FOR-PD’s Reading Strategy of the Month

“It all starts with the piles. If you haven’t had time to do the laundry for a week or more, it can feel as if those mile-high baskets of dirty socks and T-shirts are planning to topple your house. Sort that small mountain of laundry into a few piles, and you’ll restore the order of your laundry baskets.”

~Betty Faust and Maria Rodale, Betty's Book of Laundry Secrets

 

Rationale:

Although often seen as a chore, sorting laundry into nice, manageable piles can be an extremely rewarding task. It’s satisfying to be able to find an organizational pattern as one puts whites in one pile, dark colors in another, and bright colors in a third as preparation for a wash cycle. Of course, some feel that other arrangements can be made in lieu of sorting fabrics based just on the traditional piles of colors. Perhaps fluorescent colors should have their own pile? Shouldn't towels and sheets belong together? And what about those garments that like to share their lint? Shouldn’t they be sorted and washed away from those that attract lint easily? Shouldn’t those items needing spot removal be in their own category?

It is easy to see all the ways that laundry can be sorted, and it is with this in mind that teachers and students can cross the boundary from the need to sort laundry to the need to sort words. Word sorts provide students a way to categorize words based on their own personal experience and prior knowledge (Gillet & Kita, 1979). Similar to the list-group-label strategy initiated by Taba (1967), the word sort promotes students’ critical thinking and enables them to consider how words are related to each other. Word sorting is an active strategy that will give students the ability to think about words on a variety of levels and contexts.

Often seen as a word identification, vocabulary and/or comprehension strategy, word sorts have been found useful in both elementary and secondary classrooms. In the secondary classrooms, content area teachers can use word sorts as both a pre-and-post reading strategy. As a pre-reading strategy, students can use their background knowledge to sort words and set a purpose for reading. As an after-reading strategy, students can reflect on what they learned and process their understandings on the text and concepts (Johns & Berglund, 2002). In the elementary classroom, word identification may be based more on word families, parts of speech, or common roots. Either way, words sorts offer students a way to become more active in the words found in text and the world around them.

How to Use the Strategy:

There are two types of words: open and closed. Both can be adapted to content area topics for math, social studies, science, and language arts (Vacca & Vacca, 1999).

In closed word sorts, the teacher defines the process for categorizing the words. This requires students to engage in critical thinking as they examine sight vocabulary, corresponding concepts, or word structure.

In open word sorts, the students determine how to categorize the words, thereby, becoming involved in an active manipulation of words. While closed sorts reinforce and extend students’ ability to classify words and concepts, open sorts can prompt divergent and inductive reasoning (Vacca & Vacca, 1999).

Step-by-Step Process

(Johns & Berglund, 1998)

1. Select 15-20 words that are important to the understanding of the lesson. Words can be chosen on a tier 2 or tier 3 level. At this time, the teacher should determine if it will be an open or closed sort.
2. Copy words onto index cards or print them on slips of paper. Provide enough words for each group of 3-5 students. (An alternative would be to first model for a whole group using a whiteboard or overhead transparency.)
3. Pass out words to groups. Based on if this is a pre-reading strategy or after-reading strategy, the teacher should decide how much support to provide. In either case, the teacher should encourage students to use metacognition skills.
4. If the activity is a closed sort, remind students they will need to use the categories provided to them. If it is an open sort, suggest to students that they categorize the words into groups that make sense to them. Remind them that they will need to be able to explain their rationale for the groups they created.
5. Give students approximately 10 minutes to create their sorts. Next, give students a short amount of time to rotate to other groups to examine other sorts from their classmates’ groups.
6. As students read the text or discuss it in more detail, allow them to reclassify their words.
7. Have students to reflect on their sorts and how it increased their understanding before and/or after the reading of the text. Did they make changes? Why or why not?

Upon completion of a word sort, students can write a summary or reflection on why they chose words for a particular category.

Assessment

Words sorts lend themselves well to assessment. When used as an after reading strategy, word sorts naturally turn into a good way to evaluate a students' understanding of particular concepts.

The following PDF may be useful in going beyond the simple evaluating of a sort and venturing into the important area of rationale and reasoning.

Word Sort Rationale Chart

Resources:

Word Sorts for Beginning and Struggling Readers
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=795
A lesson is outlined to introduce students to short-vowel word families. Teacher modeling is initially introduced, then students work with a partner to practice sorting and reading words, increasing in speed and accuracy.

Word Sorts
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/hmsv/8/letterwordcards/p004-5.pdf
This PDF document offers a description between the two different word sorts: closed and open. Activities, practice, and games are also available to incorporate word sorts into classroom teaching.

Word Sort
http://www.justreadnow.com/strategies/sort.htm
Just Read Now! describes a word sort as a simple small group activity. Key words are listed by students from a reading selection and then sort the list into collections of words with similar features. Two different word sorts can be used: open word sorts and closed word sorts. Steps for using word sorts are outlined. 

Sort, Hunt, Write: A Weekly Spelling Program
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=278
In this activity students will sort words into categories individually, with partners, and in groups. Student objectives and an instructional plan are outlined.

Open and Closed Word Sort Examples
http://www.sirinet.net/~project/MinersClosedAndOpenWordSorts.html
Review this site for specific information on open and closed word sorts.

References:

Gillet, J. & Kita, M.J. (1979). Words, kids, and categories. Reading Teacher, 32, 538-542.

Johns, J. & Berglund, R. (2002). Strategies for content area learning. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.

Taba, H. (1967). Teacher’s handbook for elementary social studies. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Vacca, R.T. & Vacca, J.L. (1999). Content area reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum. New York: Addison-Wesley.

Go to Adobe PDF instruction page.

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Last Updated May 31, 2007
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A project funded by the Florida Department of Education and Just Read Florida! housed at the University of Central Florida.