Chelsea Mueller March 26, 2013 ELD 307: Professor Rich Spelling Inventory To help educators figure out

a students spelling development they use a spelling inventory. First, the teaching can do an optional screening to see which level test to give the students. This will help the teachers know which level test to test to use as a starting point for spelling testing. Once the starting point is determined the teachers will use the spelling inventory to determine which level/stage the students should be at and also which specific features need to be studied. In this spelling inventory there are four stages: Letter-Name, Within-Word Pattern, Syllable Juncture, and Derivational Constancy. The DSA can be used for two different reasons. The first reason is to determine a students stage of development and their ability to spell specific words and features at that stage. By taking this test it will help teachers see the students strengths and weaknesses and allow them to see where the student needs to focus. A DSA can also be used in order to find out a total spelling inventory score. Allow this is time consuming it does help see the students progress from year to year. Just like with reason one, this total spelling inventory will also show the childs strengths and weaknesses. Doing a spelling inventory will help the teacher find out the students spelling level, but if the same test is done more than twice it may not be as reliable. The child that was tested was a boy name Nicolas. Nicolas is in the third grade in Mr. Joness class. Nicolas should be in second grade, but he is from New York and the cut off is different there. This class was tested with the spelling screening in the beginning of the year in order to determine their starting point. After the starting point was determined they were tested on their level. I think retested Nicolas at his level that he has been working at. Nicolas was tested on the rug with a classmate, Sainthavi who was at the same level. They were tested during their reading period instead of doing a project on the computers. Although the other students in the class were supposed to be quietly

working, it did get noisy at times during the spelling inventory. Throughout the test, Nicolas seemed eager to show us his spelling words and showed confidence. Giving the spelling inventory requires a few guidelines that need to be considered. Before administering the test the teacher should briefly look over the test so that they are familiar with it. The teacher should also make sure that there are little to no distractions. The student(s) should feel relaxed and not worried about taking this spelling test. The words should not be posted around the room or in view of the student taking the test. While giving the test, the teacher needs to make sure that s/he speaks clearly and distinctly when reading the words. For each word the number of the question should be stated, then the word, the sentence giving, and the word again. The students should be given enough time to write down their responses and should be encouraged to write what they think it may be. After considering the guidelines, take the student who is being tested to a relaxed environment, in this case the student was taken to the rug. The student was given a clipboard, pencil, and the blank spelling inventory sheet. Before starting the student was instructed to put their name and date on the top of the page. It was explained to the student that he was going to be tested in order to help the Rider teachers learn how to administer the test. Nicolas was given the test for stage WW (Within-Word Pattern) because this is where he was placed after taking a spelling screening at the beginning of the year. By starting here it will be interesting to see if the student has progressed over the past seven months of school. Mr. Jones sat and watched as I administered the test. I said, Number one is patch, the pirate wore a patch on his eye, patch. Nicolas then wrote down his interpretation of the spelling. This continued until the twenty-fifth word paint, which was the last word. Next, we had to score the DSAs, Mr. Jones helped with the first test. First, all of the words are checked for correctness. The score out of 25 is written down for how many words are correct. Then, for all the words that are correct, they get a 2 put next to them on the right. This means that the word is correctly spelled. If the student gets a 1 this means that the underlined feature is accurately

represented, but the entire word is not correct. For example, for the word patch the tch was underlined, as long as the student had the tch in the spelling they would get a 1. If the target feature was incorrect then the student would receive a 0 for that word. Any question that got a 0 is not used in the final score at the bottom. Each different feature belongs under a category which is labeled with a letter. The letters are listed next to each question and they are looked at when the scores at the bottom are done. For this particular test the categories are, F:Long Vowels(Vce), G:R-controlled Vowels, H:Other Common Long Vowels, I:Complex Consonants, and J:Abstract Vowels. Under the total score each letter is listed and the scores are placed there. If the student scored a 1 or 2 it is counted below. Each category has 5 words so the score is out of 5. If the student scores a total score of a 22 or higher they can move up to the next levels test and see how they are placed. If the student scores between 12 and 21 that is the stage they should be working at. The scores for each category and the final score for the stage are placed onto a class record in order for Mr. Jones to see where they are at. Also, by seeing which category the student is struggling it will help the teacher know exactly what to focus on. After the scoring was done, I tested Nicolas at the next level SJ: Syllable Juncture. I administered the test just like before saying the question, the word, the sentence, and the word again. I then scored the test on my own this time. I found the total score and wrote it down. Then, I determined the scores for each word 0-2. After this was determined I wrote down the score out of five for each category in the stage. Nicolas improved a lot from his test in September to his test now in March. In September Nicolas scored a sixteen out of twenty-five, and had trouble in other common long vowels and complex consonants. This time he scored a twenty-one out of twenty-five, this is still in his stage of development but he did much better. He also improved in each category. He scored a four in R-controlled vowels, other common long vowels, and complex consonants. He also scored a five in long vowels (vce) and abstract vowels. This shows a lot of improvement in Nicolass spelling since September which is why the

next test was given. Even thought Nicolass stage of development is still in the with-in word pattern stage he was able to be tested in syllable juncture. On this test he did not do as well, he scored a sixteen out of twenty-five. He scored a two in r-controlled vowels (stressed syllable), a three in doubling/e-drop with ed & ing, other syllable juncture doubling and unstressed syllables/vowel patters, and a five in long vowel pattern (stressed syllable). This shows that Nicolas needs to work on most of the categories in the syllable juncture stage. In order to help Nicolas to continue to succeed in his spelling I would place him in a group which students who are at a similar level. For now, I would keep Nicolas at the With-in Word Stage until he scores about a 22. I would do this so that he would not have to struggle to keep up at a higher stage. Nicolas would be grouped with other students who are within his stage. These students may all have different scores in each category, but it is still helpful for each student to get a review on the feature. In order to help Nicolas succeed, I would start to review a feature from the previous stage to make him feel confident and comfortable with spelling. Then, I would begin to review the features in his stage. I would use different strategies to help Nicolas master the features such as, using charts to see the differences in words, using the dictionary to help look at how the words are written out (they are normally written out by their feature), and even having the kids do games in order to get comfortable with the words. Once it is clear that the students are solid in that feature I will retest the student. If the student scores about a 21 I will move him up a level and begin the process again, starting by reviewing a previous feature. It will take time for the students to develop the skills to understand the feature, but with practice and reviews I am sure that Nicolas will succeed.