See The Word Inside Your Head

My August and September 2016 blogs were devoted to the idea of teaching children strategies for  spelling unknown words. Specifically I discussed spelling by analogy (using a word that you know as template for spelling a word you don’t know) and spelling by sound (hear the sounds, assign letters and patterns that make those sounds). Today's offering is See the Word Inside Your Head, the strategy accomplished spellers use most often. 

Some children develop the ability to “see a word inside their head” naturally. Others do not. To encourage students to build and use a repository of stored words in their brains, teach them to study spelling words using the steps given below. Then, when it comes time to spell words independently during writing (or on a test), remind students to use these steps: see the word in your mind, write the word, and check the word. As teachers, we hope that by intentionally using “see-write-check,” students will later generalize the strategy into the automatic ability to visualize a word, write it down, and then check it against the word stored in their brain dictionary.

I have seen variations of the “see the word” strategy in core-reading programs for a couple of decades now. My most recent encounter with it was while perusing the stand-along spelling program Spelling Connections, published by Zaner-Bloser. Spelling Connections presents a three-step strategy for studying spelling words. Here is my two-step variation.

1. Say-See, Hide-See 

• When studying your word, first say the word. Then say the letters in the word. As you say the letters, group the letters into patterns that you know.
• Put the word into your brain. “Use the smart phone in your mind and snap a picture! Post it! Can you see it?”
•  Hide the word you are studying. This means cover it with your hand, close your book, close your eyes, or turn your paper over. 
• See the word in your head (look at the picture you posted). See the letters that make up the word.

2.  Write, Check (and Correct)

• Write the word. As you write, think of the letters and patterns that make up the word.
• Check your spelling against the spelling in the book or on your paper. If you made a mistake, correct it.
• Then look at the correct spelling and say the correct spelling, chunking it into groups and patterns like you did before. 

Here is an example of how I might model my use of this strategy and use a think aloud to explain its workings:

• MW: This week’s lesson is about words with the e-r ending. What is this week’s lesson about, everyone?
• Students: Words with the e-r ending.
• MW: I am going to model how I use our spelling study strategy to study some of the words you might have your list. So listen as I think out loud.
• MW: [Pointing to the word speaker on the white board]. My first word to study is speaker. Our strategy says, “Say-See.” I’m looking at the word. Now I’m going to say the letters in the word, and as I say them, I'm going to chunk them into patterns I know. sp-eak-er.  Speaker.
• MW:    [Covering the word with sheet of paper]. Next, our strategy says, “Hide- See.” I’ve hidden the word and I’m closing my eyes. I’m seeing the word spelled out in chunks in my mind. [Closes eyes and silently mouths, sp-eak-er, speaker.]
• MW: Next, I write the word. [Writes the word on the board.] Finally, I check the word. [Uncovers the original word.] Let’s see: sp-eak-er, speaker. Perfect! I have nothing to correct.

An easily constructed “flip folder” provides opportunities for students to practice the strategy “see the word in your head.” The activity, which can be done independently or with a buddy, is designed for instant error correction. A student spells a word and then checks it for correctness. If the word is misspelled, the student corrects it before moving on to the next word.

To make a flip folder, you need a manila folder, a marker, a set of word cards, and stack of blank slips of paper. The activity’s routine mirrors the two-step word study strategy outlined above. Here is a brief description of the routine, which is also presented in the pictures below.

• The student picks up a word card, says the word on the card, and visualizes the word in his head.  While teaching this step, encourage students to see the patterns in the words.
• The student lifts the left flap and places the word card on the folder. He hides the word by putting the flap back down. Then he visualizes the word in his head.
• The student picks up the right flap, puts a blank slip of paper down, and writes the spelling word. Then he lifts the left flap and checks to see if his spelling is correct. If the spelling isn’t correct, he corrects this error. (You’ll notice in pictures that the word is not spelled correctly and the student has not yet corrected the error
• The student removes both slips, sets them aside, and starts the process over.

The more students read and write words, the better the chance they have of moving words into their brain dictionaries. But remember: while one child may easily store a word in his brain, another may not, even when repeatedly exposed to the word. If you have students who cannot easily store and see a word inside their heads, then encourage them to use other strategies, ones that play to their strengths, such as spelling by analogy, thinking about word meaning, and even circling the word and using a spell checker to correct it.