More information by Ms Villis:
I created this site for my year 3 class in order for students and parents to have access to our spelling program at any time. This program is based on research related to student’s long term memory and spelling. It is not simply
about students learning 20 or more words in order to pass a spelling test!
As an adult, what would you say if you were asked to learn between 20 and 30 mobile numbers per week? Would you succeed? If you could, what do you think your chances would be of remembering those 20 to 30 numbers in a months time? This is what some spelling programs are asking our students to do. Furthermore, we all know that students learn at different rates. One student might not know any of the words and will find the task extremely challenging and
possibly daunting, whilst another student might already know all of the words, so what would they be learning?
This program is different because there isn’t a prescribed set of words for the whole class. Students are offered a
variety of words to learn and have more control in regards to their own learning. I have also included video tutorials (using SMART Notebook software) which contain words from the spelling lists, images, video, sound and or 3D content to support student's visual connection with word meaning. I decided to use a muli-media approach because current research has found that students are better at “applying recently learned concepts after receiving multimedia rather than only visual instruction” (Valsta & Rydland, 2010, p.25).
The inclusion of 3D content is a new introduction to my spelling program. Currently, conventional classrooms use two-dimensional (2D) images as pedagogical tools for teaching content and concepts. In order for students to conceptualise the content/concept in the ‘real world’ context, they need to mentally develop a three-dimensional (3D) visual representation. However, interpretation of the 2D image by students varies, depending on their educational background and previous practical experiences (Irizarry & Meadati,2009). 3D content eliminates the need for students to independently develop this 3D visual representation. Furthermore, 3D visualisations can act as a “substitute to direct experience by offering highly realistic impressions of real-world objects and events, which might otherwise be too small, too large, too fast, too far away, or too dangerous to observe in reality” (Scheiter, Wiebe & Holsanova, 2009, p.75).
As a teacher, this spelling program is challenging because every student has their own set of spelling words, but isn't it a time for change? As Bear Grylls said, “Change is scary and often uncomfortable, but life begins outside our comfort zone, so learn to embrace it and get used to it”.
about students learning 20 or more words in order to pass a spelling test!
As an adult, what would you say if you were asked to learn between 20 and 30 mobile numbers per week? Would you succeed? If you could, what do you think your chances would be of remembering those 20 to 30 numbers in a months time? This is what some spelling programs are asking our students to do. Furthermore, we all know that students learn at different rates. One student might not know any of the words and will find the task extremely challenging and
possibly daunting, whilst another student might already know all of the words, so what would they be learning?
This program is different because there isn’t a prescribed set of words for the whole class. Students are offered a
variety of words to learn and have more control in regards to their own learning. I have also included video tutorials (using SMART Notebook software) which contain words from the spelling lists, images, video, sound and or 3D content to support student's visual connection with word meaning. I decided to use a muli-media approach because current research has found that students are better at “applying recently learned concepts after receiving multimedia rather than only visual instruction” (Valsta & Rydland, 2010, p.25).
The inclusion of 3D content is a new introduction to my spelling program. Currently, conventional classrooms use two-dimensional (2D) images as pedagogical tools for teaching content and concepts. In order for students to conceptualise the content/concept in the ‘real world’ context, they need to mentally develop a three-dimensional (3D) visual representation. However, interpretation of the 2D image by students varies, depending on their educational background and previous practical experiences (Irizarry & Meadati,2009). 3D content eliminates the need for students to independently develop this 3D visual representation. Furthermore, 3D visualisations can act as a “substitute to direct experience by offering highly realistic impressions of real-world objects and events, which might otherwise be too small, too large, too fast, too far away, or too dangerous to observe in reality” (Scheiter, Wiebe & Holsanova, 2009, p.75).
As a teacher, this spelling program is challenging because every student has their own set of spelling words, but isn't it a time for change? As Bear Grylls said, “Change is scary and often uncomfortable, but life begins outside our comfort zone, so learn to embrace it and get used to it”.
This is what I really look like:
This site was created under the Creative Commons licence below. It is for educational purposes only. Please note, no profit is generated from any aspect of this site. For more free resources visit my free educational blog for teachers at Inter-tech Education.
Year 3 Spelling by Joanne Villis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported
License.
References:
Valstad, H., & Rydland, T. (2010) iPad as a Pedagogical Device, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, p. 1-93.
Scheiter, K., Wiebe, E., & Holsanova, J. (2009) Theoretical and Instructional Aspects of Learning with Visualisations, Cognitive Effects of Multimedia Learning, p.67-88. Retrieved from http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/theoretical-instructional-aspects-learning-visualizations/6606
License.
References:
Valstad, H., & Rydland, T. (2010) iPad as a Pedagogical Device, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, p. 1-93.
Scheiter, K., Wiebe, E., & Holsanova, J. (2009) Theoretical and Instructional Aspects of Learning with Visualisations, Cognitive Effects of Multimedia Learning, p.67-88. Retrieved from http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/theoretical-instructional-aspects-learning-visualizations/6606
