Purpose
The purpose of this study was to determine if a structure of direct instruction, multiple practices, and direct feedback in phonics instruction will increase accuracy of spelling words for second graders.
"Spelling is a lifelong pursuit."
(Sayeski, 2011)
Qualitative Rationale
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A trend had been noticed within the classroom that students were frequently misspelling high-frequency words and words with common spelling patterns. These trends were noticed in writer's workshop student stories, Sitton spelling curriculum spelling tests, and math word problems students would write.
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On my behalf as a teacher, I was not intentionally planning phonics instruction for whole group or small group settings. I was not planning ahead or planning meaningful activities or conversations to spark discovery for students in phonics skills to improve spelling.
Quantitative Rationale
Standardized MAP test scores for spelling ranged from 13/30 to 29/30. This shows a wide spread of spelling abilities amongst students, which shows the need for differentiation. Secondly, the average class score was 17/30, which is just above 50% accuracy. This solidified the need for intense spelling and phonics instruction for the majority of students.
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Before the study began I made a list of 34 words that contained all six phonics skills to be studied through action research. I gave this test to the class to decipher if this was really the best use of our time in action research.
The average score on this test was 18/34, which is just above 50% accuracy. The lowest score was 7/34 while the highest was 31/34. Again, this shows a large range of abilities, and an average score that matched the MAP spelling tests.