Intro

Three experienced teachers show how to get even your most resistant students to become fascinated by words and sentences. They explain how to turn memory-draining spelling homework into an activity that enriches vocabulary, sight word mapping and provides a deep understanding of how words are constructed. If morphology and the English spelling system doesn't make sense to you and your students, they will by the end of the podcast. 

Mary Beth, Lisa and Skot explain how structured word inquiry, a method developed  by Peter Bowers, gets students deeply involved in investigations of a word's spelling, meaning and history. They describe how students with reading and behavior problems become fascinated by word investigations that significantly boosts their reading, spelling and comprehension abilities. 

Too many reading methods don't emphasize the importance of sentence writing and comprehension, which limits their students literacy abilities. Mary Beth, Lisa and Skot explain how sentence investigations excite students as much as word inquiry. Understanding how sentences are composed of phrases reveals its meaning. Drawing students' attention to the relationships between words and phrases significantly boost comprehension--and interest, too.

Skot Caldwell worked for more than 25 years in “high needs” public schools in Kingston, Ontario. After annually reinventing his “spelling” program and having found nothing really effective, he met Pete Bowers and joined him on a learning journey through Real Spelling and the development of Structured Word Inquiry. His students became “Word Scientists” happily investigating language. 

https://smallhumansthinkbig.wordpress.com/category/word-inquiry/ skotcaldwell@hotmail.com

 Lisa Barnett is a literacy-focused educator with over 30 years of experience in general and special education.  She is the founder and director of Empower Learning Center where she tutors privately, consults, and trains educators worldwide in English orthography. She is the author of Vocabulary & Morphology using Structured Word Inquiry. There is a wonderful For the love of Literacy Podcast about this very practical book. 

Links to Lisa & Katie’s book, SWI resources, dyslexia resources, blog about SWI & more. Lisa offers a few workshops, too. 

           LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/empowerlc 

           Website:  https://www.seethebeautyindyslexia.com/elc.html

           Blog:        https://barnettsbuzzingblog.edublogs.org/

           Email:      EmpowerLC.lisa@gmail.com 

Mary Beth Steven is a retired teacher whose teaching took a dramatic turn once she discovered Structured Word Inquiry. Mary Beth offers two online classes, Bringing Structured Word Inquiry into the Classroom and Getting a Grip on Grammar. Information can be found in the tabs at her blog, Mrs. Steven’s Classroom Blog (https://mbsteven.edublogs.org/ ).  She sells interactive books  for teaching grammar, SWI and a book of dramatic scripts to enhance teaching grammar and morphology in the classroom!

Mary Beth YouTube Channel with over 200 videos demonstrating what SWI and grammar teaching . (https://www.youtube.com/@MaryBethSteven)