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Abstract

Spelling instruction is often overlooked by many teachers during reading and language arts. The purpose of this study was to implement a manageable differentiated word study instruction program, drawn from the Words Their Way (WTW) program, to determine how it affected students’ spelling accuracy and how the participants perceived its effect on students’ daily journal writing time in a fourth-grade self-contained classroom. Students were placed into small groups based on their spelling pre-test scores. Data was collected through field notes, student and teacher interviews, a pre- and post-test, and a survey. Qualitative data was analyzed using the constant comparative method, and quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Four major themes emerged including benefits and drawbacks of the WTW program, WTW program’s perceived impact on students’ journal writing, and WTW program helping improve students’ spelling accuracy. The researcher also found that most of the participants showed growth on the post-assessment.

Author Biography

Sara Broughton graduated with her M.Ed. in Teaching in Learning from Abilene Christian University and her B.S. in Elementary Education from ACU. She is now a third-grade teacher in Rockwall ISD.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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