Precision Teaching Spelling Procedure

Carry out a baseline assessment with the student to find out what they can and
cannot spell.
Step 1 For this assessment, you can use year group word lists, high frequency words or
phonic words from each different phase. These will be the list of words they are
working on. Make a note of the words they can spell and those they cannot spell.

From your teacher assessment, select three words the student can confidently spell,
as well as two words that the student found difficult. This group of five words will be
Step 2 added to the probe sheet (grid) and will be the main five words that you will begin to
work on during intervention sessions.

You now have to explicitly teach how to spell the five words selected in a fun and
exciting way. This could be through using mnemonics, where the student makes up
silly rhymes to help them (for example, s-a-i-d – seven ants in danger), or through
Step 3 a multisensory approach (for example, using whiteboards, paints, magnetic letters,
coloured pens and pencils).
During this step, you should also discuss the meaning of the word, use a dictionary to
help find the meaning, clap the syllables and identify any patterns or tricky parts.

This is where you now test the student at the end of the session. The teacher reads
the words out and the student writes down the spellings of the five words they have
been working on. This is continued for 1 minute. When the student has written the
Step 4 words once, they should be covered with a separate piece of paper, to ensure they are
not just copying and relying on what they have already written. Record the number of
correct/incorrect responses in the same way as reading.

Measure the student’s progress of correct and incorrect responses by recording them
using the fluency chart. At the end of the week, use a ruler to join up their results with
Step 5 a straight line. For older pupils, they can do this independently and this gives them
ownership of their own progress.

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 Precision Teaching Spelling Procedure

When your student has mastered the five words they have been learning, move onto
a new set of words. To master the words, it is recommended that your student has
Step 6 had approximately 90% success of the same words across 4/5 consecutive sessions
(one week).

When creating a new probe sheet, go back to step 2. Include 3 words from the
Step 7 previous test and 2 new ones. Continue the cycle again, recording fluency daily and
measuring progress across the week on the chart.

If your chart results do not show progress within the first 3-4 days, this could be
due to the fact the task is too difficult for the student. If this is the case, go back to
an earlier and simpler task, including words they were already confident with. If you
continue the intervention and fail to see targeted progression after 8-10 days on
Step 8 the same probe/group of words, you should not carry on without considering other
factors. You may need to consider things like where the intervention is taking place
(is it quiet enough?), teaching methods, who delivers it or go back to making the task
easier and simpler.

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