I remember asking my third grade teacher why we had spelling tests and what the words on the list had in common. She never gave me an answer. Instead, I was taught tricks to remember spelling patterns that seemed to make no sense, provided strategies for memorizing, and failed more spelling tests than I can remember. And ultimately, I still have to use spell check each time I spell the word ‘receive’ … Seriously, I just spelled it wrong! I wish I was kidding! 

As an English Language Arts (ELA) team, we’ve decided to focus our Wednesday professional learning on being purposeful and intentional about teaching language – this includes spelling, word study, and grammar.  Because just like everything else we do at MJDS, we want our students to understand the WHY. One way that we are helping our students understand the why is through Structured Word Inquiry, or SWI. 

Structured Word Inquiry is an approach that allows for student investigation of the history of words and why words are spelled a certain way.  Rather than giving word lists to be memorized, base words and affixes (prefixes/suffixes) are explored in either a small group or whole class setting.  This exploration frequently leads to a matrix (see below) of the base word and the writing of word sums which allows students to see how an affix can be added to a base word to create a new word.  Structured Word Inquiry is an instructional approach that has been proven to be very effective with all students, especially those who may struggle with dyslexia. Since this strategy focuses on understanding meaning and spelling patterns, it is beneficial for students who may have hearing or speech issues that get in the way of “sounding out” words.  For this reason, kindergarten teachers use both a phonological approach and Structured Word Inquiry when teaching foundational skills.

We are really just beginning this SWI journey and can’t wait to learn more. We have additional training planned for this year and are in frequent communication with SWI experts. As you can imagine, both students and staff are coming up with dozens of questions as we explore more and more words. We already see a shift in our students and the way they are approaching language – even if just by the way they are utilizing correct terminology. 

As for my third grade teacher – she is the reason I became a teacher. I’ll save that story for another day. In the meantime, I completed a SWI matrix for ‘receive’ hoping that it will help the spelling stick… I did spell it correctly this time!