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FEATURE ARTICLE
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rection). Across the year, she taught 15 vowels, 28
consonants (see Table 1), and four inflectional end-
ings (
-ing
,
-ed
,
-s
, and
-es
). She frequently talked
about “tricky” letters, explaining that some words
have “silent letters you can’t hear”
or letters that can
represent more than one sound, “like the tricky
y
in
candy
.” She illustrated how “some rhyming words
have the same letters” (e.g.,
train, rain
), but others do
not (e.g.,
cane
). Diane said, “Some words are so tricky,
you just have to know them. Like the word
are
, it’s a
word you just have to know.”
She used literate terms
(e.g.,
vowel
,
proper noun
,
verb
) to give students a vo-
cabulary for talking about written language. All of
Diane’s orthographic instruction applied directly
to the text the group was writing, which provided
a meaningful context for teaching fundamental
Vowels taught
Number
observed
Consonants taught
Number
observed
[a] /
ə
/ vs. /ā/
1
[b]
bump
1
[a]
a
,
about
,
water
,
another
,
around
,
was
7
[c]
practice
,
cousin
,
candy
6
[ā]
play
,
game
2
[c]
special
1
[a]
practice
1
[c]
decided
1
[e]
went
,
them
,
children
,
peck
4
[k]
kiss
,
think
,
chunk
4
[i]
fish
,
animals
2
[c, k] can make the same sound
1
[o]
mostly
,
told
,
old
4
[l]
school
1
[u]
mud
,
us
,
chunk
4
[s]
was
,
things
2
[y]
candy
,
happy
2
[t]
water
1
[ee]
see
,
street
,
tree
3
[w]
wall
1
[ea]
eagle
,
teacher
2
[r]
around
1
[ie]
pie
1
[s]
sound
1
[ou]
out
,
sound
,
around
,
cloud
,
house
15
[dr]
dragon
1
[ou]
cousin
1
[gr]
grump
1
[oo]
two
1
[sc]
school
1
[y]
they
1
[ch]
children
,
chunk
,
catch
7
[ck]
kick
1
[sh]
fish
,
wish
2
[th]
think
,
thumb
,
Thanksgiving
3
[th]
this
,
together
,
another
3
[wh]
when
1
[eer]
deer
1
[er]
water
,
deliver
,
another
,
together
5
[ir]
air
,
birthday
2
[eir]
their
1
[or]
for
,
popcorn
2
[st]
stop
1
[pr]
practice
1
[ph]
telephone
,
homophone
2
Note
. Indicated
are the phoneme taught, the words written, and the number of times observed.
Table 1
Vowels and Consonants Taught During Interactive Writing Lessons
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FEATURE ARTICLE
The Reading Teacher Vol. 71 No. 5 March/April 2018 literacyworldwide.org
concepts that are essential to learning to write (Clay,
2001).
Word Solving
Diane took a problem- solving approach to spelling,
and she created a practice part on the large writ-
ing tablet to make this cognitive work explicit. At
the start of each lesson, she drew a line across the
large writing tablet, about nine inches from the top.
Pointing to the area she had just created, she ex-
plained, “This
will be the practice part, and the bot-
tom part will be where we write.” Diane handed the
pen to a student and said, “Try it on the practice
part.” Then, she scaffolded the student’s attempts
to spell the word, as illustrated in the following data
excerpt (see Figure 1):
Diane:
[rereading] “They”— What’s
the next word
in our sentence?
Students:
Got
.
Diane:
Let’s stretch it out: /g/ /o˘/ /t/. [Students
segment the phonemes with her. Diane
draws three Elkonin boxes on the practice
part and then hands the pen to Kyle.] I
hear three sounds. What’s the first sound?
Students: /g/ or
g
. [Kyle writes a
g
in the first box and
an
i
and
t
in the remaining boxes.]
Diane:
Kyle is close! [Diane draws another set of
Elkonin boxes beneath Kyle’s attempt and
writes the
g
and
t
, leaving the middle box
empty.] /g/ /o˘/ /t/. What do we hear in the
middle? /g/ /o˘/ /t/.
Students:
O
. [Kyle adds the
o
and
then writes
got
in
the group text.]
As Diane scaffolded the students’ work on the
practice part, she explicitly taught 10 word- solving
strategies:
1. Try it on the practice part.
2. Clap the syllables you hear.
3. Say the word before you write it.
4. Say the word slowly and listen for the sounds
you hear; stretch it out.
5. Say the word slowly and listen for parts you
know (e.g.,
or
in
story
).
6. Use a word you know (e.g., “If you know the
word
all
, you can spell
tall
”).
7. Use what you know about one another’s
names.
8. Use a word that rhymes with the word you
want to spell.
9. Check the word to see if it looks right.
10. Use a resource (e.g.,
dictionary, word wall).
Diane explained that “a strategy is something
you do to help yourself,” and she privileged “try-
ing” words on the practice part above all other
strategies. She said, “When you are writing, you
should try it first on your practice part. Think about
the sounds you hear, then check in a book or look
around the room.” When
a student suggested that
asking for help was a good strategy, Diane replied,
“After you’ve tried it on the practice part and used
your strategies, then you can ask for help.”
Diane repeatedly prompted students to use those
strategies as they tried words on the practice part,
as illustrated in this conversation:
Diane:
What’s the next word in our sentence?
Students:
Turkey
.
Diane:
Let’s clap it. [This prompts “Clap the syl-
lables you hear.” Diane and the students
say
tur-key
and clap once for each sylla-
ble.] Yes, two syllables. Andrew, will you
try
turkey
for us? [This prompts “Try it on
the practice part.”]
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