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Rose's First Grade Classroom:Using Low-Tech Tools to Help with SpellingWhen Rose, a first grade teacher, was the presenting teacher for a Looking at Student Work (LASW) session during a STAR Cycle team meeting, she described one of her students who was having difficulty as a beginning writer. He would often misspell basic sight words from the nearby word wall.At the team meeting, after studying his work, making observations, and making interpretations, Sue, one of Rose’s colleagues, suggested she introduce her students to a low-tech tool—white correction tape. She suggested that this student, as well as others with a similar problem, could write the correct spelling above the misspelled word or cross out the word and write the correct spelling above it. Sue suggested that if students placed the tape over the misspelled word, they could lift up the edge of the tape to check if they had made the same mistake again or if they had correctly spelled the word. Sam, another team member, suggested that Rose ask the students with the most difficulty copying to move their chairs next to the word wall before writing. They could copy words of their choice onto sticky notes, take the sticky notes back to their seats, and refer to them as they drafted, revised, or edited their work. Based on the ideas she heard at the team meeting, Rose designed a mini-lesson as part of her next Writer’s Workshop activity. She wrote a story deliberately misspelling many of the words. Creating a motivating game-like situation, Rose asked her students to hunt for the misspelled words. When they found a misspelled word, they were to cover it with the white correction tape. Then after referring to the word wall and/or picture dictionary, they were to write the correct spelling on the tape. At the next month’s STAR Cycle meeting, Rose noted improvements in her students’ spelling. She explained that she had gradually reduced their reliance on the tape and sticky notes. She reported that the student she was most concerned about had begun to correctly spell all the words appearing on the word wall. In addition, this student had started to become more aware of phonemic sounds within words that were not visibly displayed in the room. Home · About STAR Tech · Leadership · Using Technology · Resources · Help |
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