Reflection

ELNG 310 Portfolio Activity Week 7

Word Work

Reflection

Why did you choose to include this activity?

I chose this activity because I believe words are the start of all learning experiences. Learning how to spell, what words mean and how to put words together are a huge part of literacy. When doing word work activities in the classroom, students will gain an understanding of individual words and then will be able to put them together to make sentences. Before learning how to read, it is beneficial for children to work on individual words for they understand the meanings of the words which will make comprehension easier. When learning to read, the students will come across the familiar words and know them from word work done in the classroom. It all starts with words! This activity has been beneficial for my own learning because I was able to better understand how to incorporate word work into a lesson plan. Word work is a very versatile activity that can be done in most lesson plans.

What course goals does this activity connect to?

How can I use the Saskatchewan K-8 ELA curriculum and curricular recourses? For this activity done in class, a lesson plan was made and Saskatchewan curricular outcomes and indicators were used. When looking at the curriculum there are many objectives that will involve words. In all subject areas, the outcomes and indicators will be met by using written or spoken words.

What range of literacies are required for learners to be active and proficient participants in the 21^st century? Literacy is a huge part of the 21st century. People communicate in many ways when interacting with others. We use words to communicate, in forms such as talking in person, emailing, texting and video chatting. People are learning how to use words in all different forms starting at younger ages in the 21st century. Before technology, there were limited ways to communicate with others. All communication starts with words! A baby's first word is a milestone in their life that is the start of communication and literacy!

What course concepts/ideas are reflected in the activity? Include citations

There are many ways to work on words in the classroom. Doing daily reading and writing work is useful for students to become more confident in their own skills (The Balanced Literacy Diet, 2017b). Incorporating word work into the classroom every day will give students confidence when it comes to words. Doing classroom activities together such as a word wall will be beneficial for students' understanding of the words (Reading Rockets, 2014). This can be a student-led board. They can pick any words to put on the board if they want to learn more about them or if they think they are important. When focusing on a word and before placing it on the wall a discussion could be had as a group to learn more about the word (Reading Rockets, 2014). This board could be added to during all subject areas and throughout the entire year. This learning experience will help students with their literacy skills.

How has your thinking about the activity changed over the semester and/or what questions do you have about this activity?

Word work has changed since I was in school. When I was in school I got a list of spelling words every week for years and years. The entire class was tested on the same words through a written spelling test. I have learned that spelling tests are not the most beneficial way to test students' knowledge (Alderman & Green, 2011). Working on words is not just memorizing how to spell ten words a week. I will use all kinds of other ways to work on new words. I liked the idea of having individual words to word on each week that is to the interest of the individual student (Alderman & Green, 2011). Sight words are something I might use in my classroom to help with reading fluency. Having students write personal stories or just sentences to the best of their ability is a great starting point when combining words together. Working on all kinds of words to the level of each student is where I will start in my classroom. There are so many fun things that can be done with students when learning new words.