Download Word Work at Mid and High Text Levels

Word Work at Mid and High Text Levels
Dr. Lea M. McGee, Emeritus Marie Clay Chair of Reading Recovery and Early
Literacy, The Ohio State University
Word Work ALWAYS follows from something recently read or written. The
child may have read or written the word with some or no support, but this
word presents an opportunity for the child to learn more about how many
other words work like this one. It is not about learning this word, but about
learning how this word works and that other words work the same way.
Word Work teaches children
how words work
“When the child’s series of lessons ends and he is reading text of
appropriate level he should be able to solve a multisyllabic word (one that is
new, not yet familiar, or unexpected) within continuous text without slowing
up too much and by working flexibly with word parts and cluster of letters
from an awareness of how words work.” (p. 126)
Learning how letters make up words (2nd, p. 73-75)
Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3
Attending to words in isolation (2nd, p. 155-164)
The aim is to have him know about how words work and be able to
use this awareness while reading texts and while writing. (p. 155).
Attention to words in isolation can occur anywhere in the lesson (p. 155)
and should emerge from, and be related to, current work (e.g., yesterday’s
words in reading or writing). (p. 155)
EARLY LEARNING (p. 157-160)
Looking for similarities
Learning to substitute an initial letter (two words: no go)
Changing the first letter (three words: me he we; had sad dad)
Changing the onset and retaining the rime (back, sack, pack)
Retaining the onset and changing the rime (she shop shout)
LATER LEARNING (p. 160-164)
Getting to new words by analogy (you know can, make ran)
Linking new words to words he knows (do you know a
word that looks like this? do you know a word that
sounds like this?)
(Choose words very carefully so that sound clusters and
spelling clusters match precisely)
The 2nd Edition does not address using multisyllabic words during word
work. However, the book does present a GRADIENT OF DIFFICULTY WHEN
WORKING WITH WORDS IN ISOLATION which can be used with
multisyllabic words:
Child breaks a word into two parts using a teacher’s model
Child breaks a word into two parts in more than one way
Child breaks two words apart in the same way
Teacher introduces new words (unknown) for the child to
break apart to increase flexibility (adapted from p. 156)
Child thinks of words to break and construct (p. 161)
Clay, M. (2016). Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals (2nd. Edition),
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Three phases of word work: An Overview
Early word work (reading at text levels 0-5/6/7) shows children that
KNOWN words are comprised of letters which are arranged in a particular order from leftto-right, first to last; and words can be broken into parts (only the teacher knows these
parts are familiar inflectional endings and onset/rime).
Intermediate word work (reading at levels 6/7 through 11/12) helps
children learn to break and hear parts of KNOWN words. Children find and use patterns of
letter clusters and word parts in known words to break and construct familiar and
unfamiliar words.
Advanced word work reading at levels 12/12 through 18/20) helps
children break, solve and construct UNKNOWN, unfamiliar words using their in-the-head
knowledge of words and parts and letter clusters. That is, ultimately in reading children
must look at unknown words and select certain parts to use to problem solve. Ultimately in
spelling children must learn to go beyond listening to individual phonemes (letter-by-letter
listening) to hearing word parts or locating in memory a word that sounds like the word to
be spelled and using that word or its word part to spell the unknown word.
Early word work procedures: procedures
Early word work procedures are used with all children during early lessons after
letter work. Early word work always uses known words and teacher
demonstrations are always provided.
Step 1:
1a
1b
Step 2:
2
words are made up of letters in left to right order
I can take words apart (into letters) OLD, p 42-43, 2ND, p 73
(I can) construct words with letters OLD, p 140-141, 2ND
(teacher presents a known word, then scrambles the letters
for children to construct left to right)
words can be broken into base and inflectional endings
I can take words apart (into base and inflectional endings) OLD, p 4344, 2ND, p. 73-74
Getting ready for intermediate word work: go to the chalk board and write
looking
Step 3:
words can be broken into 2 parts
3 I can break a words into two parts -- teacher demos onset rime break but
accepts any break made by the child. Children do not articulate the sounds in word
parts. Instead, this procedures focuses on flexible, visual breaking of words into two
parts, OLD, p 44-45, 2ND p. 74-75 (more emphasis is placed on helping the child say the
sounds associated with the letters and letter clusters used in the word parts in the 2nd
edition).
In the 2nd edition the following procedures are called EARY LEARNING
Looking for similarities: teacher shows two letter rhyming words (no go; we me) and
asks the child to construct the words, read them and say what is alike and different
Getting ready for intermediate word work: go to the chalk board and write no, now
write go
Learning to substitute the initial letter: The teacher constructs no and go, then
constructs another copy of go and demonstrates taking the g away and putting the letter
n in its place while reading no. Teacher gives the child the g and asks him to change the
word to go, then gives the child the n and asks him to change the word back to no.
Getting ready for intermediate word work: Go to the chalk board and write me, we,
he
Changing the first letter: The teacher presents models of three words (he me we: had
sad mad). The teacher constructs one of the words in the set (he) below the model
words and demonstrates changing the first letter to make another word in the set (we).
The teacher hands the child another letter and has the child change the first letter to
make a new word (me), and read it. In another lesson repeat with another set of three
words
Getting ready for intermediate word work: Go to the chalk board and write had,
mad, sad
Intermediate/Mid Level word work procedures:
procedures
Intermediate/Mid Level word work begins when children have grasped the
concept of changing first letter to make word family words (they read words easily when
presented with a letter to change one familiar rhyming word). Intermediate word
work always begins with a known word. Teachers may provide a single
demonstration and always provide feedback to children’s attempts.
Changing the onset and retaining the rhyme continues in intermediate word
work as children encounter more word families in their reading and writing. Teachers
increasingly use onsets that are comprised of consonant clusters and digraphs. OLD, p.
142-143; 2ND, p. 160. The teacher presents three model words (back, sack, pack). The
teacher and child read the words. Then the child hears and says the part that is the
same. [Note, most children DO NOT immediately say the rime word part, most
notice only the ending phoneme. Teachers may have to break the model words
and have the child break the model words multiple times before the child is able
to retain the rime ack. Once the child can retain the word part ack, then] The
teacher constructs that word part ack. The teacher says one of the words (back) and
hands the child the letter b to construct it while the teacher says it. Continue through the
three-word set.
Enhance intermediate word work by having children remember a word they worked
on and write it on the chalk board.
Getting to new words by analogy with something you know is an extension of
changing onset and retaining the rhyme. In intermediate learning, the teacher says a
known word in a rhyme family (you know the word can, child writes can) and suggests
another word in that family ORALLY (use can to write ran—what letter would you need
to change?). The children changes can to ran. The teacher may support by helping the
child locate the letter to change, isolate the new beginning sound, and linking that sound
to a letter [Note, at this level of word work the child should find changing the first
letter easy].
Retaining the onset and changing the rime. [Note, in the 2nd book this
procedure is presented as early learning. My experience has shown that this is
difficult and can best meet the needs of children during mid or later learning.]
Teachers introduce 2-3 words that have the same consonant cluster (br, bl, cr, cl) or
digraph (ch, sh, th). I suggest using words that have the same vowel sound (brag, brat,
bran; shin, chick, chill). The teacher writes the target blend or digraph (br),
demonstrates saying the cluster or digraph sound, then writes the rime (at) of the first
word and pronounces the rime. The child reads the word. The teacher writes the cluster
or digraph of the second word and has the child pronounce the sound. The teacher
writes the rime of the second words and the child says its sounds then the word. The
teacher follows the same procedures for the third word [brat, brag, bran; chin, chick,
chill].
Enhance word work by having children remember a word they worked on and go
to the chalk board and write it.
Changing and adding inflectional endings. The teacher asks the child to write
a word he knows, “Write look. Change it to looking”. Next the teacher has the child
change the word to to looks, and finally has the child change the word to looked (use
words with regular inflectional endings). Another procedure is to write look and ask
children to add something to the end to make different word, to make still another
different word. OLD, p. 43-44 modified. 2ND, p. 160.
Enhance word work by having the child remember a word he wrote and write it
on the chalk board.
Multi-syllable word work
Intermediate word work with multi-syllable words leads to flexibility in breaking
and solving. Words come from recently read texts or from the child’s writing.
Breaking two syllable words into two parts. The teacher presents a word
(using magnetic letters or written on the whiteboard), “Here is the word you know,
rabbit (teacher says the word). Clap it. Say it. Break it (make sure parts orally spoken
correspond to the breaks in the word the child shows). If the word lends itself, then
child will be asked to break it in a different way (rabbit can be broken in ra bbit, rab
bit, rabb it).
Advanced Level word work procedures:
recommended procedures
Advanced word work begins when children have demonstrated success with
much intermediate word work. Advanced word work begins with a recently read or
written word that IS NOT orally introduced by the teacher. Children may also be asked
to generate their own examples of words following a pattern.
Solving unknown one syllable words (successive solving)
Say, “you will figure out a new word”. Write the first letter, have children say this
sound (of the first letter), write the first two letters, have children say these two sounds
together, write the first three letters, have children say these three sounds together, etc.
s, st, stu, stuck; s sc scr eam. (OLD, P. 173)
Breaking two syllable words with the same syllable pattern. The teacher
presents a word recently read or written (Floppy) pronouncing the word and has the
child divide the word and say the parts (make sure parts orally spoken correspond to
the breaks in the word the child shows) then read the word. The teacher presents
another word recently read with this pattern but does not pronounce it (muddy) and the
child repeats the actions and solves the word (support the child in saying the parts
especially by voicing vowel sounds). The teacher presents a third word read recently
(soggy) and the child repeats the actions. In another lesson, the teacher may present as
a third word a word using the pattern the child has not recently seen for solving (puppy,
buddy or the set such as under, after, Skipper, roller coaster). OLD P. 131. )
Building flexibility in solving words with blends
Blends come in families (such as the s blends sp, sw, sn, sl, sm, sc, scr: the r blends
br, dr, gr, fr, cr, pr, tr; the l blends bl, cl, fl, pl, sl,) The teacher presents a recently read
word in a blend family without saying it for the child to solve. The teacher may ask the
child to think of another word with this blend or present another words in the blend
family.
Spelling words with blends and digraphs
Teachers present a familiar word with a blend or digraph and have the child
write it by first spelling the blend then the remainder of the word (thin). The child is
asked to think of another word that begins with the same first sounds and to spell it.
Finally, the child is asked to spell a multisyllabic word with the same blend (thimble).
Using patterns to write words
The teacher presents Use columns on the white board (one for teacher one for
child). Teacher writes a word and child writes a word that looks like teacher’s word, the
teacher adds something to her/his word, and the child must add the same part to
his/her word.