Should Word Study Be Digital? The Pros and Cons of Digital Word Study Activities
Before remote learning even became a thing, I pondered the benefits (and mostly risks) of having students work on word study and spelling assignments in a digital, screen-based format like Google Slides and Google Classroom. I struggled with the impact of students not writing down words as they learned about the English language and how to spell. Because so many of us find ourselves transitioning our lessons and teaching resources to digital environments these days, I find myself pondering this topic again. I wanted to share some of the benefits and challenges of using digital resources for word study, especially resources like word study notebooks.
I first started thinking about the appropriateness of digital word study activities when a teacher reached out and asked if I would create Google Slides versions of my popular Words Their Way Word Study Notebook resources. This was a few years ago, and I really did not want to make them digital (I may have stomped my feet a bit!). However, her school was a 1 to 1 laptop school, so I decided that if she felt my resources would be beneficial for her teaching situation, I would oblige.
Years later, we find ourselves responding to COVID-19 and turning all things digital—and maybe you’re struggling with giving yourself permission to do word study digitally! Well, let’s cut the teacher guilt 😂 and give our students the best that we can AT THIS TIME with the circumstances we have.
POTENTIAL BENEFITS OF USING GOOGLE CLASSROOM FOR WORD STUDY
As many of us are struggling to find valuable ways to teach certain subjects virtually, you may be surprised to see all the benefits of going digital for word study. Whether you find yourself in a remote learning situation where you have no choice but to use digital resources or an in-person situation where you can choose to have students use digital resources, I’ve found quite a few benefits to using Google Slides for my word study lessons.
Google Classroom is free and easy to set up. Many of us are now very familiar with Google Classroom. It’s free, easy to set up, and intuitive for both teachers and students. Teachers can assign work and grade it remotely and students can submit assignments remotely, which can certainly come in handy even sans pandemic.
Manage Multiple Classrooms/Groups and Share Students. Google Classroom allows teachers to easily move back and forth among multiple classes and groups of students. Teachers can invite other teachers to their Google Classrooms if they are team-teaching or analyzing word study data during Professional Learning Community meetings.
Sometimes only a few students fall into a given word study level. In these cases, I try to team up with one of my co-workers in a similar situation so we can create an adequate small group. Having access to our shared students’ word study notebook assignments makes it so much easier to plan for small groups and check in on our “homeroom” students.
Differentiate the assignments you send students! With digital activities, you can more easily differentiate assignments based on student needs and a base-line assessment. How many times have you pulled your word study small group only to realize that you are short on copies because you forgot to adjust for students that moved to a different group? With Google Classroom, adjustments can be made with the click of a button and assignments are immediately available for students. Not to mention, with paperless assignments, the levels of differentiation across the classroom may be less obvious to students.
I love being able to meet with a small word study group, whether in person or virtually, and having the ability to assign and adjust their independent activities based on our meeting. Even within a small group, we know we may need to differentiate more strategically in order for our students to be successful. For example, I may assign the “making words plural” activities in the Within Word Patterns Digital Notebook to a few students because they are still struggling with the concept from a previous week, while other students can work on the contractions section to reinforce the concept that I’ve just taught.
Time saving and Paperless! Imagine…no more walking to the copier and waiting! Using screen-based resources for word study can be a huge time and paper saver. And you can easily re-use assignments from previous years with new groups of students.
You can create assignments and schedule them to be assigned in the future, allowing you to batch out assignments and get ahead! 👏👏 If plans change or students need to be shifted to a different word study group, simply log on and make the change in minutes (no wasted copies or planning time spent).
Potential use of multi-media and other websites. Using digital interfaces such as Google Classroom for word study gives students opportunities to make meaningful connections with vocabulary and words through multimedia. In addition to doing sorts by hand and writing their words on paper, assigning digital sorts where students have to move words into specific categories or self-checking games where they receive immediate feedback can add a new level to the word study experience.
Opportunity to enhance school to home connection. So much of the word study work my students do can only be witnessed in the moment (think: small group lessons and discussions, sorting words into specific categories, playing games to help drive the particular word study pattern home, etc.) AND their work samples reside in the classroom. Parents may only see the results of our word study work through the occasional spelling assessment that gets sent home.
Incorporating digital word study notebook activities that correlate with students’ word study level provides a great opportunity for parents to see some of the work and thinking students do with words. I have had so many parents struggle to understand the shift from strictly memorizing spelling words to exploring and learning about word parts and patterns. Having some digital word study assignments, whether it’s classwork or homework that parents have access to, can help shed light on how students are learning word study skills and concepts.
POTENTIAL CHALLENGES OF USING GOOGLE CLASSROOM FOR WORD STUDY
The argument can certainly be made for traditional paper and pencil word study activities with students.
Internet Access Issues. Anytime technology is involved, access to the internet and devices can be a major deterrent. Internet access can be an obstacle for districts with slow or limited WiFi and for students who do not have access to the Internet or a computer at home. We’ve all experienced how frustrating it is when the internet is “down”, so a quick paper and pencil back up plan is always a good idea to have in your back pocket. (Fortunately, with both versions, you’ll be able to print what you need in a pinch!)
If you are using Google Classroom for word study in school, limited devices could also be an issue. However, if you have enough computers for one or two of your word study groups at a time (about a fourth or fifth of your class), then you’d be able to follow a staggered word study schedule to spread out computer access.
Grading in Google Classroom. It’s important to take into consideration that grading is only available on a 100-point scale with Google Classroom, which could be a challenge for standards-based grading. Personally, I recommend grading most word study assignments for completion—not correction. (Mainly because it can be a real headache for you if you expect every word to be spelled perfectly AND have to figure out a point scale for every assignment. 2, 3, 4 or a check system works well for these activities!) If you are a standards-based school, determine how you will bridge that gap with parents, students, and your own grade book.
Are digital word study activities research-based, brain-based best practice? This is the biggest concern I’ve grappled with when considering digital word study activities. The importance of manipulating letters and words by hand and with paper and a pencil cannot be ignored. An interesting study conducted at Indiana University “reported that when children write by hand, three areas of the brain are activated—the left fusiform gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the posterior parietal cortex. These are the same areas that are set in motion when adults read and write. Kids who typed or just traced letters didn’t show any activation in these areas.” (see Why Schools Should Keep Handwriting Even if Typing is More Useful if you want to learn more!)
Scientists also refer to the importance of “the body memory effect” in helping students recognize and recall letters and words as they are learning them. Researchers argue that you don’t get “the body memory effect” when you type or touch and drag letters to form words on the computer. This article highlights a study done with 76 children, ranging from the ages of 3 to 5 years old, at the cognitive neuroscience laboratory at Aix-Marseille University. The results showed that “the group that learned to write letters by hand were better at recognizing letters than the group that learned to type them on a computer.” When researchers repeated the experiment with adults, teaching them Bengali or Tamil characters, they found results matched those with children.
SO, WHAT’S A TEACHER TO DO?
Now that you have some food for thought, what’s a teacher to do?! Well, benefit from the best of both worlds, of course!
1) While incorporating digital word study activities can be beneficial, I also recommend assigning traditional word study activities regularly—activities that involve paper and pencil, writing words down, sorting words into meaningful categories, and spelling words on paper as they are read aloud. Even if you are currently teaching in a virtual setting, consider how you can include the tactile and handwritten assignments along with digital activities.
2) Consider the age and developmental levels of your students. Written assignments may allow students who are just learning to spell to make growth more quickly, while digital assignments may be perfect for students at the higher levels of word study who are already adept spellers. Use this as an opportunity to differentiate and modify the way students engage with their assignments!
I love the flexibility of being able to incorporate both paper-based + digital word study notebooks. I’ve created word study activities that give students more structure as they build a deeper understanding of words and spelling patterns. For a number of the Words Their Way word lists, I’ve also included extension activities. While the activity sheets were originally designed for independent exploration, students often need support in learning how to complete the activity pages AND they provide an excellent guide for your small group lessons. I like using a gradual-release approach to support students and give them more independence as they become more comfortable with how to study words and discover spelling generalizations.
TRY DIGITAL AND PRINTABLE WORD STUDY NOTEBOOKS FOR FREE!
I don’t want to convince you either way in this word study debate, but would love for you to check out the word study notebook resources and see for yourself how they might benefit your students! You can get sample activities for Within Word Pattern, Syllables and Affixes, and Derivational Relations in printable and digital formats to check the activities out more closely!
Within the activities students may be asked to…
In the Within Word Pattern Spellers activities, students may be asked to identify short- and long- vowel sounds, create words given a beginning sound or blend + an ending (onsets + rimes), choose the correct beginning letters, vowels, or rime to complete a word, write "silly sentences" to apply the meanings of homophones, create contractions, make words plural, and more!
In the Syllables and Affixes Spellers activities, students may be asked to describe spelling and sound changes when suffixes are applied, derive word meanings from prefixes and base words, identify parts of speech, describe how long vowel sounds are formed, brainstorm words that contain a given word part, add correct endings, choose correct blends, apply the meanings of homophones and homographs, and more!
In the Derivational Relations Spellers activities, students may be asked to derive word and prefix meanings from prefixes and base words, generate words by adding suffixes, brainstorm words that contain a given word part, describe spelling and sound changes when suffixes are applied, identify parts of speech, write "silly sentences" with different versions of a base word, research the etymology of Greek and Latin word parts, and more!
CHECK YOUR WORDS THEIR WAY ALIGNMENT
If you would like to cross-check the Words Their Way word study books that you have with the editions that my word study resources are aligned to, you can take a look at the Words Their Way 2nd Edition word sort books and the 3rd Edition word sort books. (Note: These links are affiliate links to the word study resources that I recommend. This means that I participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program that allows sites to earn advertising fees by linking to amazon.com. Read my full disclosure here.)
SHOP THE TIME-SAVING ACTIVITIES IN THIS BLOG POST:
Go beyond traditional spelling activities and scaffold students into deeper analysis of "word-studying" concepts with these word study notebook activities.
The print and digital versions of the Word Study Notebooks for Within Word Pattern, Syllables and Affixes, and Derivational Relations Spellers can now be purchased as a 2-in-1, meaning you get both the paper-based activity notebooks and the digital versions as a free upgrade!
The activities included can be used in small group lessons with the teacher or used for independent exploration and reinforcement of the spelling and word study concepts embedded in the WTW word study lists. The printable and digital activities are perfect for a gradual release model where you introduce the activity, allow students to work in partners, then transition students to completing the sheets independently.
Experience the transformation other teachers are seeing in their word study routines!
"Wow are these helpful! I love that this gives my kids a structured activity that actually pushes their thinking about words. This has changed my instruction and made it possible for me to actually teach Words Their Way with fidelity and success." 🙏🏼🤲🏼
“The ability to slow down and intentionally (and carefully) work on their word study has been instrumental in students' growth!"
“This resource is so helpful for working remotely. At first, I had my students doing these at home but found that it wasn't working as well as in class with me so I decided to have them work on the pages for their sort after they've taken their test." 🥰 > > > I LOVE this modification!
I saw these changes first-hand when I started implementing the word study notebooks along with our word searches and word sort routines!
