Saturday, September 18, 2010

Scratch-a-Word

Take one distractible elementary student with heightened touch sensitivity and one set of sight word cards. Add one creative teacher who discovered how to mix the two together to totally engage the student in word practice.

I really enjoy the time I spend subbing as a teacher’s assistant because I get to learn from experienced teachers. That is how I found out about scratch-a-word.  To play, put down 3 sight word cards and use your finger to write one of them on the student’s back. The student says the word and also reads the other two words. I don’t know who enjoyed the activity more, the student or me!

There is nothing earth-shattering about this technique. In fact, it would only benefit a small percentage of students in a limited number of ways. The important lesson is that the teacher looked at the strengths and weaknesses of the individual student and adapted her technique to take advantage of the strengths to meet the needs of the student.

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