This critical thinking is usually a part of small group discussions and is apparent in their written reflections in their vocabulary notebooks.įresh Idea For Your Classroom: teach students to ask open-ended questions that cannot be answered yes or no. Student reflection distinguishes successful word study programs. The sorts and notebook entries are props: 1) to introduce a lesson and 2) for students to practice categorizing orthographic patterns and seeing the generalizations for themselves.

Even when they play a game, students explain why they have categorized words to go together.

They should also prepare to think of other examples of words that are similar orthographically. Students do not need to memorize the generalization verbatim, but rather, we want them to explain the generalization in their own words to answer: “Why did you sort / categorize these words the way you did?” Our goal is that through the categorization, students will then be able to make a generalization about the sort. At the beginning of every lesson plan in Word’s Their Way, we note the generalization that underlies the lesson and we show how the words are categorized. Try out the following engagement and reflection exercises in your distance or hybrid learning classroom today: Student Reflection Distinguishes Successful Word Study ProgramsĬategorize. These tools, when combined with effective engagement and student reflection, ensure that students understand the orthographic generalizations that underlie the word sorts. Developmental word study has proven materials for instruction including digital word sorts, games, and word study notebooks.

Vocabulary word sorts