Kevin Flanigan, PhD
West Chester University
kflanigan@wcupa.edu
Agenda



Word Study Assessment
Instructional Practices – “Toolkit”
Principles – “Instructional backbone”
Students who struggle to read:
How many are out there?
 What percentage of 4th and 8th graders do not read
proficiently on grade level?
“One Size Fits All” Trap
 There is no one “typical” profile of a
struggling reader. They may struggle
with:
 Comprehension and content area learning
 Vocabulary
 Word Recognition/Spelling
 Fluency
 Engagement
Beginning Reader/
Frustration Level Reading
C
D
Skilled Reader/
Instructional Level Reading
D
C
Have you ever skied?
Then you know about Development and
ZPD!
Curriculum Casualties
 The “one size fits all” curriculum marches inexorably
forward, without regard to children who do not fit into
it.
8
2 Word Study Principles
Look for what students “use
but confuse.” (ZPD – teach at
instructional level)
A step back is a step forward.
Why Assess Spelling?
 Spelling is our best “window” into a
child’s knowledge about words
(Henderson).
 HOUSE
 HORSE
 HXXSE
Spelling tells us:
 What the learner knows about words
 Guides word study instruction (stage and feature)
 About reading!
Grouping – Learners
“On the Bubble”
 3 Manageable groups – start with “easy scores”
 Look at other literacy information
 Reading Level/Other assessments/Literacy folders
 Is he/she applying spelling/decoding/vocabulary
knowledge in reading/writing?
 Look “beyond the numbers” at the actual spellings
(COUTCH/couch)
 How is the student emotionally/socially? In terms
of work habits? Maturity?
 RTI
Beginning Readers in the
Letter-Name Spelling Stage
1-to-1 correspondence between letters
and sounds
LETTER NAME SPELLERS
BOP/bump
PEK/peak
GRUM/drum
PHONICS
Beginning support reader
Word x word reading
Word x word writing
Transitional Readers in the
Within Word Pattern Stage
Silent
letters form patterns
More letters than sounds
WITHIN WORD
PATTERN SPELLERS
SNAIK/snake
DRANE/drain
FEELD/field
VOWEL PATTERNS
“Chunks” letter sequences
Transitional reader
Phrasal reading fluency
Phrasal writing fluency
“Chunking” patterns
 Read C-A-T as a Beginning Reader/Letter-Name
Speller
 Read C-A-K-E as a Beginning Reader/Letter-Name
Speller
 Read C-AKE as a Transitional Reader/Within-Word
Pattern Speller
Instruction
Balanced Literacy Diet
(120 minutes)
 Reading (Fluency and Comprehension)- 40% (48
minutes/day)
 Guided Reading
 Independent Reading (Self-selected Reading)
 Literature Circles
 Writing – 30% (36 minutes/day)
 Word Study 10-20% (10 – 15 minutes/day)
 Read Aloud 10-20% (15 - 25 minutes/day)
Much time must be spend reading for meaning in
appropriate and engaging texts and writing for genuine
purposes
 Reading volume, both in and out of school, is associated with higher reading
achievement (Allington, 2001; NAEP, 1998)
Achievement percentile
Minutes of reading per
day
Words per year
90th
40.4
2,357,000
50th
12.9
601,000
10th
1.6
51,000
(Adopted from Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988)
Much time must be spend reading for meaning and
writing for genuine purposes
 Every 8 days, a child in the top 10% will read as much
as a child in the bottom 10% reads all year!
 Every two months, a child in the top 10% will read as
much as a child in the bottom 10% has read his/her
entire life!
A Reading/Spelling Quiz
 Our mind is NOT a camera.
 The mind looks for and remembers PATTERNS.
 Skilled readers perceive frequently occurring letter
patterns (Adams, 1990)
OPEN SORT
patch
teach
pitch
peach
poach
stitch
coach
reach
switch
roach
catch
couch
match
notch
26
Continuum of Support
“Struggling readers don’t always need more teaching,
they do need more precise teaching.”
2-Step Sort
 patch
 teach
 stitch
 peach
 catch
 reach
 notch
 roach
 pitching
 couch
 switching
 coached
 matched
 poaching
28
2-Step Sort
Principles of Word Study Instruction
(WTW p. 82 for all 10 principles)
 TEACHING IS NOT TELLING
 Compare words “that do” with words “that don’t”
 Sort by sound and sight
 Don’t hide exceptions (oddball column)
 Avoid Rules
 Work for automaticity
 Return to meaningful texts
30
Blind Writing Sort
 PATCH
 TEACH
?
Video
 Developing a mindset for word study through
 rich conversations
 Lots of practice
Manipulating Words
Mad
Made
Plane
Plain
Play
What’s Missing?
(Richardson, 2009)
chain
ch__n
chain
What about transfer?
 Transfer to reading?
 Transfer to writing?
36
Silk, Silk, Silk
37
Seeing the Big Picture
Word Hunt
Short i
sit
Long I
iCe
Oddball
?
like
40
Touchdown for Tommy
by Matt Christopher (pgs. 25 – 26)
“He started out for home with the coin in his hand. He
kept his hand in his pocket all the way.”
“Tommy thought about the ice cream and candy and
plastic stuff again. Boy, you could buy a lot for fifty
cents. He felt thirsty, too.”
“Betty was on the porch, bouncing a large, red-and-white
rubber ball.”
41
“Word Hunts in Writing”
 OR
 “I Like Editing!”
It’s all Greek (and Latin) to me!
 What percent of English vocabulary words are Latin or
Greek derived?
 What percent of upper-level English vocabulary words
(middle and high school, science, law, medicine) are
Latin or Greek derived?
Root Web/Tree with “Spec, spect”
 Create a web with spec, spect at center
 Generate as many words with spect as you can
 Try to deduce meaning of root
SPEC, SPECT
Root Webs/Trees
 Brainstorm known words that contain the root
 Look for common meanings to find “the route back to
the root.”
 Confirm with “new words.”
 *Sometimes, the route back to the root is not as
straightforward (respect and circumspect)
Generative Vocabulary Instruction:
“When you learn 1 word, you learn 10.”
 How many words in English have spec, spect as a root?
Key word for spect?
Selected Sources
Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., Johnston, F. (2012). Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling
Instruction. Boston: Pearson.
Flanigan, K., Hayes, L., Templeton, S., Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., & Johnston, F. (2011).
Words their way with struggling readers: Word study for reading, vocabulary, and spelling instruction, grades 4-12.
Boston: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.
Hayes, L. & Flanigan, K. (2014). Developing word recognition. New York: The Guilford Press.