Pictures are worth 1,000 words. That statement could not have been more true for a student on Thursday. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera. It was just after lunch on Thursday and students were going to complete a speed sort to practice their spelling words.
Student #13 is in the pink spelling group. She is a quiet girl, who lately has been having trouble focusing on class assignments. Her mother is extremely concerned about her spelling abilities. This student is aware of the comparison her mother makes between her older sister and her. Her older sister loves school and does very well. My student loves to hunt, draw, and play with her friends. She loves enjoys coming to school, but could do without the instruction part. Ha ha! However, she continues to try her best.
As she pulls out her spelling words, I notice she is struggling to find her headers and bold words. She asks me what will happen if she does not sort her words correctly. I respond that she will be given the opportunity to fix her mistakes until she sorts them correctly. Based on her lack of response and facial expression, I could tell this was not the response she wanted to her. She finally sets up her bold words and headers to be ready for the sort. The student looks around the room. Her hand is in her bag ready to grab the next word when I say go. I say, "Ready, set, go." She grabs her first word. I watch her lips as she sounds out her words to decide if it the word goes in the "ow," "ou," or "oddball" column. She continued to sound out each word and think about the placement of the word before setting the word in the column. This is the same student who is too shy to sound out her words quietly on Mondays. I was beaming as I was watching her! I continued to walk around the room and check students as they finished. Finally, she finished sorting her words. She looked over her words one more time, then she raised her hand. I walked over to her desk and looked at her words. She had sorted her words correctly! I was impressed she had found her oddball words correctly as she had struggled a little on Monday to tell the difference between through and though. She started smiling the second I told her her sort was correct. I told her she could put her words away since she finished. I am not sure that small smile left her face the entire time she cleaned up her words and waited for her classmates to finish. In the end, her team ended up winning the spelling sort.
What a sweet post!!
ReplyDeleteThese kind of stories remind me of why I teach!
It is great that the word sorts are helping this child improve her knowledge of spelling rules and I assume improve spelling as she writes. I always think it is such a shame when parents compare children. It sounds like this girl automatically has the impression in her head that she will most likely not be successful. Sounds like you are providing her with great instruction that makes her feel confident and proud of herself!
I really like your thick description here. You did a nice job of thoroughly explaing to an outsider what kind of student she was. It's funny because I can picture kids just like her in my class this year and from the past. I can definitely see the benefits of thick descriptions as opposed to thin. I like how you do the sorts and I can totally hear you saying, "ready, set go!" :) Great instruction!
ReplyDeleteThe animation in my voice definitely makes speeds sorts more interesting!
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