5-Session SWI Courses for the Seriously Curious (for novices & experts)

Wednesdays 7:30 - 9:00pm EST, April 17th, 24th, May 1st, 8th, 15th 

Recordings will be available for a month after the course ends. 

Time to study, time to try new ideas out with students, and time to ask questions.

 Each session introduces orthographic concepts through instructional practices that can be employed with students the next day. Participants have-a-go knowing we will revisit those concepts and address questions that come up. Novices learn along experts. Many in my current courses that are about to end have already signed up to retake the same course. 

We can think of this course (and my work in general) as having a focus on three core interrelated understandings. 

Deepening understanding of how English orthography works; 

Becoming confident in your ability to independently investigate English orthography scientifically; 

Learning how to use your understanding of # 1 and #2 to guide your instructional practice. 

The following outline is subject to change depending on the interests, questions and discoveries of the participants. All concepts described will be addressed over the 5 days, but additional topics are addressed as well. When possible, Pete stays for open-ended discussions for those who are interested after the official 1.5 hour class ends.  

Session #1: SWI as scientific inquiry & word families

Session #2: Learning from word families - orthographic
phonology, spelling-out-loud, orthographic markers &
suffixing changes

Session #3: More practice with spelling-out-loud word
structure, Cognitive Load Theory and SWI in the context
of Reading instruction.

Session #4: Digging deeper into morphological and
etymological families - working with the 4 questions of
SWI, learning to read Etymonline and constructing
matrices by hand.

Session #5: More practice investigating morphological
and etymological families, and the role of orthographic
phonology - plus understanding the research

Structured Word Inquiry (SWI) Spring 2024

Course Content

Meet the course producers