Sketchpad Spelling: The three most powerful, research based strategies to spell unfair words.

Description

How many times have your students aced a spelling test, only to misspell the same words in their journals? Luckily, reading researchers have discovered a solution. According to the science of reading, there are three strategies that when used together to learn and practice common but tricky words, students learn them more quickly and transfer them to their free writing more readily. (Berninger et. al., 2006) In this activity, you will learn Sketchpad Spelling, a method to teach, practice and apply these three strategies: First, color code the tricky part. Second, stare intently to form a mental image of the word. Third, with your eyes closed, use your fingers to spell the word saying the letters as you spell. This last step allows you to focus intentionally on what your hand does to write the letters in the right order. To learn more methods and strategies based on the Science of Reading, check out our Wired for Reading Introductory course.