Doesn't it always amaze you when school districts plop a new program on the teachers, provide no inservice, provide no support during initial adoption, and then wonder why the teachers don't know what to do or why? I would love to combine Sitton (spellling for writing) and WTW, but who knows how a long a school day it would take to do what needed to be done. And, I can see that there's probably a relationship between phonics/spelling in WTW because of the flip decoding/encoding. But again, it seems to be it's yet another thing that can deteriorate into going through the motions. We talk about hands on, minds on in math, but not so often in literacy and I think we probably should. If the teacher, a para, a specialist, an RTI person, a parent, a student sees only how to get the "correct answer," the time has been wasted. And without inservice, para training, parent meetings, and careful initial teaching, why would we expect them to? Seems like education is getting less and less like -- education! Just shut up and say what you think you need to say, it seems.
On Sat, Jun 9, 2012 at 8:52 PM, Kukonis <kuko...@aol.com> wrote: > > > If you are looking for a phonics program... WTW is not it... That much > said, the activities involved.. be they open sort,pattern sort, no peek > sort, word hunt and the games really do very nicely complement any > program... we piloted it in first grade for two years... first > ...management is difficult and only works if you differentiate groups and > use the developmental books that correlate to each group... which does suck > up lots of school time... we kept it at a minimum of three different > groups... secondly the manual says you can copy the lesson of the week... > that is a no go... especially if you have three or more groups ... it takes > too much time, thirdly the sorts are done on small paper strips... which > were difficult for first grade to handle... they actually blew off their > desks.... and because there were so many words in each lesson... they > invariably lost many of the strips.... fourth... if you do use the > workbooks... they are supposed to travel to and from school daily.. our > parents never got the hang of this and then the next day's lesson was down > the tubes because the book was not in school... but the part I objected to > the most was that the kids never really did internalize the patterns only > matched the letters to make the correct sort. This approach must be > implemented by a teacher well versed in the phonics rules that apply to a > given pattern... I found it needed lots of supplemental teaching in terms > of phonemes and vowel teams... the program assumes that if the kids sort > them well they understand the phonics rule... which unless the teacher > makes it her business to explain... never comes across.... and this is not > inherently spelled out by Donald's teacher's manual. > But then this is only my opinion... I know for a fact that Columbia touts > it as a fabulous tool. > > Good luck, > Kukonis > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: read3 <re...@aol.com> > To: mosaic <mosaic@literacyworkshop.org> > Sent: Sat, Jun 9, 2012 9:13 pm > Subject: [MOSAIC] Words Their Way > > > Hi. > We are looking at a consistent district-wide approach to spelling. Words > Their > Way is on our list (along with Sitton and Zaner Bloser) . I found this > quote on > amazon.com when pricing WTW: "It gives you all the tools you need to > carry out > word study instruction that will motivate and engage your students, and > help > them to succeed in literacy learning. Ordered in a developmental format, > Words > Their Way™ complements the use of any existing phonics, spelling, and > vocabulary > curricula." > > So, if it's meant to "complement" an existing spelling curricula, what are > some > of you who use WTW using it with? > > Please email me offline. > > Thank you - so much! > > Martha > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > > -- "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." Henry David Thoreau _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list Mosaic@literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
