INQUIRY

PRESENTATION
Ryan Melli

S C H O O L I N F O.
883 students attending the school and of those students,
52 percent of the students require free or reduced lunch.
The demographics of the students attending the school
include: 40 percent White, 37 percent Hispanic, 11
percent African-American, 2 percent Asian, and about 9
percent multi-raced. The school itself has a rich history,
and over 100 years of educational service to the
community.

WONDERINGS
My wondering question is one that interests me beyond any

other wondering I have had in the past for my previous inquiries.

Will student on student instruction improve the spelling skills in
struggling learners?
I am lucky to be working alongside my peer Antonio, and our

goal is for my 5th grade inquiry students to teach the spelling

skills and strategies I have shown them to his Kindergarten
students. I am very excited to implement this strategy and am
excited to see how the inquiry plays out.

LITERATURE
CONNECTIONS
Articles mainly discuss on changing the
overall outlook and the way spelling was looked
at and how it was being implemented in the
classroom.
Many discussed instructional practices used
for teaching spelling in elementary classrooms.

ACTIONS TAKEN
, I first implemented a spelling inquiry to see which
students I would consistently collect data from on a
weekly basis.
After the spelling inquiry, I collected various
student work samples of my three inquiry student
that highlighted their struggles in spelling.
Before the interventions were implemented, I had
my inquiry students fill out an interest survey that
gave me a little background knowledge on each
student.

ACTIONS TAKEN
For the next three weeks, my students came into his kindergartners class
and would work with their buddies on their sight words. They made them
sight word note cards, and had the kindergartners practice them during the
week. Also, each week, the 5th graders would practice a different within
word pattern with their kindergarten buddy. The first week, students
worked with ar words, the second week was -or word sounds, and the last
was ew word sounds. To go along with the different word patterns, each
one had a corresponding song that went along with the pattern, to help the
kindergarteners retain the different words. They learned the corresponding
songs from a video that they could sing along to.

FINDING# 1
When students teach other students, they
strengthen their own content knowledge.
Although only a small increase, I did see a gradual
growth in their own spelling skills, which showed me
that the strategies being implemented had a positive
effect on these students.

FINDING # 1
14
12
10
8

Number of misspelled words

pre-spelling inventory

Number of misspelled words

post-spelling inventory

4
2
0
Mary

Brittany

Jill

FINDING # 2
5th grade students had to be probed to use the movements that
went along with the within word patterns that myself and
Antonio implemented each week with our classes.
not one of my three students were using the movements unless
probed by either myself or Antonio. Once they were probed and
told to use the movements with their kindergarteners, they
would use them, but not once did they use them on their own.
Some students I had to probe more than others for them to
finally use them.

FINDING # 2

FINDING # 3
Students need additional practice on spelling on a
DAILY BASIS to see a true growth in their spelling.
The fact of the matter is, three weeks is not enough
time to see an exponential growth, especially with a skill
such as spelling. Spelling takes time to improve upon,
and from the data that I collected from below, even the
post spelling inventory scores were lower than I would
have liked to have seen.

FINDINGS # 3

CONCLUSION
From engaging in my inquiry, I learned that spelling is
still needed to be included in daily instruction. The fact
of the matter is working on spelling for a three week
inquiry isnt enough to see a true growth in their spelling
instruction.
However, I am very happy to have seen an
improvement in their spelling scores, even though they
were gradual.

REFERENCES
Aarnoutse, C., Van Leeuwe, J., Voeten, M., & Oud, H. (2001). Development of decoding,
reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling during the elementary school
years.Reading and Writing,14(1-2), 61-89.
Rankin, J. L., Bruning, R. H., & Timme, V. L. (1994). The Development of Beliefs about
Spelling and Their Relationship to Spelling Performance.Applied Cognitive
Psychology,8(3), 213-232.
Anderson, D. L., & Standerford, N. S. (2012). Inside out and outside in: Rethinking
Spelling in Inclusive Elementary Classrooms.Issues In Teacher Education,21(2), 125-146.
McNeill, B. b., & Kirk, C. (2014). Theoretical beliefs and instructional practices used for
teaching spelling in elementary classrooms.Reading & Writing,27(3), 535-554.
Doyle, A. a., Jing Zhang2, z., & Mattatall, C. c. (2015). Spelling Instruction in the Primary
Grades: Teachers' Beliefs, Practices, and Concerns.Reading Horizons,54(2), 1-34.