RDG 6940 Framework for Planning, Enacting, and Reflecting On Practicum Projects

Name: Colleen Kohn

School & District: Cromie Elementary, Warren Consolidated Schools
Grade(s) & Subject Area(s): 1st Grade, ELA
Part I: Project Plan
A. Rationale
For my second project in using data to inform and differentiate instruction, I would like to coach
Carol on how to use the data collected for the Words Their Way pre-assessment conducted in
Project 1. Once the pre-assessment is given, I will coach Carol on how to correctly score the
assessment and how to create small groups in order to differentiate instruction based on the
data provided. Carol needs to understand the purpose behind using the word sorts and how
using Words Their Way will improve her students awareness and knowledge of word patterns.
We will then use this data to design instruction of Carols word study rotation during Daily 5.
(Project 3)
B. Goals & Outcomes
My goal is to coach Carol in scoring the Words Their Way pre-assessment and placing students
in small groups based on their scores. Carol and I will work together in creating a sequence of
sorts that her students will use for word work. In addition, we will create a weekly schedule to
best meet the needs of her students.
Intended outcomes are:
Teacher will correctly score the Words Their Way pre-assessment.
Teacher will group her students based on their pre-assessment scores and needs.
Teacher will create a sequence of sorts that meet the needs of her students.
Together we design a weekly schedule to meet the needs of her students. (Project 3)
C. Roles & Responsibilities
As the reading specialist, it is my job to coordinate a time and place to meet with Carol. During
our first meeting, I will need to explain the rationale of our coaching sessions. It will be my job to
ensure that Carol knows how to correctly score the pre-assessments and to place them into
groups based on their individual needs. Once these individual needs are determined, we will
need to decide which sorts each group (or student) should begin with. Carols role will to come
to our coaching session with the pre-assessment given.
D. Timeline
I will begin project two next week after Carol understands the purpose behind Words Their Way
and is able to administer the pre-assessment. After she administers the pre-assessment, I will
schedule a time to meet with her to score her students. We will then place the students in small
groups based on their needs and begin to discuss the sequence in which she will use the word
sorts.
Part II: Project Implementation & Artifacts
A. Implementation
Carol administered the pre-assessment to her students. Afterward, Carol and I got together and
I helped her score her pre-assessments. I showed her that the first step was to simply write the
correct spelling next to the students written word to help read their writing. I did a few of them
with Carol, but then finished scoring these at home so that Carol could get other things done

RDG 6940 Framework for Planning, Enacting, and Reflecting On Practicum Projects
during this time. After I brought the spelling tests back, Carol and I worked together to complete
the Feature Analysis sheet. We checked which features each kid got correct. We then totaled
up the scores on the classroom composite sheet. On the Feature Analysis sheet we circled the
area in which the student received two or more wrong in each category. For example, if a
student missed two consonant endings, we circled Final, or if a child received 3 short vowels,
we circled short vowels. This tells us what part of Words Their Way each child should begin
instruction in.
After we completed the Feature Analysis for each child and the Class Composite, we created a
list of groups for Carols students. Carols students fell into the following categories:
Beginning and Final Consonants (most students fell in the final consonants, but a
refresher on beginning consonants would be beneficial for these students)
Short Vowels
Digraphs
Long Vowels
Although I created the Powerpoint to help Carol, she only referenced it after I met with her.
B. Artifacts
The artifacts included in this project include:
Words Their Way Powerpoint
Pre-Assessment Score Sheets
Words Their Way differentiated groups
Part III: Professional Reflection on Project
A. Reflection on Project Impact
This portion of the project was a continuation of Project 1. In this project, I worked with Carol on
scoring the pre-assessments so that she could effectively group her students in order to
differentiate her word study. With Carols experience teaching, she had a good understanding of
differentiating instruction and was currently differentiating her spelling instruction based on her
own student observations. When learning how to effectively use Words Their Way, this is an
extremely important step in ensuring that all students are getting their spelling needs met. Carol
was open to receiving help for this portion of this project and I was able to assist her in this
project quite simply. When meeting was Carol though, I was able to see that she was a little
frustrated with completing this process when shes been doing something similar with her own
spelling instruction for her career thus far. I offered to finish scoring the spelling tests to help
ease her frustrations. She was thankful for this and I allowed her to continue working on the rest
of her work assignments.
B. Reflection on Professional Growth as Reading Specialist
Through this experience, I saw firsthand how a veteran teacher has been differentiating her
instruction. Carol has based her spelling groups based on observation alone, a technique that
has worked for her thus far. However, through this spelling inventory and pre-assessment, I was
able to provide Carol with a more sound way in which to determine her students placements.
Carol even mentioned how she was surprised by a few of her students scores, thinking they
would be higher than they were. This showed her that sometimes our observations are not
always 100% accurate and that its important to make sure we have data to support our
observations. As for me, I got the experience of how to handle a situation when a teacher was a
bit frustrated with the challenges of making changes.

WORDS THEIR WAY

WORD STUDY AND SPELLING PROGRAM

TRADITIONAL SPELLING
IN TRADITIONAL SPELLING, STUDENTS ARE GIVEN A LIST OF WORDS AND THEY PRACTICE
SPELLING THEM THROUGHOUT THE WEEK.
ON FRIDAYS, THEY ARE GIVEN A TEST TO SEE WHICH WORDS THEY CAN SPELL CORRECTLY.
MOST TEACHERS GIVE THEIR STUDENTS PRACTICE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK.
SPELLING WORDS ARE USUALLY MEMORIZED, RATHER THAN FULLY UNDERSTANDING WHY
WORDS ARE SPELLED THE WAY THEY ARE.

WORD STUDY
A WORD STUDY PROGRAM IS A COHESIVE APPROACH THAT ADDRESSES WORD RECOGNITION, VOCABULARY, AND
PHONICS AS WELL AS SPELLING (ZUTELL, 1992).
STUDENTS DO NOT SIMPLY MEMORIZE THE SPELLING OF WORDS, BUT RATHER LEARN THE SPELLING PATTERNS AND
MEANING OF THE WORDS.
THE RESEARCHERS BEHIND WORDS THEIR WAY CONSIDERED THE DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF SPELLING AND THEIR
KNOWLEDGE OF WORDS. CHILDREN START WITH ALPHABETIC KNOWLEDGE OF WORDS. THEY THEN MOVE INTO
UNDERSTANDING THAT WORDS HAVE SPELLING PATTERNS. FINALLY, THEY LEARN THAT WORDS HAVE MEANING.
THE DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH ON WHICH WORDS THEIR WAY IS GROUNDED SHOWS HOW LEARNERS BECOME
AWARE OF AND CONSTRUCT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PRINTED WORDS, SPOKEN
LANGUAGE, AND MEANING (BEAR, INVERNIZZI, TEMPLETON, & JOHNSTON, 2012; BERNINGER, ABBOTT, NAGY, &
CARLISLE, 2009).

http://www.fsd157c.org/Documents/TeacherFiles/WordstheirWayresearch_11_24_2013_7_43_37_PM.pdf

WORDS THEIR WAY SPELLING STAGES

http://www.mypearsontraining.com/pdfs/TG_WTW_WordStudy.pdf

WORDS THEIR WAY

IN WORDS THEIR WAY, WORDS ARE SEPARATED INTO GROUPS WITH SIMILAR PATTERNS.
EACH SORT GENERALLY HAS ONE, TWO, OR THREE SPELLING PATTERNS THAT THE STUDENTS
WORK WITH.
FOR EXAMPLE, ONE GROUP MAY BE COMPLETING A SORT WITH -AT, -AD, -AN WORD FAMILIES.

STUDENTS LEARN THE WORD PATTERNS AND ARE ABLE TO APPLY IT TO OTHER WORDS NOT
INCLUDED IN THEIR SORT FOR THE WEEK.
STUDENTS COMPARE AND CONTRAST, CATEGORIZE, AND ANALYZE WORDS FOR THEIR
DIFFERENT SPELLING PATTERNS.

GETTING STARTED
ADMINISTER THE PRIMARY INVENTORY LIST.
READ EACH WORD WITH THE ACCOMPANIED SENTENCE.

SCORE EACH CHILDS TEST BY WRITING THE CORRECT SPELLING WORD NEXT TO EACH WORD.
COMPLETE THE FEATURE GUIDE FOR EACH CHILD BY CHECKING OFF EACH FEATURE THAT THE
CHILD GOT CORRECT IN THEIR SPELLING. THEN TOTAL AT THE BOTTOM. THIS WILL BE USED TO
SCORE EACH CHILD AND PLACE THEM IN THEIR GROUP.

SCORING
FIND THE FIRST COLUMN IN WHICH THE CHILD GOT TWO OR MORE WRONG. THIS IS THE
GROUP THAT THEY WILL NEED TO BEGIN WORK IN.
FOR EXAMPLE, IF A CHILD GOT 7 OUT OF 7 IN THE INITIAL CONSONANTS, BUT THEN SCORED A 5
OUT OF 7 FOR FINAL CONSONANTS, THEY WOULD START IN THAT GROUP.
IF A CHILD SCORED 7/7 ON BOTH THE INITIAL AND FINAL CONSONANT, BUT THEN SCORED 4/7 ON
THE SHORT VOWELS, THEY WOULD BEGIN WORK WITH SHORT VOWELS.

GROUPING
STUDENTS WILL BEGIN WORK IN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING GROUPS (BASED ON WHAT
COLUMN THEY MISSED AT LEAST TWO OF THE FEATURES)
INITIAL CONSONANTS (LETTER-NAME ALPHABETIC)
FINAL CONSONANTS (LETTER-NAME ALPHABETIC)
SHORT VOWELS (LETTER-NAME ALPHABETIC)
DIGRAPHS (LETTER-NAME ALPHABETIC)
BLENDS (LETTER-NAME ALPHABETIC)
LONG VOWELS (WITHIN WORD PATTERNS)

WORDS THEIR WAY SPELLING STAGES

http://www.mypearsontraining.com/pdfs/TG_WTW_WordStudy.pdf