Thank you Iris. This was extremely helpful. It is what I believed,
but could not find documentation for.
PatK
On Jun 19, 2010, at 12:23 AM, Ellington, Iris wrote:
From: Francine Johnston [[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2010 1:48 PM
To: [email protected]; Ellington, Iris;
[email protected]
Subject: Word Sorting Discussion
As one of the authors of Words Their Way I wanted to respond to the
emails that have been posted on this listserve about word sorting.
Pat and Maura are absolutely on target with their concerns about how
explicit sorts need to be for struggling readers who seem to be the
very ones who do not induce generalizations about how words work
very easily (that is probably why they are struggling). We have
recently published a new book called Words Their Way for Struggling
Readers and in it is a nice description of a continuum of support
which parallels the gradual release of responsibility model used for
comprehension instruction. During what we call "Teacher Directed
Sorts" the teacher should model how to sort 3-6 words and explain
why she is sorting the way she is. The students join in and
complete the sort and can be asked each time to explain why they are
sorting the word under a particular header or key word (i.e. trail
goes with rain because it has the long a sound and is spelled with
the ai pattern). After sorting the reflection part of the lesson
should end up with explicit conclusions and a statement of a
generalization (i.e. Today we found out that the long A sound can be
spelled with AI and AY patterns). Students can then sort their own
collection of words under supervision and again be asked to talk
about why they sorted as they did and what they learned about words
from the sort. During the week they sort multiple times and can be
asked to record their generalizations in a word study notebook.
At the opposite end of the continuum of support are Student Centered
Open sorts in which students figure out their own categories and
describe their findings to each other. This inductive discovery-
approach to sorting is our favorite kind of sort since it asks
students to really think and make their own discoveries, but it is
for students who are experienced sorters and know what to look for.
Even then, students are asked to state a generalization. As Gerry
Duffy describes in Explaining Reading, teachers need to be sensitive
to the level of support students needs and be ready to offer
explicit explanations when students can not do that for themselves.
One of the reasons I love word sorts as an approach to the teaching
of phonics and spelling is that it lends itself to this range of
support.
Hope this was helpful!
Dr. Francine R. Johnston
Director of Graduate Studies for Masters Programs
Dept of Teacher Ed and Higher Ed
University of NC at Greensboro 27403
336-334-3458 (w)
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