Must See Links



TEDxYouth Talk at The Nueva School (2019)

(Recommended as a an introduction to the ‘big picture’ of SWI)

Click HERE for this 18 min video of my talk at this TEDx event organized by students at The Nueva School near San Francisco that has done such seminal work with SWI. This video provides a brief overview to the theory and practice.


Click here for a video modeling ways to teach GPCs from the beginning of literacy instruction and a discussion of how this practice fits in the current literacy research on the crucial place of explicit instruction about grapheme-phoneme correspondences in structured word inquiry. This is a topic that is widely misunderstood and mischaracterized, especially by people who hear about SWI second hand. .

Click here fora video showing how we can provide students with more explicit instruction about grapheme-phoneme correspondences when we teach them in the context of morphological relatives with the help of matrices and the word sum.   

Click here for a video of Nueva pre-school teacher Carolee Fucigna as they create a morphological web on the base <rain>. See how straight froward it is to investigate morphological families with readers and non-readers. 

How can I start?

Click here for a post from Rebecca Loveless on “Word Bag Excitement” that offers teachers a sense of this excellent activity for studying word families modeled on Lyn Anderson’s work. This is a great reference for jumping in. Rebecca’s site has many more posts to explore too.






Click here for Mary Beth Steven’s brilliant recent post “Outer Beauty Attracts, but Inner Beauty Captivates.” This is a wonderful way to compare studying real “word families” compared to words that simply rhyme. Explore her whole blog!




Click here for an inspiring post, “Comprehending Spelling” from Sue Hegland’s excellent blog, “Learning About Spelling”. This is a short, accessible and eloquent case for why we should do the obvious -- teach our written word works.

 

Contact: Peter Bowers  PO Box 295 Wolfe Island, ON, Canada  K0H 2Y0

Phone: (613) 385-2084 

Email: peterbowers1@mac.com







































Copyright Susan and Peter Bowers 2008http://www.wordworkskingston.com/Site_46/WordWorks_Family_Update.html

Structured Word Inquiry:

(Scientific Word Investigation)

“Word Scientists” look for the deepest word structures that make sense of the greatest number of words.

Click HERE for background on SWI.

Marcia Henry on WordWorks:

“Pete & Sus Bowers are great ‘wordsters’ who provide teachers with an in-depth understanding of the English language.  Teachers can gain so much practical knowledge  from their teacher resource book, "Teaching How the Written Word Works" and their impressive and informative online WordWorks newsletter.  I'd love to attend one of their workshops!  Observing classrooms of teachers who have worked closely with WordWorks was a highlight of my visit to Kingston. Students were so involved and fascinated by investigating words. How fortunate they are to have wordsmiths like Sean Lonergan and Skot Caldwell as their teachers!”



Marcia Henry is past president of The International Dyslexia Association

and former director of the Center for Educational Research on Dyslexia at San Jose State University

 

sign + al → signal

re + sign → resign

de + sign + ate → designate

sign + ate/ + ure → signature

do + es → does

do + ne → done

do + ing → doing

go + es → goes

go + ne → gone

go + ing → going

Making sense of how words work by investigating morphology, etymology and phonology.

English base <sign> from Latin root signum

"mark, token, indication, symbol”


Applying the Principle of Backwards Design from UbD to Structured Word Inquiry

Click here for a WordWorks article on developing

enduring understandings of how the written word works.

"This article by Pete Bowers makes some interesting connections between UbD, Real Spelling and the development of critical thinking skills in students."

Bill and Ochan Powell - Education Across Frontiers

 

Resources for Spelling-Out and Writing-Out Word Structure with Word Sums

REVISED (May 25, 2018)

  1. BulletA free WW resource: “Spelling-Out Word Structure”

  2. Click here for information on spelling-out word sums including a free pdf guide for teachers who want to use this process for learning, instruction and assessment.

  3. BulletSpelling-Out Word Structure: Targeting Central Concepts, Assessment & Instruction

See a new article and video addressing these ideas all building on a practical lesson growing from a Grade 1 student’s question, “Why is their an <h> in school? You don’t hear it.”

Click here for a video of an on-line Skype session addressing this topic with Grade 2 teachers and an article addressing how this topic links to the UbD.

 

Tools for making matrices

Free trial versions of matrix making software for morphological analysis available for download

Word Microscope: Tutorial Video & User’s Guide

Click here for a “User’s Guide” for working with this computer tool including links to tutorial films, complementary resources and links to related research. 



Video introducing the new “Mini Matrix Maker”


Watch this video to see how teachers and students can easily create matrices from word sums on Mac or PC computers with Neil Ramsden’s “Mini Matrix Maker”.


 

About WordWorks

See an introduction to WordWorks and Structured Word Inquiry

(including videos) here

Key Links

  1. BulletRelated Websites

  2. Real Spelling Tool Box 2

  3. Real Spellers

  4. Beyond the Word 

  5. (Lyn Anderson, AUS)

  6. LEX (Gina Cooke)

  7. Rebecca Loveless

  8. Mary Beth Stevens

  9. Literacy Dr. (Jennifer Petrich)

  10. Language Insights

  11. Word Torque (Fiona Hamilton, Bangkok)

  12. Learning About Spelling (Sue Hegland)

  13. Sound Literacy

  14. WW on YouTube

<s> /s/

E.g., sign, signal, assign


<s> /z/

E.g., design, resign,

does, goes

Explore Lyn Anderson’s excellent blog with illustrations and resources about structured word inquiry for all ages at this link .

Lyn has been developing her understanding and practice in this area for over a decade.  Her lessons and ideas  for morphological instruction from the start are just exceptional.

Structured Word Inquiry at

The Nueva School











Click HERE to see the page on the Nueva School website describing how Structured Word Inquiry has transformed the instruction at this top US private school. It includes a video illustrating how this work is integrated across the grades.

WordWorks Literacy Centre

Spelling it like it is!

Nothing motivates like understanding

Some articles on SWI and the Research & Extensive Interview


Structured Word Inquiry (SWI): Literacy instruction that makes sense of English spelling for students of all ages and abilities (Bowers. P, in press)

Click HERE for a pre-print of this article that will appear in the Patoss Summer 2022 Bulletin, vol 35, no 1. I think this is the shortest, most accessible article I have explaining the orthographic conventions addressed by SWI, and the place of SWI with regard to the theory and research on literacy instruction.

A promising new tool for literacy instruction: The morphological matrix (Ng, Bowers, P.N. & Bowers J. B., 2022)

Click HERE for a new article that is the first to investigate the role of the matrix. We show empirical evidence that presenting words in a base-centric model (the matrix) is more effective for memory than presenting words organized around affixes.

Structured Word Inquiry (SWI) Teaches Grapheme-Phoneme Correspondences More Explicitly Than Phonics Does: An open letter to Jennifer Buckingham and the reading research community

Given some serious mischaracterizations and misunderstandings about SWI in peer-reviewed research, I recently published an article on PsyArXiv that you can download HERE.

See this new 15-min video I made to clarify the qualitative difference between the teaching of grapheme-phoneme correspondences in Phonics and SWI.

Interview on SWI with Education Podcast ‘Pedagogy Non-Grata”

I was invited to do an interview to discuss the theory, practice and research of SWI on this podcast. The host was new to SWI which provided a rich opportunity to respond to the kinds of questions novices to this work typically have.  See Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE.  I recommend that you follow the links to videos of the interview as it is much more effective to describe orthographic conventions while looking the linguistic tools we use in SWI. Part 2 is divided into two videos -- the last one emphasizes the research.

 

More WordWorks Resources






Revised <sign> Lesson in “Teaching How the Written Word Works”

I have posted a pdf at this link on Real Spellers with a revised <sign> lesson after learning that what I had presented as an <-ify> suffix can be analyzed further. That pdf shares the evidence that convinced me to make this change. I also use this learning experience to share a key feature about matrices and word sums.

Books printed after May 2013 already include the revised lesson. You know you have the revised version if you see on <ify> suffix on the <sign> lesson on page 8. Even if you have the revised version, I recommend you download this pdf to gain from the explanation that helped me understand why this revision was needed.

 

Free SWI Digital Drop In Sessions Monday’s 5pm EST

Click THIS LINK for details.

I began offering this free weekly session at the beginning of the COVID pandemic in an effort to ensure teachers and parents had a place to pose questions about SWI whether or not they could afford to attend more formal on-line courses.

The response has been so rewarding (and fun) that I’ve only missed a handful Mondays since the first session on March 23rd, 2020. I plan to continue indefinitely even once we are past the pandemic.

There is no sign up, just a regular date and time to join. Most weeks we simply address questions people bring. Some weeks we have a special guest, or planned investigation to share.  Every week has novices and experts who come to share their questions/experience, or just listen in.

Click THIIS LINK for a document reflecting on learning from the first session that is filled with links to free resources to build understanding of scientific word investigation.

SWI Courses 2024

Click HERE for a document describing the content of these courses.

The courses hosted by EduSpark are recorded with each session made available the day after the class and for a month after the course is over.

Email Pete <peterbowers1@mac.com> to inquire / hold your spot


Research Talk for the 8th Dyslexia Training Institute (DTI) Virtual Conference:

February 26 - March 17.

Click HERE for registration and information. I’m pleased to present on SWI in the research and how more and more research theory is catching up to SWI practice and our “morphology as a binding agent” theory (Bowers & Kirby, 2010; Kirby &
Bowers, 2017).

Full-Day In-Person SWI Workshop with Pete at Bath Spa University, UK (Hosted by PATOSS) April 13

“Structured Word Inquiry: Understanding and Teaching How the Written Word Works (for all ages and abilities)

Click HERE to register and for more information on this opportunity. 

Click HERE for a poster with more information and links to free resources. Share widely!


2-Hour & Recorded Webinar hosted by Reading with TLC:

Showing Pre-K - Grade 2 Students how Written Words Really Work

May 30 7-9pm EST

This is my second presentation for this group that has hosted speakers like Maryanne Wolf. I’m pleased to address early SWI specifically in this talk.

Click HERE to register.

Click HERE for a flyer to share with links to related resources.


Save the Date for SWI Summer Courses!

Nueva Summer SWI Institute with Pete Bowers & Rebecca Loveless (on-line)

June 17-21

Three options: 

  1. Introduction: Mon-Wed

  2. Advanced: Wed-Fri

  3. Full course in SWI: Mon-Fri 9 (For novices or experts)

Click HERE  for detailed information about the course.

Click HERE to register.

July 23-26: Wolfe Island Residential SWI Summer Course

Click HERE for a flyer with a detailed description of the course and fees.

Email <peterbowers1@mac.com> to inquire/register.

NOTE: The hotel is blocking off room bookings for us until April 15. If you are seriously considering this workshop, inquire soon. Options for best accommodations run out before room in the course.

We are excited to be able to host this course at recently renovated Hotel Wolfe Island again. All the feedback from participants was super positive not only about the course, but the food, accommodation and staff at the Hotel. Anyone aiming to join with a group of 2 or 3, I recommend booking early as the best rooms are more like apartments with separate rooms with a shared space, and when shared they are the best cost as well. Here is a message from a participant from last year:



I'm still thinking about my experience on Wolfe Island--it was unparalleled! Pete is a terrific teacher and host, and the hotel was great. Our cohort spent just about all of our time together--mostly learning and talking about words, but also walking on the island, hanging out at the lakeside restaurant listening to live music, and seeing some of the local sites. I learned a lot, and came away with new friends. A few of us are still meeting regularly to talk about books, research, and all things words. It's wonderful to gain new professional colleagues! If you can work it out, I say GO!


Video of interview on “Spelling-Out Orthography”

                                         

For more on this key practice in SWI lick HERE for a recent video in which Shawna Pope-Jefferson interviews me on “Spelling-Out Orthography.”

This is an in-depth hour-long talk that includes discussing videos of young students using this process. To jump directly to that part of the video, click here.

See my webpage with many resources and videos on this topic HERE.

Click the image at left to see one of the videos you can find on that page with students and teachers using this practice of “spelling-out” for reading, spelling, and vocabulary learning.  


     

  1. Click THIS LINK for details about my on-line and in-person PD, fees etc. 

  2. Click THIS LINK for descriptions of all my on-line courses.


WordWorks Newsletter  #111: Ripples of Orthographic Learning

Courtesy of Michel Rameau


I think of this as a particularly important newsletter for myself and the SWI community. As usual, it has many links to resources for people getting started.

It links to this new piece “Getting a Handle on the Scientific Inquiry in SWI” that I composed using a response to a rich question from a participant in one of my courses. I think this is a useful piece for many getting started with SWI. It also includes an “afterword” addressing links between this content and the research.

The most important part for me, however, is pointing to a new tribute I’ve written for Real Spelling and its author, Michel Rameau, who passed away last year.

Not everyone working with SWI are aware of the centrality of Michel’s work for SWI, or the amazing resources we still get to learn from. Aside from the personal story, this piece points to many free resources to build your orthographic learning. 


Explore my archive of WordWorks Newsletters and Special Publications at THIS LINK.

Here are a couple of recent special publications about learning in my courses with many orthographic concepts and resources to support your learning.

Click HERE for a story about frustrated 9-year old dyslexic who finally gets traction with English spelling when his tutor changes gears to great effect an they go on the hunt for suffixes.

Click HERE for a story about A 7-year old dyslexic and his tutor new to SWI are determined to make sense of English spelling

Click HERE for my most recent special publication of a teacher new to SWI having great success with her pull-out group.