Assess the Child, Find the Phase J. Richard Gentry

Transcription

1 Assess the Child, Find the Phase J. Richard Gentry Children learn to read and write in phases. Their understanding of reading and writing evolves from minimal knowledge to letter knowledge to beginning letter/sound knowledge to writing and reading with one letter for a sound, until they finally learn to chunk letter in phonics patterns, which opens the brain s express pathways to reading and writing. Once you identify a child s phase, you gain insight into other aspects of the child s reading and writing development. Phase identification allows you to focus on the specific skills that are important at a particular time in development, plan for instruction, and document the outcomes of your teaching by monitoring phase growth. Step-by-Step Assessment Guide to Code Breaking by J. Richard Gentry. Administering the Monster Test Administer the Monster Test found on page 2 to your students. Generally the Monster Test is administered to children during kindergarten and first grade when children are expected to break the code and perhaps at the beginning of second grade. Children who develop as expected and become second grade spellers would generally be able to spell about half of the words on the test conventionally, having moved beyond Phase 4 and having successfully broken the code. Follow these directions: Call out each word in the spelling list on page 2, give the sentence provided, and call out the word again. What you want your students to do is invent the spelling or use their best guess at what the spelling might be. Explain that the activity will not be graded as right or wrong, but that it will be used to see how the student thinks certain difficult words should be spelled. Be encouraging and make the activity challenging and fun. Monster Test p. 1

2 SPELLING WORD LIST 1. monster The boy was eaten by a MONSTER. 2. united You live in the UNITED States. 3. dress The girl wore a new DRESS. 4. bottom A big fish lives at the BOTTOM of the lake. 5. hiked We HIKED to the top of the mountain. 6. human Miss Piggy is not a HUMAN. 7. eagle An EAGLE is a powerful bird. 8. closed The little girl CLOSED the door. 9. bumped The car BUMPED into the bus. 10. type TYPE the letter on the laptop. Monster Test p. 2

3 How to Analyze the Spellings An overview of the developmental phases of spelling: A scoring chart is provided on page 4 to help you analyze the spellings. Before going further, think about the features that you will look for at each phase. For example: 1. PHASE 0: The child scribbles, is unable to write letters and is unable to write his/her name. 2. PHASE 1: Invents spelling in random letters 3. PHASE 2: Invents a majority of his/her spellings with correct beginning letter-sound correspondences or partial letter-sound representations 4. PHASE 3: Invents a majority of his /her spellings using a letter for each sound 5. PHASE 4: Has a store of conventional spellings; invented spellings include chunks of phonics patterns for each syllable Analyzing the words: 1. Look at the student s spelling for each word. Find the error type in the chart provided on page 5 that best matches the student s spelling of the word. 2. Determine which word on the chart on page 4 is the best match to the way that the student spelled the word, write the matching developmental spelling phase beside each of the ten spelling words. 3. Next look at the phases next to each word to determine if most of the student s spellings were at Phase 0, Phase 1, Phase 2, 3 or 4. This is the student s probable developmental level. Even though ten words is a small sample, this test will reveal the types of developmental errors that a student is likely to make in free writing. 4. Observe other invented spellings in the student s written language sample to verify the student s level of development. Remember that many of the student s spellings in free writing may be conventional. Students who are at lower developmental levels may have memorized spellings for words such as C - A - T, cat. It is their misspellings, however, that provide windows into their minds to reveal their developmental phase. 5. Refer the Map for Primary Literacy Instruction and Intervention to find guidelines for the most appropriate literacy instruction. Monster Test p. 3

4 SCORING CHART WORDS Phase 0 Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 1. monster Letter-like forms Random mrlpt mostr monstr mostur monstur monstir monstor 2. united Letter-like forms Random uliol nitd Younitd younighted unighted younited 3. dress Letter-like forms Random dti js jras dras drec dres drezz 4. bottom Letter-like forms Random bopof bodm botm bottm bottum boddom 5. hiked Letter-like forms Random hmom hont hikt hickt hict hicked highked 6. human Letter-like forms Random hd humm umn youmn humen humun youman 7. eagle Letter-like forms Random eee egl eegl eagl egul egel egal eagul 8. closed Letter-like forms Random kifs klosd clozd clost clozed clossed 9. bumped Letter-like forms Random btma bopt bumt bumd buped bumpped bummpped 10. type Letter-like forms Random toai tip typ tipe tippe Monster Test p. 4

5 Notes: Monster Test p. 5