Name & Summarize (a few sentences) about the chapters you read.
I chose to read chapters 13-15. I personally found a lot of the information in chapter 13 was review of other training in fluency, reading rate, and automaticity. I was more interested in chapter 14 on Spelling. For the past 5-10 years, spelling has been overlooked and deemed less important in the academic word. This has bothered me and I refused to give it up. Yes, spell check has changed many lives, but I was thrilled to read that there is an agreement that "spelling skills can impact reading ability" (Pan et al.2021) That being said, I am guilty of being the "Introduce Monday and test Friday" teacher. I do feel that the Words their Way will help us a lot this year. Chapter 15 was all on phonics and we focus a lot less on this in 5th grade, but I do agree the importance of reviewing and/or teaching common Syllables, prefixes, and suffixes. Many 5th graders struggle with vocabulary and spelling words that can be broken down if they are strong in these.
- How will these impact your teaching?
I will be more aware of the spelling words at their level, common misspelled words, and incorporate more phonics in my small groups to meet their needs. Their are so many gaps that still need to be filled and I need to be more aware of what they are and how low they may be. I was shocked last year to find out how many students still struggle of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, and adverbs in 5th grade. I have always assumed that by 5th grade they know the basic parts of speech. They also could not count syllables or understand word families. After reading this, I need to teach them what they might be missing to get them to become better readers overall.
-What strategies did you take away and how will you implement them into your teaching?
I will be using the Words Their Way for spelling this year and reflect back on chapter 14 frequently. I especially want to try using the word sorts in small groups. I also really want to teach commonly misspelled words and even make a living chart for the classroom that kids can reflect on. By teaching them these words, they become more aware of them and hopefully spell them correctly. I would also like to make a prefix and suffix chart for their personal jurnals that they can use and build upon.