The Picture Word Inductive Model
Bruce R. Joyce, Emily Calhoun · 2024
Each PWIM cycle begins with a picture, usually a photograph that includes many details that students can describe using their developed listening-speaking language (see Figure 6.3 ). The students study the picture and then shake out the words—putting into words the representations and actions they see in the picture. The teacher draws a line from those things to a place outside the picture, reiterates the word, and writes and spells the word or phrase aloud. The students repeat the word and its spelling following a “See, Say, Spell, Say” pattern: the teacher points to the item in the photograph (See); the students pronounce the word (Say); they spell the word together with the teacher (Spell); and they pronounce the word again (Say). This pattern provides a mnemonic chain that helps anchor the pronunciation and spelling of the words. What emerges as students identify items and actions is an illustrated picture-word dictionary. The next phase begins by providing students with their individual sets of word cards. The students check whether they can recognize words immediately or decode them if necessary, using the PWIM chart as a picture-word dictionary if they have difficulty. As the read the words, the next phase of the model comes into play: students classify the words in terms of phonetic, structural, or content and share their categories. Then the students write or dictate sentences containing the new words (and others).