This is an asynchronous class, all lessons are pre-recorded. If you would like to enroll, please contact me. I will request payment via PayPal. Upon receipt of payment I will send you a link via email to a Canva document that contains all the video lesson links as well as all the assignments for your learner to complete. As it is an 8-lesson course, I will provide teacher feedback and answer questions via email for 8 weeks from the enrollment date. I will keep the Canva document active for an additional 4 weeks before removing it. 

As you receive the full course content upon receipt of payment, refunds cannot be offered. 

This is an asynchronous class with pre-recorded lessons that learners can view at any time!

 If you are like most speakers of English, you’ve been taught to spell a word by “sounding it out.” But you probably also know that this strategy only works a small handful of times. Between silent letters, letters that can make more than one sound, and words that sound exactly the same but are spelled differently…..the number of obstacles in the way of “sounding out” words makes this strategy inefficient at best and frustrating at worst. If rote memorization of lists of spelling words, copying sentences, and applying spelling “rules” that have dozens of exceptions just isn't working for your learner, it may be time for a different approach.

  Most spelling programs leave students with serious misunderstandings about how spelling really works. This course will reveal that English spelling is actually highly ordered and logical, once you have unlocked some of its secrets. Students will learn to break words apart into bases, prefixes, and suffixes, and use those parts to make informed decisions about how to spell and understand what words mean. Students will learn to think like “word scientists,” making a hypothesis about spelling patterns, testing their theories, and discovering rules of spelling that actually work. 

 This class will boost not only their spelling skills, but expand their vocabulary as well. It’s an exploration of etymology and morphology that will transform the way they think about words and the way English spelling functions. Each class will begin with a lesson that will include information about the concept being presented and examples of what these ideas look like as applied to English spelling. Students will then have the chance to complete some practice words on their own with teacher guidance. Some homework may be assigned if we do not have time to complete practice work during class.  

Here is a breakdown of the topics that will be covered during the 8 Lessons:

• Lesson 1: A History of English and Why Spelling Matters
• Lesson 2: Morphemes, Graphemes and Phonemes
• Lesson 3: Word Families
• Lesson 4: Suffixing Conventions Part 1; silent e
• Lesson 5: Suffixing Conventions Part 2: doubling a final consonant
• Lesson 6: Suffixing Conventions Part 3: changing y to i
• Lesson 7: Different Types of Bases
• Lesson 8: Four Questions When Investigating a Word

Structured Word Inquiry is an excellent strategy for learners with dyslexia as it removes the need to guess at a spelling, memorize lists of rules or rely on visual memory. Students study words in in the context of their word families; those words with whom they share a common base and therefore connections in spelling and meaning. Rather than being taught "tips and tricks" that overload working memory, students are taught to analyze words and that spelling is a system of logic and order.