Saturday Spelling Symposium: Word Study with the 4-Step Process (PD408)

Now available to watch asynchronously. Please use this page to enrol.

What’s in your literacy block this week? You might be covering a particular sound, a spelling pattern, some rules, how to build sentences, parts of speech or even a mixture (I hope it’s a mixture!). What subject(s) are you focusing on as a class? How are you introducing the new vocabulary in that subject and how are you going to get your students to remember that? What if I told you that you could pull all of the above together in one process? It’s known as the 4-Step process and it can be used to help children understand and remember the written form of words. It could even be used as an alternative to the word lists you give out at the beginning of the week for a test at the end of the week. Let’s face it, I’m pretty certain you have niggling doubts about those lists, knowing for sure that a whole bunch of your students don’t remember the words after a couple of weeks. Guess what? It’s not them, it’s your lists. It’s the quantity over quality approach your system is asking you to take. But what to do instead? View my 90 minute symposium on the process, the dos and don’ts of word lists and a whole wealth of resources to take back to the classroom and supercharge your word study lessons. We will cover five different word forms in one process, focusing on one form at a time:

1. The semantic form. Figure out how to compose sentences that show meaning. Go from “I saw a lizard.” to “A lizard is a scaly, cold-blooded reptile.”
2. The orthographic form. Show students a simple marking system that helps them pay attention to irregular word forms.
3. The morphological form. Use simple, powerful tools to build morphemic awareness in your students.
4. The etymological form. Build lists of words that are connected by their history and morphemes, rather than resorting to building word lists that are related only in their sounds. Sound-based lists just won’t deliver the richness that our language has to offer.

Suitable for teachers all the way from foundation to high school. This process can be used and adapted at any point on the school journey. We will show you what a completed knowledge-building word list looks like. We will show you how to get students to practise these words so that they permanently store them. We will show you dozens of examples of real words that real students have succeeded with. Enrol and watch the recording. Only $45 Note: Prices are inclusive of 10% Goods and Services Tax (GST) for all Australian residents. If you have done the 4-Step Process Online course, there is new material in this symposium and you’ll also be one of the experts in the audience. Come along!