A Design Document: Constructivist Approaches to English Spelling

By Diane Wang

Target Audience: Student Teachers preparing to teach elementary school

Goal: Student teachers will understand spelling as a cognitive activity rather than memorization and consider constructivist instruction techniques for spelling.

Objective 1: Investigate a spelling pattern not based on sound.

Activity 1: Look up five words that end in "-ible" and five that end in "-able" at www.yourdictionary.com (or other dictionary with good etymology) and attempt to find a pattern that explains why they are spelled as they are.

Objective 2: Evaluate a child's spelling strategies.

Activity 2: Evaluate a child's spelling strategies using the following steps:

  • Give a child five words and have her or him spell them as many incorrect ways as possible.
  • Review the child's spelling in journals and list common mistakes.
  • Interview the child to see how she or he solves spelling problems.
  • Summarize the kinds of errors the child makes. Go beyond labeling the stage of developmental spelling to evaluate what spelling patterns the child needs to create for herself or himself.

Objective 3: Design a word sort that addresses child's spelling needs.

Activity 3: Create a word sort that addresses the child's spelling needs.

Warm-up: Show student teachers several words ("nodded," "information," "hoist," "pause") and ask them to spend two minutes writing as many wrong ways to spell a selected word or words as possible.

Pose questions:

  • How did you learn to spell?
  • Will having children do deliberate misspelling help them learn to spell or only reinforce mistakes?

Class Notes:

  1. State goal and objectives of the lesson.

Deliberate misspelling as a study technique:

  1. Show charts of four children's spelling scores and have class vote for best and worst spellers.
  2. Describe each of the four children.
  3. Point out scores from period when students used deliberate misspelling as a study technique and pose question: why did it work?

Human brains try to impose patterns on material:

  1. Have students draw a hill and use hatch marks to draw trees covering the hill. (one minute only)
  2. Have students examine marks and see how tended to draw patterns.
  3. Have students draw many irregular shapes on paper. Then have them add a circle and dot in each one. Do the shapes now seem like faces?
  4. Summarize material about brains imposing patterns.

Varieties of spelling patterns:

  1. Show the lists of misspellings that each of the four children did and have class discuss patterns seen in each. What patterns were they trying to create?
  2. Recall and demonstrate for class Piagetian tasks conservation of volume with two glasses and water. Compare "decentration" on level in Piaget task with moving beyond sound-letter relationships in spelling.
  3. Present material about other patterns that explain English spelling.

Techniques that make it easier to create spelling patterns for self:

  1. Do clapping and rhythm identification with class. At end give only one clap and ask class to discern rhythm it comes from. Compare with trying to build patterns when learning words in isolation from others like it.
  2. Describe selections of word lists proposed in Wordsmithing for class discussion.
  3. Divide class into teams and give them a dictionary with good etymology section. Give each team five words that end in "-ible" and five that end in "-able." Allow time for team discussion and then class discussion of possible patterns to explain why words are spelled as they are.
  4. Have members of class who are familiar with word sorts from Words Their Way describe that activity.
  5. Have class discuss what kinds of word sorts would help each of the four children.

Summary and Assignment:

  1. Brief restatement:
  • Human brains impose patterns.
  • English spelling uses not only phonetic relationships, but patterns based on word origin and usage.
  • Each person must construct own patterns to l earn.
  • Activities such as word sorts and deliberate misspelling can help person create patterns.
  1. Explain assignment: evaluating a child's spelling and devising a word sort to address needs.