How to Develop Your Own Sequential Spelling Tests

by Don McCabe

Those who have tried Sequential Spelling know that the method works.  It's simple and it follows solid principles of learning.  However, there may be times in which the word family being presented has already been learned by your student or students or you may want to use your own sequence of word families to be learned.  

The Basic Sequential Technique

This technique is based on the concept that the natural way of learning is by making mistakes in which immediate self-correction takes place.  This is the way we learn to walk, talk, feed ourselves, and ride a bike.  Therefore, rather than having a teacher or tutor correct the test after it is given, we insist that each student correct each word AS the test is being given.

To make it easier for students to immediately apply (or transfer) what they learn from one word to the spelling of another, we present the words in word family sequences, which has been referred to by some educators as "vertical word processing."  For example:

To retain what they learned we present the different structural forms of the same word in following lessons.  Some educators call this "horizontal word processing."  for example:

Steps in Giving a Sequential Spelling Test

1. Give the word.  Use the word in a sentence.  Repeat the word.

2. Have students repeat the word and/or sentence.   This step may be eliminated when working with older students.

3. Have students attempt the spelling.  It is essential that each student makes an attempt.

4. Show the correct spelling by writing it on a dry erase board while calling out the word and the letters.

5. If a mistake has been made, the student erases his incorrect spelling and then writes the word correctly.

Students must never make a check mark!

PACE is essential:  The greatest music is boring if it is dragged out.  Speed and liveliness of presentation is vital.  Have FUN!

    Repeat Steps 1-5 for each word

Important:  Do NOT give the words to your students to study.  When students study words for a test and then miss them, they have only learned that they are dumb!  Students don't feel dumb if they miss a word they weren't given for study, but if they get one right that they know they didn't know the day before--Wow!  They know they have to have some "smarts" after all.

Determining which word families ("RIMES") to teach

1.  Use any controlled word list such as Individualized Spelling to test your students' ability to spell the ending sounds of words (rimes) by giving them the initial letters (onsets).  For example:

After you have found three word families (rimes) that need to be mastered, make out your list of words that belong to each word family.  If you happen to be using any of AVKO's diagnostic tests you will know on which page in AVKO's Patterns of English Spelling  that you can find all of the words already listed for you so that you can pick and choose just those you want to make sure your students master.  If you use other diagnostic tests, all you have to do is use the index of The Patterns of English Spelling to locate the page on which you can find all the words in the family you have selected.

When you look at all the words listed on the page, you may elect to skip some of them.  This book was written as a reference tool for teachers at all levels.  Hence, little pre-censoring was done.  If you don't have this handy reference tool, you can construct your own by simple trial and error.  Just try adding letters (onsets) in front of the ending (rime) and keep the real words that you want to use.

Let's suppose that you used the Dolch list instead of AVKO's "Suggested Order of Diagnosis and Remediation of SIMPLE Words that is found in Chapter 36 of The Teaching of Reading and Spelling: a Continuum from Kindergarten through College.  And let's further suppose that you wanted to work with the LONG A sound so you picked the words rain, chair, and cake which enough of your students couldn't spell to make it worth your while developing a special sequence.

Because not all words have -s, -ed, and -ing endings and because some have -y, -ly, -er, -est endings, etc., there will always be blanks to slip in the irregular demons (repeatedly!) as in the example above.  Notice that on Day 1 we only have the base words from the -ain family.  On Day 2 we give a review of the first day by using all the words except Spain in the -s form.  Note, that each base word generally is reviewed three times but in the -s, -ed, and -ing forms.  The number of times the family sound is reviewed is approximately forty times for even a rather small family or about four times for each word in the family.  On Day 5 we begin a new family, the -air family.  

Below are blanks that you can reproduce ad infinitum to provide yourself with sequencing patterns.  If you would rather not do your own sequencing, you can always use AVKO's Sequential Spelling for regular classroom use or AVKO's Sequential Spelling for Home School.

Note:  Tests can be varied in length from five to twenty-five words according to your students' needs, enthusiasm, and time available.

For variety, you may elect to mix up the endings so that the students will have to be alert and not just automatically add the -s or the -ed or the -ing as the case may be.  An example of that, is: