Teacher Work Sample Standard 4 Jennifer Morris October 13, 2012 Sue Dunning

Teacher Work Sample Standard 4: Design for Instruction Teacher Work Sample Standard: The teacher designs instruction for specific learning goals and objectives, student characteristics and needs, and learning contexts. Dodea Standard: Standard 2E1a: Word Recognition, fluency, and vocabulary development. Component: 2E2c8 and 2E2c9: Spelling. Unit Objective: Objective: Students will gain measurable knowledge of word recognition and will apply them during their reading and writing practices. Unit Learning Goals: Learning Goal 1: Students will be able to better identify words and patterns in spelling, reading, and example them in writing. Word recognition will be noticeable and measurable in: 1. Spelling. 2. Reading. 3. Writing. 4. Informal assessments will be conducted weekly through guided reading and Daily Journals.

Learning Goal 2: Students will begin to connect patterned sounds within words. 1. Students will have a better understanding of the phonemic breakdown of individual letters, blends, digraphs, and endings. 2. Students will have a measurable growth in phonemic awareness of words with in their growth span. 3. Students will have a larger word bank from which to draw words from 4. Students will be complete formal assessments every two weeks. Learning Goal 3: Students will be able to demonstrate the phonemic breakdown of works for contextual knowledge. 1. Students will be able to decode words. 2. Students will use word patterns. 3. Students will use word connections for word digestion. 4. Students will be given formal assessments every two weeks. Task: I will begin my unit with an assessment of the current spelling knowledge based upon the Words Their Way (WTW) spelling guidebook. The chosen assessment is a generalized assessment for all students using the Primary Spelling List Assessment. I am using this based on my observations of the students during the first two weeks of school. The observations included monitoring their daily journal entries, listening to the students read, and listening to the vocabulary in context used in conversation. The assessment will tell me each individual students

strengths and weaknesses when graded using the WTW rubric (see Appendix A). There were four students whose scores reflected the need to be assessed using the WTW Elementary Spelling List Assessment (Appendix B). Those students were then graded using the same criteria and placed in groups according to their strengths and weaknesses. Students are grouped using a WTW spelling assessment rubric (see Appendix C). My aim was not to have more than six students in a group in order to meet their needs in a small guided spelling group setting. With 36 students, I was able to successfully break the students into nine groups. The choice of the spelling program, instead of the traditional spelling list, is based upon the research and design of the program. The program is designed to meet the needs of the students instead of generalizing the class into one group. The assessment will give the results in a form to breakdown the needs of the students. This will help meet the spelling and phonemic needs of the students and instruct with them rather than instruct at them. During the teaching of the spelling program, students are introduced to the words, shown are meant to be sorted based on the students identified phonemic and spelling needs (Appendix D). There are three goals for students using this program. The first knowing how phonemic-sounds can be spelled, even in different ways. The second goal is for students to correctly spell the words. The ultimate goal is for students to connect the phonemics and spelling and use them together for connections in all subject areas for comprehension and contextual knowledge. The blocks below represent a two-week instructional period with the class broken down into small groups. Groups then are broken further for guided spelling to meeting over a two-day period (there are 9 groups total). The total instructional period will last one quarter with the pre and post assessment being of the same context and administered in the same method.

First week Meeting with Teacher Individual work Assessment Goal Second week Meeting with Teacher Individual work Assessment Goal

Monday Introduction of new words to groups Partner sorting

Tuesday Introduction of new words to groups Partner sorting

Wednesday Sorting with teacher for patterns Partner sorting and recording Goals 1, 2 Wednesday Small group guided spelling Blind sort partner record Goals 1 and 2

Thursday Sorting with teacher for patterns Partner sorting and recording Goals 1, 2 Thursday Small group guided spelling Blind Sort partner record Goals 1 and 2

Friday No meeting

Classroom project day

Goal 2 Monday Small group guided spelling Word Hunt and recording Goals 1, 2, and 3

Goal 2 Tuesday Small group guided spelling Partner sorting and record Goals 1 and 2

Friday Spelling Test None

Goal 1

Unit Activities Small-Guided Spelling: Small-guided group spelling gives more individualized attention in comparison to small-guided reading groups. The attention that I will be able to give, will give me a closer observational assessment of students needs: strengths and weaknesses. The lesson outline is based on the needs students who are on the same level as their peers in the group with similar needs gathered from the data of pre-assessments. When meeting with the students, I will be able to conduct mini-lessons. These lessons can be in the form of a practice test, sorting of words, or a verbal discussion of words. The small group lessons will be meeting all of the goals: spelling, phonemic pattern sorting and identification, and decoding. The small group also gives a slower pace to the students and assistance to those who may not be receiving assistance in the home. This activity requires very little in material preparation, as I would already have a list of targeted students from assessments and observations, spelling lists, and notebooks of the students. Assessments during these lessons can only be in the form of observation: teacher observing how well the

student is responding to instruction. I will be able to conduct summative assessments with the gathering of data and individualized work within spelling notebooks. Partner Sorting: Partner sorting is an activity where students can work with another student in their same spelling group / level. Students are able to get together during one of the Daily 5 rotation and practice the spelling sorts. Spelling sorts promote the understanding of the phonemic sounds and patterns within words meeting the lesson goal number two. When working with a partner, students often become more relaxed and look at the activity as a game. It has been found that when a student has an interest in an activity, they will be more likely to remember. Assessing the success of a partner sort comes with observation. I will be able to observe and conduct summative assessments of the students working with their partner and ask questions as to why they sorted in the manner they did, or even be the partner myself. The data collected will be collected to use for small-guided spelling groups over the weeks. The formative assessment will come in the form of the spelling test. When the student takes the spelling test, they place the phonemic columns at the top, and spell the words into the correct category. If the student practiced sorting, they will place the word in the correct phonemic column, but may spell it wrong; this will give me a better understanding of the students strengths and weaknesses. Word Hunt and Recording: An activity of a word hunt is different than a normal spelling practice. With this activity, students have their phonemic groups of study that they use as references. Students choose either a book they are reading or another of choice and hunt for words that math the phonemic sounds and patterns. For example: if the student is studying the short /a/ sound, they would be hunting for

words that have the same sound. Such as bat or cat ensuring that the words are not on their spelling list, and then record the new words found. This will give me summative data covering all of the learning goals. By meeting all of the goals, I will observe the progression of understanding. Collecting the data in a summative collection form will organize needs for the weeks small-guided spelling groups.

Appendix A

Appendix B

Appendix C

Appendix D

References Appendix A, B, C, and D sources of the Words Their Way spelling program, 2nd Edition. Department of defense education activity (DODEA), 2012. Curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.dodea.edu