80522T Is Spelling an Issue? Improving the Teaching and

Learning of SpellingSession 1 – Tues 26 Feb 2019 STDC

Session 2 – Tues 2 April 2019 University Centre Shrewsbury

Julie Holmwood

Associate Education Improvement Adviser –English and Literacy

Course Content:

• Developing fluent transcription skills;

• Explicit teaching of spelling - a balanced spelling programme;

• Teaching proof-reading;

• Application of spelling skills into writing;

• Using diagnostic assessment;

• Auditing current practice.

Intended Outcomes:

• Reflect on the key principles of the effective teaching and learning of spelling;

• Explore a range of practical approaches to developing children's knowledge, skills and understanding;

• Revisit the age-appropriate expectations for the teaching and learning of spelling;

• Review current practice and identify next steps.

Spelling test

Collaborative spelling test

licenceweirdamphibologymanoeuvreoccurrencepharaoh

Collaborative spelling test

• Children in mixed ability pairs (particular children are identified for observation)

• Teacher calls out each word and the children agree a spelling in their pairs (pencil swapped for alternative words)

• Snowballing: pairs to 4s to agree spellings

• Envoying: each 4 sends an envoy to another group with one or two words that the group is unsure about

• Envoys return and 4s discuss and agree on a spelling

• Teacher provides the correct answers and groups mark their own attempts and write down any corrections

Collaborative spelling test

• Through the talk children show what they know about spelling and the strategies they use

• Used to introduce words that will be the focus for the week/unit of work

• Creates an opportunity for children to examine, think about, talk about and get involved with the words

What does a successful speller do?

What knowledge, skills and understanding do successful

spellers have?

Good spellershave good memories

andgood problem solving skills

Given that the average person can spell 48,000 words, then to memorise these s/he would have to learn 10 words per day for 13 years approximately. If no learning was done at the weekends it would take 18 years assuming that none are forgotten and there is no need to relearn. Even if words are grouped in “families” the task is considerable.

(Bouffler, 1984)

Children and students do not become proficient spellers by the single strategy of memorising the spelling of individual words and teachers cannot teach students how to spell every word they will need to spell. However children and students can be armed with the knowledge and strategies to help them to develop as spellers.

(Department of Education and Children’s Services, The State of South Australia 2011)

Knowledge of the spelling systemIn order to spell we need…Phonemic knowledge

This is the correspondence between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes)

• phonics

• spelling patterns and conventions

• homophones

• phonological knowledge -this relates to syllables and rhymes, and analogy

Morphological knowledgeThis is the spelling of grammatical units within words. It includes knowledge about:

• root words

• compound words

• suffixes

• prefixes

• etymology

Successful spellers have a repertoire of strategies and know when to apply them

Phonological strategies

How words SOUND

Visual strategies How words LOOK

Morphemic strategies

The MEANING of words and how words can be CHANGED

Etymology based strategies

The ORIGINS of words

Developing fluent transcription skills

The statutory requirements

Spelling in the 2014 National CurriculumWriting down ideas fluently depends on effective transcription: that is, on spelling quickly and accurately through knowing the relationship between sounds and letters (phonics) and understanding the morphology (word structure) and orthography (spelling structure) of words.

What the research tells us

IMPROVING LITERACY IN KEY STAGE ONE & TWOGuidance ReportsEducation Endowment Foundation

• Children must develop their fluency in these skills to the point that they have become automated. If children have to concentrate to ensure their transcription is accurate, they will be less able to think about the content of their writing.

• A large amount of practice, supported by effective feedback, is required to develop fluency.

• Spelling should be explicitly taught

• Teaching should focus on spellings that are relevant to the topic or genre being studied.

6. Promote fluent written transcription skills by encouraging extensive and effective practice and explicitly teaching spelling (KS1)

There is no quick way to develop these essential skills other than through regular and substantial practice (KS1)

Practice should be:

• Extensive - a large amount of regular practice is required for pupils to achieve fluency in these skills. Achieving the necessary quantity of practice requires pupils to be motivated and fully engaged in improving their writing.

• Supported by effective feedback—teachers can support children to practise effectively by providing opportunities for effective feedback.

• Fluency frees up cognitive resources to focus on composition - fast and accurate spelling of an extensive vocabulary is a key component of writing fluency

• Extensive practice, supported by effective feedback, is required to develop fluent transcription skills

• Spelling should be explicitly taught• Diagnostic assessment should be used to focus effort on

the spellings that pupils are finding difficult

5. Develop pupils’ transcription and sentence construction skills through extensive practice (KS2)

High-quality practice is essential to develop fluent transcription skills (KS2)

Practice should be:

• extensive - a large amount of regular practice is required for pupils to achieve fluency in these skills;

• motivating and engaging - achieving the necessary quantity of practice requires pupils to be motivated and fully engaged in improving their writing; and

• supported by effective feedback - with teachers providing feedback to help pupils focus their effort appropriately.

Explicit teaching of spelling

A balanced spelling programme includes five main components

• Understanding the principles underpinning word construction (phonemic, morphemic and etymological);

• Recognising how (and how far) these principles apply to each word, in order to learn to spell words;

• Practising and assessing spelling;

• Applying spelling strategies and proofreading;

• Building pupils’ self-images as spellers.

Revisit, explain, use

Teach, model, define

Practise, explore, investigate

Apply, assess, reflect

A suggested sequence for the teaching of spelling

Short starter sessions (approx. 15 minutes) every other day

Balance of focuses across a term• teaching specific spelling

objectives • direct teaching of spelling

strategies, proofreading, high-frequency words, specific cross-curricular words and personal spelling targets

Revisit, explain, use

• Builds on what children already know

• Lively oral and quickwrite activities• to revise and secure prior learning • to introduce and explain new learning

• Children use the words orally, in context, so that they have a clear understanding of what they are learning

Homophones

A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another but is spelt differently.

homophone comes from the Greek

homos + phone

meaning same + meaning sound

Jokes and riddles

What is black and white and read all over? - a newspaper

How many socks in a pair? - None because you eat a pear!

bare/bear (Y2)

fair/fare (Y3/4)

cereal/serial (Y5/6)

What opens locks and is always found beside water?

Teach, model, define

• For the majority of children, reading extensively is not sufficient to secure accurate spelling; spelling must be taught explicitly and systematically.

• A range of direct teaching activities including• teacher modelling• involving the children in the new learning

• Usually requires two or three sessions

Teach the differences in meaning for common homophones• In many cases the spelling and meaning of

the words has to be taught directly and linked with grammar, as in their, they’re and there.

to twotwin

twice

twelve

twenty

to two too

to, two, too

Missing word sentences – How do you know which of the homophones to use?

• She bought … tomato pizzas.

• Goldilocks tasted the porridge; it was … salty.

• The game was lost after … minutes.

• No one knows the way … go.

• He played football … much.

Practise, explore, investigate

• Opportunities to:

• work independently;

• work in pairs or in small groups;

• use a range of strategies to practise and consolidate new learning.

• Some of these activities could be used for homework.

• An extension section provides more challenging activities.

How can we remember the different meanings?

be/bee

new/knew

right/write

through/threw

hole/whole

are/our

Play Pairs: place cards face-down and hunt out the pairs. You can claim a pair if you can prove you know the correct meaning, according to the dictionary.

Partner work: give out lists of pairs of common homophones. Ask children to mark the homophones that they are confident to use accurately in their writing, and to circle one pair they are less certain about. They devise a strategy for learning and support each other in learning them.

Apply, assess, reflect• Opportunity to:

• reflect on what they have learnt;

• recognise their achievements.

• The session follows a consistent pattern for the children to:

• revise new learning;

• apply the words orally and in writing;

• reflect and assess their progress and make notes in their spelling journals.

• Will normally take two sessions although some teachers may prefer to have one longer 30-minute assessment session.

I hereby except/accept your kind invitation with immediate effect/affect. I prophesy/prophecy however that my piano practise/practice session will make me a bit late on arrival. Before I proceed/precede to buy your present please will you give me an idea of the kind of stationery/stationary that you would prefer for your birthday. Please give my compliments/complements to your mother.

Reflecting on learning

Providing opportunities for children to show what they have learned, reflect on their

learning and learn from their errors

Reflecting on learning – an example

What have you learnt?

• Think about what you have learnt and add any pairs or groups of homophones that you find difficult to spell to your spelling journal.

• Think of a strategy to help you remember the difference

The use of spelling logs/journalsThey enable

• pupils to take responsibility for their spelling learning

• pupils to refer back to previous learning

• pupils to reflect on learning

• teachers to see how pupils are tackling tricky bits of spelling

• teachers and pupils to discuss spelling with parents and carers

They should be used flexibly and might include

• practising strategies

• learning words

• recording rules/conventions/ generalisations as an aide-memoire

• word lists of really tricky words (spelling enemies)

• ‘Having a go’ at the point of writing

• ongoing record of statutory words learnt

• investigations

• recording spelling targets or goals

• record assessment dictation

• spelling tests

Learning and practising words

Memory strategies• Make strategies for learning spellings explicit

• Introduce a range of strategies - Which strategies are taught to which year groups?• Looking: based on eye and hand• Listening: based on ear and mouth• Learning: based on mind and method

• Encourage children to experiment with a range of strategies and discuss which strategies help

• Opportunities to reflect on and discuss which strategies work for different words and spellers

Memorising words – how, which and how many?• Explicitly teach and model a range of strategies

• Provide frequent opportunities for practising and learning words - common exception words (tricky high-frequency words); words from the statutory word lists; words with new ways of spelling phonemes including a few common homophones; words following the same pattern or convention; contracted forms; words that are common errors; personal target words; topic words

• Limit the number of words to ensure success and enable deeper learning

KS1 common exception words • This appendix [English Appendix 1: Spelling] provides

examples of words embodying each pattern which is taught. Many of the words listed as ‘example words’ for years 1 and 2, including almost all those listed as ‘exception words’, are used frequently in pupils’ writing, and therefore it is worth pupils learning the correct spelling.

• The ‘exception words’ contain GPCs which have not yet been taught as widely applicable, but this may be because they are applicable in very few age-appropriate words rather than because they are rare in English words in general.

KS2 statutory word lists • The word-lists for years 3 and 4 and years 5 and 6

are statutory.

• The lists are a mixture of words pupils frequently use in their writing and those which they often misspell.

• Some of the listed words may be thought of as quite challenging, but the 100 words in each list can easily be taught within the four years of key stage 2 alongside other words that teachers consider appropriate.

English Appendix 1: Spelling

Home/school linksSpelling homework - motivating and engaging opportunities to further develop current teaching and learning objectives

• Spelling challenges where children are challenged to actively collect a list of words based on a pattern, prefix or suffix

• Follow up from spelling investigations

• Learning and practising words - making sure pupils and parents have access to the range of learning strategies which have been taught in school, to use in home learning

• Spelling activities from No Nonsense Spelling programme or useful NS legacy materials (Support for Spelling and Spelling Bank)

Reflection and identifying next steps

• Look back over the session materials and your notes

• What are the strengths and weaknesses in your current practice?

• Identify a focus for your gap task

Session 2 – Tues 2 April 2019 University Centre Shrewsbury

Gap task feedback

• Be ready to discuss your gap task outcomes

• Please bring children’s work, photographs and/or teaching resources to support your feedback discussions

Children’s books

• Bring sample English/literacy/writing books for three children – one working at age-related expectations, another working below and another working above