Editors' Note: When this article was posted in Reading Online in September 1999, readers were invited to comment on it through a bulletin board feature that was discontinued when the journal was redesigned in July 2000. Following are the comments posted to that bulletin board.

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Post 1

Author: Joanna_Wood
Date: 10-29-1999 19:41

I really like Timothy Rasinski's Making and Writing Words Using Letter Patterns (MWW-LP) activity as a way of instructing phonics and word-recognition. Students are not just given words than contain the same letters and letter patterns; they physically construct the words as a part of this activity. Much of the current literature argues for teaching that adheres to a constructivist approach to learning, so I can not help but think that if the students discover words on their own, based on clues given by the teacher, they are more likely to learn and remember the correct spelling and meaning of the words than they would by simply copying the words off the blackboard. Rasinski's suggestion for having student's planning the MWW-LP lessons once they have become familiar with the routine takes things one step further. Not only are the students actively involved in discovering words but they are able to really take ownership for their learning and if children are responsible for aspects of their learning and feel they are making a valuable contribution they are more open to learning. I do wonder, thought, how the students would be able to plan lessons for a MWW-LP activity as the purpose of the activity is to introduce unfamiliar words. As Rasinski says, this planning requires a strong understanding of "how words work", but I am unable to grasp how students can design a lesson of this sort without having prior exposure to and knowledge of the MWW-LP words and transfer words. I also like Rasinski's ideas for extension activities, using the words cards. When children use the words in different ways over a number of days they are going to become more familiar with them and their retention will be better. The tactile nature of these activities adds an element that many traditional phonics workbooks and weekly spelling tests do not have. Rasinski's MWW-LP activities address three of the four cueing systems. The phonological, syntactic, and semantic systems are utilized but the pragmatic system is not. Rasinski comments that the MWW-LP activities can be one part of a reading program that balances word study and word play activities with meaningful, authentic activities. I can't help but wonder if there is a way to make this particular activity more authentic for the students. Rasinski says that students should be encouraged to use the less familiar words from the MWW-LP in their speech and their writing but there is no underlying theme connecting the words so the chances of students being able to use all the unfamiliar words are slim. Can the words somehow be put into context for students so they become more meaningful? I can think of non-authentic activities such as creating sentences that contain one or two of the words or writing stories that contain all (or most) of the words, but I'm stuck for ideas of using the words in an authentic way that will help the students gain an understanding of their meaning in a context beyond the MWW-LP activities.

Post 2

Author: Kirstin_Takashiba
Date: 11-10-1999 12:16

RESPONSE Timothy Rasinski has explored and identified important language features in his article, "Making and Writing Words Using Letter Patterns." To summarize, according to Rasinski, "Šstudents use individual letters to think about and make words that conform to their teacher's pronunciation and other semantic, syntactic, and structural cues." I would like to briefly explore the various ways a teacher can incorporate and integrate this activity in the classroom.

Rasinski notes that there are different ways in which this activity can be extended, for example, sorting the words according to meaning, families, and number of syllables. I would like to explore a further extension to emphasize the important discovery of these words. Students can choose appropriate words that they formed to construct a theme for a lesson on poetry. Students would use these words to create a poem. The words would then have a different purpose for the students. Other ways to use these words would be to take a favourite word chosen from each of the students and to create a humerous story that relates to their life. This may be a shared writing task where each student will have a chance to write on the story wall. This will give the students a chance to further explore onsets, rimes, prefixes, suffixes, and inflected endings in a group setting. For example, as words are written on the story wall, the teacher may ask the students to identify new words that could be created by looking at the rime. The concepts are continuously being reinforced.

I wonder how Rasinski would cater to different learning styles. This activity appears to be a lesson that would benefit all learning styles because there is flexibility in terms of how it is set up. Rasinski states that this is a fast paced activity. By no means am I insinuating that this is an exclusive activity, I am only wondering, as a pre-service teacher, how a teacher uses this activity with diverse learning paces. For those students who struggle with writing, would two different work sheets be created (one for those students who need the exercise simplified and one for students who need further challenge) or would students be expected to complete the exercise to their full potential? Group or paired work may be a solution to this question with careful monitoring to insure that equal learning between individuals is taking place.

Post 3

Author: Liz_Gates
Date: 11-10-1999 13:29

Timothy Rasinski's article was informative and practical. The word-recognition program is an excellent way to facilitate progress in reading, spelling and writing in the classroom.

For students, it is both challenging and fun. I feel that they would enjoy it because it demands a great deal of critical thinking, it has game-like qualities, it is engaging, and while participating students would learn a great deal.

I was slightly unclear on Rasinski's statement that, "As students become familiar with the MWW-LP routine they can develop their own lesson plans and implement them with classmates" - I am not sure if he means that students can plan activities while studying a certain group of words, or whether he means that students could make up their own set of words and letter patterns. As it would be difficult for students to choose sets of letter patterns, I feel that having students plan some activities to practice the letter patterns and vocabulary would be very worthwhile. As a strong believer in a more democratic classroom, this idea provides students with a certain amount of freedom to choose the activities that they enjoy the most and the ones that they learn the most from.

I would use this as a bi-weekly activity to introduce a new set of letter patterns/vocabulary in Language Arts/English. After the two week study of these words, including the worksheets Rasinski provided and additional activities, like using the new words in writing activities (a word wall would serve as a reminder to students of words that could possibly be incorporated into their work), I would assess their knowledge and evaluate the worth of the activity by assigning some sort of test or assignment.

It is invaluable for students to be able to recognize letter patterns/sounds/spellings in order to confidently put words together. By breaking words apart, students will learn more about prefixes, suffixes and letter patterns. I especially liked the idea of cutting the words apart to create word flash cards that can be studied and practiced in partners or in small groups. I believe that the activities that Rasinski introduced could be adjusted to meet the needs of many different age levels (e.g. basic phonics instruction for young children and introduction of prefixes and suffixes for older children). I look forward to trying the MWW-LP out in the classroom.

Post 4

Author: dale_carrothers
Date: 11-12-1999 18:45

Making and Writing Words Using Letter Patterns

In this article, Mr. Rasinski discusses the use of letter patterns to decode unknown words, taking this a step further to the actual creation of words by means of the knowledge of key letter patterns. He acknowledges that the act of writing lends extra practice for the development of a "lasting memory" for spelling and word configuration. I am reminded of an example given at a recent literacy presentation by Dr. Marie Clay, where she highlighted a student's initial inability to decode a word within text, yet when asked to write the word, the student printed the first two letters, then recalled the word immediately. A definite connection is made between the lasting memory of writing and the reading of text.

The MWW-LP plan utilizes onsets and rimes, phonograms and other common patterns for the creation of words from a multisyllabic foundation word. Central to the success of this method is the inclusion of semantic, syntactic and structural clues that aid the students in word creation. The building process is quite unique; it eventually enables students to transfer their newly-acquired knowledge to new words by means of transfer words. The "game" atmosphere of this activity would tend to increase student interest and participation; extension activities are numerous, particularly for older students.

The article avails the reader with blank forms that can be downloaded for use by teachers. I think this program sounds very promising for use in intermediate classrooms, especially with low-level readers and intermediate ESL students.

Reply 4a

Author: Jenny Nielsen
Date: 11-15-1999 01:10

MWW-LP is a great interactive approach to developing students awareness and knowledge of the structure of words. Using more complicated structures such as constant clusters, onsets, prefixes, affixes, rimes and suffixes is a natural progression from Making and Writing Words and Making Words which use individual letters. Each students attention stays focused on the lesson by requiring them to write out their own forms. The range and diversity of clues that can be used by the teacher with this activity creates the opportunity to highlight and develop each of the many areas of language and word use (phonemic, semantic, syntactic, morphophonemic, and pragmatic). The extension activities suggested are an excellent means of reinforcing the dynamics of language while solidifying students' knowledge and understanding of the specific words used for the activity. Drawing on vocabulary that the students are going to encounter in other areas of the curriculum is an excellent preparation to set them up for success. This activity can easily be used to highlight themes or as a bridge to other activities. Other extension activities I thought of that could be used with MWW-LP (and MWP or MW with some adaptations) include having the students incorporate the words from this activity in a poem, short story or song. This would provide them with further opportunity to explore language, practice writing and provide additional reinforcement for the new words just introduced in the original activity. --Jenny N.

Post 4

Author: Nan_Kember
Date: 06-20-2000 21:42

As a Title I reading teacher, I have the opportunity to work with children grades K-5th which is both enlightening and full of challenges. I am constantly looking for ways to improve upon "old favorites" of instruction such as the Making Words activity. Mr. Rasinski has done just that with his great ideas for extending the Making Words activities to incorporate writing and the further exploration of using letter patterns in Making and Writing Words Using Letter Patterns. (MWW-LP) I had primarily used the Making Words activity with 2nd graders and enjoy watching as they manipulate the letters and try to be the first one to complete the word, unaware that I was observing to see what strategies they were using and with what level of independence. The beauty of the activity is that it allows participation by all children no matter what stage of learning they are at.

I am now anxious to try MWW-LP this fall with my older students using the rimes and other patterns of written language which can only lead to further improvement in not only decoding words, but spelling them. The forms provided by Mr. Rasinski, as well as the idea to vary the lesson by devising semantic, syntactic, and structural clues are most helpful. Those who are ready could move to the final "Transfer" stage of the lesson using their knowledge of letters, patterns and sounds to reach into their existing knowledge and go beyond those words listed earlier on their form.

Reply 4a

Author: Nan_Kember
Date: 06-20-2000 21:55

Yes, this is a reply to my reply due to the fact that it got posted before I was ready to sign off...

There are so many skills and strategies that are improved upon through this simple enrichment activity from listening and following instructions, sound/letter placement, sorting, to going back and revisiting portions of the activity to make transfers. For the more advanced learner, I see it as a wonderful opportunity to work with a partner to devise and organize their own lesson. Your ideas are greatly appreciated!

Post 5

Author: Debra_Kroll
Date: 06-21-2000 19:26

Timothy Rasinski's article titled Making and Writing Words Using Letter Patterns gives a detailed explanation of a variation of a popular innovative approach to word recognition instruction called Making Words by Jim and Pat Cunningham. Mr. Rasinski points out that Making Words is a main component of Cunningham, Hall, and Deffee's Four Blocks to literacy instruction model. He explains that his adaptation to the original model adds the act of writing, which provides the students with additional opportunities for practice. He states that the writing component helps the students remember the word configurations. I applaud any teacher who is willing to take an already established research based model of instruction and extend it to meet the needs of individual students. I am familiar with Cunningham's model of Making Words and Mr. Rasinski explains it clearly. His explanation of the focus on Onset and Rime was particularly interesting to me. Onset and Rime is a major part of an early intervention program I use with my students called Early Reading Empowerment developed by Mary Jett-Simpson. It is based on Marie Clay's Reading Recovery model of early intervention. I agree with Mr. Rasinski's statement about Onset and Rime being an important part of the development of word recognition in young children. I have used Cunningham's Making Words in a variety of ways with whole classes, small groups and one on one. I can see how the addition of the writing component would be a meaningful and natural extension of the activity. The sample lesson you provided is very helpful. Thank you for sharing. Deb

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