Wired for Reading Advanced Course Syllabus

This syllabus represents a typical school-year class. This course is divided into three parts:

1.  Teacher Essentials;
2. Latin; and 
3. Greek.

Pre-Course Asynchronous Work

The following videos and readings provide critical background knowledge and lay the foundation for success throughout the course. It is estimated that completing the asynchronous material will take approximately 5.5 hours.

Textbook: Teacher Essentials (Advanced) – This section covers material including:

• History of English;
• What is Dyslexia?;
• Processing Issues Underlying Reading and Spelling Difficulties;
• Advanced WFR Background Overview;
• Understanding Educational Terminology;
• Responses to Intervention (RTI) and Tiered Evidence-Based Intervention;
• Baddeley Hitch’s Model of the Working Memory;
• Ground for Latin and Greek; and
• The Brain Works Best as a Team.

Video 1: Advanced Wired for Reading Teacher Essentials – This video reviews the textbook material outlined above.

Video 2: A Brief History of the English Language – Students often reach a point where a word doesn’t match the patterns they know. The House of English gives teachers a way to respond, not as an exception, but as a clue. English operates as a system built over time, where spelling patterns reflect word origin. The video here explains how the history of English can be organized into ‘layers’ that support instruction.

Video 3: Why Can’t I Read This? – This video covers the basis of dyslexia and what it looks like in the activities students engage in day to day.

Video 4: Sketchpad Spelling Routine – The Sketchpad Spelling Strand gives a clear, research-based way to teach common but irregular English words that do not follow typical phonics patterns.

Video 5: Parts of Speech and Elaborating Sentences

Live Sessions

During each live session, we will cover the material listed below. However, we have found that the amount of time needed for each topic varies somewhat from group to group. A core belief of Wired for Reading® is to plan extensively while remaining flexible enough to respond to participants’ needs. We adjust the pace of learning to meet the unique needs of each class.

To increase active engagement and model recommended best practices, live sessions include extensive turn-and-talk activities, reflective review, large-group discussion, small-group practice, and application of concepts.

Day One: Review & Latin Set One

3:45 p.m. – Review and Questions from Asynchronous Learning

4:15 p.m. – Review Using the Learning Spiral at the Latin/Greek Levels

4:45 p.m. – Prefix, Root, and Suffix Personalities and their impact on Spelling

5:15 p.m. – Break – 15 minutes

5:30 p.m. – Three ways to intuit meaning using Prefix Set One: pre-, post-, re-, con-, in-, ex-, de-, dis-

• Chameleon Prefix concept
• Adapted ASL to glue meaning to prefix

Day Two: Continue Latin Sets

8:45 a.m. – Review Prefix Set One

9:00 a.m. – Set One Roots (Round Robin video and in Zoom) – ject, rupt, form, port, dict, tract, spect/spic, tend/tent/tens(e), script/scrib(e) mit/miss, duc(t)/duce

10:00 a.m. – Practice Set One Roots Charades

• Bean bag toss (video tape) small group practice

10:30 a.m. – Break – 15 minutes

10:45 a.m. – Set One Suffixes

• -ture, -ment, -ture
• -er and -or
• Suffix Spell Sort: cher vs. –ture small group practice

11:30 a.m. – Pleaser Suffix Introduction using suffix –ion (-tion, -sion, -gion)

• Unpacking meaning of word parts within Latin based words Overlapping suffix worksheet
• Suffix Simon Game

12:15 p.m. – Lunch – 45 minutes

1:00 p.m. – Pleaser suffix -al (-ial, -tial, -cial) and Suffix Spell Sort: –al vs. –le

1:15 p.m. – Review All known Prefixes, Roots, and Suffixes

1:45 p.m. – Strip the Fix and Unpack meaning with mixed Set One Wordlists

2:00 p.m. – Application: Set One Safe Sentence dictation

• Editor Checklist
• Picture-ade Application game

Day Three: Review & Start Set Two

3:45 p.m. – Review Set One and Routines

4:15 p.m. – Set Two Prefixes

• mis-, non-, over-, pro-, contra-, semi-, inter-, trans- Pro/Contra/Semi game
• Superhero prefix trans-

5:00 p.m. – Break – 15 minutes

5:15 p.m. – Set Two Roots (Round Robin)

• vert/vers(e), fer, capt/cept/ceit/ceiv(e), plic/plex/ply, fact/fect/fict, pone/pose, press/print, sist/stat, tain/tin/ten, sect/seg

Day Four: Continue Set Two, Prefix Set Three, Most Common Greek Morphemes

8:45 a.m. – Review: Set Two, Charades & Latin Slang game

9:30 a.m. – Set Two Suffixes

• -ify, -ic, -able/-ible
• Pleaser Suffix -an (-ian, -tian, -cian, -sian, -gian) Magic of -cian (It’s a job!)
• Suffix Spell Sort: -tion vs. –sion vs. -cian

10:30 a.m. – Break – 15 minutes

10:45 a.m. – Pleaser Suffix -ous (-ious, -tious, -cious, -gious)

11:15 a.m. – Shakespeare Spelling

11:45 a.m. – Making it Automatic: Fluency Packets and Slick Sheets

12:15 p.m. – Lunch – 45 minutes

1:00 p.m. – Set Three Prefixes

• sub-, super-/sur-, en-/em- ad-/ab- Story
• Obnoxious ob Story uni-, bi-, per-/pur-

1:45 p.m. – Greek Level

• Most Common Greek spelling patterns
• Three most common Greek Morphemes found in English
• -ology, gram/graph, anti-

2:15 p.m. – Questions and Class Wrap-Up

Post-Course Asynchronous Work

The videos, quizzes, and readings in the post-course asynchronous work help you gain the most from your experience. They are also required for participants pursuing:

• Course credit through Seattle University
• Wired for Reading® Certification

This material provides review of course content as well as video examples of lessons that may not have been demonstrated during the live class.

Textbook: Latin Section

Video 6: Prefix, Root, Suffix Personalities

Video 7-9: Latin Prefix, Roots, Suffix Set 1

Video 10: WFR Advanced – Why do we use Adapted American Sign?

Video 11: WFR Advanced – Bean Bag Toss Game – Models a favorite game to connect prefixes, roots, and suffixes to their meaning using Adapted American Sign.

Video 12: WFR Advanced – Round Robin Strategy – Models how to use a Round Robin technique to teach and practice the morphemes with a small set or large group.

Video 13-15: Latin Prefix, Roots, and Suffix Set 2

Video 16-18: Latin Prefix, Roots, and Suffix Set 3

Video 19-20: Latin Roots and Suffix Set 4

Textbook: Greek Section

Video 12-14: Greek Set 1-4

Textbook: Appendixes