When my school first adopted our spelling program for the primary department a TOC had some questions for me. She liked it but wanted to know why we’d made some of the decisions we had in the design. We thought if she had these questions, then other teachers may have been wondering the same thing. So here are Hannah’s questions:
Q: “Why do you suggest doing the illustration first?”
A: It’s just a suggestion – you can structure the lesson your own way.
A: It makes the student a part of the lesson, they are creating their own representation of the sound and physically/kinesthetically/imaginatively/creatively starting the lesson.
A: Illustrating is not the ‘reward’ for doing the other ‘harder work’. We work with intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic motivation.
Q: “Why do you suggest an order of introduction of the letters rather than alphabetically?”
A: Word usage. Our sequence uses letters most used in early consonant-vowel-consonant words. With the first few letters the student can begin constructing words.
Q: “Can the teacher alter things to create their own lesson?”
A: Absolutely! The program is a beginning for the teacher to expand upon. We have written it with continuity of language, multi-sensorial, differentiation possibilities, expansion or decreasing to pace your own classroom – with a group of grade one’s the goal was to learn the sound ‘nk’ – some students illustrated and read 2 words, some students read and created a word list, some students read and created sentences, some students created a word web (unk – trunk).
Q: “I’ve been using a different printing program, can I use that language to explain the direction for printing the letters in this program?”
A: Absolutely. Combine programs to strengthen your lesson, utilize opportunities to create the best instruction for your class. Adapt to fit your teaching style and tool box.
Q: “The activity sheets have clear sections, is that deliberate?”
A: Yes. The spacing creates white space around each section for different reasons:
– It presents each activity in a clear and uncluttered way.
– The teacher can separate the activity page into individual lesson sections to spread the activities out through the day or week.
Q: “Can the activity sheets be added to a language centre after the lesson has been taught?”
A: Yes! We encourage over learning and practise. You can also add a creative station for students – glue, scissors, crayons, coloured paper.
A: It can be a conventional language centre OR/AND a child driven language centre where children have the ability to create their own over-learning practise with colouring, collage, construction, deconstruction, illustration, create own activities and opportunities for inquiry (i.e word webs).
