DeAnna Von Halle

Spelling Assessment and Connected Lesson

November 19, 2013
Purpose

Based on the DSA results, Christian is solidly in the Letter NameAlphabet Stage. He scored an overall 19. According to his scores he is
correctly using initial/final consonants, initial blends/diagraphs, short
vowels, and final blends/diagraphs. He is using but confusing affricates

(using sh for ch, g for dr, and sh for tr).

Taking a closer look at Christians answers, even though he scored a 5
on short vowels he often used a for e and left out short i twice. So I

decided to target short vowels (a and e) for this lesson.

It is important to conduct this lesson in order for Christian to advance
beyond the Letter Name-Alphabet Stage and onto Within Word Patterns
and beyond. Gaining a better grasp on short vowels will help Christian

with his reading and writing.

Standard of Learning
English 1.6
The student will apply phonetic principles to read and spell.
d) Use short vowel sounds to decode and spell single-syllable words.
Objectives

The student, given words and pictures, will be able to sort them based

on if they contain short a or e with 80% accuracy.

The student, given words and pictures containing short a and e
vowels, will be able to correctly pronounce and identify them with 80%
accuracy.

The student, given pictures that contain short a and e vowels, will be
able to correctly write and sort the words into proper categories with
80% accuracy.

Procedure

I will introduce the lesson by telling Christian that we are going to play
some games with words and pictures to help him spell more words. I
will introduce all of the words and pictures first and then introduce the

two categories (short a and short e).

I will model the sort for the first 3-5 words and then let Christian take
over. His teacher does sorts in class and sends them home weekly as
homework so he should be familiar. After having Christian read down
the columns to check his sort I will follow up with some open-ended
questions to spur some reflection about the words. Ie, What do you
notice about the words in the two columns? Any similarities?

Differences?
After the sort I will play a round (or two depending on how it is going)
of Read It, Find It (From Words Their Way) with Christian to reinforce
the lesson. This game involves a board with words on it. The player
draws a card, has to pronounce the word correctly, and then find the
word on the board and cover it with a marker. If they mispronounce the
word, they do not get to find the word or cover it with a marker. Each
player gets 12 markers and wins when they have played all their
markers.

After the game, I will have Christian do a writing sort using the pictures
from the games. I will thank him for playing and point out some
positive things that he did during our time together.

Materials

Sort cards and headers

Read It, Find It game board and markers (pennies or buttons)
Worksheet for writing sort with headers on it

Evaluation Part A

I will observe Christian during the word sort. If he properly places more

than 19 of the cards he will have met the objective.

I will observe Christian during the Read It, Find It game. If he properly
pronounces and places his marker on 10 of the 12 cards he draws he

will have met the objective.

I will observe Christian during the writing sort. If he correctly spells the
word and puts it in the write column the answer will be counted as
correct. To meet the objective, he will need to properly sort 9 of the 11
words.

Evaluation Part B
Did the student meet the objectives?

Yes. Christian sorted 19 of the cards during the initial sort correctly. He
loved playing the Read It, Find It game and never missed a word. He
had fun correcting me when I mispronounced some words (on
purpose). Christian came close to not meeting the objectives on the
writing sort, but he self corrected when checking his answers by

reading them aloud down the column and moved the 3 incorrect words
to the correct column.
How do I know if the objectives were met?

I know that the objectives were met because Christian competed all
three activities with at least 80% accuracy. 80% on the sort, 100% on
the game, and 100% on the writing sort after self corrections (72%
before)

Strengths/Weaknesses of my teaching:

I was weak in my introduction to the sort. I should have spent a little

more time explaining the connection between how words are spelled
and how they sound. I gave up a little early when trying to lead
Christian to some conclusions when reviewing the sort. He wasnt
making any conclusions so I simply moved on. I wish I had tried a few
different questions with him. I was strong in letting Christian catch his
own mistakes. I made sure that we checked the columns, but let him
do the reading and tried not to hint at ones he had misplaced. During
my last one-on-one with a student I didnt spend any time building up
trust or making her feel comfortable. This time, I felt I did a good job
making sure Christian knew what to expect and felt at ease. I stayed
organized and patient throughout the lesson and was sure to
congratulate Christian on his hard work and thank him at the end.

Changes for next time:

Next time I will spend a little more time on the introduction. Find a
good way to describe how the different vowels feel when pronounced

and model more how to find the middle sound and compare it.
I will be more patient in asking concluding questions during the review.
I might pick a different game. Christian was thrilled with this game,
especially when he saw he was winning (he chuckled with glee and
squirmed in his seat!), but Im not sure it was the best to reinforce the
lesson.