout the day.

“ … teachers must abandon the notion that they must first teach the child to remember words before that child will be able to read or write them. To the contrary, children will remember words because they have met them and worked on them many times.”

Clay LL2, page 139

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

Support ELLS with word solving through your book introductions.

Always give the titleGive a short summary – the big ideaHook the children with a comment or question

to encourage their talkWhile conversing, allow the children to predict

and negotiate the meaningUse some of the vocabulary from the textPractice an awkward language structure if

neededInclude a ‘predict and locate’ word if

necessaryMention, model, or remind children of the

teaching focusSave some things for the children to problem

solve on their own

Procedures for a book introduction:

• General Book Intro info in Catching Readers Before They Fall, pages 78-80

• Specific ways to support ELLS - Chapter 7 in One Child At A Time

ELLs and Awkward Language Structures:

Examples: Home we go. Off they went to the beach. Away went Lizard.

Suggested Teaching Moves:Use it in the book intro conversationTell the child it’s a different way to say itHave the student practice itGive an “in” and “out” of text example

ELLs and Irregular Verbs or Advanced Verb Tenses

Examples: The balloon blew away. The shell is broken. Nick swam across the pool. She would have gotten hurt badly if…Suggested teaching moves: Bring it to the child’s attention Provide in and out of text examples Let the child practice Give the child a way to solve the word

Vocabulary

• Known words used in a new way• Known concepts, but the English label is

unknown• Unknown concept and unknown English

label

Vocabulary – Known words used in a new way

Examples: I am pleased I let you go. Back in the village the people heard the boy’s cries.Suggested teaching moves:Tune in when comprehension is lostSupport the student to use context clues to pick

another word that would make sense hereElaborate on the meaning as used in the textAdd an out-of-text example

Vocabulary – Known concepts; unknown English Vocabulary – Known concepts; unknown English labelslabels

Examples: Little mouse gnawed and gnawed and gnawed.

“It stopped raining,” said Bill, peering out of the tent.Suggested teaching moves:• Help the child make connections to a concept that is

known• Expand upon the meaning• Give the child a way to figure out the word

Vocabulary – Unknown word and unknown concept

Examples: 3-legged race hang-gliding scarecrow hearthSuggested teaching moves:Give a way to figure out the word so that the

child can pronounce it correctly on his ownUse pictures, drawings, or physical motions to

elaborate on the meaning of the word

So what about high frequency words?

“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.

Catching Readers Before They Fall, Pat Johnson and Katie Keier, Stenhouse

One Child at a Time: Making the Most of Your Time with Struggling Readers, Pat Johnson, Stenhouse

patjohnson222@gmail.com (@PatJ222 on Twitter)katieannkeier@gmail.com (@bluskyz on Twitter)

www.catchingreaders.com

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