Hey there, fellow Wilson teacher! If you’re like me, you completed the Level 1 certification program with a one-to-one student, but then your school expected you to begin using what you learned to work with small groups.
Wilson offers a three-day course that focuses on small-group instruction but there are many reasons why this course may not be a viable option for educators. Until we can all find a way to take the course, we can share ideas and strategies!
In this post, I will share six strategies that I use during Part 4: Wordlist Reading charts and Part 5: Sentence Reading with my Wilson reading groups. These strategies keep my students engaged in their learning and also allow me the time I need to complete progress monitoring with their word list charts. I hope you find these strategies helpful, too!
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My Wilson Reading System Journey
In short, it has been a long journey! 😅 In 2020, I began looking into options for reading certifications. As a certified special education teacher with a huge passion for structured literacy, I had no certifications to prove my knowledge. I knew that I wanted to transition from my role as a traditional special education teacher to something more specific to reading. I felt that a certification would help me take this next step.
The decision was made for me in 2021 when my (now former) district decided that all resource room teachers must complete Wilson Level 1 certification. I was already job-searching at that point because I was quite unhappy in my long-time district, but I entered my Level 1 practicum optimistically. Unfortunately, I had only made it partway through Step 2 with my practicum student when I found a job opportunity that felt worth the risk. I weighed the pros and cons and decided to make the leap!
I was unable to continue working with my original student due to distance and scheduling. Fortunately, my next employer allowed me to complete my practicum during the school day. I found a new practicum student and saw her daily for an hour. We made it through Steps 1 and 2 between January and June 2023. In September 2023, we began Step 3. In March 2024, we finished the practicum! 🎉
New Reading Certifications
The completion of Wilson’s Level 1 training earned me the title of Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner (W.D.P.). In July of 2023, I passed the Knowledge and Practice Examination for Effective Reading Instruction (KPEERI). I submitted both my test results and proof of my Wilson certification to the Center for Effective Reading Instruction (CERI). With this, I also earned a second title of Certified Structured Literacy Dyslexia Interventionist (C-SLDI). I finally feel like I have the acronyms needed to prove that I know what I’m talking about!
Using the Wilson Reading System with Groups
I do hope to take Wilson’s small group training (Advanced Strategies for MSL Group Instruction) in the future. In the meantime, I’m learning as I go! I love the strategies I’ve come up with for Parts 4 and 5 of my Wilson reading groups so I’m sharing those with you today.
Powerful Strategy: Scrambled Sentences
When I read The Writing Revolution, I learned about the many benefits of unscrambling sentences. I wrote a whole blog about scrambled sentences because I love the activity so much, but here are the four main benefits, according to the authors of The Writing Revolution:
- It helps students understand the concept of a complete sentence.
- It helps students improve their knowledge of syntax (word order).
- It helps students successfully incorporate capitals and punctuation.
- If you incorporate content area material, it provides another opportunity to deepen their understanding of that topic, as well.
I have a fifth benefit for you! When you use sentences aligned with your phonics sequence, your students get all the benefits listed above, plus the opportunity to work with decodable text, which helps develop fluency.
Scrambled Sentences During Part 4: Wordlist Reading Charts
Unscrambling decodable sentences is a fun way to keep kids engaged while you complete the 1:1 charting during Part 4: Wordlist Reading with your Wilson reading groups. First, introduce the activity to the group to set the expectations. Once your students are familiar with the task, you can assign it as independent work while you complete word list charting. My students requested this activity so often that I had to make more sentences!
You can make your own scrambled sentences but this can be pretty time-consuming. Lucky for you, I’ve already done all the work for you! I offer scrambled sentences that align with the Substeps. Choose between the no-prep worksheets or a hands-on option that requires a bit of cutting and organizing before your lesson.
Melissa W., an interventionist for students in grades 7-12, has given the scrambled sentences a permanent home in her Wilson materials, which she organizes by substep. Melissa reached out to say, ”Just thought I would share how I include your sentences in my Wilson materials. My students LOVE them!”
Scrambled Sentences During Part 5: Sentence Reading
Want to use scrambled sentences during Part 5: Sentence Reading? After students unscramble each sentence, you can follow the procedure of rereading for fluency, questioning for comprehension, questioning concepts (e.g. “Find a word with a suffix.”), phrased reading in scoops, and marking selected words.
If you want to reuse the cut-up scrambled sentences, be sure to have students mark the words with their fingers instead of writing on them. Another option is to arrange the words on mini whiteboards. Students can use dry erase markers to scoop and mark on the board without marking the words.
Read & Draw During Part 4: Wordlist Reading Charts
Read & Draw is a simple activity included in my substep-aligned decodable sentence resources. Each resource includes four different activities to help your students develop fluency at the sentence level. Read & Draw is a simple worksheet that includes five sentences and a space to bring one sentence to life with an illustration. My students love it when we use this activity during charting! I can always be sure everyone will be engaged on Read & Draw days.
A bonus is that artistic students get a confidence boost when they can showcase a personal strength. We know that our students with learning disabilities need to celebrate their strengths to maintain a strong self-image, and incorporating art into our reading is one way to do that.
Here’s another option I offer in my Wilson reading groups. Once charting is complete and we come back together as a group, each student presents their illustration. The other students have to guess which sentence it illustrates.
Read & Draw During Part 5: Sentence Reading
You can also incorporate the Part 5: Sentence Reading procedures with the Read & Draw worksheets. Students complete the Read & Draw activity while you complete word reading charts, and then you bring the group back together to complete the Part 5 procedure with the Read & Draw sentences. You can question for comprehension, question concepts (e.g. “Find a welded sound.”), practice phrased reading in scoops, and mark selected words.
Part 5 Preview During Part 4: Wordlist Reading Charts
This option is the quickest and easiest to implement because of how little prep is involved! All you need is a copy of the day’s sentences for each student. While you chart, simply assign the students to read, scoop, and mark a specified number of sentences from the page. An easy way to do this is by laying a plastic sleeve across the page in the Student Reader and securing it in place with a binder clip. Now students can write on the plastic sleeve with a dry erase marker! This is a great activity for a fluency lesson because you can be confident that your students will easily read and mark the sentences independently. That being said, it will be super easy to make corrections because they used dry erase markers!
You’ll learn by trial and error how many sentences to assign to each group of students. Sometimes I ask the students to read, scoop, and mark all ten sentences. Sometimes I draw a line after the fifth sentence and ask them to focus only on the first five.
Boost Phonemic Awareness Skills with Paws and Spell
Some people mistakenly believe that the Wilson Reading System lacks a phonemic awareness component. While it doesn’t have an auditory-only phonemic awareness aspect, this doesn’t mean it’s missing anything! Students actively develop phonemic awareness skills in each lesson by blending and segmenting sounds. (Remember, phonemic awareness activities are more effective when we include letters!) That being said, some students need additional support in phonemic awareness, so incorporating word chains can be beneficial for everyone.
Paws and Spell is an online word-chaining game. Students listen to an audio cue and then drag letter tiles to change one letter at a time to create new words. While the Paws and Spell levels are not designed to align with Wilson’s scope and sequence, your students in Steps 1 and 2 can easily complete most of the levels.
Paws and Spell During Part 4: Wordlist Reading
So where does Paws and Spell fit into a Wilson lesson? If you have Chromebooks in your classroom, students can complete a couple of word chains while they wait for you to finish charting. All they need to do is click on the bookmark you’ve saved in their browser and enter your username on the Student Login page. They’ll love it so much that they ask for more time to play!
Paws and Spell for Homework or Between Tutoring Sessions
Many Wilson teachers and parents are looking for activities students can complete at home to support continued progress. Why not add Paws and Spell to your list of activities?
Multiple researchers agree that short daily practice sessions for phonemic awareness skills (two to ten minutes per day of direct instruction, depending on which source you consult) have a positive impact. You can assign your students to complete 2-3 Paws and Spell word chains on days when you do not meet with them.
And while we’re talking about homework, Read & Draw and scrambled sentences can also be sent home for extra practice!
Which strategy will you try first?
So, there you have it – six simple yet effective ways to ensure your Wilson reading groups are both engaging and enjoyable for your students. Remember, engaged and happy students are not only more receptive to learning but also create a more positive and dynamic classroom environment. So, dive in, experiment, and adapt these techniques to suit your students’ needs!
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Source: Hochman, J. C.; Wexler, N. (2017). The Writing Revolution: A Guide to advancing thinking through writing in all subjects and grades. Jossey-Bass.
This post and the products linked within it are independent products and are not affiliated with, nor have they been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Wilson Language Training Corporation. WILSON®, Wilson Reading System®, Fundations®, Just Words®, and Wilson Fluency® are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of the Wilson Language Training Corporation.
