Chapter 9: Word Study and Fluency: The Dictado and Other Authentic Strategies
Key Points
- Students learn discrete skills best by using words, sentences, and paragraphs they already understand.
- The explicit teaching of discrete word-study skills should come only after comprehension has been established.
- Student writing provides one of the best sources to determine what word-study skills to teach to two-language learners.
- The strategies used to teach word study and fluency should match how the language works. Fluency reflects comprehension.
Book Study Activity Objectives: Participants will:
Participate in a reader’s theater activity and identify the following:
- Activity 1: Compare and contrast word study and initial literacy skill instruction in Spanish and English.
- Activity 2: Suggest ways to contextualize word study and fluency skills
Instructions for activities, and notes for book study leader:
Notes for book study leader:
- Activity 1: Compare and contrast word study and initial literacyNotes for book study leader:
- Copy word sort on card stock and cut out the separate parts.
- Make sure there is one word sort for every two participants.
- Ask partnerships to sort the explanations according to title (Syllables, Vowels and Consonants, etc.) and according to language (Spanish or English).
- As a culminating activity, reflect on the instructional implication of the differences between Spanish and English initial literacy skills.
Activity 2: Suggest ways to contextualize word study and fluency skills
Notes for book study leader:
- Complete the graph with possible ways of contextualizing word study and fluency
- This is a good way of evaluating the current practices around word study and fluency, to establish if the current practices contextualize the words, sentences, and paragraphs first.